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| Author | Hello from a iMac G3! (Read 51672 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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snes1423
256 MB  Posts: 458 A Man born of Mechina 
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on: September 15, 2024, 04:16
got my hands on a in box summer 2000 350mhz indigo imac g3! running 9.2.2 typing this from it |
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023
Reply #1 on: September 15, 2024, 11:05
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Wow, lovely machine! I had one back in the days and sold it a few years later to upgrade (as we used to, or rather - had to financially). I've been missing mine ever since. Great computer. Have fun with it! (too bad it doesn't run 7.6 ;-) )
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mac-cellar
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128 MB Posts: 176 Gotta love System 7
Reply #2 on: September 15, 2024, 23:05
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Had an indigo iMac G3 myself way back when - a marvelous machine in OS 9 and later OS X as well.
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1179 System 7, today and forever
Reply #3 on: September 17, 2024, 15:37
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Wait.. the very first "Bondi" iMac did run Mac OS 8.1, which is more System 7-ish than when the Mac OS went PPC-only, so while this particular model doesn't support Mac OS 8.1, the first member of its family did  It makes me wonder if the OS that came with the Bondi iMac could be retrofitted to run on any of the later models? (I know, more than likely, that's more like wishful thinking, right?) 
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #4 on: September 17, 2024, 16:07
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The original Bondi iMac initially shipped with OS 8.1, but later Bondi iMacs shipped with OS 8.5. I do not know if the Bondi iMacs that shipped with 8.5 could be downgraded to 8.1. They certainly made quite a stir in the world of computing. The whole missing floppy drive created one of the biggest tempest in a teapot incidents the computer world has ever seen, I never did own any of the G3 iMacs, but I was given one at work that came with a touch screen. Never used the touch screen for much of anything, but having a touch screen seemed pretty cool. The Lumber yard got the iMac from a door supplier who had the touch screen installed. I ran a HyperCard stack that covered all the various doors they sold, and was setup as a sales kiosk for customers to pick the "perfect" door. We never sold the doors. The iMac was plopped down on my desk. I used ClarisWorks 4 mostly on it. The draw module was used to create simple sales tags for out on the floor. I used the spreadsheet database to keep a customer list. The write module was used to create newsletters, which were saved as rich text, then I spammed out customers with email sent via Cyberdog, which did rich text. The CW4 communications module allow me to connect to the AIX server in the back which ran the stores backend. Even though I was never particularly fond of the G3 iMac, I have to say that during the time I used it I probably did more productive work on that computer than any other computer I have used.
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1179 System 7, today and forever
Reply #5 on: September 17, 2024, 17:10
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Wow.. the productivity bump alone that it gave you speaks volumes to the factors we all love of our beloved Classic Mac OS platform! 
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lauland
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512 MB Posts: 674 Symtes 7 Mewconer!
Reply #6 on: September 18, 2024, 16:28
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Yeah, the original Bondi iMac was a VERY weird critter inside. With the main board in two parts, with the connector between them being used for third party upgrades it was never intended for, and other fun Easter Eggs showing the convoluted history that led to the design. And traces for a floppy port on the motherboard that could be used if you were handy with a soldiering iron. Fun: When they were brand new, my girlfriend at the time bought one and was so excited about it, she had a party just for the Mac. I later bought it from her after she'd upgraded, and it was the first Mac I paid money for (just used work machines up until then). I got it when the MacOS X Developer Previews came out just so I could run it to learn the new OS. I think you MIGHT be able to get the 8.1 that shipped with it to run on the first generation of colored iMacs, at least the ones that had similar motherboards (and video chips), by hacking the "Mac OS ROM" file to recognize their machine id's. But later models (slot loaders and on?) used different motherboards and chipsets and probably wouldn't work. I wonder what would happen if you took the "Mac OS ROM" from a newer system and tried it with the bondi's 8.1 System Folder?
Last Edit: September 18, 2024, 16:31 by lauland
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ovalking
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128 MB Posts: 199
Reply #7 on: November 11, 2024, 12:28
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>I do not know if the Bondi iMacs that shipped with 8.5 could be downgraded to 8.1. Been meaning to try this... Rev A iMac came with 8.1, I managed to find an original install CD. Rev B iMac came with 8.5 (graphics chip the only other difference). I aquired one. The Rev B will run the 8.1 installation - that's a good thing!!
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #8 on: November 11, 2024, 17:26
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Just a point of curiosity I am wondering what benefits 8.1 has over 8.5, 8.5.1, 8.6. As I recall 8.5 was considered something of a bust, being rather unstable compared to 8.1. 8.5.1 took care of the stability problems from what I remember with 8.6 adding perhaps a bit more polish. I ran 8.5.1 for a good while eventually moving to 9.0.4, which I stuck with until 9.2.2. Probably the only reason for moving on was newer features/software needing a new OS of which the introduction of dotMac was probably the biggest reason. I found and still do find it is an engaging challenge to get OSes running on hardware it was not designed to run on, but I generally drop back to an OS that is native and supported on the machine. I had good fun getting OS8 running on a //fx, but after seeing it was doable and working, I went right back to System 6.0.5 on it.
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ClassicHasClass
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32 MB Posts: 39
Reply #9 on: November 12, 2024, 00:04
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(all IMHO) 8.1 uses a bit less memory and I prefer it on early pre-G3 Power Macs like the 2300, especially if they have a relatively low memory ceiling. On a New World system or a machine with a G3 or G4 upgrade, however, there is little reason to run anything prior to 8.6, and good reasons to run at least that: more PowerPC native portions of the operating system, better tuning for later CPUs, improvements in the nanokernel and support for Carbon. This doesn't apply to the iMac, but on multiprocessor Power Macs 8.6 also introduces Multiprocessor Services. Almost all of my classic Power Macs run OS 9, except for the 9150 which doesn't have an OS right now, the 2300 which runs 8.1 and the BeOS 6500 which runs 8.6 (the BeOS launcher can't run from OS 9). This is because almost all of my classic Power Macs have G3 upgrades (like my 1400, 7100 and 7300) or are natively G3/G4s.
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ovalking
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128 MB Posts: 199
Reply #10 on: November 12, 2024, 12:03
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>Just a point of curiosity I am wondering what benefits 8.1 has over 8.5, 8.5.1, 8.6. In addition to the aforementioned memory, stability and speed issues, 8.5 introduced a couple of my pet hates: Sherlock and Navigation Services dialog boxes. It did finally offer keyboard application switching, but this is easily remedied with freeware.
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1179 System 7, today and forever
Reply #11 on: November 12, 2024, 15:35
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So my sole reason to look at anything early G3 and Mac OS 8.1 was simply to align those early Macs with Mac OS 7 (the 'raison d'être of this site) where Mac OS 7.6.1 has a snappier OS with lower RAM usage specifically on pre-G3 Macs. Dan put up this site specifically with that premise: to showcase and benchmark the speed of his PPC Macs using Mac OS 7.6.1, and the key to his success was to pool together all of the Mac OS 7 compatible software and updates together here on S7T I remember that early on I think were were all spoon-fed the idea to upgrade our OSes to 8.6 for PPC Macs for a mean and lean OS and Macs OS 9 for everything G3 and up, which I confess is pretty much how I still have all my Macs now (but in the case of my Beige G3 Mac, it's setup to triple boot into 8.1, 8.6 and 9.2.2, conceivably for the best of all worlds)
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Neal_SE30
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256 MB Posts: 401 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #12 on: November 17, 2024, 19:17
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Great machine and still usable. I have a grey 400mhz one. Os 9.2 classic mode and 10.3.9. I brought it as a bridge machine between my se/30 and 2012 iMac and it works really well. I download from my intel iMac, network share with the g3, then Zip drives from g3 to se/30. It’s also a fun games machine. Currently playing descent, tomb raider and age of empires. I even have ms office and photoshop, all work just fine on the g3. It’s a great all rounder and iconic design to boot. I would have liked the blue one myself but the grey one came up for sale locally for only £20. The only issue with mine is the speakers are shot although a route through an amp and speakers so not a top priority at the moment.
Last Edit: November 17, 2024, 19:24 by Neal_SE30
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