new, mad and need a bitta help!!!!!

ok. got hold of a g3 powerbook which has since been collecting dust because of a root password problem - i.e, i dont have it. not stolen this mac i promise you, but bought for £45 because of that reason, thinking, even though i know nothing about macs (never ever used one) or linux (not used that ever either) might sound a bit mad of me to do then but i thought the challenge would be good and if it came down to it, i could just buy a new hard drive for it.

now then, all i know sofar is its kde 2.2.2, debain is there whatever that is, and yaboot 1.3.6

when it loads up from start it goes straight into whatever the os is, but alot of what i'm guessing are the important folders are locked out. i dont have permission to enter it tells me. i here that the root password needs changing to get in their proper and then i can format and wack on os-x or summert. if the linux thats on there is ok though, i may stick with that. not there yet.

anyone help me?

been through loads of different sites on google and thought i may aswell post in ere whislt i.m at it, as with 5 hours or messing and only know whats above this sentence, i'm beginning to think i may of bit off more than i can chew!!

following night...


still no where after 12hours of feckin about with it. downloaded a well known none linux os last night only to fing the .dmg file that its sat under i can't do owt with. you socalled can get daemon tools and nero to read or burn them, but then what, wack it in the dvd reader on the powerbook to find it doesn't work?? aint wasting another 12 hours doing that. there must be an easier way??

help!!!!!!!

To reset the root password you need to get into the basic system at runlevel 1, then run the command

Code:

---

passwd

---

to reset the password.

Anyway first of all....When the first menu comes up on the boot, press e and see if it lets you enter any config. At least then we'll know what bootloader you're using and be able to help a bit more...

welcome to yaboot version 1.3.6
enter "help" to get more usage information
boot:

----------------------------

the line is mine but the rest is a copy of what it says and it only did that because i pressed a key. normally it would auto intoloading
trying to press e and then enter (not what you meant but on the off chance it might do something) it gives the following...


pleae wait, loading kernal...
hd:3,\\e: no such file or directory
boot:

if i do type help, it waffles on in a more detailed way about hd3 thats there and thats it

It's a very long time since I've used yaboot....I've been googling and I can't find anything here! You don't by any chance have a bootable linux disk? Floppy or CD...

afraid not. wanted to put os on anyway. linux = whole new learning curve, which, as much as i enjoy it, ain't really the time for atm. having siad that, if push comes to shove, linux it will have to be.

os is, correct me if i'm wrong here, very much the same in user style as windows is aint it? and with a pc as my main com and only net link at the moment, it will be easier to get files from the pc to the mac. downloaded os-x the other night only to find it was 2gig + of .dmg files. ofcourse it will be but i didn't bother to check to see if i could burnit over to dvd with a pc and windows, which i can but with alot of messing about with command prompt etc and daemon tools. nightmare i can do without.

actually, if you could recommend the best linux setup with the mac powerbook G3, i'd be grateful. i here you can use the disks off linux downloads to solve this problem, its legal, ie no dodgy torrent copy of os-x, and in the long run may be quicker.

thanks for your help so far anyway

:)