Installing OS X on imac g3 w/ dead dvd drive.

Orange.exe

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 22, 2005
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i just got a green imac g3 (slot loading and dual firewire) w/ os 8.6 installed. I planned to install os x (or even possibly ubuntu) on it, however, the dvd drive is dead. If I bought an external drive enclosure w/ firewire and a dvd drive, would I then be able to boot from a dvd and install either OS?
 
yeah, that should work. Do you have another Mac? If so, you can do what's called target disk mode to install the os onto the iMac without an external drive.
 
nope, this is my first:D Since it's free, I'm going to try ubuntu first to make sure the whole thing will be bootable. I'd hate to buy os x and have it not work for some reason.

Also, does the firewire enclosure have to explicitly mac compatible, or should any enclosure work?
 
nope, this is my first:D Since it's free, I'm going to try ubuntu first to make sure the whole thing will be bootable. I'd hate to buy os x and have it not work for some reason.

Also, does the firewire enclosure have to explicitly mac compatible, or should any enclosure work?

Any firewire DVD drive should probably be OK. That iMac will not boot to USB, however.

Something else to keep in mind is that if you decide to install OSX, you will need to make sure the firmware is up to date. This must be done from OS9. If the firmware is not up to date, you can install OSX but when you boot to the newly installed system on the HD, you won't get any video on the built-in display. At that point, you'll be forced to connect an external display and apply the firmware before being able to boot to OSX.
 
Any firewire DVD drive should probably be OK. That iMac will not boot to USB, however.

Something else to keep in mind is that if you decide to install OSX, you will need to make sure the firmware is up to date. This must be done from OS9. If the firmware is not up to date, you can install OSX but when you boot to the newly installed system on the HD, you won't get any video on the built-in display. At that point, you'll be forced to connect an external display and apply the firmware before being able to boot to OSX.

So I would have to buy and install both OS9 and OSX?:(
 
So I would have to buy and install both OS9 and OSX?:(

Well. . .depends, I suppose.
- OS 8.6 cannot serve as Classic Mode for OSX. You need 9.1 or later for that.
- Many of the firmware updates will require OS9 or later, if memory serves.

If you can get around those two factors, then no, you wouldn't have to buy OS9. For all I know the iMac may have the necessary updates applied at some point in its life. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the firmware issue before installing OSX and potentially staring at a blank screen.
 
You should be able to get the ROM version you currently have under the apple menu-> about this mac-> more info. Check the apple web site for to see what the version is you need to run OS X. If it is up to date, you won't need OS 9.
 
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