The G3 Challenge

[AmazingHenry]

UPDATE: Trying to get the software installed now. Unfortunately, I seem to have terrible luck when it comes to things like this, so I'm getting error messages. But I figured it out before, so there must be a way!

So, I have decided that, starting Tuesday, I am going to try and use my G3 Clamshell for 1 week to see how obsolete it is. Now, for some other stuff, I will be using other computers, but mainly, at my home, I will be using the G3. I'd like to see how obsolete it is. Tomorrow I'll get the necessary software on it (Tiger, Camino, TFF, etc.). And then, starting Wednesday, I'll use the G3 as my only computer (when at home). I'll share my findings here for future reference. I'm very curious to see how this turns out. I've never really tried to use my Clamshell for web browsing or email before, at least not for very long.

What are your predictions? I think that Camino is going to perform pretty well, and many (but not all) websites will be at least useable. I know I'll be able to get email and do word processing just fine.

This may be a very stupid idea. I'm mainly doing this to learn more about PPC software (not very experienced with Tiger), and for your entertainment (see me suffer ). Also, as I said above, I'll share my findings and experiences which may or (probably) may not be helpful.

If I find anything that I can't do that I need to be able to do, I will quit the challenge. If I end up quitting before the week is up, consider the G3 obsolete.

Well, I hope that you enjoy seeing my findings and suffering over the next week. I'm pretty excited to see how this goes. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and look for updates in the coming week!

 

[Gamer9430]

Will you be using any other devices besides a computer? Say, a smart phone, tablet, smart TV...

 

[macmee]

I would love to do this but I need xcode and also nodejs for my job so I'm basically screwed from the starting gate

 

[1042686]

I think its AOK that exceptions can be made for school and work req's. No one with a normal brain would hold that against you I mean. It's meant to be fun. I'd do it if I could find a G3 to use. Good luck Henry.

 

[AmazingHenry]

Will you be using any other devices besides a computer? Say, a smart phone, tablet, smart TV...

Apple TV. Previous generation. That's it. I'll try to avoid using my iPhone. It doesn't do much anyway.
[doublepost=1479778273][/doublepost]

I think its AOK that exceptions can be made for school and work req's. No one with a normal brain would hold that against you I mean. It's meant to be fun. I'd do it if I could find a G3 to use. Good luck Henry.

Thanks! Yeah, I'll have to make an exception for school. But otherwise I'll try to use only the Clamshell. The Clamshell will be used for general web browsing, email, MacRumors, word processing, and some other stuff. I think it's going to do OK.

 

[Hrududu]

First clamshell iBook I purchased was a 366MHz indigo back in 2003, so it was my primary notebook until early 2006. It dual booted OS 9 and Panther primarily (Jag before Panther was released) and in those days it was just fine. Of course the 800x600 display is probably the biggest drawback of any clamshell iBook. Fast forward to now and I have all the Clamshell models & colors made and they all have Airport cards and maxed out RAM, so as "usable" as possible. The 466MHz CPU is considerably better than the 300 and 366, and really about the only one I can enjoy using for very long.

 

[CooperBox]

I was using my Clamshell this morning whilst reading this post. I'd planned to update TFF 45.5 from the current 38.6 but found that everything still looked good browsing this site, so decided to put off update for some time later. Downloaded the update and saved without any problem. Typing this however was a bit of a pain due to lagging, however I remembered that selecting richtext format to off was a solution, and once that was done, typing returned to normal and the keyboard a pleasure to use.
Quick shots of my comfort 'workstation' this morning:

(That was weird, the attachments didn't show up on screen, but on sending the post - still on the Clamshell, I see they are there).
This is a 466MHz - wouldn't particularly like to attempt the same on a slower machine. These are certainly fun, but frustrating. If one doesn't have patience, imho they are somewhat painful for 'serious work'.

 

[AmazingHenry]

Sorry about this, but due to some stuff I have happening I'm going to have to put this off until Monday. My apologies.

Also, I invite anyone with a G3 to try this. It would be interesting to have 2 points of view. If you want to try with me, feel free.

 

[bunnspecial]

Another thing to keep in mind is that unless you planned to use it wired, you're going to be a bit up a creek. The original Airport card will only connect to WEP in OS 9. Tiger gets you basic WPA support. If you're smart, your home network is probably WPA2. My work uses WPA2/802.11x enterprise, and an Airport card can't even SEE it(I've also started having issues with not connecting using SL on my MBA recently).

On a Powerbook(up to through the Ti series) it's possible to use an Airport Extreme compatible cardbus card, although not along side the standard Airport card. It's also worth mentioning that the Airport Extreme cards are invisible to OS 9, as drivers don't exist for them. I think Apple only shipped one computer that could boot OS 9 and used an airport extreme-it was one generation of eMac.

My router has an unencrypted guest network that I toggle on to use Airport-equipped devices. It works okay for me, although I'm VERY particular about what I do over this connection.

The other concern is going to be that even on WiFi, the connection is slow at 802.11b speeds.

 

[redheeler]

Another thing to keep in mind is that unless you planned to use it wired, you're going to be a bit up a creek. The original Airport card will only connect to WEP in OS 9. Tiger gets you basic WPA support. If you're smart, your home network is probably WPA2. My work uses WPA2/802.11x enterprise, and an Airport card can't even SEE it(I've also started having issues with not connecting using SL on my MBA recently).

On a Powerbook(up to through the Ti series) it's possible to use an Airport Extreme compatible cardbus card, although not along side the standard Airport card. It's also worth mentioning that the Airport Extreme cards are invisible to OS 9, as drivers don't exist for them. I think Apple only shipped one computer that could boot OS 9 and used an airport extreme-it was one generation of eMac.

My router has an unencrypted guest network that I toggle on to use Airport-equipped devices. It works okay for me, although I'm VERY particular about what I do over this connection.

The other concern is going to be that even on WiFi, the connection is slow at 802.11b speeds.

On my G4 Cube, I gave up trying to make things work with the internal AirPort and incorporated into the setup an AirPort Express in bridge mode connected using the Ethernet port. This seems to work very fast and reliably for wireless network access, but is obviously not going to work outside of a home network.

 

[bobesch]

Ha, there's a lot you can do with the Clamshell!
If you go with OS9, here's everything I found out with the kind help of all the folks here about:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/email-client-and-applications-for-mac-os9.1960993/
Wireless networking will be a bit cumbersome, but there are means to even connect to latest network-encryption. FileSharing is limited to Leopard and below running on the other machines

With Tiger and a 466MHz, maxed out RAM and maybe an mSATA the Clamshell feels great!
For Wifi I'd definitely go for an EDIMAX WiFi-mini-USB-Stick, since there's a driver for Tiger.
My basic stuff is: Office2004, PDF-stuff, DEVONthink, Email-Client, webkit for Tiger, TFF, iTunes/Streaming local music-libraries, webDAV, ScreenSharing, FileSharing, scanning with Canon flatbed-USB-scanners etc
Even the DVD-player runs smooth. - The only limit is (no) YT-video and (no) CorePlayer - I mean, no good experience, if working at all... and the low-res screen.
But a new battery may lasts up to 6h.
It's an amazing stuff! Limits only in users imagination if ... if there's an iphone ad hands to view oversized multimedia stuff etc

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

Sorry about this, but due to some stuff I have happening I'm going to have to put this off until Monday. My apologies.

Also, I invite anyone with a G3 to try this. It would be interesting to have 2 points of view. If you want to try with me, feel free.

I may just have to break out the B&W. Are you going to be using OS 9 or Tiger?

 

[zackkmac]

I would so do this if my iMac G3 hadn't recently bit the dust. Although I think it is just the power supply board.

 

[Hrududu]

Retro challenges like this just aren't as doable as they used to. In the smartphone era, its too easy to fall back on it. I think unless you're willing to ditch the smartphone for a week, it really isn't hard to get by on old tech. Hell, I know many of us are using 10-12 year old machines every day anyway, but we can easily supplement them with a new phone or even 1 or two "modern" macs that we can grab in a pinch.

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

Retro challenges like this just aren't as doable as they used to. In the smartphone era, its too easy to fall back on it. I think unless you're willing to ditch the smartphone for a week, it really isn't hard to get by on old tech. Hell, I know many of us are using 10-12 year old machines every day anyway, but we can easily supplement them with a new phone or even 1 or two "modern" macs that we can grab in a pinch.

You present a good point. In my case, I wouldn't be able to access online course work for college using a vintage system. Beyond that, I may be able to get by.

 

[beanboy89]

Retro challenges like this just aren't as doable as they used to. In the smartphone era, its too easy to fall back on it. I think unless you're willing to ditch the smartphone for a week, it really isn't hard to get by on old tech. Hell, I know many of us are using 10-12 year old machines every day anyway, but we can easily supplement them with a new phone or even 1 or two "modern" macs that we can grab in a pinch.

This. It's way too easy to pull my smartphone out of my pocket and do just about anything I'd normally do on a modern computer. I would love to try a "G3 challenge" for a week, but with today's modern web, it would be nearly impossible, and I'd fall back to my smartphone for just about everything.

 

[AmazingHenry]

I may just have to break out the B&W. Are you going to be using OS 9 or Tiger?

I think Tiger. But I may have to go with OS 9, it would perform better.

Retro challenges like this just aren't as doable as they used to. In the smartphone era, its too easy to fall back on it. I think unless you're willing to ditch the smartphone for a week, it really isn't hard to get by on old tech. Hell, I know many of us are using 10-12 year old machines every day anyway, but we can easily supplement them with a new phone or even 1 or two "modern" macs that we can grab in a pinch.

I'm giving up my iPhone. I might even give up the Apple TV, so all YT videos would have to be watched on the iBook.
[doublepost=1480007887][/doublepost]

Another thing to keep in mind is that unless you planned to use it wired, you're going to be a bit up a creek. The original Airport card will only connect to WEP in OS 9. Tiger gets you basic WPA support. If you're smart, your home network is probably WPA2. My work uses WPA2/802.11x enterprise, and an Airport card can't even SEE it(I've also started having issues with not connecting using SL on my MBA recently).

On a Powerbook(up to through the Ti series) it's possible to use an Airport Extreme compatible cardbus card, although not along side the standard Airport card. It's also worth mentioning that the Airport Extreme cards are invisible to OS 9, as drivers don't exist for them. I think Apple only shipped one computer that could boot OS 9 and used an airport extreme-it was one generation of eMac.

My router has an unencrypted guest network that I toggle on to use Airport-equipped devices. It works okay for me, although I'm VERY particular about what I do over this connection.

The other concern is going to be that even on WiFi, the connection is slow at 802.11b speeds.

A while ago, I set up one of my old spare AirPort Base Stations with a WEP password. It's totally separate from my main network. I use it for any computer that can't connect to WPA2.

 

[bunnspecial]

I think Tiger. But I may have to go with OS 9, it would perform better.

I can't test it on a better system at the moment as I'm out of town and my only OS 9 system with me a TiBook that can't connect to the network in OS 9, but I Classilla wouldn't even attempt to open Youtube videos when I tested on my 9600 the other day.

 

[AmazingHenry]

I can't test it on a better system at the moment as I'm out of town and my only OS 9 system with me a TiBook that can't connect to the network in OS 9, but I Classilla wouldn't even attempt to open Youtube videos when I tested on my 9600 the other day.

So I'll probably go with Tiger. I can use TenFourFox on Tiger is a website doesn't work with Camino. It'll be painfully slow, but having a fully up-to-date browser is important.

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

So I'll probably go with Tiger. I can use TenFourFox on Tiger is a website doesn't work with Camino. It'll be painfully slow, but having a fully up-to-date browser is important.

You can use Classilla on OS 9.

 

[1042686]

I think the point of using new tech is part of the experience. The point (aside from having fun) is not to deprive one's self but rather to see the real limitations of old tech in 2016, so if Henry or anyone else who takes the challenge finds themselves needing something and going to a modern laptop or smart phone for example, well that's them apples so to speak and would be communicated in the challenge review i.e.: couldn't access XYZ school materials so had to use Sierra intel macbook or couldn't access email for work, so used iPhone email client. Obviously this would be less of an issue for some power users who are adept at manipulating apps to their needs but for a button smasher like myself, if it doesn't work out of the box, I'm not going to spend much time to fix it, so onto the current laptop or smartphone - and I would communicate that in the review. If anything it would open up great discussion on how I could've fixed that or done X or Y to get it going which is super valuable to all readers & tinkerers I think. Going to modern tech is not a failure and should not be looked at as such.

That to me is a big part of the point of doing these sort of fun challenges and doesn't take away from the enjoyment either. It reflects the age of the system & software, certainly the abilities of the user doing the challenge, and stimulates conversation on how to make old tech work today.

Anyways, I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was awesome.

 

[AmazingHenry]

You can use Classilla on OS 9.

Classilla is not up-to-date. It doesn't work correctly with everything.
[doublepost=1480271169][/doublepost]Time to start installing stuff.

 

[GetToDaChopa]

Classilla is not up-to-date. It doesn't work correctly with everything.
[doublepost=1480271169][/doublepost]Time to start installing stuff.

tiger would be pretty slow with ten four fox, isnt there a way to run an earlier os that does not use as much resourses and still be alright? i pulled my clamshell out to install Jaguar, gonna see if that will be ok enough.

 

[AmazingHenry]

tiger would be pretty slow with ten four fox, isnt there a way to run an earlier os that does not use as much resourses and still be alright? i pulled my clamshell out to install Jaguar, gonna see if that will be ok enough.

Well, Tiger is the only OS I know of that can even run a modern web browser. I'll mainly use Camino (outdated, but fast) and I'll only use TFF if a website doesn't work correctly in Camino. This should work well.

 

[Hrududu]

tiger would be pretty slow with ten four fox, isnt there a way to run an earlier os that does not use as much resourses and still be alright? i pulled my clamshell out to install Jaguar, gonna see if that will be ok enough.

Jaguar ran really poorly on just about everything and was pretty unstable. Panther was easily the best OS X for G3s and single CPU G4s. Unfortunately there aren't any up to date browsers for Panther anymore. All my clamshells that dual boot have Tiger on them now (with the exception of 1 that has 10.0 just for kicks) and Tiger WebKit is the browser of choice.