Apple iMAC G3 266Mhz upgrade

From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre_at_floodgap.com>
Date: Sat Jul 17 14:09:58 2004

This is a rather off-topic, but:

> I just bought an Apple iMAC (266 Mhz) w/ 32Mb PC-66 SO-RAM, 528 L2
> Cache. I have been a PC person, but have always wanted to learn more about
> MACs so that I could add it to my list of skills, since I am already expert
> on PC networking and support. Anyways, this little iMAC seems to work pretty
> good, but really has memory problems that I was not expecting, but appear to
> be normal for the system. I have gone to some of the MAC forums and I have
> read many complaints about how they handle memory. Basically, I have to
> continually close down programs, because I will get messages telling me that
> I need to close other programs in order to open the new one. I have had a
> 266Mhz PC, and I never had to do that so often, only rarely.

You mention OS 8.5.1 (which is rather old, and there should be an OS 8.6
upgrade for download from Apple). If you use OS X, the old evil way of
managing application memory goes away (except for Classic-mode applications).
The old method of Mac memory management, a holdover from MultiFinder, is to
give apps a fixed memory allocation when they start up. This is officially
dead with Cocoa-native and Carbon-based apps in OS X.

> What I am thinking of doing is adding new RAM, to upgrade it to 128 or
> 256Mb. Is someone here experienced with this machine. It's the tray
> loading G3 type, with OS version 8.51. I am not sure which firmware
> version. But the system settings say ROM version 1.5, which may refer to
> something else, I'm not sure. Where do I check? The reason I ask is because
> someone selling upgrade RAM on eBay told me that I can actually add up to
> 528 Mb RAM on that system, if I have a firmware upgrade to version 1.2.
> Thus, I need to figure out what version I have.

You can simply run this, and if you're not at 1.2, it will upgrade you there.

        http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60384

> I have also read in the forums that maybe adding additional RAM can
> cause the system to be unstable, if I use faster RAM than it is made for
> (for example PC133, or PC100 RAM). My manual says I need to use (2) PC66
> RAM SO-DIMMs. The people trying to sell me new RAM say that I can safely
> upgrade my system all the way to 528 Mb RAM, and that I can use PC133 and
> PC100 type (2) x 128Mb or (1) x 256 Mb, in the bottom slot. This conflicts
> with my manual which says I need PC66, and max RAM upgrade is (2) x 128.

Apple usually undersold their systems' RAM maximums; I have a IIci running
gleefully with 128MB SIMMs, and a friend of mine tricked his old 7300 out to
1GB, neither of which was originally envisioned for either one.
Unfortunately, Macs are also notoriously finicky about their RAM. This is
a nice page on generally upgrading a tray-loading iMac, including RAM:

        http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/tray-up.html

> My last question is in regards to upgrading the OS to version 9.0 or
> higher. If I get the RAM upgrade, is this computer any good for upgrading
> to a higher OS version? I understand that I can use virtual PC (I have the
> software already), and install both. My goal here is not great speed but
> simply to learn the newer Operating Systems, maybe even OSX.

See the page above. Myself, if you find the memory issues that aggravating
*and* you can easily upgrade to OS X native or Carbon apps, making the
jump to OS X will serve you well (plus, it's Un*x). On the other hand, if
all you're running is Classic apps, there's no point in going to OS X,
though jumping to 9.1 or 9.2.2 would be a wise idea.

-- 
---------------------------------- personal: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
 Cameron Kaiser, Floodgap Systems Ltd * So. Calif., USA * ckaiser_at_floodgap.com
-- Never trust a computer you can't lift. -------------------------------------
Received on Sat Jul 17 2004 - 14:09:58 BST

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