Been offered a free iMac G3; worth taking it for production?

[wub]

Woman I work with has an old one of these kicking about, and is offering it to a good home. I'm thinking there must be a use for it, production wise, but as I've never used a Mac I'm not sure about the options. I'm not going to suddenly switch to Logic or anything, FL will still my first choice DAW.

But as a seperate audio processing machine, does this have a use?


Suggestions, please...

[Electric_Head]

it`s very limited but useable none-the-less.

[paradigm_x]

i was reading a blog just last night about this (well tbh i skipped the details as not interested, but the other posts are also interesting.)

http://jimatwood.wordpress.com/tag/klee ... sequencer/

Pretty detailed assessment of use of g3s...

Caveat; im a pc person so no idea personally.

Hope this is helpful.

[Mad_EP]

Yeah - while its uses would be limited, I would still take it.

At the very least you could use it as a batch processor for samples, etc while you are working away on your main machine.

[mitchAUS]

it`s very limited but useable none-the-less.

People are always saying it can pay creatively to limit yourself... id definitely take it too

[wormcode]

I would pass and use vmware to run mac specific stuff. I'd only take it if it was retro or something, but just imo.

[wub]

At the very least you could use it as a batch processor for samples, etc while you are working away on your main machine.

I was thinking of using it as this sort of thing, maybe coupled with some general resampling/sample manipulation role.

[Mad_EP]

At the very least you could use it as a batch processor for samples, etc while you are working away on your main machine.

I was thinking of using it as this sort of thing, maybe coupled with some general resampling/sample manipulation role.

Yeah - then it would be perfect. Go for it. You gonna be running OSX or OS9? Let me know and I can come up with a list of free/cheap stuff to use.

[wub]

At the very least you could use it as a batch processor for samples, etc while you are working away on your main machine.

I was thinking of using it as this sort of thing, maybe coupled with some general resampling/sample manipulation role.

Yeah - then it would be perfect. Go for it. You gonna be running OSX or OS9? Let me know and I can come up with a list of free/cheap stuff to use.

No idea, let me just ask.

She doesn't know off the top of her head; is there any generic software that covers both?

[__________]

IMO, get it, format HD, install Ubuntu (PowerPC version - make sure you get the right one) then use it as a web browsing machine. Or as a glorified TV for Youtube and downloaded films. Or just for Audacity, dunno how useful that'd be though.

Those old Macs are seriously slow. We have one at work, it was absolutely unusable for everything (so old it couldn't run new browsers so the internet was virtually broken) until I put Ubuntu on it. Now it runs nice and quick and provides a complete web experience

[Earjax]

depends if you think it can handle logic, if it can, GET IT

[Electric_Head]

he`s not looking to switch to Logic though.

[Sharmaji]

damn i'd love one for a day, just to rescue some old cubase files that were rendered irrelevant in 06 when mac's made the switch to intel.

otherwise you could use it as a server for various thing, or maybe (maybe) a processing node.

tbf, these weren't bad machines at all-- did a whole bachelor's thesis' amount of work in photoshop and dreamweaver in one.

[Mad_EP]

At the very least you could use it as a batch processor for samples, etc while you are working away on your main machine.

I was thinking of using it as this sort of thing, maybe coupled with some general resampling/sample manipulation role.

Yeah - then it would be perfect. Go for it. You gonna be running OSX or OS9? Let me know and I can come up with a list of free/cheap stuff to use.

No idea, let me just ask.

She doesn't know off the top of her head; is there any generic software that covers both?

OS9 / OSX is the big software divide - kinda where they rewrote everything, so not much works on both (and running Classic mode in OSX is not worth it). The bonus is - Unlike current OSX machines that can no longer boot OS9, that G3 will be able to boot either. And most likely, unless the previous owner put a lot of work into it, that model probably will be set to boot OS9. For the record - I loved OS9 - I found it to be an extremely stable platform. In fact, I was doing live gigs in OSX.. but kept my studio machine OS9 for years until making the switch recently. Hell, I still have my OS9 machine - 1) for some legacy projects and 2) it still runs like a champ.

Full disclosure - I wrote my debut 12" on a G3 iMac with 32 ram. hahahahaha


I'll PM my email and AIM and I can help with tips .

[Mad_EP]

damn i'd love one for a day, just to rescue some old cubase files that were rendered irrelevant in 06 when mac's made the switch to intel.

Dave - if Sub Swara tour the UK... just swing on by, and I'll let you rescue all your Cubase files.

...Of course, the Cubase I have on there is Cubase VST32 5.0! hahahahaha

[Sharmaji]

^ haha, i'll bring my SL installer CD and DONGLE with me. what was that awful midi/audio thing i always had to use in os9? It worked as an OS, but osx really upped stability.

but yeah-- 1st live electronic things i remember doing were ableton and reason,rewired, in os9. wasn't really able to give up 9 until 10.3 i think.

[Mad_EP]

^ haha, i'll bring my SL installer CD and DONGLE with me.

Dave - we had an agreement, no more bedroom talk on public forums....

wasn't really able to give up 9 until 10.3 i think.

Yeah... and that is another good point right there Wub. If you do decide to put OSX on it, I would probably see if you can find a copy of good ole 10.3. For older machines I would say that would be the best OSX to run.. more stable than 10 - 10.2, but not as resource hungry as 10.4 onwards.

[Skrew]

Oh god, haven't seemed one of these since I was in elementary school.

[Skrew]

But the processors and ram of back them are shit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac_G3

Scroll down to see the specs.

[jrisreal]

If you can't find a use for it, sell it...profit!