iMac G3 Upgrade

1. You don't need to upgrade the RAM but should anyway.

2. Not without erasing the entire drive. Mac OS X and 9 can exist and both be bootable on a single partition.

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You may consider checking into the Firmware Update version that computer hardware would require for it to run OS X and not have a failure of some sort. That update would be installed in a non-OS X system and before OS X is run, you should discover if the Firmware had been updated.

There are a few places to check to see if someone had already updated the firmware, though I don't remember where they are and no longer use OS 9.x, Classic, or have a dual-boot PPC computer.

Been some years since I last had to check into this, and so I have totally forgotten the process. There should be some information if you search online using terms to include that computer model and Firmware Update. There still may be links toward that end in Apple Support; I've found older things most difficult to locate there, though.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

Do you have the original system discs, or a Mac OS 9 installer CD it will boot off of?

It does, but unfortunately there is no real good backup medium for that iMac in case you make a mistake. USB CD burners are slow and cumbersome with them, and Mac OS X is too large to fit on even a CD anymore. You would have been better off getting an iMac with Firewire, than one without.

The Boot ROM is up to date.

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You can upgrade as is but will need to install 9.1 if you want to use Classic applications without restarting.

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