updating os on a old computer

[distortedtempo]

I just got a old Imac g3 [tray loader]It's running 8.6 mac os. I would like to put a more up to date os to bring this computer back to life and for better use for myself. I've been trying to put xubuntu on it because I heard it was a lighter version so I thought it would run it. I've tried setting it up to boot from the disk upon start-up but that has failed. It shows the disk on the desktop but that's all it does.

Someone please help me I'm not very tech oriented. I know some but not a lot. So very detailed help and instructions would be great.

PS: I've never owned a mac till now.

[yancek]

I'm not familiar with the hardware you refer to nor am I familiar with Macs. MacIntosh doesn't like people installing non-Mac software on their hardware so I don't expect this to be easy? I would suggest that you google installing Linux on a Mac, maybe even s;pecifically for Imac g3 (whatever that is) to see what results you get. I've come across sites on isntalling Linux on a Mac but didn't read much as I had no interest. Some specs about your hardware, processor speed, RAM,etc. might help someone with more knowledge to help you.

Good Luck!

[distortedtempo]

I'm not familiar with the hardware you refer to nor am I familiar with Macs. MacIntosh doesn't like people installing non-Mac software on their hardware so I don't expect this to be easy? I would suggest that you google installing Linux on a Mac, maybe even s;pecifically for Imac g3 (whatever that is) to see what results you get. I've come across sites on isntalling Linux on a Mac but didn't read much as I had no interest. Some specs about your hardware, processor speed, RAM,etc. might help someone with more knowledge to help you.

Good Luck!

Rev D iMac G3
Specs:
333MHz CPU
192MB Ram
6GB HD
Pretty sure those are it's specs. I'm pretty sure mac doesn't even sell these anymore. It's extremely old and outdated. I would have just done a google search if I wanted to just figure it out on my own. But thanks for trying sorta.

[Rubberman]

This is a PowerPC chip, not an Intel one. Also, you don't have a huge amount of RAM. You should be able to get a fairly recent (or current) Debian installation going on this system. However, you will need a fair amount of swap space, and it won't be a "barn burner" for performance when you hit the swap space. Hard drive space is also very limited. However, I boot and run Debian on ARM systems (embedded ones) with 64MB of RAM and a 4GB SD flash card, so this should not be an insurmountable problem.

FWIW, Linux is free. Hardware isn't, but some good hardware is available these days for not a huge amount of money, if you consider some of the nicer netbook computers out there. At the least, this will be a great learning experience for you. At worst... ah, who cares?

[jayd512]

Older PPC kit will present a problem sometimes...
As mentioned by Rubberman, Debian is probably gonna be the best choice.

But there is also Slackintosh & Ubuntu PPC.

[Rubberman]

Older PPC kit will present a problem sometimes...
As mentioned by Rubberman, Debian is probably gonna be the best choice.

But there is also Slackintosh & Ubuntu PPC.

Just a quick FYI. Ubuntu is based upon Debian.

[jayd512]

Just a quick FYI. Ubuntu is based upon Debian.

I know... I'm posting from 10.04 now.
Only reason I mentioned it was maybe for user-friendliness for a possible newbie as far as set-up goes.

[distortedtempo]

Just a quick FYI. Ubuntu is based upon Debian.

I think I'll give Debian a try thanks to both of you! I'll let you know, If I need more help and how the install of the os goes.

[Segfault]

FYI. Somebody gave me similar G3. Broken. I managed to fix it. Of course, it came with Mac OS 9. After trying different Linuxes I decided to go with Mac OS X 10.3.

[Rubberman]

Well, the fun thing about old computers is that you really aren't too concerned if you succeed or not, but what you learn trying to. Sort of like the old saw "It's not the destination that counts, it's the journey getting there.", so go for it, and as SegFault says, if you aren't happy with what you get on the G3 via Linux, then either trade it in for a new computer, or fall back to OSX.