Newbie with a Newbie Problem

[Charles Martin]

> From: "Glenn McGaha Miller" <gm2 at visionary.nu>
> So I buy this Beige G3 off eBay which is to be my first
> foray into the "modern" era.

You mean the "ancient" era. The beige G3 were phased out in 1997. 
That's *six years ago.* The only place that computer would be called 
"modern" is in a severely underfunded school system.

That's prior to Windows 98 coming out. Geez, we Mac users really *are* 
ahead of the pack aren't we?? :)

I mean, congrats on your purchase and I sincerely hope you enjoy it, 
but I would not under *any* circumstances compare it to a "modern" 
computer except possibly in the fact that you can run Mac OS X on it.

>  Said computer comes equipped
> with two 4gb drives: One is 9.2.2 and the other is
> "supposedly" 10.2. When I let this machine boot as it wants
> to, there is momentarily a white background with an Apple
> momentarily and then the slashed 0 symbol. Holding down "c"
> while booting gets me into the 9.2.2 drive which then offers
> to format the other.
>
> My question is, is the OsX drive toast or can something be
> done to reclaim whatever is on it?

If you do not have the original system CDs for this machine, you 
probably have an illegal copy of 10.2 (or whatever) on that other drive 
(actually, I wonder if you really have two drives; you probably have 
ONE hard drive with two *partitions* on it).

I would recommend that you a) buy a copy of 9.2.2 or OS X (whichever 
you have the most interest in running) from a reputable dealer (yes, 
9.2.2 is still available, just not from Apple). Then you should erase 
the hard drive(s) and install the OS of your choice. This will give you 
a fresh, clean, legal system with no problems that you can set to work 
the way you like.

_Chas_

"That the PC world would doggedly stick to a dull, unimaginative, 
clinical term like 'IEEE 1394' (notice how it just rolls off the tongue 
- NOT) for the sole purpose of *saving a few pennies* over using an 
imaginative, exciting, visually-stimulating term like 'FireWire' tells 
you EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about the PC world and that whole 
industry-wide mindset." - Me, March 2003