Uprading to OS X on old G3 Powerbook

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fizzyfizz

Registered
I've got an old G3 Powerbook (bronze keyboard, no firewire, family no.5743)

Is it going to possible to upgrade to OX 10.2 on this machine and is there anything I need to be aware of? Someone mentioned something about a possible firmware update but after checking on the Apple site I've become a bit confused!

(sorry, new Mac user!)
 
I don't believe it's possible to install OS X on those models. You can give it a shot, but as I recall, I've tried a few times on a couple different BRONZE powerbooks and was unsuccessful.

Even if you do, it's going to be slow. 10.2 is inherently slow compared to 10.3 and 10.4 on the same hardware. Plus, the RAM limitations of that computer are very constricting for OS X.
 
I had a Pismo and 10.2 worked great on it; the only drawback was that it worked a bit slow. Make sure you have maxxed out your RAM and have tons of hard drive space.

The combo updater to get from 10.2 install to 10.2.8 (the last 10.2 system before Panther 10.3): http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxupdatecombo_10_2_8.html

Also, make sure you update your OS 9 (Classic) to 9.2.2--this is the version that runs best with OS X. Do this before you install OS X.
 
My recollection might have been regarding 10.3 -- which requires built-in FireWire.

After you update to 9.2.2, be sure to check OS 9's Software Update to see if there are any other updates -- namely a firmware update -- and install them.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_os_x_10.3

"* Supported Computers - Power Mac G3, G4, G5, iMac, eMac, PowerBook G3 (bronze keyboard models only) or G4, or iBook G3 or G4
* RAM required - 128 megabytes
* Hard Drive Space - 1.5 gigabytes

Panther has increased system requirements over Jaguar (10.2) as it requires the computer to have a USB port. This change in requirements means that beige Power Mac G3s and "Wall Street" PowerBook G3s are unable to run 10.3. Checks are made during the install process and hence installation will fail on older machines. This requirement can be overcome by using 3rd party software such as XPostFacto."

Ah ha. I was wrong about the Wallstreet. Guess it will handle 10.2 or lower...
 
Just about every post I've made in this forum since late August 2002 has been done from a PowerBook G3 Wallstreet running Mac OS X v10.2.

My wife's primary system for the last two years has been a PowerBook G3 Pismo running Mac OS X v10.3. Not only is it the system she does everything on, it is also her DVD player.

I have been using a PowerBook G3 Lombard running Mac OS X 10.3 for school since the end of summer.

macworks said:
I don't believe it's possible to install OS X on those models. You can give it a shot, but as I recall, I've tried a few times on a couple different BRONZE powerbooks and was unsuccessful.
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As you are in Minneapolis, I would be happy to make one of the topics of either the mini'app'les Main Mac SIG or Mac OS X SIG meeting about installing Mac OS X. We had a meeting on installing on unsupported hardware about a year ago, but it is always a good topic.

In the case of all three PowerBook G3's, installation requires no tricks or hacks to install Mac OS X (10.2 for the Wallstreet, 10.3 for the Lombard and even 10.4 for the Pismo).

Even if you do, it's going to be slow. 10.2 is inherently slow compared to 10.3 and 10.4 on the same hardware.
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Actually 10.2 makes up for some interface slowness by not being such a resource hog... which is why I still use 10.2 for almost 90% of what I do in Mac OS X.

On the fastest hardware that can run 10.2, 10.3 and even 10.4 to a degree can seem faster... but on a PowerBook G3, the difference just isn't that big.

The main reason for using 10.3 over 10.2 would be application compatibility.

Plus, the RAM limitations of that computer are very constricting for OS X.
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My Wallstreet has 512 MB of RAM... which for 10.2 is a lot of memory. Not many people had beyond 512 MB back in 2002/2003. The average Mac back them was sold with either 128 or 256 MB of RAM preinstalled by Apple.

My Lombard also has 512 MB of RAM... which is fine for 10.3. The average PowerBook sold around the time of the 10.3 release was 256 MB with only the high end PowerBook coming with 512 MB of memory preinstalled.

My wife's Pismo has 640 MB (and has a max of 1 GB)... which is great for 10.3. And is more than most of the PowerBooks shipped with that came with 10.4 preinstalled.

I currently don't find memory on any of the PowerBook G3's to be constricting in my usage of Mac OS X on them.
 
For the record, I tried the installation last night and everything worked fine. No problems at all. The only issue would be that the graphical side of OX ran rather slow and jerky but apart from that... no problems!
Thanks for everyone's advice.
 
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