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g3

I'm not much into Macs, so educate me here a bit ... What's G3 like? I know it is a PowerPC based Mac, but what's the processor speed, memory, etc?
 
Anything from 233 (1997) to 450 (1999) MHz, unless upgraded with 3rd party CPU expansion IIRC. I had a workmate who was a Macoholic and he was saving up for the big G4 CPU upgrade for his old G3, and that was as late as 2003. Memory wise they seem to have come with 32 to 128 MB, but of course possible to add more.

(Hmm.. or maybe this was a question for DOS-Master to answer?)
 
Kewl!

Kewl!

Nice find! I just got a G3 iMac myself to replace my dead Power Mac G3. Their nice machines. Mine dual boots OS X and OS 9.22 just fine. I got a 350 MHz PowerPC G3 with 256Mb of ram and it runs WAY faster than any Intel based machine I've ever had. Of coures I use it for 3D rendering and small 3D animations and the 3D art I do. I love how the PowerPC processor is a Vector Processor, makes rendering a lot less painful.....

-VK
 
Vector processor? It has Altivec, but that hardly makes it a vector processor. Pentiums have silimiar SIMD/vector extensions.
 
<EDIT>

Ok, I was wrong, PPC is NOT a vector processor. I had confused it with something else. My Bad.

No offence taken.
</EDIT>
 
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I believe accuracy is important. Sorry to have offended you with my correction, but you really shouldn't throw around terms like 'vector processor' incorrectly. A PowerPC is no more of a vector Processor than a Pentium III, so the statement is almost meaningless.

Now, there are lots of other things to like about PowerPC. Like 32 GPRs .. that's a biggie for the compiler and OS people of the world. Or a fairly nice, logical instruction set. Etc ...
 
Anything from 233 (1997) to 450 (1999) MHz,
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actually they went up as high as 600mhz for the last "Bubble" Style iMac( i think it was the Snow, the Graphite, the Sage, and the Flower Power Line )
 
lol, here is my newest mac, and the newest mac I would consider "vintage", but G3 MACs are cool.
Yes, this is the hella rare 5300/100LC....bwuhahaha, got it a few days ago, they only produced them for a few schools.
macintosh_5300_1.jpg

Normally I wouldn't consider 1995 real vintage, but this is a exception, because of it's rarity.
 
Your right, the last iMacs in the bubble shape where 600MHz. I've been looking at getting one, since for about 100 UK pounds that you can pick them up for, it seems a cheap way to get into OSX.
 
lol, here is my newest mac, and the newest mac I would consider "vintage", but G3 MACs are cool.
Yes, this is the hella rare 5300/100LC....bwuhahaha, got it a few days ago, they only produced them for a few schools.
Click to expand...

That is very simular to my first PowerPC Mac. I had a PM 5200 that used that same formfactor. Mine had OS 8.6, an 80mhz cpu, 48 mb of ram and a 1gig hd. Durring its last year of service it was upgraded with a PM 6500 mobo with a 250 mhz cpu and 128 mb of ram. The PSU was dead in the 6500 and the old "Bongo" Mobo was slow and buggy, so i put the 6500 mobo in the 5200 chassis. the Result was a very fast pre-G3 Power PC all-in-one Mac.
 
Kewl! My Original Power Mac was an AIO, but it was the "Molar" one. It weighed 55+ pounds! That thing was huge, but I loved it. Now I just have a "Strawberry" iMac and the Performa.

-VK
 
my current Mac is a Ruby iMac DV+ 450 mhz. 5 years old and still kicking ass. Also recently recieved a Bondi Blue 1998 iMac. I Forgot these things started out with just 32 mb ram. Anyone know where i can find some iMac SoDIMS? :lol:
 
Terry Yager said:
What's a 'vector processor'? Does that refer to vectored graphics vs. bit-mapped, etc?

--T
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To make a long story short, a vector or SIMD type processor handles multiple data elements at the same time. For example, on a traditional processor when I add two registers I take two discrete values and generate a sum. On a vector processor when I add, I add two groups of numbers and generate a group of sums.

To put it another way, a normal processor is 'SISD' - Single Instruction, Single Data. 'SIMD' stands for single instruction, multiple data.
 
Andrew Tenenbaum in the coursebook Structured Computer Organization (third edition 1990) divides computers into four groups and a couple of subgroups.

SISD: classical, sequential von Neumann computers
SIMD: multiple ALUs, either parallel (Illiac IV) or vector (Cray Cyber 205 NEC SX)
MISD: unknown (at writing), possibly applicable to pipelined SISD
MIMD: parallel processing in various configurations
|-> shared memory (multiprocessors), either switched (Ultracomputer RP3 Butterfly) or on a bus (Sequent Encore Firefly)
|-> private memory (multicomputers), either switched (Hypercube Transputer) or on a bus (workstations on a LAN)

I'm not sure if those example computers are one or several different systems, i.e. if the names should be separated by comma instead of space.
 
So-Dimms??? Mine just takes regular old SD-RAM. I've got the RAM out of a Compaq in there!
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Yeah my Ruby Red takes PC-100s. However it seems the first Bondi Blues( which it seems my newest aquistion is) used SO-Dimms, just like a laptop does! :shock:
 
speaking of Imacs, will PC style USB keyboards and mice work with them? I just picked up 2 strawberry units, mom swiped one (she don't even know where the on switch is AND IT'S RIGHT IN FRONT!! She likes to look at it in the living room).
Sure safe...get an Imac ;)
 
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