iMac

[Xerone]

Ok, well I have an iMac G3 Slot loading computer in my room that I do almost nothing with. Any suggestions? I'll use it every now and then to play a DVD on.

(Sorry if this isn't completely vintage... but it is old, eh?)

[RedWolf]

Ok, well I have an iMac G3 Slot loading computer in my room that I do almost nothing with. Any suggestions? I'll use it every now and then to play a DVD on.

(Sorry if this isn't completely vintage... but it is old, eh?)

I just bought a 400mhz G3 slot-loading iMac for $25 at a local university surplus sale last month.  It had been stripped of both RAM and a hard drive, but once those were replaced, it has proved to be a capable machine.  What I have done with mine is install Ubuntu Linux PPC (OS X would be too slow) on it with the intention of making it a "public" internet terminal for my living room.  The slot-loading iMac is especially nice for that purpose because it's fanless and therefore relatively quiet.  Right now, though, I'm playing a long game of Freeciv on it mostly.

I tried to make the iMac dual-boot.. there is a small OS 9 partition on it somewhere that I installed first, but after installing Ubuntu I haven't been able to boot OS 9 again.  I've never done dual boot on a Mac before.  Seems like it's not as easy to pull off as on a PC (either that or I'm just not that familiar with the process on a MAC).  Ubuntu's boot loader seems pretty weak anyway.

Download the PowerPC version of Ubuntu here.  Note that the live CD version has a problem with X video settings for thte slot-loading iMac, so you have to manually change some of them after you boot to get the GUI on the live disc to work properly.  The live disc also needs a lot of RAM.  But if you just install Ubuntu to a HD then all of that is no problem.

Good luck!  Let us know what you do with it.

RedWolf

[Konata]

Call me crazy, but I've always wanted an original blue iMac, the one that had the screen built-in and everything...

People said they were "gay" but I always thought they were cool...

[Xerone]

Mines Pink, haha.

I'll look into that OS, Wolf.

[RedWolf]

Call me crazy, but I've always wanted an original blue iMac, the one that had the screen built-in and everything...

People said they were "gay" but I always thought they were cool...

I specially drove to a CompUSA on the day they launched so I could see one in person.  Cool and exciting stuff.  The iMacs we're talking about are the descendants of that original iMac.  They look essentially the same.

Mine's blueberry.  It looks like this, but a different color (stolen picture):

[extrarice]

I tried to make the iMac dual-boot.. there is a small OS 9 partition on it somewhere that I installed first, but after installing Ubuntu I haven't been able to boot OS 9 again.  I've never done dual boot on a Mac before.  Seems like it's not as easy to pull off as on a PC (either that or I'm just not that familiar with the process on a MAC).  Ubuntu's boot loader seems pretty weak anyway.

Dual-booting on "Old-World-ROM" Apple hardware is extremely difficult. "New-World-ROM" hardware should be easier, though. Your iMac should be "New-World", so on one of the Ubuntu CDs there should be a utility called YaBoot. See Ubuntu's Wiki on PPC installation.

[Xerone]

Ok, so will my iMac run better or equal to the speed it runs right now with the new OS? Also, will I still be able to watch my DVD movies on it?

[Konata]

Call me crazy, but I've always wanted an original blue iMac, the one that had the screen built-in and everything...

People said they were "gay" but I always thought they were cool...

I specially drove to a CompUSA on the day they launched so I could see one in person.  Cool and exciting stuff.  The iMacs we're talking about are the descendants of that original iMac.  They look essentially the same.

Mine's blueberry.  It looks like this, but a different color (stolen picture):

Yeah, THOSE are the type I like, my favorite being the blue one. I didn't care much for the tower versions...

[retro gamer 1312]

Yeah, THOSE are the type I like, my favorite being the blue one. I didn't care much for the tower versions...

At my old middle school, they got those to run OS X.

They just upped the ram to 1 GB and put in a bigger (40 GB) harddrive.

[extrarice]

Ok, so will my iMac run better or equal to the speed it runs right now with the new OS? Also, will I still be able to watch my DVD movies on it?

Equal or lesser speed. Linux (any distribution) is HUGE. OS9 (most likely what's on your iMac) is a small OS.

I don't know if Ubuntu ships with DVD decoders to play DVD movies, but you can find the decoders easily enough.

[RedWolf]

Ok, so will my iMac run better or equal to the speed it runs right now with the new OS? Also, will I still be able to watch my DVD movies on it?

Equal or lesser speed. Linux (any distribution) is HUGE. OS9 (most likely what's on your iMac) is a small OS.

I don't know if Ubuntu ships with DVD decoders to play DVD movies, but you can find the decoders easily enough.

My default Ubuntu PPC installation didn't include a DVD decoder, but it came with a DVD playing app.  This script/program called EasyUbuntu is supposed to help you play DVD and do other commonly requested things easily:

http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/

But I haven't tried it yet.

Also, about Yaboot.  I was hoping the ubuntu installtion would detect OS 9 automatically and give me a choice at boot time.  I think Yaboot is installed, but it doesn't recognize the OS 9 partition (I can't choose it).  Not sure what to do about it.  But then again, I use Ubuntu most of the time anyway.

I'm about to try out XFCE (a resource-light window managed) on Ubuntu PPC on my G3 iMac to see if it speeds up the interface.  It should.