Need help and advice with Ibook

[salt_peanuts]

My gf just recently purchased this for me on Ebay for us to learn the Mac OS on, since I will be using Macs very soon for my music editing, and I haven't used Macs since the Apple II days:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=015


...my question, is what do I need to buy to get this running, and maybe some links to the cheapest sources. I know it needs at least a cd-rom drive, although I would prefer a cd burner, and slot loading. The adapter I can probably still buy at an Apple store, right? Are these drives difficult to install on my own? I've built my PC and am familiar with that, but as I said, I am unfamiliar with Mac hardware. I can learn the os on my own, but what can I basically run on this acceptably being that it's older and probably slow? Thanks in advance to the Mac experts on here.

[torgo]

Oi. OSX will run dog slow on that thing. You will have to max out the memory. I doubt OSX will even install with 192MB. OSX will also probably take up half or more of its harddrive.

I had a G3 ibook once upon a time. I threw OSX on it just for the hell of it. So slow it wasn't even usable. I dropped back to OS9.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news.

[Tommy Tallarico]

You could run TextEdit in Mac OS 7.

Tommy Tallarico

[mollipen]

Hate to say it, but... that was a terrible purchase. I'm not even sure if you can get individual CD-ROMs for iBooks of that era. And a 500MHz G3? That's be an okay (but not great) e-mail / web / address book / chat computer, but beyond that... hrmm.

Even then, though, OSX is going to run like a dog on that thing, so if you're using it to learn Mac OSX, it might make you end up hating OSX. *heh*

[bbobb]

Yeah not the best of calls. You're going to have to find some of the old Mac OS discs for that thing. Honestly it's not like Mac OS is something that hard to learn, it's incredibly straightforward and easy. The only thing I hate about Mac OS is that there isn't a good way to uninstall programs. I wish they'd fucking add an uninstaller one of these days.

Edit: It has OS9... just leave that on there. As for getting a new CD-rom... not sure, but it might be expensive.

[salt_peanuts]

The Cd-rom drives are plentiful on Ebay for about $15-$30, but I was hoping for a cd burner or a slot load, which it seems this only takes tray drives. I didn't think it was that bad a purchase, the keyboard and palmrest look brand new, the monitor apperas good, and the battery has 4 lights (which I believe means it holds a full charge). Other Ibooks on ebay that were $150 or less were all broken or for parts.

I'm fine learning OS9, I don't plan to use this one in particular for music editing, but if I can run Itunes and internet browsers on it, it's fine as a first mac for me. I can install the memory myself, I just wasn't sure how hard hardware was to install on Macs, particularly the cd drive. I'm sure it's not as straightforward as Thinkpad's at least.

Besides, I thought I read a 500mhz mac is equivalent to a 1ghz PC, or is that no longer true of macs newer than 2000?

Thanks for the help so far.

edit - Is OS9 that bad? What can't it do in comparison to OS10 which is what I see everyone is running now?

re-edit - would this work? I think I need the ribbon this comes with, correct? A lot of the other auctions don't have it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=007

[Grave]

What, you actually wanted a slot-loading laptop drive? Gross. They're nothing but trouble. Thin trays are very possible. Nothing else should be acceptable. Anyway, you got hosed. You're not gonna be doing much with a G3 these days.

Besides, I thought I read a 500mhz mac is equivalent to a 1ghz PC, or is that no longer true of macs newer than 2000?

Not even true of a G4, but definitely not true of a G3. All current Macs use the same Intel Core 2 Duo processors you'd find in a PC laptop, so it's irrelevant now, anyway.

edit - Is OS9 that bad? What can't it do in comparison to OS10 which is what I see everyone is running now?

It's 8 years old, and yes, it's that bad for today's standards. The vast majority of Mac apps getting today have absolutely no support for it. Look forward to using old versions of everything if you stick with OS 9, and OS X will be super slow. It's even unbearable to me on a G4 these days.

...of course, it even irritated me on a Core Duo, which is why I'm currently running Windows. Whoops.

[bbobb]

OS X will be super slow. It's even unbearable to me on a G4 these days.

My computer needed to get sent to apple and I had to borrow a friends G4 Powerbook for the week. I thought I was going to have to kill myself, that thing couldn't even come close to my normal usage amounts, it was freezing up all over the place. Thank god I have my Macbook Pro back.

[salt_peanuts]

Guys, I appreciate the help and comments, but keep in mind this is for getting familiar with a mac and for light music listening and coffeeshop internet use only...and keep in mind it only cost $145

Heck, I see the batteries alone on Ebay costing more than $100. I understand newer macs are the shit, but I can't afford one and don't want one anyway. I have a Thinkpad 600X that's only a 500mhz pentium II and it runs XP and light apps perfectly fine. After I bump up the memory, this should be a nice, cheap little notebook, in the 12in form factor that's easier to carry around anyway, the newest 12in Windows laptops I see all go for almost a grand anyway.

[torgo]

edit - Is OS9 that bad? What can't it do in comparison to OS10 which is what I see everyone is running now?

OS9 is a completely different operating system. OSX shares nothing with OS9, it's a completely new rewrite. They are night and day.