So I have a tray-loading iMac G3 that I recently got and am trying to upgrade and restore. The current OS on the iMac is 8.5.1 and I have the disc for 10.4 Tiger which to my knowledge is the latest compatible OS for the G3. I saw a lot of people saying that you should update your firmware before upgrading your OS, or there might be issues. What firmware do I need, how can I update it, and how do I check which firmware I currently am using?
iMac
Hi,
The tray-loading (and some slot-loading) iMac G3 models do not support Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (only up to Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther).
See https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/index-imac.html
It may in fact be better to stay with a pre-Mac OS X system, especially with a limited amount of RAM. This way, the computer will be relatively fast. Since the browsers compatible with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and earlier do not work properly with modern (secure) web pages, Internet use will be limited anyway.
Mac OS 8.5.1 can be updated to Mac OS 8.6.
Mac OS 8.6 Update: Document and Software
See also USB Mass Storage Support 1.3.5: Document and Software
iMac G3 Firmware Updates before Upgrading OS
