how to wipe a school Mac

hey i got 2 Macs that the school was gonna throw away but I took them instead. I've been trying to wipe it clean and fresh install Ubuntu but when I hold down the C key nothing appears to happen and just goes on booting normally. I think it might be a limitation with the "students" account so how would I be able to get around it so I can wipe the drive clean?? This thing is also REALLY limited, I can't even move icons around on the desktop lolz

 

OK, you can wipe the HD COMPLETELY clean (the Department of Defense uses this) with a program called Darik's Boot and Nuke (aka DBaN). It is really easy to use and is the best way to get rid of ANYTHING you don't want on there anymore (except viruses in BIOS, you just need to reflash for that though). You can download an ISO of it and burn it to disc, or you can get a USB and make the USB bootable for it. Or you can go totally old school and even use a floppy disc ;-).

 

i have used this previously but I cant even get to boot the cd. I turn on the computer, hold in the C key, nothing happens and just boots Mac OS 9.2 normally. The Mac can't even read the cd because when I put it in while the OS is already running and what not, a message comes up saying that "this computer cannot read this disc" or something along those lines.

 

hold down the option/alt key and should pop up with bootable devices after about 10 sec


idk about older macs but i know apple has blocked use of linux on the mac

there are two ways of doing it

an application called rEFIt

or do not make any swap partitions as that is how the apple firmwire detects that its linux

you may also want to try burning a new copy of ubuntu i dont know if ubuntu supports ppc based macs either so you may be stuck with 0s9 or you can upgrade to osx

hope that helps
ps i dont know if the option/alt thing works on older macs as i own an intel based mac with EFI not bios

 

That isn't what is going on..

Question did you burn the ubuntu disk in mac os x or did you burn it in windows???

Also do the two computers contain a dvd drive in order to install ubuntu

Also are you booting the computers into open firmware mode

 

Also another thing what model's of macintosh???

Schools only throw away really old macintosh computers so you might have a pre g3 machine which means no ubuntu.

 

i burned both ubuntu and DBaN with my windows computer but the Mac doesn't seem to have a problem reading the ubuntu cd but it doesnt read DBaN cd.

my windows pc has a dvd drive, but as for the mac im not soo sure. its prolly only a cd drive though

no, im not at all familiar with open firmware mode

i know nothing about Macs but the only thing that I could find that could be its model is that it has iMac written on the front and its running Mac OS 9.2 from what i was looking at though iMacs were suppose to be compatible with ubuntu

 

Ok so we are talking about a g3 then thank you.

What you have is a g3 imac and i have some bad news for you most of these machines came with a cd-rom drive not a dvd drive so what you need is a mac os x install cd disk set for mac os x tiger.

Problem is you are going to have to find it online at amazon or on ebay this is why your ubuntu disks are not booting at all as well you need them burned on a dvd and need a dvd drive in order for them to run second you need to have at least 512 megs of ram and a g3 500mhz processor or better for ubuntu to function well on powerpc macintosh g3 computers.

Here is what i recommend.

log into a windows machine

go to www.apple.com and search there support section for the manual for your model of macintosh

Then go looking for the cd version of mac os x tiger not the dvd version it wont work for your machine.

 

well can't i just upgrade it then? like just get a 512mb ram module, a compatible faster cpu, a dvd drive and a new hd? i really don't wanna use a Mac OS and depending on how well I could get it running I might keep the 1 and sell the other to a friend of mine which doesnt care for Macs either

 

you could upgrade the ram but without mac os x to burn the ubuntu dvd you are kinda in trouble.

And as for the processor it is soldered to the main board so upgrading is out of the question there.

 

They threw these out for a reason.

Old macs are worthless because of this very problem. Can you hang an external dvd drive on a usb port and install fom disk that way (it will run completely crap if you get it installed anyway.. the hardware isn't up to it)

Overall I would do like the school did and consign these to the bin They will have looked at the possibility of upgrading and found what you have.. they cost more to get going than they are worth.

(reason8 to avoid apple hardware)

 

true and not true..

Powerpc macs can be upgraded but you have to purchase a more expensive model for the upgrades to work.

And it doesn't cost as much as you think to get these machines up and running the question is what are you going to do with it once you have it running..

 

well if its gonna be a bitch to upgrade i wont even bother with it then. i never really wanted a Mac anyways I was just hoping I could possibly upgrade it to ubuntu but since thats out of the questions ill just toss them lol

 

i would just donate them to a charity or even to your local thrift store

 

yea we have this little shop around town that you donate unused computers or computer parts to and they use them for volunteer work (its like a free little class on taking apart/putting together computer stuff) or sell them