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Thread ID: 70452 2006-07-04 05:49:00 Any Apple geeks out there? B.M. (505) Press F1
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468341 2006-07-04 05:49:00 Yesterday a friend pulled up the drive and announced, “Here, I’ve a couple of computers you can have” and then took off . Whilst I was initially very pleased with my windfall, it wasn’t long before I realised they were both “Apples” . (Who was it once said “Beware of those who come bearing gifts”) :D

Now, the problem is I have never seen an Apple going, let alone turned one on, or used one, so you can see I am starting at somewhat of a disadvantage . Anyway, I decided to be cautious and have a little peek inside before powering up in case I was looking at a fire risk or worse . Well, getting into the darn thing without resorting to a can opener, or gas axe, qualified me for MENSA membership . I recon they beat some of those old Compaq’s for difficulty obtaining access but we’re there with no damage done . Actually I’m quite impressed with some of the engineering . :thumbs:

But to cut to the chase, what is the interchangeability between Apple & PC? The HDD looks the same although I understand it runs a quite a different format . (Could it be reformatted to run in a PC computer?) It has a couple of sticks of Kingston SDRAM which look like they may work in a PC computer and the power supply looks like 5 & 12 volt but I can check that when I power it up .

So what do I need to know about these things before I needlessly stuff something? :badpc:

Can anyone suggest a site that explains the difference between the two systems?

I’ll retire now and await the flack . :lol: 		B.M. (505)
468342 2006-07-04 06:12:00 Mac IDE or (or SATA) hard drives should be interchangeable. I just replace dead (usually Western Disaster) drives with standard old Seagate ones. The RAM is just normal PC stuff unless you have a real old mac. Again, just throw in PC stuff into macs lacking in the RAM department (and OS X loves RAM) - can text with the OS X version of memtest.

Power supplies are not ya standard PC ones (they vary even between very similar models of macs).

apple.com has the take apart guides on their website to lessen the mysteries.

Of course with macbook and macbook pros they are pretty much just PCs and can run Windows XP as such.

BIOS (firmware/nvram etc etc) are all Apple stuff.

Any old USB keyboard and mouse works..

I'll let you learn for youself now young grasshopper..... 		gibler (49)
468343 2006-07-04 07:18:00 The older Mac's used scsi hard drives which you can use, but you need a scsi controller on a pc (unless its a server motherboard). I'd dust them out them boot them and see what happens. dolby digital (5073)
468344 2006-07-04 08:24:00 everymac (www.everymac.com) , should be able to tell plod (107)
468345 2006-07-04 23:37:00 Ok guys here’s where I’m up to .

I’ve followed all your instructions and have come up with the following . (That link's a good one Plod) :thumbs:

Both machines are Power Macintosh G3’s but the actual version and processor speed are yet to be determined .

When I powered one up all looked fine, the screen came on and I was advised that Mac OS 9 . 1 was loading . A progress line run across the screen for a minute but nothing further . (If this was a PC machine my guess would be it was waiting for a LAN connection and I’d be looking at the BIOS for a clue . )

So, any suggestions on this one, and a couple of other questions for luck .

1: I guess they must have a BIOS and CMOS Setup but how do you access it?

2: The FDD’s are oddball in that they don’t have a power connection . Are they powered by the ribbon cable?

3: Can you boot one of these machines from a floppy?

4: What sort of format does the floppy have, and how do you make a boot disk? (Especially give we don’t have a working machine) (yet :) )

5: If you guys’ were in my position where would you start, given what we already know? :cool: 		B.M. (505)
468346 2006-07-04 23:50:00 I don't know os9 very well at all, These G3's have floppy drives do they?
Any disc's come with machines 		plod (107)
468347 2006-07-05 00:40:00 Yep, these ones have floppy’s but the ribbon cable is much smaller than on a PC machine and no power cable! Queer! :confused:

Oh, they also have a CD Rom .

And no disks at all . :(

Wonder if Linux might work on one? :confused: 		B.M. (505)
468348 2006-07-05 00:42:00 Try this to start with.

docs.info.apple.com 		Safari (3993)
468349 2006-07-05 00:56:00 The first item on that link is the one to try first.
Start with extensions off - it is a bit like Win starting in safe mode
Hold Shift key down while starting and if it starts up go to Apple menu/Control panels/Extensions manager
Select OS 9 base set and restart.
This selects the basic OS 9 extensions without any extensions which may have been added by other software installs that may be causing a conflict. 		Safari (3993)
468350 2006-07-05 02:56:00 Er, which type of G3? A beige G3 (either Desktop case or tower case), an iMac G3 or a G3 Tower (blue and white case) ? gibler (49)
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