Nice machines - even today, I like the case stylings of that era of towers from Apple. I used to use one of those at a design company I worked for.

In my storage unit, I have a G4 PowerMac - much the same as one of those, but with the Graphite finish.

You may get some joy out of overclocking, but remember that Apple design the air cooling to cope with the hardware as supplied. It may be better to just use the machine as it is.

Google served this site up - http://www.dgweb.ca/g3/

It's running OSX 10.3.9 (just updated it to .9) and it seems to be quite snappy.

However, I want 10.4 as most apps I want (like MSN) require it.

@ProfF and Vella - I just got 400mhz out of it, and it seems to be OK. Might have to put a bigger HSF on it though, feels a little toasty already...

not if you take care of it properly, and dont let others use it

I can't believe you bought a Mac, Adam. Welcome to the dark side!

Peter.

Lol

All the more reason for you to get on MSN and give me a lesson on using them, eh?

Just be aware that MSN for Mac is cr@p...From what I recall, it lacks video and audio support, lacks the handwriting support too IIRC...

I would recommend Adium, which is a Mac specific app based on libpurple, the same library that Pidgin (was GAIM) is based on.

Oh, and you may be semi-interested in this wiki page (clicky), it'll give you some background and tell you how to access it on your Mac My G3 is at the purple one's parents (hoping the dont get too attached to it), I'll not see it until September, but I'll be playing with open firmware then, just to remind me of my days working with SPARC

Hmm, A Windows machine is like a Fiat Punto or a Lamborghini Gallardo or a Transit Connect or a Lada, umm, or maybe an old Ford Mondeo, or maybe a new Corsa, perhaps even an Audi A4....i.e could be anything.

Linux machine could be similar to a PC, more likely to be a Volvo though, on its way to a real ale convention, driven by a Bill Bailey lookalike.

Mac's are a bit like Lotus Elises, paprticularly the early ones, strip away the pretty body and its a Rover engine (or Toyota) underneath out of a Rover 200 or a Corolla.

All in jest mind.

How do I make it boot from CD?

Ive got a 10.4 cd in front of me, and when I mount it, it says Restart to install OSX. However, when I do it just loads as normal...:/

EDIT: Tried holding C down on startup. It spins the disc up, but doesn't do anything and boots as normal.

Try holding down the option/alt key at boot.
This should present you with the bootable volumes - just select the one you want to start from i.e. the Tiger CD.

Just to check : does it have a CD drive or a DVD drive? Unless you got the 10.4 CD set, you’ll have a DVD. It is a proper Apple disc, and not a bootleg?

Try holding down the ALT key on start up. You should get a list of bootable drives (this can take a little while to appear). The CD/DVD should be in the list.

Its got a CD (just took it to bits and it says official apple on it as some have problems booting from ones without a Apple firmware or something) and I have the 4 CD set.

I'll try both those suggestions, guys. Cheers.

I just tried holding Alt down when I booted. Nothing.

Ctrl+Alt yielded nothing. That weird apple key + alt did nothing either. I tried getting into the firmware, then entering mac-boot c (for CD) and it displayed a circle with a line though it.

WTF. Silly macs.

No, just hold the option key down (may be marked as alt), right from the moment you switch it on. Eventually you'll get a screen that offers you your HD, and hopefully the CD as a bootable device.

A word of warning, Microsoft software for Mac sucks.

They have good reason to make it bad I suppose, but make it bad they do!! Both MSN and office suck on Mac, and I'd suggest avoiding them.

Luckily, there are decent alternatives out there.