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Message |
    
kdm
Citizen
Username: Kdm
Post Number: 72
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 5:58 pm: |     |
I have an iMac from 1997 that is running OS 8.6. I think it has a whopping 64MB of RAM. It works great (Excel, Quicken, Word, etc.) but I just bought an Apple Mini so I'd like to give the iMac to the kids to go to sesamestreet.com, etc. I just went online with the iMac for the first time in 5 years using some old version of Netscape. It works ok, but on sites using Flash or other newer stuff it is no good.
Any thoughts from you Mac guys on how to make the machine usable on current websites? Add RAM and upgrade the OS and then get a newer version of a browser? I'm not sure what is possible.
I'd appreciate any help. Thanks. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11535
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 6:03 pm: | |
You might be sending good money after bad with such an old machine. But if you do want to upgrade it, yes, adding RAM and upgrading the OS is the way to go. Browsers are free for download, though of course, you wouldn't do it until after the RAM and OS upgrade.
Gaming and animation call for a fast computer. Consider giving the kids the new computer and keeping the old one for yourself. Or buying the kids a new computer in addition. But that's expensive, too, of course.
I've been struggling a bit with MacOS 8.x and 9.x and they don't seem worth the trouble any more.
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monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1761
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 1:13 am: | |
I still have OS 9.2.2 on my sons iMac 350, for awhile I had him using Wamcom (an early version of Mozilla), but a few months ago it just became to slow and buggy with the newer versions of Macromedia's flash, etc.
So then I went to whatever the latest version of Netscape was, , then I had to go to IE (yuck).
Just a couple of days ago I switched back to the latest version of Netscape and installed the latest Macromedia plugins to get some of the games at one of his favorite sites working (Lego.com).
I see an upgrade to OS 10.3.9 coming soon to an iMac in my sons room, maybe even over the holiday school break. |
kdm
Citizen
Username: Kdm
Post Number: 73
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - 9:42 pm: | |
I've spent the last weeks (on and off) trying to get this iMac "online ready" (meaning that it can browse the web and run Flash). My latest effort was to upgrade the OS from 8.1 (I erred before when I said 8.6) to OS 9. I thought I was in goood shape when I saw that the install disks which came with the Mac Mini I just bought contain OS9. However, when I put the disk in the iMac it doesn't get recognized. The iMac drive does recognize other disks and the install disk does appear on other machines. I'm guessing that my 1997 iMac disc drive can't read new disks? Does anyone know the basics on what discs can be read on what macs?
Since that didn't work, I thought I would try putting the disc in another Mac which was networked to the iMac and trying to install from the other mac. Is that even possible? I thought it couldn't hurt -- though the Read Me with the install disc says not to install this OS 9 on anything but the Mini (copyright reasons? or would it really not work on any other machine?) and that if the OS 9 is installed on the Mini (which it isn't now) that the machine can't be booted from OS 9. I must boot from OS X and then start OS9. Anyone have any thoughts?
If this route doesn't work, where can I get a copy of OS 9 on a disc I can read?
Thanks for the advice. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11908
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - 10:16 pm: | |
First, I seriously doubt it's a real OS 9 disk that came with the mini. It's most probably OS 9 support, which allows you to run OS 9 programs while running OS X.
Second, no, I doubt you can boot an install disk from a remote (networked) computer. I could be wrong.
Third, why do you want OS 9 on the old imac? Support for that dried up years ago. No one has written any software for it for years.
My wife is about to try OS X on an old G3 Powerbook. It has OS 9, which is pretty creaky now. I can let you know if it performs acceptably fast.
My wife might have OS 9 disks around somewhere, but it could take a while to find them, but still, I recommend against it!
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monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1859
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 1:19 am: | |
The first thing you should do is to install more RAM, and make sure you buy the right kind.
If you have one of the first round of iMacs, then it is a Bondi Blue iMac, first shipped in 1998, it takes 2 pc66 144 pin SO-DIMM memory modules (it sounds like you have one 64 MB stick of memory installed), if it is a revision A model then it will take a total of 384 megs of RAM, if revision B then it will take 512 megs of RAM.
It should only take up to OS 10.3.9, and really only if you max out the RAM, and you must update the firmware on it before even attempting to go to OS X.
If you keep an eye out for a refurbed Mac Mini at the Apple Store, I've seen them for a little more than $200 extra, than what you would be spending on memory & possible hassles for the iMac.
Keep in mind that OS X will not run on the iMac as it does on newer models of Macs.
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kdm
Citizen
Username: Kdm
Post Number: 74
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2006 - 3:23 pm: | |
Tom - I think you are right that the disk has OS9 Support. I am only upgrading the machine because it was my understanding that OS X would be too "big" to run on this old an iMac. I figured if I could just get OS 9 installed then I could get a version of Flash player that would allow my kids to goo to Sesamestreet.com. I have considered getting an emMac or Mini & monitor/keyboard/mouse, but figured that getting the iMac in good enough shape to just go to a few websites would be a much cheaper option. Though the time and aggravation might not be worth the $500-$1000 for a new machine. Do you think I'm wrong that if I just get my hands on OS 9 all will work? It is a little hard to justify that much money in my financial situation.
Monster - I do have the Bondi Blue iMac, though I do believe I got it at the end of 19997. I believe you are right about the 64MB Ram. Will OS 9 run with 64MB? Before I go out and get more Ram just so it goes faster, I'd like to see if I can get OS 9 installed.
Thank you both for your time and assistance. |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1867
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2006 - 5:35 pm: | |
It will run OS 9 on 64 megs of RAM, but it will still run slow, OS 9.2.2 is what you should be running then, it is the most stable (& last) upgrade before OS X.
As I stated in my first post, my sons iMac is still running OS 9 and I have found that the latest version of Netscape is doing him just fine, as well as is the latest Macromedia Flash Player, etc., while running on Netscape. IE works too, but as I stated above, I found that it wasn't working as well as Netscape. |
Eponymous
Citizen
Username: Eponymous
Post Number: 12
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2006 - 7:15 pm: | |
You are better off with OS 9. I'd get more RAM too, but be careful on how much it costs. You may be able to get a newer iMac for only a little more than what the extra memory will cost. What model do you have exactly (MHz, RAM config, etc)? You can find out with the System Profiler application. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11955
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 10:38 am: | |
Yes, I guess that if OS 9 will run the software you want, it's a better bet.
(I just put OS X on my wife's powerbook G3, and it barely fit on the 6 GB hard disk. But the disk is so full that there is no room for MS Office! So now I ordered a replacement hard disk, and I sure as heck hope it fits in there, physically.)
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monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1869
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 4:03 pm: | |
Tom you can clear up some space bny getting rid of some of the apps you don't want, or won't use, if you installed OS 9 (Classic) that will take up space too.
Download Monolingual, it will take out around 500 megs or so of languages that are installed besides English. You can pick which languages it removes also. |
kdm
Citizen
Username: Kdm
Post Number: 75
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 1:01 pm: | |
I thought I would share how things turned out. I bought a CD of Mac OS 9.2.2 on eBay for $24. I had to upgrade the iMac's firmware before installing the OS. That task was more complicated than I had hoped. The Apple website (and I think a Read Me file on the CD) said that I could find the firmware and instructions on how to install in it the Extras folder on the CD. I looked everywhere and couldn't find it. So, after much searching of the Apple site I found the firmware. When I downloaded it my iMac crashed 3-4 times before I was successful. The actual firmware install was easy. When that was done the clean install of OS 9.2.2 over the old 8.1 version went off without a hitch. I then disabled a bunch of control panels and extensions to save some memory (I haven't added RAM to the 64MB that is installed). Finally, I downloaded and installed Flash.
All this took 2-3 hours but now I have an iMac that can access SesameStreet.com, etc. So, in the end it cost $24 and a fair amount of time but I don't have to turn my iMac into an aquarium. My kids are happy and so is my wife (because the kids won't use her machine any more).
If the iMac runs slow, I'll think about adding more memory. One strange thing is that I've only been able to use Internet Explorer because Netscape keeps blowing up (but I think it did that before the install).
Thanks for all your help along the way Monster and Tom.
Now I have to figure out if I can get the iMac to serve as the print server for my HP 1210 All-in-one (via USB). I bought a Netgear wireless router w/ print server a month ago and the wireless access to the web works great but I can't figure out how to get it to function as a print server. Netgear's site says they don't support Macs for their stand along print servers. So, I'm going to try to see if the iMac will serve that purpose.
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Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 12058
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 1:11 pm: | |
The Netscape browser was based on Mozilla. The latest version of Mozilla for MacOS 9 is available at http://www.wamcom.org/latest-131/
Mozilla's own page says they dis-recommend Mozilla for MacOS 9 and recommend WaMCom which is another integrated emailer and web browser.
Congratulations on your successes so far.
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monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1928
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 1:37 pm: | |
Good job kdm, just because Netgear states taht they don't support macs for the print server, doesn't mean that it won't work, just that they won't help you with any Mac related problems.
USB Printer Sharing should work (though I seem to remember that HP didn't support USB printer sharing) with the printer connected to the iMac, keep in mind that the iMac will have to remain on for printing from other computers.
Here is that page at Apple for USB Printer Sharing, http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50576
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