Member Avatar for stu aull

HI All
G3 original iMac w 500Mb Ram/ OS 9.2 Thinking of upgrade to Tiger. Advisable? Too slow? Will my old Pre OS 9 Legacy stuff still work?
Is there a site or archive about doing this upgrade?
regards
Stu Aull

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by sheikhali449

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Short answer: it depends on which iMac G3 you actually have. Late slot-loading G3s (the 2000–2001 models that shipped with DVD and FireWire) can run Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) but early tray‑loading iMacs generally cannot, and running Tiger on a low‑clock G3 with minimal RAM will feel sluggish. Apple’s Tiger marketing and requirements specifically targeted PowerPC G3/G4/G5 machines with built‑in FireWire. (apple.com)

First practical step: identify the exact model and firmware. If you already have OS X, use About This Mac -> More Info and check Model Identifier / Boot ROM. From Terminal:

system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk -F": " '/Model Identifier|Boot ROM/ {print $2}'

If you only have OS 9, read the serial/model on the case and look it up (EveryMac has a complete list and shows the maximum OS each iMac G3 variant supports). Use that model lookup before you spend money. (everymac.com)

Firmware and install routes: many slot‑load iMacs need the iMac firmware update (4.1.9) before upgrading OS X — that updater historically must be applied from Mac OS 9 and is documented in community download notes. For unsupported early iMacs, third‑party tools like XPostFacto have been used to force installs of Tiger, but these are unofficial, can be fragile, and require careful backups. Always back up, print instructions, and prefer testing on an external drive first. (discussions.apple.com)

Recommendation: if the machine is a late slot‑loader with FireWire and you can upgrade RAM to 512 MB–1 GB, Tiger is possible but not fast; Panther (10.3) is a better balance on borderline G3 hardware, and OS 9 Classic will continue to be the safest path for legacy apps (Classic is supported under PowerPC Tiger but not on Intel/Leopard+). If you value responsiveness, consider buying a later PowerPC iMac that natively shipped with Tiger. (en.wikipedia.org)

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Member Avatar for yellow

If it's an original iMac, I don't think you can install Tiger on it without something like XPostFacto. Tiger's specs say they require a built-in Firewire port. Do you have that, is it a slot-loading Mac?

Do you have enough disk space?

IMO, if you COULD install Tiger on your iMac, it would be far too slow.

A better thought is installing Panther. It'll be pretty fast and usable. As long as you don't erase the drive and remove OS9, most of your legacy stuff should work through "Classic".

Before you do anything, make damn sure your firmware is up to date.

Member Avatar for godwinfh

In case it helps, the retailer who sold me my slot-loading G3 iMac with 9.0.3 told me yesterday that I can upgrade to OS 10.3, but not to 10.4 or higher because I don't have a Firewire port and that port can't be added to my iMac.
I've also learned that my web browser (Internet Explorer) won't work with OS 10. Don't know yet if that applies to my e-mail and word processing apps.

Member Avatar for colimac

In case it helps, the retailer who sold me my slot-loading G3 iMac with 9.0.3 told me yesterday that I can upgrade to OS 10.3, but not to 10.4 or higher because I don't have a Firewire port and that port can't be added to my iMac.
I've also learned that my web browser (Internet Explorer) won't work with OS 10. Don't know yet if that applies to my e-mail and word processing apps.

I have an Imac 400, 1994 vintage loaded with osx Tiger plus a vast ammount of software ie. Adobe cs suite ++
350 ram, 20gb hd,
ALL WORKS SUBERBLY !!

Member Avatar for pheidius

hi:cheesy:

If you LUV your Imac and it is a tray loading Imac without a firewire port then: you can spend some money. You can buy upgrade cards that include firewire ports/support. If you have a slot loading Imac then load-away. The reason I cap LUV is that you can buy on Ebay(or elsewhere) a smorgasboard of Imacs that will support Tiger right out of the bubble wrap. Or(If you are REALLY patient) you can buy an upgrade card on Ebay used. The only irony here is that tray loaders, as a group, can actually be upgraded to faster cpu's much more easlily then the slot loaders that I referenced above. I believe Powerlogic actually sold a 900 mhz g-3 upgrade card for tray loaders that, while now discontinued, must have made a rocking tray loader.

Member Avatar for snp409

I have an imac g3 slot-loader w/ 400 mhz cpu and 384 mb ram and it is running Mac OS X 10.4.11 with ease, just disable all wigets in dashboard and it should run just dandy, but as yellow said before, make damn sure your firmware is up to date.

Member Avatar for sheikhali449

I have certain reservations regarding Tiger so I advice better not to do so

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