Need Help

[skrillet]

I loaded linux ubuntu onto a iMac that I got. I got the iMac for $100 from someone. It is a couple of years old. When I first got it there was a older version of OSX on it but I wanted to play around with linux. I can not really get linux to do what I want yet so I am trying to put OSX back on it. I do not have any cds are anything with OSX on it. It only has a cd drive. I have a external usb/firewire hard drive and an external usb/firewire DVD drive. What can I do to get OSX back on it.

[nixgeek]

Which model iMac are you using? Please provide all the necessary specifications. I can help you out if you need help. Here are a couple of things I recommend with Ubuntu on an older iMac.

1. Download the Alternate Install CD instead of the live version. The Alternate Install disc has more options. It uses the Debian installer which is text based but easy to go through. THis is the same version of the installation that was used in Breezy and earlier versions of Ubuntu. The Live CD Install is still too new to work properly on all systems. Also remember that you need the PowerPC version...the x86 version is for Intel/AMD/x86-compatible PCs.

2. To boot from the disc, insert the disc and hold down the C key after you hear the startup chime. If all goes well, you'll get a black screen with some text asking you what to do. The default should suffice. At this point, the Debian installer should come up and start asking you questions during the install.

3. When partitioning, make sure you create a bootstrap partition. You could tell the installer to automagically create the partitions, but I'm not sure if it also creates the bootstrap partition (I always create my partitions manually). The bootstrap partition is basically an HFS partition that will house yaboot (the bootloader), the kernel, and necessary boot files. You can make this from about 10-50 MB in size, depending on how much you want to store there.

If you don't want to do this and want to go back to OS X, then you're going to have to purchase the installation discs. Other World Computing has various versions of OS X at decent prices.

http://www.macsales.com

I recommend getting the retail installation discs and not the solid-colored OEM discs that come with the Macs.

[barhar]

'I do not have any cds are anything with OSX on it. It only has a cd drive. ... What can I do to get OSX back on it.' - purchase the 'Panther' (MacOS X 10.3) installation CD set.