July 02, 2005

Specifications: Blue & White Power Macintosh G3 ("Yosemite")

Link: Blue & White Power Macintosh G3 specifications at LowEndMac.com

Details

  • models:
    • G3/300 introduced 1999.01.05 at US$1,599; discontinued 1999.06.
    • G3/350 introduced 1999.01.05 at US$1,999; discontinued 1999.08.31.
    • G3/400 introduced 1999.01.05 at US$2,999; discontinued 1999.08.31.
    • G3/450 introduced 1999.06 at $2,519; discontinued 1999.08.31.
  • requires Mac OS 8.5 or later; units that shipped with Mac OS 8.6 require 8.6 or later.
  • CPU: 300/350/400/450 MHz PPC 750
  • bus: 100 MHz
  • CPU performance
    • 300 MHz: 9.85 BYTEmark, 926 MacBench 5
    • 350 MHz: 11.51 BYTEmark, 1144 MacBench 5
    • 400 MHz: 13.31 BYTEmark, 1323 MacBench 5
    • 450 MHz: 1484 MacBench 5
  • RAM: 64 MB or 128 MB standard, expandable to 1 GB using PC100 SDRAM (3.3V,unbuffered, 64-bit, 168-pin, 100 MHz) in 4 DIMM slots
  • VRAM: 16 MB
  • Video: ATI Rage 128 on 66 MHz bus, supports resolutions to 1600x1200 with 32-bit support, VGA output (replaces older DB-15 port Apple has used since 1987). Rev. 1 runs as 75 MHz, while Rev. 2 uses faster 90-100 MHz clock.
  • Video: Some educational units came with a Rage Pro video card that supported video capture.
  • L2 cache: 1 MB 2:1 backside cache (512 KB on 300 MHz model)
  • hard drive: 6 GB or 12 GB Ultra ATA or 9 GB Ultra2 SCSI hard drive
  • CD-ROM: 24x maximum throughput, DVD and DVD-RAM optional internal Zip drive optional
  • 4 PCI slots (3 are 64-bit, one is 66 MHz; 66 MHz slot used for video card) optional internal 56k modem
  • two 400 Mbps FireWire ports
  • two 12 Mbps USB ports for keyboard, mouse, and peripherals one ADB port
  • 10/100Base-T ethernet connector on back of computer
  • size (HxWxD): 17.0" x 8.9" x 18.4"
  • weight: 30.0 lb.
  • Gestalt ID: n/a
  • battery: 3.6V lithium
  • upgrade path: ZIF CPU upgrades

July 2, 2005 in Desktop, PowerMac G3 Blue & White, Specifications | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 10, 2005

Experiments.

I did a couple of experiments last night: I upgraded the B&W PowerMac to Tiger, and upgraded the Wallstreet to Panther with the help of Ryan Rempel's excellent XPostFacto.

I'd actually done the XPostFacto trick before on this same PowerBook G3, but it didn't really take. The video had problems with colors, and overall it felt pretty creaky. But this time, I used his latest stable build, XPostFacto 3.1, read through the known problems, and decided to check the "Use PatchedRagePro" as suggested.

XPostFacto is very easy to use: just download the application to your OS 9 boot drive, insert your OS X Install disc, launch XPostFacto, check off a few options as necessary, and click the "Install from CD" button. Your Mac will restart and you then follow the normal procedure to install. Total time for me was under an hour. Not bad for a 7-year-old machine with just 256MB of RAM. Which reminds me; I should see about boosting that.

The Blue & White was just a bit less trouble-free: it reported that "there were problems while installing" and suggested that I try again. A casual Google revealed that sometimes this can be due to problems reading data off the disc, and since I had a relatively ancient third-party combo drive in there, I gave it another shot. The second time was a charm.

These were both test runs. When I get those laptop drives I ordered I'll stick one in the Wallstreet and try Tiger via XPostFacto 4.0b3.

June 10, 2005 in Desktop, Laptop, Mac OS X, PowerBook G3 Series, PowerMac G3 Blue & White, Upgrades | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack