G3 upgrade

Welcome dmbfan!

Indeed, the Beige G3 can be upgraded significantly. Just remember the the price of upgrade parts does not go down as fast and the price of an upgraded computer. You can easily spend the cost of a Mac Mini on upgrade parts for a G3. I'm not saying, "don't upgrade," I'm saying go into this with eyes wide open. There are parts in my Beige that are worth more than the entire box! For me, upgrading is a hobby, not affected by the balance sheet in a corporate office.

There are three "form factors" for the Beige G3. Please look at these image links:
Desktop (DT)
Mini-tower (MT)
All-in-One (AIO)

and tell us which version you have. It can help us guide you on the upgrade path.

Also read this article, run the quick test, and tell us what logic board revision you have.

The Beige G3 logic board has two connectors for ATA(IDE) devices and one for SCSI. Whether the internal ZIP from the 6500 is SCSI or ATA, it should work depending on your logic board revisions. Here's where the form factor comes in--it's easier to add drives to the MT case than the other two. If you have the DT model, you'll need a drive sled and a special ZIP bezel that are getting harder to find. The MT ZIP bezels are easier to find and you don't need a sled

I suspect the USB card will work, too; however, such cards with OPTI chipsets (name is conveniently painted on the largest chip) have been troublesome in the Beige.

Any Beige logic board can handle an ATA hard drive up to the practical limit of 120GB without add-on parts; the later boards can handle up to two ATA drives of 120GB each. If you install an ATA drive larger than 8GB, you must partition the drive so the first partition is slightly less than 8GB (like 7.9G) and install OSX in that partition. Installing any version of OSX after Jaguar (10.2.X) requires third-party helper software.

Hope this gives you some ideas. Please tell us a little more about your machine and we can go from there!

A

Great! A rev 3 mini-tower makes life a LOT easier, but then I'm probably just a little prejudiced.

Operating System: For what she needs, I believe Jaguar will do fine and avoids the use of the third-party installation helper. Simpler is good. The following site claims to have OS10.2 (Jaguar) full retail install sets for US$52:

Apple Rescue

Other firms may offer OSX disks for less, but they are likely to be system disks sold with another model of computer. They may not install everything the Beige needs, plus there is speculation that using such model-specific disks is a EULA violation.

Memory: OSX is a RAM hog. The specs say a min of 128MB but many of us feel the the functional min is 256MB. If you need to add RAM (the Beige can handle up to 768MB) buy from a web dealer who knows Macs and get RAM for the Blue & White G3. This is an example of that RAM.

Hard Drives: There's not much sense in going under 40GB if you buy new. However, as you have access to a surplus outfit, they may have smaller suitable drives cheap. I strongly recommend getting an ATA drive that has a spindle speed of 7200 rpm. The stock ATA drive in the Beige was a 5400 rpm model. The faster drives really helped in my computer. The speed is likely not marked on the drive itself. You'll have to write down the drive make and model number and then use the manufacturer's web site to noodle out the specs.

Partitioning: The under 8GB partition rule is mandatory if you use the on-board ATA bus. Don't make the partition too little, like 4GB; OSX uses always-on virtual memory and needs a lot of free space on the boot partition. You can install OS9 in the other partition for Classic to use and to allow dual-booting. The boot partition must also be the "Master" device on its ATA bus.

Here's my device scheme:

ATA0 Master: 60GB Maxtor
Partit. 1: OSX boot partition (7.9GB)
Partit. 2: remainder OS.1 boot partition and storage
ATA0 Slave: 80GB Maxtor
Partit. 1: 7.9GB reserved for future OSX installation, plus has OS9.2.2 for Classic to use
Partit. 2: remainder storage.

ATA1 Master: CDRW drive
ATA1 Slave: ZIP 100

Note my hard drives are on the same ATA bus. Mixing hard drives with slower devices can result in a speed penalty.

USB: Drag the card out of the 6500 and look at the information silkscreened on the largest chip. OPTI is shaky; NEC is good. LEt us know what you find.

ZIP drive: I don't know much about 6500s so I don't know whether it is SCSI or ATA. With a Rev 3, your CD-ROM is surely ATA, so the zip should go on that bus set to "Slave." The CD-ROM must be master for the OSX install disks to work.

A good logic board diagram is helpful as you start upgrading. Here's one: MacGurus Logic Board Diagram

You should probably start with a fresh logic board battery to avoid grief. Radio Shack has them as part number 23-026, but they're about US$14.50 lately. This site has them for $6.88 and they pay the shipping.

Well, I need to help put away Christmas stuff so my wife can entertain tomorrow night. I'll check back in about an hour or two.

A

The Zip drive in a 6500 would be SCSI. The 6500 had only a single one-device ATA bus and it was occupied by the hard drive. But that's OK- the early G3s (like mine) also came with SCSI Zip drives.

Thanks, Bill.

dbmfan,

That means you can indeed use the ZIp in the Beige. It will attach to the internal SCSI connector on the logic board (see linked diagram above). Physically, the drive screws directly to the expansion bay floor plate--they're pre-drilled to fit a variety of devices without the need for a sled. You can run th computer without a plastic bezel, but i'd try to find one--the included metal EMF shield is good insurance.

The transfer rates won't set any speed records, but will be more than serviceable. ZIP 100s aren't that fast anyway.

If you want to use an internal SCSI drive and your tower did not come with a SCSI cable installed, you will need a fairly long one. The standard route for the 50-pin ribbon cable is right alongside the two IDE cables, behind the power supply, and up above the "roof rack" ceiling-mounted hard drive bracket, then down to the drive bays.

The proper disk for 9 is the full retail universal install. It has a large orange 9 on it. Gray or Orange disks may or may not install all the stuff you need.

The proper full-retail universal install disks for X have a large colored or stark black or white X on them. Gray disks are intended for a specific Mac model, and they may or may not install everything you need. Disks specifically for a G5 model absolutely will not work on any other Macs.

Allan has read you the riot act on violating the license agreement -- I want to get much more practical. You will want to have your own system disks on hand for emergencies. You are not talking about the current software, so it is available used for cheap. It would be a good idea to buy your own copy.