[NTLK] [OT] Mac OS question

[Matt Howe]

Well you hit the nail right on the head. It was a AIO/Molar I converted
(good memory!) It is the 266 Mhz with 352 mb Ram. I am not familiar with the
various name to version equivalents. I have a copy of OSX Tiger but from
what I am reading, and thanks for all of your responses, this is probably
not a viable solution and I should just lean on work to get me say a Mac
mini. Part of my interest is that the company I work for is starting to
develop an iPhone app and that development has fallen to me although we did
hire an outside group to do the framework, it is my job to "pretty" it up.
So I guess the IBMac will stay at OS 9.

Thanks again for all of your responses.

Matt (Ducky) Howe
Owner of a MP2000U and an Emate
SantaMatt at Gmail.com (Nokia N770)
matthowe at comcast.net (Desktop)
http://home.comcast.net/~mhowe41/
http://SantaMatt.blogspot.com

James Fraser wrote:
<snip>
>As for "enough horse power": enough for what?

This.  Without knowing what you're planning to use it for, exactly, it's
difficult to advise you if it would be worth your while or not.

Even more basic, are you looking to install OS X on a AIO/Molar?  IIRC,
that's
the particular machine you fitted into an IBM case, yes?  If this is
correct, I
would strongly advise that you only attempt this if you are first willing to
stock up on tranquilizers.


Seriously, the fastest AIO runs at 266Mhz and has a 66MHz bus speed.  Unless
you
have a strong masochistic streak, it will very likely not be worth it.  If
the
RAM and HD in the machine are stock, (are they?) it will very *definitely*
not
be worth it.  With B&W machines available at near-giveaway prices nowadays,
you
would, IMHO, be far better off picking up a late-model B&W rather than
trying to
coax a 266MHz AIO into running X.

Is it possible to install OS X on your machine?  Yes, it is.   In fact, it's
even possible to install 10.3  on a 25MHz Centris...athough it does not
necessarily run after the install:

http://forums.mactalk.com.au/18/1496-mac-os-x-panther-25mhz-centris-650-a.ht
ml

...and the estimated boot time is ~7 days. @_@

>From where I'm standing, the only scenario under which installing X *might*
make
some sort of  sense is if you wanted to install, say, 10.2, and mouse around
for
a bit just to see what the OS is like.  The AIO will officially support up
to
10.2.8 (and even beyond that with the help of XpostFacto).

Why do I I belabor the point?  Simple: because I run X on a machine with
enough
RAM installed to match the AIO's RAM ceiling, while possessing nearly twice
the
CPU speed, and nearly twice the bus speed of the AIO.  Yet, despite these
advantages, please believe me when I tell you that it's *still* a fairly
unpleasant experience.  While I'm convinced you could do it, I am equally
convinced that you would be a different person at the end of it all.


Of course, it's only fair to admit that my "unpleasant" could be your
"tolerable." I just don't know.  All I can tell you is that, from my own
perspective, the AIO is an awkward 12-year-old child that is not worth
putting
much time and money into in 2010.  I say this as someone who knows and loves
vintage hardware, (I'm here, aren't I?) but who also understands that
there's a
Point of Diminishing Returns for everything.

Unfortunately, I think that's exactly what you are looking at here.

That said, if you are absolutely committed to going through with this no
matter
what, LEM Swap:

http://lowendmac.com/lists/swap.html

..is a good source for stuff like vintage RAM and HDs (which, as I say, you
will
certainly need if your machine is still stock configuration).  Likewise, in
case
you haven't already seen it, here is the AIO's profile page:

http://lowendmac.com/ppc/power-mac-g3-all-in-one.html

...that has links to XPostFacto 'n stuff as well as better and further
particulars on the the hardware limitations of the AIO (and there are many).
It's well worth a read...


[lapses into voice of the ever-present tape recorder from the old "Mission
Impossible" TV series]


".....should you decide to accept this mission."  :^)



All Best,

James Fraser
<snip>