i would think anywhere you could buy a router would also have a crossover cable.....

if you have to go to the store, consider you can buy a single crossover cable or: 2 regular cables + router

Yeah, sorry, I meant 'find' (as in borrow or ... borrow) rather than 'buy'. I agree, if you're buying, go the crossover cable route.

I am overwhelmingly grateful, even though my head is spinning. I had a firewire, the cat ate it.

Boog, the old computer is running OS9, the new one will be running OS10. (Is this the point where everyone throws up their hands and says, 'Oh no, you're screeeeewwwwwed!'?)

I'm printing out all of this to take to the store with me. I owe all of y'all cake, or cookies, or something.

I did the G3 to G4 thing, tigerstripes. What i found was that you can mount your G3 as an external hard disk on your G4's desktop, but it doesn't work the other way around. I used an ethernet cable [crossover, as the fellas are calling it up there] - same kind you use for connecting your machine to a cable modem.
Dragging all the files across was as simple as... dragging everything across!

If the G3 has no firewire, all you need is one ethernet cable, a CROSS-OVER one (that means the wiring in the connectors is the same in both ends). Connect it to both Macs' ethernet ports, start up File sharing in the one running 0S9. On the G4, in the Network window, the G3 should appear as a 'server'. You should be able to open it as any other volume. Sometimes it takes a while for the one running OSX to recognize the other Mac, but it works.

Yep. Like that.

quote:

Originally posted by Bravus:
...but crossover cables are reasonably rare and specialised - so it might be simpler to find a hub/router/switch and two 'normal' Cat5 cables...

...and yeah, my question was whether the G3s has Firewire (which is also known as IEEE1394 if you're trying to buy a cable elsewhere)...

I think all iMacs have firewire. And I'm pretty sure every Mac since the introduction of the first G4 has auto-crossover on the ethernet port. Pretty much any ethernet cable should Just Work. Although depending which model G3 iMac it is, it may just be long enough in the tooth for that to be a problem (there were about 5 different models, iirc).

I will be reading all of this out loud at least three times tonight, so I can feign the required amount of bored insouciance at the Mac Store this weekend.

Thanks again! So helpful!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tigerstripes,

And, here I am again. I'm in possesion of the new-to-me iMac; it still has info from the previous owner (the seller's teenage daughter), as well as certain programs, like Toaster. The seller also gave me a good bit of software.
Do y'all think I should wipe the harddrive and reload the OS? I would lose some of the programs already there, I know, and yet I'm inclined to do it. Pros and cons, please?
[bump]

quote:

Do y'all think I should wipe the harddrive and reload the OS? I would lose some of the programs already there, I know, and

If it's at least 10.3 then you should be good-to-go as is, imho.

Obviously a clean hard drive is sort of satisfying and you can be sure there's no weird software lurking in the background, but since Macs aren't very prone to spyware at the moment, it's probably just as simple to just make your own account with admin privs and be done with it. Then you can toss her data and free up some space (after you've logged into your own account, of course).

I'd also create a second backup account just in case some weird glitch every locks you out of your main one. You can use it to run maintenance proggies from and such too (since you will likely build up a good bit of autolaunching cruft in your regular one over time).

quote:

Originally posted by heavyboots:

quote:

Do y'all think I should wipe the harddrive and reload the OS?

If it's at least 10.3 then you should be good-to-go as is, imho.
Obviously a clean hard drive is sort of satisfying and you can be sure there's no weird software lurking in the background, but since Macs aren't very prone to spyware at the moment, it's probably just as simple to just make your own account with admin privs and be done with it. Then you can toss her data and free up some space (after you've logged into your own account, of course).
I'd also create a second backup account just in case some weird glitch every locks you out of your main one. You can use it to run maintenance proggies from and such too (since you will likely build up a good bit of autolaunching cruft in your regular one over time).

I think it's 10.2. It's already kicking my arse, it's not simple for me. The computer automatically opens to her log-on, although I've entered my log-on data into the 'Internet Connect' window. The computer requires me to open that window every time I want to log on and I don't even know where it is, I have to use the Finder to bring it up. I think if I start from scratch, it's going to be easier for me to learn as I go.

'Cruft'? What a good word.

One valuable trick: when you've found Internet Connect, (should be in /Applications/Utilities/ ), drag its icon into the Dock (the Dock should be at the bottom of the screen). You'll then have easy access to it. I think you can also tell it to give the status of whatever you're connecting with in the menu bar, which will give a little, say, phone icon (for modem connections) that you can click on to get to the Internet Connect stuff for that.

Oh, and if the previous user's account is an Administrator-level user, create another Admin-level user for yourself, so you can then have your own settings, password, etc. You can then set the computer to log in to your specific user, as well as have the ability to load your own programs or perform System updates.

Oh, right, and the file-transfer Voodoo would go thusly:

Turn off your iMac, then boot it while holding down the "T" key. This boots it in Firewire-target-disk mode. You then plug in a Firewire cable to both machines (if you have an old iPod, it will have one, or an external Firewire drive; they sell the cables at Apple Stores, Fry's, CompUSA, etc; just make sure it's 6-pin to 6-pin--that is, a large connector, not a small connector), and your G3 iMac will mount as a drive on the G4 iMac's desktop. Transfer away.

Thank you Justy.

I've pretty much made up my mind to wipe the hard drive and reload the OS, etc. And get a memory stick to save the files on my other computer. I go to the Apple Store today at lunch.
Gee I wish I were smarter.

It's a lot easier to erase the entire drive and reinstall than deal with trying to erase another User's stuff....

I don't want to go through the hassle of coverting some avi files into a DVD but wondered if there is a way of using the large size of a DVD to store the avi files? What I mean is, I know how to copy the files (Ihave 12) onto a CD but only three at a time fit. Would like to copy them all onto a DVD but can't figure out why it doesn't work the same as with a CD.
Can someone help me, oh sages of the Internets?

you need to create a data DVD, instead of a video DVD. some DVD creation software will try and convert your avi files into the correct format for DVD players. make sure it is not doing this!

Visiting the old problem I had with the DVD player and the DivX files, I broke down and bought a wireless media player with built in DVD player. It actually works pretty well over the network as long as the files are not too high-res, and when that fails I can burn the files straight onto DVD as data and the player will read them. It also understands DivX.

The software is a bit wonky, though. Sometimes it seems to lock up and reset the thing. And a lot of the video I have on my system is high-res enough to make it stutter regularly playing over the wireless network.

For writing to DVD as a data disk, I ended up using a utility that came with my computer called "Drag and Drop CD+DVD". Just dropped the files on a little "Data" icon and then double clicked it to write the DVD. Worked like a charm.

So basically I'm pretty happy with my purchase, though somewhat lighter in the pockets.

Spent 20 minutes cursing and roughly mousing, looking for the "create a data disk" option on my dvd software. Then decided to click on the annoying "multimedia" taskbar that I have to shut down every time I start my machine. And there it was, the icon "make a data disk." Instead of four CDs, can now fit Emtourage Season 3 on one DVD with room to spare. Thanks for advice, ED.