- 2005.03.01
I've gone around on this problem once or twice, so I thought I ought
to memorialize it with notes - and share them with you, while I'm at
it.
Here's the problem: I have several Blue and White Power Mac G3
towers, the kind that have ADB ports in the back and can run
OS X (barely).* I like these computers, but I have a couple that
are kind of quirky.
I decided to upgrade one of them to OS X as an experiment. It
was originally running OS 8.5, which is an okay operating system, but
some of the software I use in my class requires OS 9.x and some of it
requires OS X, so I dove in.
In an attempt to maximize the hard drive space, I first erased the
hard drive using the OS X installer utility - this turned out to
be a mistake. I then installed OS X, which went smoothly, if
slowly.
After installing OS X, I tried out a number of functions,
including connecting to a server, starting various programs, printing,
and so on.
The first time I tried to use a Classic application, the OS told me
it couldn't find a Classic System Folder. Of course not - I had deleted
it in the hard drive wipe. Out comes the OS 9 CD.
OS 9 checked the drive and then aborted the install, telling me I
needed to do a firmware update from the extras folder on the CD
first.
Okay, so I found the "G3 Firmware Update" and ran right into a
Catch-22. The firmware update requires that you be running the Classic
Mac OS, and the Classic OS won't run until the firmware update is
installed.
You Can't Get There From Here
You can't install the Firmware
Update 1.1 by booting off the OS 9 CD; the firmware update
writes a file to the active OS 9 System Folder, and CDs are
read-only.
If you do what I did and don't have
the original system CDs for the B&W G3, you're sunk. Luckily I had
an original OS 8.5 CD that shipped with my aging G3 Beige machine, so I booted
the B&W G3 with that CD, installed OS 8.5 as a clean install, and
rebooted.
Now I could run the Firmware Update - run, shut down, hold the
programmer's button on front panel, restart until you hear a tone, and
then release the button.
Now I could finally install OS 9 and run Classic via OS X when
necessary. But for now the machine is set to boot into OS 9
because running OS X and Classic at the same time takes so much of
the 6 GB hard drive that there's no room left for Microsoft Office
and certain other applications I need to use in the classroom.
To have the machine useful in its present state, I need to keep
using OS 9. (My students are disappointed . . . they
like getting to play with OS X.)
An OS X compatible firmware update utility would be nice, but it's
unlikely Apple will expend any effort to retrofit these older machines
that barely run OS X, as this is a relatively isolated
problem.
If you're stuck, though, having a portfolio of older OS installation
CDs is always handy.
* UPDATE: I'm using OEM equipment, which has 128 MB RAM and a 300
MHz processor, and a 6 GB (not 4 like the article originally said)
hard drive. I have to install Classic, Office, a suite of science
programs, and leave some room for student work on the drive. On the
machine I was using, the last thing I was installing was Office, and it
didn't fit. Hence "barely." Also, OS X on the G3 runs acceptably
well, but because of the RAM limitations switching programs starts
being noticeably slow when I open two or more apps. I've used worse
computer/OS combinations (OS 8.6 on a 5200, for example, is much worse) but it
could be better as well. Perhaps "barely" was too strong a word.
Everyone pointed out that if you upgrade RAM and hard drive,
OS X runs just fine. That's true, I'm sure. However, the upgrade
budget in my district is something like a few pennies per machine (I am
not making this up), so you can do the math and see that the priority
isn't going to be OS X upgrades in a district where new Mac
purchases are verboten. Nevertheless, when it comes time to make the
switch to OS X, I will see what can be done. I've pulled bigger
rabbits out of smaller hats than a moderate upgrade to a
computer....
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.
