Q: powerbook G3 bronze- without firewire - Is upgrade to OSX possible?

Here is the specs for your PowerBook:

http://support.apple.com/specs/powerbook/PowerBookG3_Series_BronzeKeyboard.html

That Mac will support 10.2 Jaguar directly. Do not attempt to use anything older [because it is not well-behaved enough]. You will need install CDs, (but they are not too expensive). Gray CDs for another Mac are not recommended, the "Full Retail" CDs have a big X on them (hairy X with Jaguar spots for this version). It cannot be installed via download.

This link may lead you to the QuickTime you need:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime603formac.html

Getting online is a problem in itself, and you will get better help by posting another thread with that problem as its title.

You can do Jaguar (10.2) or Panther (2.3) as far as OS X. Right now I am posting this from a Lombard 333 on 9.2.1 with 320 MB RAM using a Wavelan Silver PC card for wireless and my browser is Wamcom Mozilla 1.3. The other partition is 10.2 but I practically never use it. So you can do a lot with what you already have. You won't, however, be able to use an internal airport card because there is no place for it. You can do DVD with a DVD module and a DVD decoder PC card, it's fine for reading and watching DVDs but I don't know if that would be bootable. And a firewire PC card worked for me for communicating with my video camera with the firewire cord and Jaguar, but not with 9. So that's also possible.

What does the kid need to do with it?

Karen,

If you wish to try getting online, take a look at this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106877

Once online, download 'PPC Checker' here...
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3CARDS/PPCchecker/

...and see if it reports this CPU microprocessor):

PowerPC 750L (LoneStar, Rev2.2) Copper G3 PVR = 0x00088202

If you do, I will describe the associated problem.

Since it natively supports up to 10.3.9, I would install Panther/10.3 if possible.

You can wireless with a WiFi PC card but which card you buy depends on which OS you decide to run...9.x or 10.x.

On non-firewire Macs, I've gone up to the latest version of 10.2.8 without problems, comes on two CDs and takes forever to load. Never bothered with 10.3, so not an expert there. As fat as going online, you can for wireless (but you'll need the wiireless router or spend your days at Starbucks for wifi) - OS 9's version of Airport will only recognize original Airport cards and limited PC cards - and Orinoco Gold PC Card would be your best best for OS 9. The Orinoco (or Lucent, interchangable) Card will also work in OS X. It ain't fast, but it works.

The other thing to consider is that you have a perfectly go0od 10/100 ethernet port on that machine that will work wonderfully (and usually faster than wireless) on a high-speed wireless netword (think cable broadband) - flip side of that is to bear the drudgery of using dial-up and the built-in 56k modem - it will really depend on how you plan to connect to the internet.

The first thing to consider, however, is how much RAM and hard drive capacity do you have in the Lombard - going to OS X is great, but only if you have enough space on the hard drive and enough RAM to support it - it may not be cost-effective when you look at upgrade pricing - especially if you are going to pay someone to do the work - it may be cheaper in the long run to replace it with a newer machine.