carnage

Tiger on iMac G3 (requires more RAM?).

I got Tiger working on my iMac G3 DV SE (a 400MHz slot-loading "Kihei" model). My initial attempts with the Tiger DVD led to the process hanging about midway through; I upgraded to 640MB of RAM last night and the install went off with out a hitch.

RAM's relatively cheap these days; the 512MB SDRAM module cost only $64 shipped from Omni Technologies, which has a goofy website (nearly all graphics and no text) but apparently makes their own chips and offers 24/7 customer support.

RAM for PowerBook G3.

While messing around with XPostFacto and Panther on the PowerBook G3 Series last night, I remembered that I have to check out the RAM situation on that machine. Currently it has 2 sticks in it, both of which appear to be 256MB. However, the System Profiler is only reporting 256MB instead of 512MB. One of the sticks isn't labeled, though.

According to LowEndMac, the maximum for the PowerBook G3 Series (Wallstreet) is 512MB, and low-profile DIMMs are required. I'll have to do more testing/research to figure out what I've got in there now. Maybe there's a faulty 128 in there instead of a 256. At any rate, at $22 for another 256MB, I think all I have to do is make sure I order the right thing.

512MB should be plenty for playing MP3s and the occasional MPEG file on my living room entertainment system, which is what this PowerBook is destined for.

RAM for the iMac.

note to self Check the current RAM in the iMac (128MB? I know it's in one slot, anyway) and figure out the best price/performance option for an upgrade. Dealram says I can get 256MB sticks for $22 bucks and 512MB ones for $62; LowEndMac says the maximum is 512MB split in two slots, but I think the real maximum may be 1GB.

update Crucial's RAM configurator says the max is 1GB.