What OS should I install on my iBook G3 Clamshell?

[Silent Flamer]

I'm continuing the discussion in my "Multi Topic" regarding modernizing my iBook. I'll explain again.

I have an iBook G3 Clamshell with Mac OS 9. It's quite a nice build ever since I've refilled it from the condition I got it in; It has a lot of programs, extensions, control panels, it's quite a heavy system.

However, I don't use it much because it doesn't have too many modern amenities. Most of the things I do, I can do with the iBook (in the case of telnetting to BBSes, the iBook does a better job than my Windows PC), but some things I do really often such as listening to Youtube, I can't do on it. (I tried YTBrowser and FLVPlayer.classic, not really good results, since the Mac is not strong enough).

So I want to completely scrap it and reinstall with a new OS. I got a few options; the first option I considered was Debian since it has PPC ports. However, I don't think too many programs will work well with it (I've used Debian a lot, most of the programs in the repositories are all for i386 and amd64). Still, it's modern and in the least I would get a nice text-based system.

On second thought, however, I should do what only people with Macs can do; Get Mac OS or Mac OS X. I've been catching my eye on Panther now, but I would be fine with the older versions of Mac OS X as long as I got a good enough arsenal of programs to choose from to stock up.

However, I just checked the system specs and on one side Panther apparently has a minimum system requirement of 128MB, which is double of what my Clamshell has. Older versions are not as bad but still look like they would run worse than Mac OS 9. However, this site (https://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/ ... ibook.html) and you guys give suggestions even more ambitious than Jaguar, and it says here that the Clamshell can have up to 10.3.9.

So I'm quite confused on how much the iBook G3 Clamshell can actually achieve here; can it ACTUALLY run that high of a version of Mac OS X? Because if it can, I'd definitely run for Mac OS X 10.2; the only reason why I didn't get it before is because I thought it wouldn't work in only 64MB of RAM.

What do you guys think? What options do I have, and which should I pick for the best kick?

Also I'd prefer to stay in the lower versions of Mac OS X, I don't exactly like the newer versions like going as high as 10.3.9.

[Silent Flamer]

Did some research.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEgKe0J7g8E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyJG4RKP1VQ

These guys are annihilating it, they are having 0 problems with installing Panther or Tiger on a Clamshell.
It seems the iBook can handle it; Green light for me for what used to be one of my dream OSes.

So, guys, what do you think? I'm definitely inclined to go towards deleting the Mac OS 9 and installing Mac OS X 10.2 instead. Should I go ahead with this? Or try something else?

*EDIT* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L57n8DJ1P_o
The other guys seem to have 96MB and 128MB versions of the iBook. This guy's running OS X on a 64MB one, though. So, yeah.

[adespoton]

When I was on that spec of a machine, I dual booted into 9.2 and 10.2. I found that adding new memory really sped things up though, and after I did that, I removed 9.2 and just used classic. You really need at least 128 to do that.

[Silent Flamer]

When I was on that spec of a machine, I dual booted into 9.2 and 10.2. I found that adding new memory really sped things up though, and after I did that, I removed 9.2 and just used classic. You really need at least 128 to do that.

Yeah, I plan to upgrade the memory, but I can't do it anytime soon.

I looked further into some forum threads, and MOST people said that it's a horrible idea since it'll lag to death. So I'm still slightly reluctant but at least I know it'll definitely WORK since it doesn't poll RAM.

[Silent Flamer]

Tried installing. This time a lot of things were smooth, but at the end it didn't work out. Firstly, the CD burned perfectly and was recognized by my iBook as a proper HFS disk (unlike my Icewind Dale attempt), and after a few failures I managed to learn a bit about the Mac as I updated its firmware.

However, Startup Disk absolutely refuses to select the System Folder in the CD, even though it recognizes the CD as having Mac OS X 10.2 inside. Opening the Install program inside the CD which has a simple restart button, that automatically tries to make Startup Disk select the CD and then reboot, doesn't do anything either. I also tried holding Control-Option-Shift-Delete, and Option & X individually, all of which prompts the Mac to take another look at where it can boot from, but it always arrives at booting from only one System Folder; the Mac OS 9 hard disk.

I'm really puzzled over the matter. I took a lot of looks at other forums and a few have the same problem. I was jolly excited that I managed to learn a few startup key combinations, update my firmware while I'm at it and burned the CD perfectly, but I just cannot seem to get the installer to work.

Anyone have an idea on how to solve this?

[Silent Flamer]

On a random unrelated note, now that I have literacy in Japanese, I'd really like to know the program that's in my avatar (close up picture here : http://apple-history.com/650). No description is listed, and I can't discern the name from the picture, but there's a 1 in 10000 chance that one of you recognize it.

[adespoton]

Looks kinda like Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia, but in Japanese.

[adespoton]

Tried installing. This time a lot of things were smooth, but at the end it didn't work out. Firstly, the CD burned perfectly and was recognized by my iBook as a proper HFS disk (unlike my Icewind Dale attempt), and after a few failures I managed to learn a bit about the Mac as I updated its firmware.

However, Startup Disk absolutely refuses to select the System Folder in the CD, even though it recognizes the CD as having Mac OS X 10.2 inside. Opening the Install program inside the CD which has a simple restart button, that automatically tries to make Startup Disk select the CD and then reboot, doesn't do anything either. I also tried holding Control-Option-Shift-Delete, and Option & X individually, all of which prompts the Mac to take another look at where it can boot from, but it always arrives at booting from only one System Folder; the Mac OS 9 hard disk.

I'm really puzzled over the matter. I took a lot of looks at other forums and a few have the same problem. I was jolly excited that I managed to learn a few startup key combinations, update my firmware while I'm at it and burned the CD perfectly, but I just cannot seem to get the installer to work.

Anyone have an idea on how to solve this?

Did you try booting with the C key held down? That's traditionally how you boot from a CD.

[Silent Flamer]

Tried installing. This time a lot of things were smooth, but at the end it didn't work out. Firstly, the CD burned perfectly and was recognized by my iBook as a proper HFS disk (unlike my Icewind Dale attempt), and after a few failures I managed to learn a bit about the Mac as I updated its firmware.

However, Startup Disk absolutely refuses to select the System Folder in the CD, even though it recognizes the CD as having Mac OS X 10.2 inside. Opening the Install program inside the CD which has a simple restart button, that automatically tries to make Startup Disk select the CD and then reboot, doesn't do anything either. I also tried holding Control-Option-Shift-Delete, and Option & X individually, all of which prompts the Mac to take another look at where it can boot from, but it always arrives at booting from only one System Folder; the Mac OS 9 hard disk.

I'm really puzzled over the matter. I took a lot of looks at other forums and a few have the same problem. I was jolly excited that I managed to learn a few startup key combinations, update my firmware while I'm at it and burned the CD perfectly, but I just cannot seem to get the installer to work.

Anyone have an idea on how to solve this?

Did you try booting with the C key held down? That's traditionally how you boot from a CD.

Right, forgot to say I tried that too. Same luck. It just absolutely refuses to boot from the "System" folder in the disc. Don't tell me I have to call off the entire upgrade operation just because of this...

2nd worse case scenario would be I have to get something like the Public Beta or Cheetah first, upgrade to that and then from those guys, upgrade to Jaguar.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

Firstly, the CD burned perfectly and was recognized by my iBook as a proper HFS disk

If the machine should be able to run 10.2 and does not start op from the CD with C pressed, there is something wrong with the CD. Exactly how did you burn that CD and from what?

[Silent Flamer]

Firstly, the CD burned perfectly and was recognized by my iBook as a proper HFS disk

If the machine should be able to run 10.2 and does not start op from the CD with C pressed, there is something wrong with the CD. Exactly how did you burn that CD and from what?

I burned from an .iso file using PowerISO.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

And from what was the the ISO file created and how was that done?

[Silent Flamer]

I used to have a CD (non-machine-specific) but then I lost it sometime ago, so I torrented an iso I downloaded.

[Silent Flamer]

Never mind then, I'll keep this CD for later. I'll see what I can do with the iBook on my own knowledge, I'll let you guys know if I manage to upgrade it. Thanks for the help.

[Silent Flamer]

After some looking around and some laziness, I decided to go see if I can install Debian Woody (3.0) (Linux distro) on the iBook instead of upgrading the RAM first; it'll be troublesome for me to find the screwdriver to unlock the back, you see. If I can get a nice system running at 64mb, I can brag and enjoy running the most minimal non-Macintosh OS I've ever used. I'll report when I get things going.

[Silent Flamer]

After a lot of snags (worth two entire reports, actually, I won't go into details), I've installed Debian Etch on my iBook. The process were surprisingly straightforward and clean (things were smoother than my previous attempts at installing Debian, but there's the usual headaches for installing a Linux distro), and what's even more surprising is that everything is incredibly smooth.

I'm typing this on my iBook, in Debian 4.0r9, using IceWM (I installed KDE 3.0 and it was gorgeous but was lagging too much) and Iceweasel. I'd expect it to lag quite a lot like iCab and Netscape in Mac OS 9, but this is actually smoother than both, renders pages properly (the buttons at the top left here actually fade in and out like they should when you scroll over them) and is faster than before. I like the new OS (the system resources are going along nicely; it says its using more RAM than in Mac OS 9, but the OS is faster and more responsive), and I also managed to get the Japanese IME installed and working. All goals accomplished (Modernized, faster and with Japanese IME).

Locking thread since problem has been solved. Thanks for the help, guys. I'll try my luck on Mac OS X 10.2 sometime later.

*EDIT* I cannot lock the thread, I would appreciate some assistance with doing so, thank you.