Bought a PowerBook G3

[Mr. Dee]

Recently bought a PowerBook G3, purely for nostalgia purposes and have something to do through this pandemic during my free time. It is in excellent condition except for no hard disk; picked up a 30 GB IDE drive off Amazon, waiting on delivery. Have all the tools in place.

This appears to be a WallStreet II model. I don’t even know how much RAM is in it. But I am hoping it’s enough to install Mac OS 10.0 which I want to play with for nostalgia purposes. Which brings me to my question, can actually run 10.0 on this or is it limited to Classic only? It doesn’t have built in USB ports, but instead using a PCIMCA card for that.

Would appreciate any tips and tricks before I install the hard disk and recommendations on getting the software up and running. Will be installing Mac OS 9.2.2 first the 10.0 on top.

 

[AL1630]

A Wallstreet should be able to run up to OS X 10.2.8, so you should be good there. You can get the installer files for both OS 9 and OS X on the mac garden, then burn a CD to boot from. Is everthing else besides the hard drive in working order?

 

[Mr. Dee]

A Wallstreet should be able to run up to OS X 10.2.8, so you should be good there. You can get the installer files for both OS 9 and OS X on the mac garden, then burn a CD to boot from. Is everthing else besides the hard drive in working order?

Yeah, downloaded them and burnt on CD's. So, its just the installation of the hard disk and booting from it is the hard disk. I was reading iFixits tutorial about disconnecting the keyboard cable to access the hard disk. But I think thats over the top as someone noted in the comments.

Another correction, I actually got it for a free, but had to pay for the shipping to my address. I was eyeing the last of the PowerBook G3 notebook, but I would have needed a ride to pick it up. I so regret, it would actually save me lot of the investment to get the WII working. Will create a tutorial in the thread when I get everything.

 

[AL1630]

Wow, free? Can't get a better deal than that, especially for a desirable old mac! As far as replacing the drive goes, I haven't taken one of these apart before so unfortunately I can't say what to do for that.

 

[Amethyst1]

OP - Congrats on your new toy. Swapping the hard drive is very easy on these machines. I love seeing the WS's girth next to the slender MBP As for installing the OSes - make sure the partition you install OS X on is fully within the first 8 GBs of the hard drive, ideally by making it the first partition and smaller than 8 GB. This caveat does not apply to OS 9.

 

[Mr. Dee]

OP - Congrats on your new toy. Swapping the hard drive is very easy on these machines. I love seeing the WS's girth next to the slender MBP As for installing the OSes - make sure the partition you install OS X on is fully within the first 8 GBs of the hard drive, ideally by making it the first partition and smaller than 8 GB. This caveat does not apply to OS 9.

Thanks! It’s hefty I must say; I even got the DVD, CD and Zip modules and two battery modules. In regards to installing OS 10.0, my plan is to install it over MacOS 9 so it would just create a Classic Desktop folder if I need to access older Classic apps.

 

[DearthnVader]

Thanks! It’s hefty I must say; I even got the DVD, CD and Zip modules and two battery modules. In regards to installing OS 10.0, my plan is to install it over MacOS 9 so it would just create a Classic Desktop folder if I need to access older Classic apps.

The 8GB partition limit is hard and fast for these G3 Old World ROM Macs and OS X.

Your OS 9 System Folder can be located anywhere, the Classic Startup App will find it.

 

[iluvmacs99]

Thanks! It’s hefty I must say; I even got the DVD, CD and Zip modules and two battery modules. In regards to installing OS 10.0, my plan is to install it over MacOS 9 so it would just create a Classic Desktop folder if I need to access older Classic apps.

Wow, congratulations on getting these for free. Usually, these are collector items especially when it comes with a VST Zip module and extra battery modules if they work. I own the identical PowerBook G3 as yours, but I kept it as an OS9 machine for better legacy support stuff as it takes its own floppy module and VST Zip module. I personally prefer the PowerBook G4 more than the G3 to run OSX as it is better suited for it, take more RAM and a bigger hard drive and you can take it all the way to Leopard.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Wow, congratulations on getting these for free. Usually, these are collector items especially when it comes with a VST Zip module and extra battery modules if they work. I own the identical PowerBook G3 as yours, but I kept it as an OS9 machine for better legacy support stuff as it takes its own floppy module and VST Zip module. I personally prefer the PowerBook G4 more than the G3 to run OSX as it is better suited for it, take more RAM and a bigger hard drive and you can take it all the way to Leopard.

It was kept in such good condition. Not a scratch on it. It looks like whoever previously owned it just gave up on it after the hard disk failed then put it aside. The hockey puck charger is even brand new. I can’t wait to get the hard disk so I can get the ball rolling.

I am eyeing a 17 inch G4 - last generation, but I can’t justify splurging two Benjamins just for the nostalgia of. Trying to talk down the owner who has kept it in great condition.

The 8GB partition limit is hard and fast for these G3 Old World ROM Macs and OS X.

Your OS 9 System Folder can be located anywhere, the Classic Startup App will find it.

Oh, I never knew that! Thanks for that tip.

 

[iluvmacs99]

It was kept in such good condition. Not a scratch on it. It looks like whoever previously owned it just gave up on it after the hard disk failed then put it aside. The hockey puck charger is even brand new. I can’t wait to get the hard disk so I can get the ball rolling.

I am eyeing a 17 inch G4 - last generation, but I can’t justify splurging two Benjamins just for the nostalgia of. Trying to talk down the owner who has kept it in great condition.

Yeap, that 17 inch G4 last generation is yet another collector's item, just because it's got that big screen! I use my MacBook Pro 17" a lot more than my any other laptops because of its 17" screen as well. Good luck on your bid!

Anyhow, you lucked out on that G3 for sure!

 

[AphoticD]

Congrats @Mr. Dee ! Check out my 2018 Thread PDQ Appreciation - there are possibly a few gems across the thread’s pages which might be of interest to you.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Wow, free? Can't get a better deal than that, especially for a desirable old mac! As far as replacing the drive goes, I haven't taken one of these apart before so unfortunately I can't say what to do for that.

I can’t believe 1999 was that long ago.
[automerge]1590344913[/automerge]

Yeap, that 17 inch G4 last generation is yet another collector's item, just because it's got that big screen! I use my MacBook Pro 17" a lot more than my any other laptops because of its 17" screen as well. Good luck on your bid!

Anyhow, you lucked out on that G3 for sure!

I think all 17 inch models, Intel included are collectors items

 

[Amethyst1]

A Wallstreet should be able to run up to OS X 10.2.8

Using XPostFacto, the maximum is 10.4.11.

 

[Mr. Dee]

So, I just bought a couple PowerBook G4's 15 inch (2003, 2004). My intention is to really have a archived collection of PowerBooks for historical purposes. They are starting to become extremely rare, considering so many of them were produced in the millions (I assume).

 

[Amethyst1]

So, I just bought a couple PowerBook G4's 15 inch (2003, 2004). My intention is to really have a archived collection of PowerBooks for historical purposes. They are starting to become extremely rare, considering so many of them were produced in the millions (I assume).

So you've been hit by the collector's bug. I'm afraid there's no cure. Welcome to Collectors Anonymous.

 

[eyoungren]

So, I just bought a couple PowerBook G4's 15 inch (2003, 2004). My intention is to really have a archived collection of PowerBooks for historical purposes. They are starting to become extremely rare, considering so many of them were produced in the millions (I assume).

No offense, but you are contradicting yourself. You say they are becoming extremely rare, but then say that so many of them were produced.

Regardless, they are not rare.

Now, in perfect condition with the original box, original accessories, manuals and software? Yeah, that's rare. But the actual units are still very common.

Don't get caught in a collecting trap where you see every old Mac you get as rare or a classic. All of these Macs were mass produced and sold in the millions. There's still plenty out there.

 

[Mr. Dee]

No offense, but you are contradicting yourself. You say they are becoming extremely rare, but then say that so many of them were produced.

Regardless, they are not rare.

Now, in perfect condition with the original box, original accessories, manuals and software? Yeah, that's rare. But the actual units are still very common.

Don't get caught in a collecting trap where you see every old Mac you get as rare or a classic. All of these Macs were mass produced and sold in the millions. There's still plenty out there.

Do keep mind, a lot those millions of PowerBooks did go to this thing called Recycling Centers. They are becoming rare even though millions were produced. As with everything technology, a lot of those millions former PowerBook users did eventually upgrade to millions of MacBook Pros and iMacs. 2006 is almost 15 years since the first generation of Intel MacBook Pros - ancient history in itself, let alone 2003 and 2004. The Macintosh itself prior to the transition to Intel was a niche computing platform.

So, I am not contradicting myself at all. If you go to Ebay where I grabbed the two working ones I got in good condition, most of the other ones either dead screens, batteries or missing parts or is really in dilapidated conditions.

My analysis just like the 1984 Macintosh is now a sort after collectors item, so will the PowerPC generation of certain Macs. With Apple likely to embark on its 4th transition in the coming year, desire to start collecting is to have some archival history of macOS many platform jumps.

 

[eyoungren]

Do keep mind, a lot those millions of PowerBooks did go to this thing called Recycling Centers. They are becoming rare even though millions were produced. As with everything technology, a lot of those millions former PowerBook users did eventually upgrade to millions of MacBook Pros and iMacs. 2006 is almost 15 years since the first generation of Intel MacBook Pros - ancient history in itself, let alone 2003 and 2004. The Macintosh itself prior to the transition to Intel was a niche computing platform.

So, I am not contradicting myself at all. If you go to Ebay where I grabbed the two working ones I got in good condition, most of the other ones either dead screens, batteries or missing parts or is really in dilapidated conditions.

My analysis just like the 1984 Macintosh is now a sort after collectors item, so will the PowerPC generation of certain Macs. With Apple likely to embark on its 4th transition in the coming year, desire to start collecting is to have some archival history of macOS many platform jumps.

I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree. Having several Macs and still being able to find more for decent prices (and not always through eBay) I'm not convinced they are rare.

However, I will agree that there are much less of them then there used to be. I've mentioned in the past (here on MR) that prices seemed to have bottomed out and are slowly increasing. In any case, as long as you're happy it doesn't really matter what I think. I'm pretty sure that we can both agree that these old Macs are nice items to collect.

 

[bobesch]

Yep, collect, have fun and be confident not to get less money for the stuff, than you've paid for it ...
(That's how I look at it.)

 

[AphoticD]

Yep, collect, have fun and be confident not to get less money for the stuff, than you've paid for it ...
(That's how I look at it.)

And even if you do make a loss, consider the learning, joy and (hopefully resolved) frustrations that the old Mac brought you in the process.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Finally got it setup after significant delays just getting a hard disk through Amazon. I waited almost 2 weeks trying to get a hard disk shipped, gave up and asked for a refund then took a chance through Ebay. Had it less than a week. Installation got delayed further because I was about to move to a new apartment. Eventually, I opened up the PowerBook G3, got down to work and installed the refurbished 20 GB hard disk, got out the 10.0.3 disk I burned weeks prior and installation just crashed. I was like, ok, is this a lemon computer, dead hard disk? What am I going to do with this?

I didn't give up and pulled it down one more time and carefully looked around and realised it was the board on which the memory is installed that was loose. I fitted and secured it carefully, put it back together, crossed by fingers. This time, I decided to try Mac OS 9 to isolate if it was a compatibility issue with OS X. OS 9.0.4 installed beautifully. I partitioned the hard disk in two, but later realised there was some issues getting it to work. To be honest, it was a mess just getting both dual booting, but some how I did by technically splitting the disk in to 3 and installing OS X over my initial 9.0.4 install. But, OS 10.0.3 insisted that I have 9.1 installed. I upgraded it to 9.1 but could not get classic to work.


Later on I installed 9.1 on a separate partition, loaded Office 2001 its now setup.

My plan is to leave it here, a frozen point in time to have a point to in time where we can look back at the beginning of Mac OS X. Face to face, you might look at macOS today and compare it to Mac OS 10.0 and say not much as changed. In some ways yes, but, you definitely feel it how much progress has been made when you put both beside each other. macOS has come a long way, just the multitouch gestures are light years way. There is not even a setting for choosing wallpapers in the early version. If you were an early adopter of 10.0, good luck with applications.


But what I found surprising was how usable the Classic environment was. But, this is an upgraded PowerBook with 160 MBs of RAM. In 2001, you likely had more like 64 MBs to 128 MBs due to cost. More ram makes it run so much smoother. Word 2001 felt relatively integrated, I noticed the icon for Office 2001 feels a little bit integrated with the Docks photo realist icons. Part of the reason why I chose it over Office 98.


With macOS making another processor switch in the coming year, its nice to have this laptop just to show the history of how far we have come since 2001. Not to mention, this is software code thats been around since the late 80's if you dig into its NeXTStep history.

 

[Amethyst1]

Cool write-up. But if you really want to dig into the history of OS X, what about the Developer Previews or even Rhapsody?

And Cheetah allows setting wallpapers - it is in Finder's preferences.

As for applications, if you dig deep enough, you'll find some. 10.1 is tremendously more useful in this regard and looks almost identical to 10.0 though.

The Cheetah Thread (Mac OS X 10.0)

Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah Supported Hardware: Power Mac G3 (Desktop, Mini Tower, All-in-One, Blue & White) Power Mac G4 (Yikes, Sawtooth, Gigabit, Digital Audio, QuickSilver [requires 10.0.4 build 4S10]) Power Mac G4 Cube iMac G3 iMac DV PowerBook G3 (excluding Kanga) PowerBook G4 Titanium...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[AphoticD]

Nice work @Mr. Dee - good to see another salvaged old Mac!

I’d agree with @Amethyst1 / Puma is quite usable. I setup an iBook G3 with 10.1 and it’s solid compared to 10.0

 

[Mr. Dee]

For me, it’s the 1.0 effect; I do have 10.1 on a PowerBook G4 I bought back in 2018. As for trying out the betas of OS 10.0, not on this. Probably would get another Mac for it. So far, I have collected 4 more PowerBooks. I got another 2002 ‘15 I’m gonna put Jaguar on; 2003 ‘15 for Panther; 2004 ‘15 for Tiger and a late 2005 ‘15 PowerPC for Leopard.

Next year I will then begin collecting Intel MacBooks Pro’ up to the first 2012 Retina 15 inch.

 

[Amethyst1]

So you're following the one Mac for each OS rule. I'm the opposite: I decide which OS I want and then (try to) get the fastest PowerBook/early MBP that will run it.