UKC

I recently got given an old G3 iMac (500MHz PowerPC, 256Mb RAM) that has OS X 10.2.8 on it.

It had 3 existing user accounts on it, so I created a new account, and have made that an admin, and have deleted 2 of the other 3 accounts.

However, the final account is almost certainly the account that was the first account that was created when the computer was installed. It won't delete, although it goes through the motions.

Am I correct in assuming that I can't delete it at all, for that reason?

And does anyone have an Install CD/DVD for 10.2.8 PowerPC that I can have a copy of, so I can do a clean install? I've got a PowerPC Leopard install disk (10.5 for an old Mac Mini that I also have) but I'm not sure that would install on this much older hardware - plus possibly not legal - although I haven't checked that yet...

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In reply to Dominion:

Yes and yes.

The first account is not possible to delete without doing a clean system install.

You'd be better off running 10.4 on the G3 since 10.2 was pants. Don't go any higher than 10 .4 though since Leopard killed most G3s to a dead slow crawl.

There are plenty of places to download 10.2 out there. I have a copy here as well but it might be device specific (they did that for a while).

Get in touch if you want a copy of Tiger.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Thanks for that Alan.

10.4 is Tiger? And 10.2 was Jaguar?

I'll have a word, first, with the work colleague who sold me the Mac Mini, as he might have some install media for older versions than 10.5 (Leopard) hanging around, still.


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In reply to Dominion: 10.5 won't install as far as I can see. everymac.com puts the max OS at 10.4.11 and max RAM as 1Gb, which might help it cope. 10.2 was a bit of a dog... at least by comparison.
Have fun
b

In reply to Dominion:

Yes. Panther fitted in between.

BTW, very worthwhile to do a clean install after completely wiping the Hard Disk. And keep it down to a single user account as well otherwise things will slow down rather.

I am running 10.4.11 on an old G4 MacBookPro which is manageable. I did briefly try 10.5 on it and it became unusable.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

I've looked at the wikipedia page for 10.5, and it says that support for the G3 was dropped in that release, anyway.

By my calculations based on when the Mac Mini came out, my work colleague may have had Panther on it originally, if it was on of the very first one, or Tiger if it was a few months later...

I'll ask him later, when I pop in to work a bit later...


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In reply to Dominion: I have original media for Panther, Leopard and Tiger but it's quite a long way for you to come and pick it up...
I thought you would be more inclined to a yellow dog installation?
b

In reply to ben b:


I'd have to get a passport, and a lot of money, too!


It's more from a point of messing around with OS X, rather than having a PowerPC computer with a different OS on it.

The Mac Mini dual boots Ubuntu and OS X.

It's just that I was given this iMac just a week or so after I bought the Mac Mini, and I'm really just playing with it...

My colleague at work is going to look and see if he still has the original Panther media that came with the Mac Mini, but he thinks that would only have drivers for the Mac Mini, which is a G4, and would not have the generic drivers that a retail version would have...

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In reply to this thread:

For the record, I've now managed to get hold of a retail pack of OS X 10.1.3 (which includes OS 9.2), and also a retail pack of OS X 10.2.

Thanks for all the offers, and advice.

I suspect a "new" HDD might go in the machine, and 9.2 will get installed, then dual booted with 10.1.3, and then experiments will happen...

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