iMac questions-buddy gave me one, but no mouse or keyboard..

In article <J4Iye.72407$Fv.24223@lakeread01>,
dave <tool_box.TakeThisOut@weirdstuffcox.net> wrote:

> buddy gave me an old iMac 500/IN/64/20/CD/128pro/56K/FW/VGA (this is the
> long number on extreme bottom of it)
>
> can I use the ol' keyboard and/or mouse from my old powertower pro 225
> mac clone? it sure doesn't LOOK like the ports are the same. are the
> iMac kybd and mouse ports both USB? or?
>
> I'm assuming the kybd and mouse on the iMac are 'mac specific' and not
> 'common' to like, uhh, windows boxes, correct? and also NOT same as
> those on my ol' powertower?

You can use any USB keyboard/mouse, pretty much.


>
> this iMac seems to 'want to' boot into 9.2, but no mouse and kybd won't
> let me get very far. in the long number above, what do the "IN" and "FW"
> refer to?

IN may be indigo???
FW is FireWire
>
> is the CD in this iMac a "burner", or just a straight player? I'm
> assuming the DB-25 port on the rear, behind a kind of 'cover' is an
> 'external video' port, for an external monitor?

CD means just plain CD-Rom, a burner would say either CD-R or combo

>
> this machine wouldn't be capable of running OS X, would it be? and I'm
> guessing there's no way to run an EXternal SCSI device with this iMac,
> correct? (can't see any 'slots' for cards anywhere)

OS X will run just fine, although if yo decide to go with Tiger (10.4)
you will need to order the version with CD-Roms, since your iMac cannot
read DVD-disks. 10.3 still shipped on CD-ROM's


>
> thanks much guys

In article <J4Iye.72407$Fv.24223@lakeread01>,
dave <tool_box DeleteThis @weirdstuffcox.net> wrote:

> buddy gave me an old iMac 500/IN/64/20/CD/128pro/56K/FW/VGA (this is the
> long number on extreme bottom of it)
>
> can I use the ol' keyboard and/or mouse from my old powertower pro 225
> mac clone? it sure doesn't LOOK like the ports are the same. are the
> iMac kybd and mouse ports both USB? or?

USB.

> I'm assuming the kybd and mouse on the iMac are 'mac specific' and not
> 'common' to like, uhh, windows boxes, correct?

Incorrect.

> this iMac seems to 'want to' boot into 9.2, but no mouse and kybd won't
> let me get very far. in the long number above, what do the "IN" and "FW"
> refer to?

Not sure of the IN offhand unless it's supposed to be an indication that
the machine has ethernet (which it does). The FW is FireWire. I'm
guessing 64MB as the original RAM installation, a 20GB hard drive
(again, possible replaced), a CD-ROM drive, a Rage-128 graphics
subsystem, a 56kbps modem and accessible video out.

> is the CD in this iMac a "burner", or just a straight player? I'm
> assuming the DB-25 port on the rear, behind a kind of 'cover' is an
> 'external video' port, for an external monitor?

Probably, but it shouldn't be a DB-25. It should be 3 rows of 5 pins.

> this machine wouldn't be capable of running OS X, would it be?

Certainly, as long as there's more RAM.

> and I'm
> guessing there's no way to run an EXternal SCSI device with this iMac,
> correct? (can't see any 'slots' for cards anywhere)

Not without an adapter which I'm not even sure exists. But USB and
FireWire devices are readily available and fairly inexpensive at this
time.

G

--
Goal 2005: Convincing James Hetfield to cover the Strawberry Shortcake
"Are You Berry Berry Happy?" song.

In article <bjorn-1C57D9.23504505072005 RemoveThis @news1.east.earthlink.net>,
"Bjorn Olsson d.ä" <bjorn RemoveThis @justingenstans.com> wrote:

> In article <J4Iye.72407$Fv.24223@lakeread01>,
> dave <tool_box RemoveThis @weirdstuffcox.net> wrote:
>
> > buddy gave me an old iMac 500/IN/64/20/CD/128pro/56K/FW/VGA (this is the
> > long number on extreme bottom of it)
> >
> > can I use the ol' keyboard and/or mouse from my old powertower pro 225
> > mac clone? it sure doesn't LOOK like the ports are the same. are the
> > iMac kybd and mouse ports both USB? or?
> >
> > I'm assuming the kybd and mouse on the iMac are 'mac specific' and not
> > 'common' to like, uhh, windows boxes, correct? and also NOT same as
> > those on my ol' powertower?
>
> You can use any USB keyboard/mouse, pretty much.
>
>
> >
> > this iMac seems to 'want to' boot into 9.2, but no mouse and kybd won't
> > let me get very far. in the long number above, what do the "IN" and "FW"
> > refer to?
>
> IN may be indigo???
> FW is FireWire
> >
> > is the CD in this iMac a "burner", or just a straight player? I'm
> > assuming the DB-25 port on the rear, behind a kind of 'cover' is an
> > 'external video' port, for an external monitor?
>
> CD means just plain CD-Rom, a burner would say either CD-R or combo
>
> >
> > this machine wouldn't be capable of running OS X, would it be? and I'm
> > guessing there's no way to run an EXternal SCSI device with this iMac,
> > correct? (can't see any 'slots' for cards anywhere)
>
> OS X will run just fine, although if yo decide to go with Tiger (10.4)
> you will need to order the version with CD-Roms, since your iMac cannot
> read DVD-disks. 10.3 still shipped on CD-ROM's
>
>
> >
> > thanks much guys

A bit more info:

A USB keyboard & mouse is not like the "old-world" Mac ADB keyboard on
your PowerTower Pro. The connector is different. There were some
adapters made, but you may be better off with a new USB keyboard and
mouse. These can be gotten fairly cheap at lots of stores. Many Windows
PCs now have USB ports, so the industry standard is moving toward USB.

Multiple USB devices including keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner,
digital camera and others can be hooked up via USB, either singly or by
way of a USB hub. They can be hot-plugged & unplugged without shutting
anything down.

Because the machine has Firewire, you can use an external Firewire CD-RW
or even DVD+/-RW drive with it, and then burn CDs or DVDs. These
external drives are inexpensive nowadays and generally come with burner
software. Firewire is essentially as fast as the internal bus, so you
will not notice any speed degradation with an external drive. Likewise
you can hook up external Firewire hard drives, video camera, etc.
Firewire devices can be daisy-chained and hot-plugged & unplugged, and
are a lot easier to use than SCSI.

Welcome to "New-World" USB & Firewire Macs.

Before you order a version of OS X 10.4 (Tiger) check the Apple web site
to see if the DVD version will work with an external DVD drive. I think
the answer is no, and so therefore you will need the CD-ROM version of
OS X 10.4 Tiger, as Bjorn stated in his response. He also stated,
correctly, that earlier versions of OS X came on CD ROM.

If you decide to go to OS X (which I recommend you do), max out the RAM
on that machine. I recommend you go to at least 640 MB RAM total. RAM is
cheap these days, and it should be easy to get at the user RAM slot on
that machine. OS X loves RAM. It will be sluggish at best with the 128
MB Ram that originally came with that iMac.

For more info on your new machine, see the Apple Support page. You can
find the tech specs from it, and you can download a user guide.

Bill

--
For email, remove invalid.

dave wrote:
> buddy gave me an old iMac 500/IN/64/20/CD/128pro/56K/FW/VGA (this is the
> long number on extreme bottom of it)
> I'm assuming the kybd and mouse on the iMac are 'mac specific' and not
> 'common' to like, uhh, windows boxes, correct? and also NOT same as
> those on my ol' powertower?

Any USB keyboard will work fine, however you may want to use a utility
such as 'uControl' to re-map the windows keys.


> is the CD in this iMac a "burner", or just a straight player? I'm
> assuming the DB-25 port on the rear, behind a kind of 'cover' is an
> 'external video' port, for an external monitor?

Player, unless it has been upgraded, also the port is a DB15 not 25 and
will take a standard PC monitor, however it can only mirror the main
display at the same resolution etc.

>
> this machine wouldn't be capable of running OS X, would it be? and I'm
> guessing there's no way to run an EXternal SCSI device with this iMac,
> correct? (can't see any 'slots' for cards anywhere)

I have exactly the same beast but I have upgraded it to 384MB ram
(standard 168-pin PC100 memory) and a 40GB HDD (soon to be upgraded
again to 80GB) (again standard 'PC' IDE drive)
You can get firewire to SCSI converters from Belkin and OrangeMicro, and
also I think USB-SCSI converters exist, however as the iMac is
only USB1.1 they would be rather slow.
I am running OSx 10.4.1 and installed it by booting from an external
firewire DVD-RW (generic firewire box with LG 4163b DVD).
These are good machines when they are upgraded, however if you install
OSx then remember to update the firmware first from OS9x (the OSx
install CD/DVD has the upgrader file and instructions) otherwise OSx
corrupts the vidio and you need an external monitor to do the firmware
update before it is usable again, many people have scrapped iMacs
because of this, they assume that something has 'blown' so be warned.
NB even if you don't install OSx it does no harm to update the firmware.

>
> thanks much guys

dave <tool_box.DeleteThis@weirdstuffcox.net> writes:
>
> buddy gave me an old iMac 500/IN/64/20/CD/128pro/56K/FW/VGA (this is
> the long number on extreme bottom of it)

OK. Here's the breakdown, as I understand it:

500 - This is 500MHz. This means you have either a Summer-2000,
Early-2001 or Summer-2001 model.

IN - not sure about this one. My guess is that it identifies the case
color ("Indigo").

64 - Bundled with 64M of RAM. I hope it's been upgraded, since this is
practically useless these days. All three of the models this might
be can support up to 1G of RAM. You have two memory sockets, each
one can accept up to 512M, in the form of PC-100 3.3v 168-pin
DIMMs.

CD - CD-ROM drive. (Some models were shipped with DVD-ROM drives or
CD-RW drives)

128pro - This is the video. An ATI Rage 128 Pro. This means you have
either a Summer-2000 or Early-2001 model. (The Summer-2001
shipped with a Rage 128 Ultra).


56K - You have a modem installed.

FW - You have two FireWire ports. (All iMacs of 400MHz or faster have
them)

VGA - you have a VGA-compatible video-out port. The video on this port
will mirror the internal display. I don't know if you can get a
software hack to allow true dual-display operation.

> can I use the ol' keyboard and/or mouse from my old powertower pro 225
> mac clone? it sure doesn't LOOK like the ports are the same. are the
> iMac kybd and mouse ports both USB? or?

Can't use your old ADB devices.

You can use any generic USB ones. They come in a huge variety of
styles for a huge variety of prices. Pick out ones that you like.

Personally, I recommend getting the Apple keyboard ($30). It's a high
quality device and has some keys (like volume control and CD eject)
that may not be present on keyboards from other vendors.

For a mouse, I've been very happy with a Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical
($20). Apple's mouse ($30) is good, but it only has one button. Mac OS
and many applications will support the use of three buttons and a wheel.
Personally, I could never go back to using a mouse without a wheel.

> I'm assuming the kybd and mouse on the iMac are 'mac specific' and not
> 'common' to like, uhh, windows boxes, correct? and also NOT same as
> those on my ol' powertower?

Nope. Any USB keyboard/mouse will work.

Note, however, that you only have two USB ports. You can typically plug
the mouse into the keyboard (most USB keyboards have built-in hubs), but
chances are that you'll still want more ports. A good quality powered
hub will take care of this. I've been very happy with my Belkin-brand
7-port hub.

> the CD in this iMac a "burner", or just a straight player?

Unless it has been upgraded, you have a CD-ROM drive.

You can attach CD burners and DVD burners to a FireWire port.
Performance should be pretty good.

I don't know if you'll be able to boot from a FireWire drive or not.
Some of the early FireWire Macs could not.

> I'm assuming the DB-25 port on the rear, behind a kind of 'cover' is
> an 'external video' port, for an external monitor?

It's not a DB-25, but a VGA-style HD-15. Yes, it's for an external
monitor. The external display will mirror the built-in display.

> this machine wouldn't be capable of running OS X, would it be?

It can run OS X very well, if you have enough memory. If you have at
least 256M (preferably 512M), go for it.

> and I'm guessing there's no way to run an EXternal SCSI device with
> this iMac, correct? (can't see any 'slots' for cards anywhere)

Correct. No SCSI. And no internal expansion (aside from larger hard
drives and more memory.) But you can attach devices to FireWire and
USB.

If you have a legacy SCSI device, you might be able to use a
SCSI-FireWire adapter to make it compatible. This works well with
things like disk drives. Also works with scanners, but you'll probably
need third-party scanning software to work with the configuration.

-- David