Second generation iMac, getting online

[Jakey778]

My 9 year old son has been in the loft and found an old iMac I had for work about 3 jobs ago. The magazine I worked for got taken over by a new publisher, who had a clear out in about 2012, and this iMac was thrown in a skip outside. It's got Adobe CS3 on it, so my son and I have been having great fun with it, messing with photos in Photoshop etc. At the moment, we are offline with it, every file we use on it gets brought in by usb stick then taken out again. It's running Mac osx 10.4.11.
I want to use it, as it looks awesome! It's got loads of useful software on it I don't want to lose so don't want to change the OS.

Obviously I have concerns around security and clearly won't be accessing online banking etc on it. But what can and can't I do on this machine? Could it ever be safe to connect this to the internet?

Aware I could probably connect via ethernet cable, but too nervous to do that. What are my options on connecting it to my router wirelessly as it's in a different room (modern router- D-link DSL 3782 has usb and ethernet ports). Would any modern wireless dongles work with this?

I'm new to vintage computers, and just looking some idea of what I can and can't do with this and what it would cost. Don't want to spend a fortune.

If necessary we can carry on enjoying it offline, but if I could ever safely access my Google suite on it I could actually do my freelance writing jobs on it which would be cool.

 

[salamanderjuice]

This might be better suited to the PPC Mac forum. Web browser support for PPC Macs is limited to older browsers and combined with an increased use of JavaScript newer websites are much harder to run on an older machine like this. So it wouldn't be the most pleasurable experience at any rate.

 

[sunapple]

You could check in system specs what model you have to see if it could even run Leopard, otherwise you are stuck with Tiger. An AirPort card could get you wireless internet, it was optional and was placed in the bottom of the machine.

Actually I don't see a reason not to plug ethernet in and try and see what happens.

 

[Berenod]

Internet usage is pretty limited due to different security protocols used now.
Current websites are so complex your computer would really struggle getting anything rendered to display anyway.

Due to your already installed software you want to keep you can't really install another OS, I use Sorbet Leopard on mine.

There are some fun things you still can do, I used mine for streaming radio channels, but even that needed a fair bit of research, seem to remember I needed direct links to streams, then to be played by the old built in iTunes.

 

[schappim]

Perhaps you could try installing linux on it?

 

[rasvoja]

My 9 year old son has been in the loft and found an old iMac I had for work about 3 jobs ago. The magazine I worked for got taken over by a new publisher, who had a clear out in about 2012, and this iMac was thrown in a skip outside. It's got Adobe CS3 on it, so my son and I have been having great fun with it, messing with photos in Photoshop etc. At the moment, we are offline with it, every file we use on it gets brought in by usb stick then taken out again. It's running Mac osx 10.4.11.
I want to use it, as it looks awesome! It's got loads of useful software on it I don't want to lose so don't want to change the OS.

Obviously I have concerns around security and clearly won't be accessing online banking etc on it. But what can and can't I do on this machine? Could it ever be safe to connect this to the internet?

Aware I could probably connect via ethernet cable, but too nervous to do that. What are my options on connecting it to my router wirelessly as it's in a different room (modern router- D-link DSL 3782 has usb and ethernet ports). Would any modern wireless dongles work with this?

I'm new to vintage computers, and just looking some idea of what I can and can't do with this and what it would cost. Don't want to spend a fortune.

If necessary we can carry on enjoying it offline, but if I could ever safely access my Google suite on it I could actually do my freelance writing jobs on it which would be cool.

Check Mac PPC section, there is 10 4 4 (Ten Four Four) modern Firefox port and there is even some wicked community PPC version of MacOS X that can breed a bit nore life to that old iMac.

There is some Office 2008 PPC and that time version of free Apple Office apps that might help you with productivity part

 

[rasvoja]

Browser

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/interwebppc-browser-a-rebrand-of-tenfourfox-for-the-future.2292691/

PPC OS

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/sorbet-leopard-your-power-mac-unleashed-revision-1-5-released.2300924/

Office
MS Office 2008 or so exists and some Apple Office tools of the era
Enough to get modern office docs

Linux PPC would bring more modern Firefox and Libre Office

 

[paardenkapper]

At first you need to find a PPC compatible WiFi stick which is hard these days.
My iMac G4 had an Airport Card installed but it does not the latest Wifi protocols and is unusable with WPA2 security.

I think there is no damage in connecting the iMac via Ethernet as it's probably behind your routers firewall anyway.
As long as you do not visit certain websites you should be safe.

The other problem is finding a compatible browser these days as others have written already.

Good luck and have fun with your son!

 

[za9ra22]

Early G4 iMacs had wifi capabilities only via an original Airport card, which can't do WPA and is 802.11b, but later ones, such as mine have an AirPort Extreme card - that's the second generation wifi Apple produced, and the G4 iMac has a slot under the base it install in. This is how and where it fits:

This can do WPA2 and is compatible with most modern wifi routers, though it's 802.11g so not fast. They all have ethernet, so can be cabled to almost all routers if you have one close enough.

Since my iMac is on 10.4.11 (Tiger), the Arctic Fox browser which I use on a couple of later machines isn't compatible, but I have used Ten Four Fox (now unsupported) which worked fine for casual browsing. There are other browsers including InterWebPPC https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...rebrand-of-tenfourfox-for-the-future.2292691/

Bear in mind that there are no browsers for these old systems which render the modern internet properly or can access everything. However, for pottering around online, a G4 iMac is surprisingly capable as long as you're patient!