hey guys i recently bought a old g3 from my skool for 50bucs
i installed a version of os X on it it was the first one to come out
but there has been a few problems on it like find problems in the harddrive when i run checks on it and stuff so yeah also
there was a heap of files and stuff. can any one help me format the whole computer??

i would also like to make this my personal computer so it fast and has everything
waht stuff will i need to buy to make this up to scratch thanks
eRYAN

There are a few things you can do to get that G3 running just fine.

1. Install Mac OS X 10.3. The old Mac OS X is *slow*.
2. Get as much RAM as possible into the machine. Mac OS X loves RAM. I'd be aiming for at least 1GB with this machine.
3. A brand new HDD. A 7200RPM drive will speed things up a fair deal over the standard 5400RPM drive in the machine.

Do those three things and the PowerMac G3 will be a stable machine that can handle all basic useage.

To format the hard-drive, the easiest way is to install Mac OS X again. Boot up from the CD, then when choosing which drive you want to install OS X on, click Custom, and make sure "Erase and Install" is chosen. It will format the drive and install Mac OS X on it cleanly.

thanks heaps mate
also how much do u think those 3 things would cost
and also a new harddrive?

ill try and get my hands on a os X cd asap
Thanks eRYAN

To buy a copy of Mac OS X 10.3, as a student, it's $129, normal price is $229.
RAM, for 1GB, it would cost around $260 for two 512MB sticks. On 2nd thought, depending on how much RAM is in the machine now just getting 512MB of RAM would be suffecient. Which would be around $130.
A new 40GB 7200RPM HDD is $68 from a local computer store.

So yeah, your main cost is buying Mac OS X 10.3 :\

so i dont need to get a special harddrive for mac only or somthing
sorry i dont kno much abt the harddrive of a comp

would i also b able to add dvd drive and burner tto it ?
umm u hav msn or somthing i can chat to u on
rdsouza87@hotmail.com

You don't need special Mac stuff for the G3 Tower. A normal IDE hard-drive will work fine. Same goes for the RAM. As long as the RAM is SD-RAM and 168-pin and not DDR it will work.

You can add a DVD Burner to it if you like, which is around $120.

A good site for this sort of information is Accelerate Your Mac. Poke around their site for a while, soak up information and you'll understand what you can't do, and get to know what can be done and how to do it.

Be careful not to spend too much money though. Remember you can buy an eMac, which is much much faster and includes a monitor, warranty and OS X, brand new for $1200.

You've already spent $50 on the system, plus:
RAM - $140
HDD - $70
DVD Burner - $120
Mac OS X Panther - $229

Which adds up to $690. Which will get you a useable machine. For an extra $400, you get a brand new computer, with a warranty, and everything already done for you.

if you're keen to get a start with Mac OS X, look into getting the eMac, and perhaps selling the G3 here for around $200, which would have made you a nice profit

hey i just rang a apple center and for
512mb ram they said it would cost $260

and a 60gb harddrive would cost 349 i think it was

umm could some one help point me in the direction of some where more cheaper
idd realy like to get the comp up and running

but it its guna b this much i might have to go witht the emac
Thanks eRYAN

I don't know where you are eRyan but get ye to a swap meet, Better yet, Grab that old pentuim that's holding open the door and strip it. If you put a bit of effort into scrounging this should'nt cost you a cent ( O.K maybe a 60gig drive is pushing it, but you should be able to get your mitts on a 40 for nicks).

thanks alot for the help guys
i dont know much abt this but my main issue is if i connect everything correctly nothing will go wrong if i use a hard drive from a pc and ram from a pc
ryte?
i reali dont want anything to happen to the imac g3
THANKS eRYAN

If you get the HDD and RAM from a PC nothing will go wrong, they use the same parts

ahh ok well if any one has any of the things i need and wudnt mind giving for sellin for cheap can u please let me kno
i am willing to travel around sydney area thanks ryan

PM me your postal address eRyan, I've got at a stick of 128mb Ram around here somewhere you can have for free that'll get you started.

Very generous of you Titan

eRyan, I wouldn't spend more than $150 on a beige G3, especially when they're only worth ~ $100 in stock configuration.

- First up, with Titan's RAM going, I'd get another 128MB stick and try to get 320 - 384MB for OS X 10.3. The G3 has 3 x SDRAM slots, beware if you buy 256MB sticks - they must be double-sided. Note that a beige G3 isn't officially supported under OS X, and you will need to use XPostFacto to get it to work. Bit fiddly but after that all should be fine.

- Hard disk: Pick up a new 40GB 7200 drive from any computer store for $65 - 70.

- Video card - the onboard ATI Rage graphics have only 2MB onboard, so I'd look into upgrading your VRAM to the full amount to 6MB - a 4MB module can be picked up on eBay for ~ $20. Otherwise, if you require better graphics, pick up a PC Radeon 7000 PCI card for $60 and flash it to Mac.

- Lastly, OVERCLOCK that G3! If it's a 233Mhz chip, you'll likely get 266, same for 266 --> 300etc. You can also increase the bus speed of the motherboard to 75 or 83Mhz, experiment with this too as a higher bus = better throughput of memory/disk/video buses.

A few simple changes can make the beige G3 into a usable OS X 10.3 machine; just don't spend too much as you'll never get your investment back!

JB

hey.

bYrd, i think its an iMac G3, not a beige G3