I just got an iMac G4 - Anything I should know?

[VriskaBlack]

Story:
I went into a cash converters yesterday and saw a 20" iMac G4 for £75, since the administrator password was forgotton. Got it home, tested it and it works fine except the admin thing. Anyway, research has shown me 2 ways to fix it:
1. Boot from disk and reset it through the menu
2. Hold a key combination at boot and edit some files to make an admin account

Currently I am unable to do either, since I tried burning a copy of the disk and it didn't boot (Ejected as booting; I think it was a bad burn) and since the keyboard that came with it was broken (Requires Mac-specific key combinations; replacement arriving soon).
Anyway, once I've fixed it, can anyone give me any tips for using it? If possible, I want to completely reinstall OS X since there are a lot of files on there from the previous owners I don't want and it is generally cluttered up.

Also, the screen has 2 scratches at the top of the surround, can this be fixed easily?

Thanks,
VriskaBlack
http://i.imgur.com/Pnt2b.gif

[ultragoregrind]

If you get your hands on a working OSX dvd, i'd simply just boot from that and format the drive and do a clean install (instead of resetting the password, then cleaning out any old files).

also, i'm 99% sure that if you were to plug in a "windows" style usb keyboard, the windows key would be mapped as the apple key for those apple-specific keyboard combos (i know using an apple keyboard on a generic pc, the apple key is mapped to the windows key, so i assume the reverse is true as well).

[VriskaBlack]

If you get your hands on a working OSX dvd, i'd simply just boot from that and format the drive and do a clean install (instead of resetting the password, then cleaning out any old files).

also, i'm 99% sure that if you were to plug in a "windows" style usb keyboard, the windows key would be mapped as the apple key for those apple-specific keyboard combos (i know using an apple keyboard on a generic pc, the apple key is mapped to the windows key, so i assume the reverse is true as well).

I tried the Windows keyboard and whilst the normal keys worked, things like the windows key weren't remapped at all.
Also, if I get a hold of an OS X DVD with a lower version than my system is on, will it still work?
Thanks.

[master737373]

I thought on non-mac keyboards, alt was the mac key.

[VriskaBlack]

Tried it, and it didn't work. I've got a new Apple Keyboard arriving soon, so that should work.
Edit: Is it possible to back up applications that are installed on it? It has MS Office and I'd like to be able to use it after reinstalling.

[Digital-Spooker]

Tried it, and it didn't work. I've got a new Apple Keyboard arriving soon, so that should work.
Edit: Is it possible to back up applications that are installed on it? It has MS Office and I'd like to be able to use it after reinstalling.

if you could rip the product key out of it.. then yes you could (google is your friend here, there are many applications that can fish out a product key) then all you would have to do is get a copy of that office version (I'm assuming it'd be 2007 and not 2010, again.. google is your friend if you're looking for one on the 'cheap', then reinstall and enter the product key) other than that I dont think you can just copy an application to a external, then re-plant it and have it work. It's been years since I used a mac computer (Gaming > audio/picture editing at this point of my life, that and I such at making either :p) so I can't offer much more help than what I suggested for MS Office.

[master737373]

Everything in the ~ folder is encrypted, so you can't get it out. I have Office 2011 on my Mac and if I tried to access my ~ folder through Boot Camp, it'll say I don't have permission to. It's encrpyted with your password, but you still can't access it without using that exact installation of Mac. But if the key isn't stored in the ~ folder, which it (shouldn't), then you should be able to access it if you can boot from a USB/Firewire drive, but doesn't G4s use a PPC? If so, then you're screwed if you want info off the. Your best bet is to get a blank DVD-DL and burn Leo to it (slowly of course, I'd say 2x or 4x) and do a fresh install from there. Format the drive to be Mac OS X Extended Journaled, Case-Sensitve.

[VriskaBlack]

Everything in the ~ folder is encrypted, so you can't get it out. I have Office 2011 on my Mac and if I tried to access my ~ folder through Boot Camp, it'll say I don't have permission to. It's encrpyted with your password, but you still can't access it without using that exact installation of Mac. But if the key isn't stored in the ~ folder, which it (shouldn't), then you should be able to access it if you can boot from a USB/Firewire drive, but doesn't G4s use a PPC? If so, then you're screwed if you want info off the. Your best bet is to get a blank DVD-DL and burn Leo to it (slowly of course, I'd say 2x or 4x) and do a fresh install from there. Format the drive to be Mac OS X Extended Journaled, Case-Sensitve.

Yeah it is PPC.

Another question, is there any way to upgrade to a higher version of OS X than is supported?
Thanks.

[master737373]

Yeah it is PPC.

Another question, is there any way to upgrade to a higher version of OS X than is supported?
Thanks.Nope. Snow Leo and Lion require Intel processors and Intel Dual-Core/Xeon processors, respectively.

[Dasanko]

You can upgrade from Tiger (which it probably has) to Leopard (works on most iMac G4's, albeit there's no official support).

The Super (windows logo) key is correctly remapped on all Mac computers I have used a "windows" keyboard on. Keep in mind it's only used for some key combinations, and does nothing by itself on OS X, unlike on Windows.

If the OS X disc you have is a backed up or downloaded dmg, keep in mind you have to burn it to a dvd or dvd dl media using transmac, don't convert it to ISO, as it's likely it may not boot properly if you do.

http://kb.iu.edu/data/ages.html


I hate that milk animation.

[master737373]

You can upgrade from Tiger (which it probably has) to Leopard (works on most iMac G4's, albeit there's no official support).

The Super (windows logo) key is correctly remapped on all Mac computers I have used a "windows" keyboard on. Keep in mind it's only used for some key combinations, and does nothing by itself on OS X, unlike on Windows.

If the OS X disc you have is a backed up or downloaded dmg, keep in mind you have to burn it to a dvd or dvd dl media using transmac, don't convert it to ISO, as it's likely it may not boot properly if you do.

http://kb.iu.edu/data/ages.html


I hate that milk animation.You can burn a Leo ISO to a DVD-DL. I did that when I reinstalled Leo on my old PowerPC G5 Tower. It just has to be the right ISO and not editted.

I don't get the milk animation. Can someone explain it?

[nevik]

Story:
I went into a cash converters yesterday and saw a 20" iMac G4 for £75, since the administrator password was forgotton. Got it home, tested it and it works fine except the admin thing. Anyway, research has shown me 2 ways to fix it:
1. Boot from disk and reset it through the menu
2. Hold a key combination at boot and edit some files to make an admin account

Currently I am unable to do either, since I tried burning a copy of the disk and it didn't boot (Ejected as booting; I think it was a bad burn) and since the keyboard that came with it was broken (Requires Mac-specific key combinations; replacement arriving soon).
Anyway, once I've fixed it, can anyone give me any tips for using it? If possible, I want to completely reinstall OS X since there are a lot of files on there from the previous owners I don't want and it is generally cluttered up.

Also, the screen has 2 scratches at the top of the surround, can this be fixed easily?

Thanks,
VriskaBlack


You can upgrade to leopard and that would be all. I have several macs and one way to deal with the issue is to hold the 't' button when you restart the machine and this will put it in firewire mode and you can then plug it into any mac or pc with the correct driver and read the drive as if it were an external hard drive. copy any info off the mac you may need the find a leopard install disc and reboot the machine while holding down the 'c' button and the do a erase and install making sure to format the drive to osx extended journaled then if you want to install all the developers stuff this is the time to do the custom install.

hope this helps.

[master737373]

Target disk mode would be a good option if you want files off of it, or even reinstall mac on it if you're using a mac. But you still won't be able to access that home(~) folder.

[VriskaBlack]

I don't get the milk animation. Can someone explain it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PJddmfesaA

Edit:
I've just had a spiffing new keyboard arrive in the post today and have reset the password/master password.
To uninstall apps, I just have to drag them from the "Applications" folder to trash, right?
Once again, thanks for the help.

[Dasanko]

To uninstall apps, I just have to drag them from the "Applications" folder to trash, right?

Yes, or just right click -> Move to trash.

[VriskaBlack]

Thanks a lot everyone, I've managed to get it to a usable state.
Surprisingly, it was easier to restore the admin password and master password than it was to uninstall Norton, go figure ;)
Well I leave you with one final question - Are there any must-have applications?

[ultragoregrind]

I tried the Windows keyboard and whilst the normal keys worked, things like the windows key weren't remapped at all.
Also, if I get a hold of an OS X DVD with a lower version than my system is on, will it still work?
Thanks.

of course :) this isnt like a ps3 or psp :) if you can boot from it, it will install :)