Mac OS X 10.2 'Jaguar' Can Unleash the Power of G3 iBooks
- 2008.06.17 - Tip Jar
Bookmark in
del.icio.us 
Suggest to
Slashdot
Low End Mac Reader Specials
Memory To Go Special: New 2008 iMac 2GB $42 / iMac Intel Core2 DUO & MacBook Pro 2GB $36 - 1GB $20. MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $154 / 2GB kit $94 -- Free shipping available.
Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.
OWC: OWC Mercury On-The-Go FW400/800/USB2/eSATA Portables High Performance A/V Rated, **Bus Powered** **Up to 500GB in the Palm of your Hand** Macworld Editor's Choice, CNET 'Very Good' - from $75.99!
Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.
New MacPro Memory 800Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $88 / 4GB $138 / 8GB $274 - Click to Maximize your Macs...
Last time, I promised you a Snow Leopard article. I'm still working on that one, but in the meantime, I just had to write about another Mac in my collection: the Dual USB iBook.
The Clamshell's successor, the Dual USB was something completely different. It lost some weight, and the multiple colors were all gone. Left was only the white polycarbonate, which is still used in the MacBook and had already been used in the iMac.
The Dual USB iBook features PowerPC G3 processors from 500 MHz all the way up to 900 MHz; mine is a 600 MHz version.
Now let's talk about how I made this Classic Mac more useful in the Intel Age!
My iBook shipped with Mac OS X 10.1 "Puma", which I still have on the restore CDs. It was quite speedy, but Puma doesn't support many of the applications we use every day, so I figured I'd go modern and install Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger".
I started by checking if the Mac was compatible. It sure was, with a 600 MHz G3, 30 GB hard drive, and 512 MB of RAM. But for some reason, it refused to install: "Please try installing again." I followed the installer's advice twice but found myself with the same error message.
So I started looking into alternatives. The recent "Linux on Macs" discussion here on Low End Mac got me thinking - maybe Linux could be a good choice for the iBook.
All the distributions ("distros")
of Linux made me crazy, but I did remember using Ubuntu on my Celeron
PC two years ago. So I went onto ubuntu.com with my Hackintosh and
downloaded the Ubuntu
7.04 PowerPC image. It took a good 45 minutes to download the image
(slow server?), but once it was finished, I burned it to CD with Disk
Utility.
When the image had been burned, I inserted the Ubuntu installer CD and booted the iBook from it. It took quite some time to boot off the CD, but eventually I was presented with a Live CD desktop containing an Install icon.
Believe it or not, Ubuntu also refused to install! I needed this machine for a trip and was running out of time.
As it turns out, the problem was a faulty RAM stick. I removed the RAM, but now the iBook had only 128 MB ! That's not enough for Ubuntu, Tiger, or Panther.
I dug out my Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2) disks. The iBook booted very quickly from CD 1, and I chose to do a normal install on the 30 GB drive. (That drive, by the way, did not ship with the iBook. It came with a 20 GB drive, but I upgraded.) Would it work?
That question was answered, and the answer was "Yes".
After installing, the good old Jaguar intro movie popped up, and I had to fill in my personal information.
Immediately after installing,
I remembered I had a 512 MB stick in an old ThinkPad, so I shut down
the iBook and installed the memory. Jaguar booted extremely fast and
was very, very responsive.
You might think I'd have wanted to upgrade to Tiger, but no. Jaguar was so speedy on the iBook, even letting me view DivX and streaming video, that I simply decided to settle down with it.
And that very iBook still runs Jaguar. It never lets me down, and I'm always stunned at how this little G3 can be so snappy. Jaguar has since grown to be my favorite Mac OS X version for G3 computers (Leopard on newer G4s and G5s, and Tiger on very early G4s).
What do I use the iBook for? Well, since it has AirPort and the battery is in good shape, I use it on the go to surf the Web and watch movies. I also use it to edit and create movies in iMovie and for working with photos in iPhoto. Finally, it occasionally serves as a media center hooked up to my flat screen TV.
So what's my conclusion? It's that a G3 machine can be quite powerful and handle more than you think, which is the purpose of this column - making Classic Macs useful in the Intel Age.
And also that Jaguar is a great operating system for Macs with limited RAM.
Next time, we'll talk about Snow Leopard.
Recent Columns by Carl Nygren
- Is Wirecard a Real Alternative to PayPal?, 08.07. PayPal has an established worldwide presence, but Wirecard is offered by a real bank and has lower fees. Any drawbacks?
- Is Windows XP better than Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger'?, 07.28. Vista is a bust, and Leopard won't run on G3 Macs. How do legacy G3 and G4 Macs with Tiger compare with a fairly modern 2 GHz PC running Windows XP?
- Bringing a 233 MHz iMac into the Mac OS X age, 07.15. Upgraded with 128 MB additional RAM and a larger hard drive, the iMacs was ready for Mac OS X 10.2 'Jaguar' - and runs it very nicely.
- Upgrading your eMac for better gaming and hi-res video performance, 07.11. This eMac started out with too little RAM and not enough hard drive space. With several upgrades, it plays games quite well and handles HD video content nicely.
- More in the Classic Macs in the Intel Age index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Mac LC III, Feb. 1993 - The first LC without compromise: 25 MHz 68030 CPU, 32-bit memory, up to 36 MB of RAM.
- List of the Day: G4 'Books an email list for G4 iBooks and PowerBooks.
- September 8 in LEM history: 99: Big sound from the little iMac - Ethernet alternative to USB drives - 00: Building a back-to-school bundle - 03: 17" 1.25 GHz iMac G4 - My Mac Plus revisited - 06: Inside your notebook's battery - Andy Hertzfeld, software wizard - OS X is a pleasure to use - MacBook random shutdown - Core2 7% faster
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Anticipation: New iPods Now, New Macs Later, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 09.05. The season of new iPods is at hand, but new Macs may wait until 2009.
- Buy a MacBook Now or Wait?, MacBook touch Patents, Samsung X360 Takes on MBA, and More, The 'Book Review, 09.05. Also 20 years of portable Macs, data backup and preservation, universal U-Charge battery charger for Mac 'Books, bargain 'Books from $150 to $2,699, and more.
- Listen to Just the Music with the V-Moda Vibe Earbuds, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 09.05. Well built, the noise canceling earbuds will let you hear all the nuances of your music without letting through background noise.
- Source of iPhone 3G Problems, Army Uses iPods as Field Translators, Gains with Business, and More, iNews Review, 09.05. Also UK bans iPhone ad as 'misleading', iPhone password easy to bypass, GM to offer radios with USB in 2009 models, weather tracking software, and more.
- Macs Gain Ground in August, Consumers Most Likely to Buy Macs, LaCie USB Speakers, and More, Mac News Review, 09.05. Also migrating Time Machine to a new drive and two new keyboards from Logitech.
- Best iPod touch Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05. Refurb 8 GB, $199; new, $284; refurb 16 GB, $299; new, $370; refurb 32 GB, $399; new, $453.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05. Used 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $999; 2.16, $1,125; new, 2.2, $1,450 after rebate; refurb 2.4, $1,699; 2.5, $1,999; 2.6 Santa Rosa, $1,849; rebates on new.
- Best iMac G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $279; 800 Combo, $300; 1 GHz $390; 17" 800 MHz SD, $439; 1.25 GHz, $449; 20", $569.
- Overclocking a Mac mini Got Me Hooked on Souping Up Macs, Adam Geller, My First Mac, 09.04. Stories of hot rodding iBooks, G3 iMacs, and PCI Power Macs on the cheap.
- Apple Will Not Abandon Optical Drives, the Mac Drought, Purposeful Mac Acquisition, and More, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 09.04. Also Mac OS X 10.5 on a G4-upgraded Blue & White G3 and problems using a flat panel display with a Quadra 700.
- Only Leopard Runs Routine Maintenance Tasks after Startup or Waking from Sleep, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 09.04. Mac OS X 10.5 runs routine system maintenance scripts as soon as possible after starting up or waking up your Mac. Earlier versions of OS X do not do this.
- Best Mac mini Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04. Used 1.25 GHz G4 SD, $549; 1.42 Combo, $409; new 1.83 Core2 Combo, $569 after rebate; 2.0 SD, $769 after rebate.
- Tomorrow's Solid State Drives and Notebooks, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 09.04. Flash drives are great but have some shortcomings. Some thoughts on building better SSDs and notebooks to use them.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04. Used 867 MHz Combo, no APX, $490; 1 GHz, $550; SuperDrive, $625; 1.5 GHz w/o APX, $660; w/APX, $675.
- Best 17" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04. Used 1 GHz, $779; 1.33 GHz, $799; 1.5 GHz, $859; 1.67 GHz, $910.
- 11 Mac Browsers Compared, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 09.03. The latest versions of Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Shiira, iCab, Radon, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, SeaMonkey, Flock, and Camino tested in Leopard.
- Save Internet Radio, USB and Hard Drives, Hardware Manufacturers vs. Linux, and More, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 09.03. Also Mac won't book after cleaning, newer versions of OS X improve wake from sleep, downgrading to OS 8.6, unreadable pages on Low End Mac, and more.
- Another Free POP3 Provider, Recharging a Dead PRAM Battery, Current Kanga Value, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 09.03. GMX email now available in US, Panasonic UJ-841S drive won't burn discs, restoring a dead PRAM battery in a Pismo, and thoughts on Kanga value today.
- Best eMac Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03. Used 700 MHz Combo, $120; 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $150; 1.42 GHz, $349.
- Best Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03. Mac OS X 10.5, single user, $99; 5 users, $140; 10.5 Server, 10 users, $395; unlimited, $850.
- Best MacBook Air Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03. Refurb 1.6 HD, $1,499; new, $1,690 after rebate; refurb 1.8, $1,699; new, $1,919 a/r; refurb 1.6 SSD, $2,099; new, $2,294 a/r; refurb 1.8, $2,299; new, $2,400 a/r.
- Psystar Strikes Back, Countersues Apple, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 09.03. Psystar is trying to paint Apple as a monopoly and force it to license the Mac OS.
- More links in our archive.
About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts
Have a question?
Ask an expert!
Navigation
Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum
Favorite Sites
MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System
6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
Mac FAQ
Abandonware
Petition
Mac vs. PC Info
Affiliates
The Apple
Store
Mac
Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial
Memory
batteries.com
Advertise
