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General discussion

iMac G3 slot loading question

by jlymath93 Jul 17, 2009 7:15PM PDT

I recently got a G3 Slot-Loading iMac I'm not sure but I think it's revision B. the RAM has been upgraded to 512 Mb and the HDD to 60 GB. It has OSX 10.4.11 installed and it has a 400 mhz processor. It is so slow I can barely look through my files, let alone do something simple such as open safari or software update. Do es anyone have any tips? I'm pretty Mac savvy but still have a lot to learn.

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7 Posts
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That slow G3
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Jul 17, 2009 10:34PM PDT

Unfortunately you are taxing that machine to the limit.

Increasing the amount of RAM in it, if possible, might help speed things up a little. Available free space on the HD, or rather the lack of it, can also contribute to a slow down of the machine.

10.4.11 may have been an OS to far for this machine. It will obviously run that OS but at what cost.

I was about to ask if it has always been this slow. Then I saw that you had only recently got this machine so I'll only ask if it has always been this slow since you got it.

P

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slow G3
by jlymath93 Jul 18, 2009 4:00PM PDT

Ok thanks! That's what I was wondering. I got it from a professional Mac Lab Technician and he installed 10 4 on it. There is about 35 GB left on the Hard Drive. So do you know if there is any way to downgrade it to the original OS without getting the discs? The previous owner no longer has them.

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Downgrading,
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Jul 18, 2009 10:30PM PDT

Without the disks there is no way to downgrade to 10.3

That machine will accept up to 1GB of RAM so it might be worth trying to increase the current RAM level to the maximum.

Try www.crucial.com and use the configurator. That RAM is relatively cheap


P

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Ideas.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 18, 2009 10:37PM PDT

I read this over a few times and I wonder if you must stay with Mac OS X or Mac OS. You just got it and it is unclear what the machine's use is for. If like some it is just an "internet appliance" what about Linux?

Read https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/13899 for some ideas about a distro for this iron.
Bob

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G3
by jlymath93 Jul 19, 2009 3:49AM PDT

I was thinking about installing Linux onto it. I would like to have at least OSX 10.3 on it or Linux. I need it for school so at the moment I don't really use it, but I would like it for internet, word processing, and to hold all my files. Right now it has more than enough memory for all my things, and I have an external 320 GB Hard Drive for what won't fit later on. In addition to being an "internet appliance," I just want it as a basic computer for school. One thing I don't like about Linux, however, is the fact that you can't use your iPod with it.

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My iPod works.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 19, 2009 3:55AM PDT
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slow G3
by jchuzi Jul 27, 2009 10:56AM PDT

Have you tried any general maintenance? For example, you could try the steps in this article and also execute (not my term!) the tasks that are checked by default in the Automation tab of OnyX 1.8.5.

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