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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Installing mac os 10.1.5 on an OLD iMac g3

Sam G - Apr 25, 2006 - 5:29 pm

I have an old teal colored iMac g3 with Mac OS 9.2.2, 160 mb of RAM, 6 mb of vram and a 233 mhz processor. I was wondering if I can install OS 10.1.5 on it without any problems.

TrancerTong - Apr 25, 2006 - 7:52 pm

You should be able to upgrade it to 10.3, theoretically.

However, with that little RAM i wouldn't recommend it. Especially considering the price of RAM in this day and age.

In fact I do believe 10.3 should run better than 10.1, but your results may vary.

At any rate, to answer your question: any iMac will run OS X (at least) up to 10.3.9.

Sam G - Apr 26, 2006 - 7:10 am

I read at amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/sys...534&s=software) that the system requirements for mac os 10.2 requires 16 mb of vram, which I don't have. My computer can only support up to 6 mb of vram, which I already have.
This is what the Amazon website said:
"
System Requirements:

Power Mac G3 or G4, iMac, eMac, PowerBook G3 or G4, or iBook computer
128MB of physical RAM
Supports all video cards shipped by Apple on Mac OS X-compatible systems. Quartz Extreme functionality is supported by the following video cards: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, GeForce3, GeForce4 MX, or GeForce4 Ti; Any AGP-based ATI RADEON card. A minimum of 16MB VRAM is required.
QuickTime Pro functionality requires a QuickTime 6 Pro key. The QuickTime 5 Pro key will not work after this software is installed.
DVD Player requires a DVD-ROM equipped Macintosh with built-in FireWire.
"
Can my computer system still install Jaguar without enough vram? Can it or I ovveride that part?

Thanks for your help!

Sam

Sam G - Apr 26, 2006 - 7:17 am

I am really grateful for your help!
I am sick of Mac OS 9, no offense to Apple™

I know for sure that Mac OS 10.1 will work on my computer. You said that I could install Jaguar or Panther, that would be really awesome!

Thanks!

Sam G

TrancerTong - Apr 26, 2006 - 6:02 pm

The required 16MB of VRAM is for Quartz Extreme, so you won't get the pretty Quartz Extreme effects, however I am positive you can run up to 10.3.9 on that computer. My only suggestion would be to add more RAM.

TrancerTong - Apr 26, 2006 - 6:02 pm

The required 16MB of VRAM is for Quartz Extreme, so you won't get the pretty Quartz Extreme effects, however I am positive you can run up to 10.3.9 on that computer. My only suggestion would be to add more RAM.

Sam G - Apr 26, 2006 - 10:11 pm

Are you positive?
I don't want to waste a lot of money on the cd

Sam G

TrancerTong - Apr 27, 2006 - 10:10 pm

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106163

The only difference in requirements between 10.2 and 10.3 was the requirement of built-in USB. Even then, you can get around that to install 10.3 on ADB Macs using XPostFacto. However, you will not have to do that, since your iMac does indeed have built-in USB.

Tiger, however, requires a G4 Processor, which your iMac lacks, therefore 10.3.9 is the highest you can go.

Sam G - Apr 28, 2006 - 7:18 am

Ok I will buy the cd for panther then!

Thanks for all your help!

Sam G

Thanks!

Sam G - May 10, 2006 - 5:38 pm

Thanks for your help, but I figured it out. I went into the install package and deleted a file called "Installation Check"

Sam G

Thanks!