[rich82fox]

hi

does anybody know if a those all-in-one Apple Performa's will boot from a OS8 cd?

if not - would OS8 run on it if I put a hard disk in it with OS8 already installed?

any ideas?

rich

[Eriamjh]

If it is a 68040 processor, it'll run OS8.

[rich82fox]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

If it is a 68040 processor, it'll run OS8.

do you think such a machine would be able to handle broadband internet?

rich

[©öñFü$íóÑ]

maybe.... it depends on how much you're willing to upgrade it just for the sake of browsing the internet on broadband. The -ONLY- all-in-one 'Performa' i know of would be the 500-series, which can be found here here. That site contains pretty much everything you'll need to know when it comes to preparing it for light internet browsing.

If i were you, i'd abandon the Performa and settle for a Mac mini with your choice of monitor and other peripherals. Why? Because if you consider the price of upgrading your Performa (which includes RAM, Hard Disk, Ethernet Adapter, a *SERIOUSLY NEEDED* PPC upgrade), it'll be close to that of the Mac mini, but -NOWHERE- near in terms of providing the kind of enjoyable experience on the internet as the Mac mini would.

Also, if you -do- choose to upgrade your Performa, you realize that -EVERYTHING- would have to be running on the "lean" side for speed; (ie. no graphics when browsing the internet, no javascript, no stylescripts, etc.).


Good luck finding Mac OS 8.0 or 8.1. Also, EVEN with OS 8.0/8.1, your browser choices are limited since most don't display modern webpages correctly and require -AT LEAST- Mac OS 8.5-9.x to even to a half-way decent job. Your best bet would be a combination of iCab, and the latest version of Internet Explorer which supports 68k and OS 8.0/8.1.

OS 7.5.5 (which is a free upgrade, after downloading the free Mac OS 7.5.3 from Apple's support page) runs iCab, and pretty well to... but only if you have at least a PPC G3. I'm not so sure about running it on a 68k... give it a try.

Max-out your RAM. Trust me, running broadband internet on an already slow machine and reading data from virtual memory (hard disk swap space) will yield many minutes wasted in loading even Yahoo's main page (if you use it....). So install as much RAM chips as your Performa can accomodate..... but be aware that if you go above the *official* Apple-set limit, you may risk frying your motherboard.

If you were also lucky to have purchased the "Ram Doubler" software back in the day, then that should help too since it works FAR better and more efficiently than OS 8.1's built-in virtual memory (so i was told...). However, i'm not sure if this was a PPC-only utility or if it'll also work on 68k. The makers of this software (Connectix) have since gone out of business years ago and it is probably considered abandonware.... i don't know if this forum allows the talk of such things, but it couldn't hurt to search for it... (good luck)

Run everything... i mean ~EVERYTHING~ in 256 colors (8-bit color).

ETHERNET ADAPTER..... sorry for the all-caps, but if you want to use broadband, you absolutely need this. If you do have a 500-series Performa, i highly doubt that you'd be able to find a compatible Ethernet adapter card for your machine (if it doesn't already have one). If you find that it has something called an AAUI Ethernet connector, you'll need what's called an "AAUI Transceiver"......it'll give you a CAT-5 Ethernet port to connect your broadband modem and/or router to.

If you have anything less than the Performa 575, your best bet would be to upgrade using this option, since nobody makes the PPC upgrade for the 500 series anymore. This is also great since it comes with a memory upgrade and also a modern ethernet adapter for you to directly hook your DSL/Cable modem or router to.....(HOO-HAH!!!)

Hope this helps.

[Oneota]

Actually, many Power Macs in the 5000-series were also rebranded as Performas.

The last model was a Performa 5400 (in several varieties: 5400, 5410, 5420, 5430, and 5440), which was equivalent to a Power Mac 5400/6400. The Power Mac 5500/6500 was the only 603e-based Power Mac with better specs released before the Power Mac G3s came out, but it was never re-branded as a Performa.

But yeah, get yourself a Mini instead of putzing around with old hardware.

[Eriamjh]

Originally Posted by rich82fox

do you think such a machine would be able to handle broadband internet?

rich

Not quickly. I wouldn't waste time on anything less than 400MHz.

[rich82fox]

Originally Posted by Oneota

Actually, many Power Macs in the 5000-series were also rebranded as Performas.

The last model was a Performa 5400 (in several varieties: 5400, 5410, 5420, 5430, and 5440), which was equivalent to a Power Mac 5400/6400. The Power Mac 5500/6500 was the only 603e-based Power Mac with better specs released before the Power Mac G3s came out, but it was never re-branded as a Performa.

But yeah, get yourself a Mini instead of putzing around with old hardware.

hi

so can a 5500 peroforma run OS8.5?

or is it nothing above OS8.1?

rich

[Oneota]

Originally Posted by rich82fox

hi

so can a 5500 peroforma run OS8.5?

or is it nothing above OS8.1?

rich

Sure, sure. A 5500 will do OS 9, even, if you give it enough RAM.

[P]

Originally Posted by Oneota

The Power Mac 5500/6500 was the only 603e-based Power Mac with better specs released before the Power Mac G3s came out, but it was never re-branded as a Performa.

Because Apple did some market research and figured out that Performa was a bad word. Could have asked anyone on the street after the 5200s had been out for 6 months and they have learned the same, but...

Anyway, I think I've seen mention of Performa 5500s on some markets. Not in the US, but I don't know if UK was one of those markets.

rich82fox: It would help a LOT if you could tell us the model number of your Performa. There is a huge span from the first Performa 200 (a Mac Classic II with a 16 MHz 68030 and a 9" b&w screen) to the 5400s or 5500s.

[Oneota]

Huh...yeah, there was a Performa 5500, after all:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=112142
(Do a "Find…" for 5500)