Is it possible to install Tiger onto my old iMac G3 ?

I would like to install Tiger onto my old iMac G3 and give it to my grandson. The iMac is presently running Mac OS 9.1 and has 320 mgs RAM and 6 GIG hard drive. The processor speed is 350 MHz. Is this possible ?
Can I use the Tiger OS disks that came with my new G5 or do I have to buy another Mac OS Tiger specifically for iMacs ?
I don't mind buying some more RAM if the above is possible - it is a lovely little machine and runs perfectly right now - I hate just dumping it! Grateful for any help, thanks, Diana.
iMac G3 Mac OS 9.1.x

I don't know if Apple supports the G3 iMacs for Tiger. You may have to use Xpostfacto in order to install it on it. From what I've heard, performance on a 350MHz G3 with Tiger should be adequate. You might have to update your iMac's firmware before installing it, though.
Upgrading the hard drive will help some. Plus, I would suggest you get the memory up to at least 512MB. I'm pretty sure your model iMac will take up to 1GB via 2 PC100 slots.

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Possible to install Tiger on a new iMac?

I am looking to upgrade one of the designers in our studio to a new iMac, but I do not want them to have to run 10.5. There are still too many bugs with specific applications we use (especially in Photoshop). Does anyone know if it's possible to load 10.5 onto the new iMacs?
I really don't want to be forced to move to a new OS before it's been fully tested and working in our environment.
Regards,
Kristin.

You might ask around for build dates on iMacs. If it was built before Leopard ships, then you often get 10.4 on the machine and 10.5 updater in the box.
I bought my machine about 25 days before Leopard shipped for the very reason you describe. I knew it would come with Tiger, but was hoping (with fingers crossed) that Leopard would come out in time so I could get it free. I did.
But...as it turns out, I ended up going to Leopard after a few months anyway since I determined that all my mission critical apps would work in Leopard. Good luck!

Problems installing Tiger onto G3 Imac - please help!

hi all.
i've tried to install tiger onto a g3 imac but i'm having some problems.
basically, once i've inserted the install dvd and restarted, the screen is either totally blank or it's very very dark and the desktop is sliding off to one side, plus the text and icons are blurred.
i checked that i didn't need to update the firmware first, and the computer said that i didn't need to.
does anyone have any idea what i can do? i don't have the original OS9 install disk any more and i'm starting to panic ...
thanks in advance
ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Jon,
Not to be silly but do you you have DVD capabilities? Not all G3s (mine included) have DVD drives. Is the firmware 4.1.9? What is your machines specs? Do you have enough ram, hard disk space?
I haven't read about these types of going ons, however on the Tiger OS X.4 discussion board Gulliver has an excellent check list/ decision tree.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607363
You may want to check that out as well as reposting your topic on the Tiger board.
Sorry I couldn't help more than possibly pointing you in the right direction.
Good luck,
Lee

Can you install Tiger onto a drive with data?

Hello,
I would like to ask if you can install Tiger onto a hard drive that already has data files on it. I have a 250 GIG hard drive and it already has 10 GIGs of data on it. Can I install Tiger on this drive or might it corrupt my files?
Its a long story but here is a quick summary of why I am attempting to do this:
I have a 350 MHz Blue and white G3 (rev 1) with two hard drives: the original 12 GIG ATA drive and a 250 GIG SATA drive (internal) connected with a 1S2 Seritek SATA controller.
My 250 GIG drive has two partitions but only one is available to Tiger. You see, by accident I originally formatted my 250 GIG drive with an extremely small partion (32 Megs). I meant to type "30 GIGs" and by accident I typed "30 Megs". Oops That was supposed to be my OSX 10.4 volume. Its too late now - its too small. So I only have two choices for a place for TIger: my 12 GIG drive or the other partition of my 250 GIG drive. I am reluctant to choose my 12 GIG drive because it already has an older OS on it (OS 8.6).
I was concerned about installing TIger on the data partition of the 250 GIG drive because that is where all my valuable data files are - 10 Gigs of data. I don't want to risk scrambling this data in any way.
Is it safe to install Tiger onto this partition with my data files? Or is the possibility it might do something to my data.
Its only a temporary install so that I could burn my 10 GIGs of data files to DVD for backup and then I will start all over again and erase the entire hard drive and reinstall from scratch onto the 250 GIG drive once my data files are safely backed up. (I will not partition the 250 GIG drive i nthe final install - it will be one big partition.)
One other question:
When you format a disk in Tiger are there options to "low level format" or "zero all data" or will just a straight "erase" do the job sufficiently? I bought my 250 GIG Hitachi SATA drive new and so I am not sure if it worth the time to re-erase it with "zero all data" (if that is an option in the Tiger Disk Utility). What is the best formatting option to prepare this drive in the most beneficial for Tiger?
Thanks for any suggestions.

Thanks scb and Jeff,
Jeff, you have me thinking now. I think I will be safe and try another idea. I have a 4 GIG internal SCSI drive I could use to backup my data in 4 GIG sections at a time via my Adaptec 2430 SCSI card. I could then move this hard drive over to my other G3 onto its 40 GIG hard drive. This would be done three times to take off all my data and essentially provide a backup before I install Tiger. Good idea. You are right. It is better to play it safe.
By the way 8.6 can handle HFS+. And yes, I should eventually buy an external drive solution - probably an enclosure. I saw one called "coolmax" [1]. It could hold a SATA drive and it had USB, firewire and also an external SATA port.
And also Jef thanks for the info about formatting drives. I am glad to hear it is not important to zero all data if you don't have to. I am not concerned about havig anything to hide and so yes, I will just click "format" - that should be fine. Zero all data takes such a long time and I would rather avoid using it if I don't need this feature. Thanks for the advice.
Thanks for the new safer direction.
[1] Coolmax (CD-311-SATA Combo)
Coolmax Aluminum USB 2.0 External Case/Enclosure for 3.5" SATA/IDE Hard Drives, USB2.0, IEEE1394a, Serial ATA triple interface input CD-311-SATA Combo
http://www.iocombo.com/product/showproduct.php?productid=0EGD&PHPSESSID=3c41735b f27252cf17a17350cb603e0e
$69.95
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/35enclosure.html
$53.99 at directron

Is it possible to install Thunderbolt driver on my iMac

is it possible to install Thunderbolt driver on my iMac. For some reason I was provided with a Thunderbolt port which is not connected. I have a Promise Pegasus 6 which I would like to use with my iMac

Your mid-2010 Intel iMac does not have a Thunderbolt port.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5219?viewlocale=en_US#3
Perhaps you are confusing Thunderbolt with something else? If you're talking about a different computer, I doubt you would have a "not connected" Thunderbolt port. There is no such thing as a Thunderbolt driver. There are drivers for devices (like your Promise Pegasus R6), but Thunderbolt isn't a device. It's a communication interface.

Installing Panther on an old iMac

I have a very old iMac. One of the CRT display ones which came in 5 or 6 different colours. I want to install Panther, OS X on it.
I have the installation discs for the OS from an iBook G4, but am not sure if these are CDs or DVDs? I only have a CD drive in the iMac and my only other PCs are PCs and not macs.
Can anyone tell me if I can get the OS installed on the iMac, if it will work ok and if I need to re-write the discs if they are DVDs to CDs?
Basically I need help and any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks team!

Scott,
Welcome to discussions.
The discs that you require will be CDs. As already noted, you will not be able to use the grey discs from an iBook G4 to install OSX 10.3 onto your old iMac G3.
So the good news is that OSX 10.3 retail CDs come up every week or so on eBay UK. Some go for a few quid, but if you get a quiet week (perhaps with the auction ending during a big footie match on TV) they can go for £0.99.
You'll need to prepare by making sure:
- you have enough memory in the iMac G3,
- you have a big enough disk in the iMac,
- you've applied all the required firmware updates to the iMac - this is critical, the earliest iMacs blew their video card if upgraded to OSX 10.2 or later without upgrading the firmware.
- you understand that the iMac may crawl with OSX 10.3.9 on it.
The earliest iMac G3's, from 233MHz to about 500MHz will feel like treacle, the 700MHz models will just be bearable.
If you're just trying to get some use out of an old Mac fine, but if you have a real use for it, consider picking up an eMac G4, up to about a 1.25GHz G4, for under £40 on eBay. Look for one with keyboard, mouse and original discs. Some may be on offer at £100+, but they're only worth £40 Max. Edinburgh / Glasgow gumtree have them all the time too, usually overpriced, but at least you can haggle.

HDD crashed! How to install Tiger onto 867mhz G4 with no DVD drive??

Hi folks.
My trusty 867mhz G4 Quicksilver Powermac drive has finally konked out. It was running OS 9.2.2 before. Now I want to install Tiger as the OS.
Having only a CD drive (nope, can't read or write DVD's), how do I proceed to install Tiger (I have the original install disk) onto the brand new blank hard drive?
Possible tools that I have:
1) last generation 1.67mhz G4 powerbook
2) dual 2.5ghz G5 powermac
3) Lacie external firewire DVD drive
Things I have tried:
1) hold down "c" while starting up the Quicksilver with the Lacie DVD drive hooked up to it, hoping I can start up from the optical drive, which contains the Tiger install disk. Result: blank white screen that goes nowhere. Found out that the Lacie needs at least 10.3.9 to run.
I'm out of ideas.
Can someone tell me the right way to do this?

Thanks guys.
Didn't sleep at all last night, BUT, I did it!
1) Set the Quicksilver as a firewire target disk hooked up to my G4 1.67GHZ Powerbook. Result = frozen blue screen.
3) Set the Quicksilver as a firewire target disk hooked up to my dual 2.5GHZ G5 Power Mac. Result = frozen blue screen
So that got me thinking, the common thing about the Powerbook and Power Mac is that they both run Leopard. It makes sense to me that computers that already have Leopard installed will probably not run a Tiger installer.
So, I whip out the oldest and slowest computer I have, which is an old 550MHZ Titanium Powerbook, complete with 1 broken hinge, flickering screen and peeled paint. It runs Tiger. I set the Quicksilver as a firewire target disk hooked up to the Titanium Powerbook.
Voila! It works like a charm!
So for anyone facing the same problem, one of the possibilities is: you can do it with the computer set as a firewire target disk hooked up to another computer running nothing newer than Tiger.
Thanks again for your help guys!

Is it possible to install Tiger using an external DVD drive?

I have one the of the first iMacs and at the time I thought I didn't need a DVD Player. However, now I was thinking of buying an external DVD player/burner. Is it possible to upgrade to Tiger using the external DVD drive since I don't have an internal one?

Hi Celticart,
Welcome to the discussions.
I have an old AGP PowerMac G4 to which I have hooked an external Firewire DVD Drive. I have installed Tiger without any problems, using this drive. I see no reason why it couldn't be done on an iMac as well, (provided it has Firewire).
I don't think you could get it to work using an external drive hooked up via USB.
Cheers!
Karl

How do I install Tiger on a G3 iMAC from an external DVD drive?

I want to install Tiger on my PPC G3 iMAC. It is 500MHZ with 512 MB Ram, running 10.3.9. It has a CD drive, but CD version of Tiger is no longer available. I purchased a retail version of Tiger, and, on the advice of the Apple Store personnel, purchased an external DVD drive. It is a USB Lacie drive. My iMAC sees the DVD, but when I click the Install icon, it has a Restart button. Clicking the button restarts for 10.3.9. Same thing happens when I use the "C" key. When I try to assign the DVD drive as the startup drive, it says "ding" and won't assign it. What can I do next?

Take the DVD drive back and exchange it for a Firewire model. You cannot boot the iMac from a USB drive. This is basic information your Apple store personnel should know unless you failed to tell them what Mac model you have.

Possible to install HD-DVD Burner in iMac G4?

Hi, I was wondering if it is at all possible to install HD-DVD burner in a iMac G4? Anyone tried this?

I know that Toast Titanium 8 for Mac supports Blu-Ray burning (Apple's loyalties are in the Blu-Ray not the HD DVD camp) but the G4 is not a processor I'd ever want to be encoding HD in. The G4 wouldn't even be up to playing discs. So I think you could do it with a Blu-Ray drive but you shouldn't do it. I hate having to wait whilst an SD DVD encodes HD is at least four times longer. Remember Apple hasn't put a HD spec burner in even it's 8-core Mac Pro yet!
mrtotes

How do I install Tiger on a G3 iMac via Firewire?

I want to install Tiger on to my slot loading (CD drive) iMac, via my DVD drive-equipped Powerbook and Firewire.
But how do I put both computers in Firewire 'target mode' to do this?

Turn them both off, connect a 6-pin FireWire cable between them.
Start up the PowerBook (with the mains adapter plugged in) and allow it to complete.
Insert the installer DVD and restart from the "Install OS X" alias on the DVD, allow to complete restart again.
Start the iMac with the T key held down and you should get moving FW symbols on it's screen and it's hard drive will mount on the PowerBook.
Select the iMac's hard drive from the installer and complete install. The system will then reboot to the new install on the iMac.
Shut down the iMac and the PowerBook, disconnect the cable and reboot both. You may want to hold down the option key on the PowerBook and select it's internal drive as the startup disk. You can do this in system prefs after booting anyway - I've seen this setting get confused on some target installs.
Good luck!

Anyone know if I can install Leopard on my old iMac?

Need to do some design work on my 4 yr (5?) old iMac PowerPC G4, and am currently running orig system (10.3.9) with my old design programs. Am fine investing in all the new programs, new system...but not sure it will actually all run fine on this computer. Anyone know?

kathgolf wrote:
Am I right that DIMM1 is the accessible slot and DIMM0 the non-user-accessible slot? How much RAM is it worth installing in a 1.25GHz machine?
No, I think it's the other way around.
I'm checking the service manual on the G4 iMac and it seems straightforward EXCEPT you will need to reapply the Thermal Paste :-/ I hate thermal paste!
You easy option would be to just put a 512 stick in your user accesable and run with a 768MB configuration.
Also, there may be some graphic features of 10.5 that are unusable due to the older graphics card.
-mj

Is it possible to install OS X Tiger onto the latest iMac 24" 2.8GHz?

I just bought an iMac 24" 2.8GHz, the latest model released this year.
It came with 10.5.2.
I am wondering if I can install 10.4.x on this machine because I have to use Xcode 2.x for some reason.
10.5 requires XCode 3.x.
Thank you for your comments in advance.

math-man wrote:
thanks you your answer.
That is what i am guessing but i was just wondering if there is any work-around.
The older OS won't have the proper software for the componentes in the newer iMac. For example, it won't necessarily be able to control the iMac's fans. And things like that.
This is a bit techy situation and more like developer side issue but...
Since the previous Xcode 2.4x should be used for some reason(which does not run on Leopard)
My suggestion would be to get a free ADC membership from the developer site, log in, and look at the developement tools page. Scroll down and get Xcode 2.5. That can be used on Leopard, and might be close enough to 2.4.x to work for you. If you have to compile for Tiger, make sure you install the Tiger SDK, too, from the cross development category in the installer.
charlie

Can't re-install Tiger onto Tiger iMac?

I have an Intel iMac running Tiger 10.4.11. I want to do an archive/instal to freshen it up (Mail has lost its will to live or at least to follow rules and accurately select Junk plus other reasons) but when I go to instal from the original disks it tells me "This software cannot be installed on this computer" but in Windows fashion, can't be bothered to explain WHY?!
What have I missed? Anyone help?
Thanks in advance out there!
Cheers
Chris

It happened to me, too. In 2006 I installed 10.4.2 using Install Disk 1 of the DVDs that came with my refurbished Mini. I used the DVD subsequently for DU and Hardware Test.
When I started with the DVD six weeks ago, it had me choose a language. Then it said, "Alert! This software cannon be installed on this computer." Restarting was the only option.
I had never opened my Mini. As in the original installation, only a monitor, mouse, and keyboard were connected. The monitor and mouse were not what I used in 2006, but they worked fine when the DVD asked me to choose a language.
The DVD is gray and labeled for the Mini. It's 2Z691-5615-A. I don't own any Apple DVDs except the pair that came with the MIni. What could keep it from working?

Can I install Tiger OS on a iMac G3 slot loading DV model?

Right now I am currently running 10.3.9.

Hi C.R.!
"I tried using the DVD that came with my daughter's MacBook..."
That's the problem!
That disc is Model Specific.
You must use a Full Retail Version, of the Tiger Install DVD.
Additional info in these links.
Using OS X Install CDs/DVDs On Multiple Macs
What's A Computer Specific Mac OS X Release
Software Update, Upgrade: What's The Difference?
ali b

Is it possible to install Tiger onto my old iMac G3 ?

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