G3 Desktop - no boot to CD

[Eric Dunbar]

> Hi,
> 
> New to Mac but not Linux.
> 
> I was given a G3 that I can not get to boot to its CDROM
> 
> What I know about it so far is the back lable has on it
> "PowerPC G3 300 Mhz 1MB Cache 64MB/6GB HD/24x CD/Zip"
> When booted it has OS 8, and 192 MB of RAM.
> 
> I downloaded onto my x86 Linux box the 4 YD CD's, and burned
> the ISO's. But I can not get the Mac to boot to the CD.
> 
> I've tried holding down the "C" key and after booting
> into OS 8, changing the boot disk to the CDROM.
> 
> No matter what it boots to the HD.

What you'll need to do is lay your hands on an OS 8 CD to repartition
your HD. After repartitioning, you'll need to use (i.e. install) OS 8
as a boot loader to get Linux going (it uses about 30-40 MB of disk
space and no RAM). There is an alternative and that's the bootloader
referenced in that URL provided to you by someone else in this thread,
but as I wrote you off-list, I know nothing about it.

Come to think of it, since you have a Zip drive, you could use it as
your bootloader and have your internal 6 GB entirely devoted to YDL
(though, since OS 8 only will use 10-20 MB in base install you're
better off IMO to have OS 8 on your internal).

(epiphany - eureka - light bulb on) Also, since you have a Zip, i
would recommend that you use a Zip disk (if you have one) to copy OS 8
onto it (unless you get yourself an OS 8 CD... they're everywhere and
they should be *cheap* since virtually no one has use for them
anymore... you can use any OEM OS 8.0 or 8.1 installer CD (even though
they say they're machine-specific you can very easily get around such
limitations by using the installer directly rather than the "official"
installer interface)).

But, since you can copy OS 8 to a Zip and Zips are bootable this means
that you can repartition the internal HD using the OS that came with
the machine's HD :) :) :)

Questions, just ask. Your computer is perfectly functional under YDL
with 192 MB of RAM.

Good luck, Eric.