On Jan 25, 2009, at 7:33 PM, Kathy K wrote:
> > I have an iMac G3, graphite 500 mhz, 128mb, and 30g harddrive. > > It is currently running OS 10.3 only. > > Is it possible to reinstall and add OS 9 back on it? Or classic? I > haven't messed with this iMac for awhile and have forgotten the ins > and outs of OS9/OSX installs. I do have two other old G3s, but we are > making some trades. Now we want to set this one up for my youngest to > play old OS 9 games on CD. It would be nice to leave OS X on there as > well, if possible. > > And though the machine probably needs more ram, I don't plan to do > that. Not interested in opening it up or investing more $ in it. > > Also, while I'm at it... at one time I had an ethernet/usb adapter on > this thing. The ethernet port was broken on it when I bought it (a > steal at $25 several years ago). I bought an adapter online that > worked great, but after awhile the adapter broke (poorly designed). I > since bought a different adapter... but could never get it to work. > Any other ideas out there for getting this G3 online without an > ethernet port? > > Kathy K The best/easiest way to set it up for a new user is to boot from an OS 9.1 or preferably OS 9.2 CD, wipe the hard drive, initialize it for HFS Extended, and use Disk Utility to check the hard drive for bad sectors. lf Disk Utility finds bad sectors, replace the hard drive. If it doesn't, then you can install OS 9.x. Then run Software Update until there are no updates. Then set all your preferences in Control Panel. Finally, install all of the OS 9 programs and games. Once you've got OS 9 squared away, insert the OS X disk and install OS X. Run Software Update until there are no more to install. Then set your preferences. Finally, attempt to launch an OS 9 program. This will start Classic. Complete the dialogue and set your Classic preferences. Note that you can set Classic to launch when the computer starts up. If you do this, then it makes perfect sense to put favorite OS 9 aliases on the OS X desktop. That makes for a pretty seamless and almost transparent ability to use OS 9 and OS 10 programs at will without a bunch of switching back and forth and waiting for OS 9/ Classic to launch. I set a room full of G3e iMacs up this way at a local elementary school lab, and the lab instructor is quite happy with the kids' ability to surf via Firefox or Safari and use old OS 9 programs without any trouble or problems. As for getting it online without an ethernet port, you can use an original Airport card (with G3 iMac adapter), or buy another USB/ ethernet adapter. I'll leave other suggestions to the fine members on this list. Good luck and have fun! -- Jim --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Low End Mac's iMac List, a group for those using G3, G4, G5, and Intel Core iMacs as well as Apple eMacs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to imaclist@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to imaclist-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
