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G3 clamshell IOS

T

tblake05

Experienced Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2017
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Location
Minnesota
Going to sound like a newb question, be nice, I’ve really only ever done fresh OS installs on pc’s… though I’ve used macs/apples in high school, I’ve never done any software installs or related…

Working on a lime green clamshell g3 in great shape. The purist in me wants to install the original iOS it was shipped with which I understand is 8.6? Correct me if im wrong. Plus I want the oem install with the original backgrounds and things.

Is there a place to buy oem copies of install disks, or places to download? Problem there is I don’t have a mac to write them with. So is this possible on my thinkpad?

Then, how is this done? I’m used the self booting cd rom of pc’s and even my way around 3.5” disks to load cd drivers on pc’s.

Macs I have no clue. Thanks for any help.

~Tim
 
Well, for starters, it's neither iOS nor even OSX, but Mac OS, original flavor. You should be able to burn an install CD from your ThinkPad as long as you can find an image in ISO format (a number of Mac-oriented archivists in the PPC era gravitated towards Toast format instead, which is annoying.) If the Mac doesn't automatically boot from the CD, you can hold down the Option key on power-on to force it into a boot menu that'll let you select it.
 
If I recall, the lime green clamshell was a mid/late 2000 model. While the earlier clamshells - blueberry and tangerine from 1999 - came with Mac OS 8.6, I thought the key lime model ran 9.0.2.

I have a graphite (SE) model which runs 9.0.2, installed from the original CDs it came with.
 
tblake05 said:
Great thanks! Is that an archive.org thing or is it not legal?
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There's definitely some ISOs there, some from a user account named "Apple Computer," but from the upload text that may not be an official account...?

(They're not hard to find elsewhere, in any case; Apple has, generally, been more relaxed than the competition w.r.t. OS licensing since they've always made their money off hardware.)
 
Just to add: everymac.com first lists a lime clamshell at https://everymac.com/systems/apple/ibook/specs/ibook_366.html as shipping with 9.0.4 installed. Typically, Macs aren't happy (and often not compatible) with Mac OS versions earlier than they were initially supplied with.

You can tell if yours is the above model by whether it has a 'Firewire' port or not. If it does, you'd be better looking for Mac OS 9.0.4 or later.

Incidentally, I've had problems burning CDs on modern systems for some early Mac models - they can be very fussy on burn speed (slower is better) and there's always a problem if 'classic Mac OS' (any earlier than OS X) files are handled on any more modern operating systems since doing so removes the 'resource forks' which classic Mac OS uses to identify the file and how it works - without the resource fork, it won't!

For example, you can download the Mac OS 9.0.4 install CD from https://www.macintoshrepository.org/16932-mac-os-9-0-4-ibook-clamshell-firewire- (you'll have to sign up since it's almost 500Mb, but that's free) and what you get is a .zip file containing a 'toast' image. If you burn that image as-is on a modern system it should work, but if you open it first and burn the contents, it won't because the resource forks will be missing.

These resource forks are a sometimes annoying quirk of 'classic Mac OS' that Windows, linux and later Mac OS didn't have.

Incidentally, that Mac Repository page has a second .zip CD image for Mac OS 9.0.4 'Software Restore' - this is to install all the original software the Clamshell came with too. If you can burn these as usable CDs the clamshell can work with, you'll get a complete 'out of the box' clamshell experience. This is what I did with mine, though I had the advantage of having the original CDs.
 
Is there a place to buy oem copies of install disks, or places to download? Problem there is I don’t have a mac to write them with. So is this possible on my thinkpad?
Click to expand...
As others mentioned there are ISOs around.

For legality, I believe there are DMCA exceptions in place for abandoned software designed primarily for use by consumers for diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of devices, and software which is no longer sold by the copyright holder but the original medium's expected life-span is less than the copyright life. Don't quote me on that, I'm not a lawyer.

Also, If you are still looking, I think I have an original OS disk laying around for that laptop.
 
FleetwoodMacAndCheese said:
Also, If you are still looking, I think I have an original OS disk laying around for that laptop.
Click to expand...

I haven't done anything since my last visit to vcfed. Would you consider selling the disc or even just a copy of it? Is there one disk for all colors? As I know different colors have different backgrounds and things.

Thanks!
 
Late to the party, My disk has a green background but I don't know if the distros are color coded.

Regardless, I'm glad to see you got it working! I'm really happy to see another piece of equipment restored!
 
Yes it’s my grail laptop and I’m truly happy to own one. Sad to see so much of the old technology just gone.

My next project will be getting this on the internet again….. just because lol!
 
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