Upgrading a touch screen mac (G3) from OS 9.1 to OS X

Question

Upgrading a touch screen mac (G3) from OS 9.1 to OS X

I have an old touch screen G3 and want to install OS X and run a Filemaker Kiosk application on it. If I upgrade to Panther (which is all I need) I think I'll lose the driver software for the touch screen. I'm looking for some driver software for a touch screen that will run on OS X - does anyone know where/how to get such a driver?

or, has anyone done this before that could help with tips and tricks?

Thanks

Various Macs, new and old Mac OS X (10.4.4) iBook core duo, various older macs

Posted on Jun 14, 2007 5:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Jun 18, 2007 7:30 PM in response to Tassie Kayaker

Tassie:

Welcome to Apple Discussions.

I am not familiar with touch screens, and, apparently, not many others in this forum. I am assuming that this is an add-on to your mac. I suggest that you contact the manufacturer of your touch screen product and ask about updated drivers, or go to their website and see if it can be downloaded.

Please keep me updated of your progress.

Good luck.

cornelius

Reply

Answer 2

ali brown

Level 7

26,503 points

Jun 19, 2007 7:12 AM in response to Tassie Kayaker

Welcome To  Discussions Tassie!

Are you looking for something like this vKeyboard Plus?

What are you using presently?

Exactly which model Mac G3 are you planning on upgrading, and what OS is installed?
What size is the Hard Drive, and how much space is available?
How much RAM is installed, and is it original or added?

ali b

Reply

Answer 3

Jul 9, 2007 11:20 PM in response to cornelius

Thank you, Cornelius and others. Here's some further details that might help.

It's a iMac with a PowerPC G3 333MHZ processor, currently running OS 9.1

It has a label attached to the casing saying "Micro Touch Enabled" and the website www.microtouch.com.au. However, this website is now utilised for other purposes... from my web searches, it looks like 3M must have bought the Micro Touch company or something, and I can't find any drivers for current Mac operating systems on the 3M website.

The Mac has Touchware 5.3.2f1 installed, as well as USB Touchscreen Module and USB Touchscreen Shim. It has a little utility called Micro Cal, which looks like it's set up for a U1.2.0 Capacitive.

I'd like to install Mac OSX 10.3 on this G3 and run a Filemaker Pro database in a kiosk mode. My worry is that when I install OSX, the modules/drivers for the touch screen will be lost and the touch-screen will cease working!

What I really need, I think, is a driver for the USB capacitive touch screen sensor...

My web searches have so far turned up nothing positive - perhaps I'm trying to do the impossible!

Anyone have any ideas?

Reply

Answer 4

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Jul 10, 2007 5:17 AM in response to Tassie Kayaker

Tassie:

Thanks for posting back with updated information. A quick search brought MicroTouch Multimedia Touch Monitor For Macintosh. The article is a bit dated, but it might provide some clues for you. This article is a bit later, but refers to Compaq using Mac monitor screens. Again, maybe you can find some clues.

Good luck.

cornelius

Reply

Answer 5

ali brown

Level 7

26,503 points

Jul 11, 2007 7:17 AM in response to Tassie Kayaker

Hi Tassie!

To install Panther 10.3.x on your iMac, you would have to partition the Hard Drive, and install OS X on the first partition, which must be just shy of 8GB, like 7.85GB.
More info HERE.

So what you are proposing to do, may not be feasible, due limited amount of HD space to work with.

What size is the Hard Drive, and how much space is the current installation using?

ali b

Reply