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AmacD · May 25, 2005, 10:56 AM

Hi all i have been lurking for a while and have found out a bit but its time to "pick the colective brain" i think.

I was given a power mac 5500/225 with out a hard disk, its died and the machine was left in a shed fow a few years. and when i said i was looking for a Mac it was given to me.

They also gave me a maxtor 10gig ide drive from a pc the drive works and has been formated (fat 32) there was also an orange cd in the drive and the mac will start up and run with this cd in the drive.

CD is labled iMac Software Install
SSW version 8.5.1
CD version 1.0
z691-2177-A

I installed the drive in the plastic carier, in the case and conected uo the ide and power cables (a big thaks to those people on this site for the info on how to do this)
When it started it told me the drive needed to be inisilised, did that, But when i went to install the software, the sad that it could only be installed to the origional media.

Am i doing something really dumb?? or is there a way i can make this work? I lick mac and have one on loan at the moment, and want to stay with the mac. Or do i just save my pennies till i can aford to by an eMac on ebay like the one im using at the moment?

And chuck what could maybe a good start for me if i could make it work.

Sorry to be so long .

Andrea McD

theolein · May 25, 2005, 11:23 AM

The CD you were given will not install on that machine. With the old Macs, before Mac OSX came to be, every machine had its own special installer CD, since each machine needed a special enabler, a piece of software that made the OS compatible with the hardware.

I'm afraid that unless you can find a generic, i.e. a CD that came from a boxed version of the classic Mac OS (pre OSX 10.0), or a Powermac 5500 installer, you're out of luck running on that machine. OSX will not run on that hardware, and even if it did, it would be really and truly painfully slow.

There are ways of getting Linux installed on that machine, but to be honest, I don't think you might handle that unless you're willing to drop the Mac OS.

Your best bet is to simply save up and get a Mac mini, as they are the cheapest Macs around at the moment.

AmacD · May 25, 2005, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by theolein

The CD you were given will not install on that machine. With the old Macs, before Mac OSX came to be, every machine had its own special installer CD, since each machine needed a special enabler, a piece of software that made the OS compatible with the hardware.

I'm afraid that unless you can find a generic, i.e. a CD that came from a boxed version of the classic Mac OS (pre OSX 10.0), or a Powermac 5500 installer, you're out of luck running on that machine. OSX will not run on that hardware, and even if it did, it would be really and truly painfully slow.

There are ways of getting Linux installed on that machine, but to be honest, I don't think you might handle that unless you're willing to drop the Mac OS.

Your best bet is to simply save up and get a Mac mini, as they are the cheapest Macs around at the moment.

theolin;

Thank you for your advice,

1) i had thought might be the answer, I couse use my pc monitor keyboard and mouse with a mini, i think.

2) So i would a system 7.5 install or somthing not a disk for one machine.

Thanks

A

OptimusG4 · May 25, 2005, 12:57 PM

This page will tell you what OS versions will run on it, as well as other useful information: Power Mac 5500

discotronic · May 25, 2005, 01:05 PM

System 7.5.3 is a free download. You can find it here:

http://download.info.apple.com/Apple...Version_7.5.3/

You can find the 7.5.5 updater on VersionTracker here:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macos/430

AmacD · May 25, 2005, 01:55 PM

Thay you very much everyone.

Will be looking for some disks.

A

olePigeon · May 25, 2005, 03:50 PM

You can pick up a retail copy of 8.5 for pretty cheap.

theolein · May 26, 2005, 05:10 AM

Originally Posted by AmacD

theolin;

Thank you for your advice,

1) i had thought might be the answer, I couse use my pc monitor keyboard and mouse with a mini, i think.

2) So i would a system 7.5 install or somthing not a disk for one machine.

Thanks

A

As others have said, getting hold of a System 7.5 CD or OS 8.5, 8.6 or 9.x CD should not be a problem.

You can use your PC monitor of course, but you can only use your keyboard and mouse if they are USB connected and not with the older PS2 connections.

Eriamjh · May 27, 2005, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by theolein

You can use your PC monitor of course, but you can only use your keyboard and mouse if they are USB connected and not with the older PS2 connections.

USB? It's a 5500! There is no USB!

He needs an ADB keyboard if he doesn't like what it has on it.

theolein · May 27, 2005, 09:16 AM

She was talking about using her mouse, monitor and keyboard with a new Mac, if I understood her correctly.

AmacD · May 28, 2005, 11:23 AM

Yes I was talking about using it on a mini mac as someone had sujested that was the way to go.

HOWEVER "

Today i was given a compleate working 5200, with cd, and it works perfectly. the lady said i could have it as it was her sons from his uni days and it was not very fast because she had the g3 cache card out of it.

What is a g3 cache card??????

OreoCookie · May 28, 2005, 11:41 AM

My guesstimate is that she was talking about a G3 processor upgrade, so she put in the old cpu.

theolein · May 28, 2005, 11:42 AM

A cache card is usually an extension card that has extra and faster cache memory on it so that when the CPU, i.e. the processor, needs something from RAM it can store in on the cache card for faster access the next time it is needed. In practice cache cards have never made much of a difference.

Good luck with your 5200. Maybe you should remember, though, that the operating system is not the same as the modern OSX in case you were under the impression that OSX can run on it, which it can't.

NeilCharter · May 28, 2005, 12:46 PM

AmacD,

What do you intend to do with the 5200? For typing documents it should be okay.

I would imagine that using the internet for things like web surfing and email would be difficult using OS 7 or 8.

AmacD · May 29, 2005, 12:13 AM

Hi

i was going to run word98 and excel 98 on the 5500, if i got it going, the 5200 has 7.5.3 on it and works so my office apps will go on that. I was hoping to use it as a word processor, and maybe get my e-mail on it.

As thats all i do with the e-Mac i have on loan at the moment.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ALL YOUR IDEAS AND SUJESTIONS.

Andrea