On Tue, 07 Jun 2016 15:44:26 -0700, Don Y
wrote:

On 6/7/2016 12:17 PM, wrote:
While going to rummage sales, I ran across a Macintosh G3 tower. The
seller said it works, and told me to just take it for free. I have
always wanted to play around with an Apple computer, so I took it. I
plugged in the monitor from my PC, turned it on, and it boots up to the
GUI desktop.

The problem is that there is no mouse or keyboard. I quickly found that
the small round connector, which is called DIN on a PC, is similar on
the Apple, but is called a ADB connector. The weird part, is that
there's only one of them, so I'm not sure how you can connect both a
keyboard and mouse to it. These have less pins than a PC connector, so I
cant just use any keyboard or mouse.

I don't recall if the G3 used ADB (I'll have to take your word on it).
But, ADB is a beast unto itself. It is a bidirectional ONE WIRE
interface (the four pins are power, ground, "data" and poweron -- you
turn the computer on by pressing a button in the upper corner of the keyboard)

Yes, it does have the ADB. I had to look up the name of it on the web.
They said the G3 (or was it the G4) was the last model to use it. I
think I'd rather use the USB. Especially since I need a mouse too.

I.e., you can't use anything in place of an ADB keyboard other than
an ADB keyboard!

The keyboard has two connectors on it. You plug a cable into one
to connect it to the computer. Then, you plug the (ADB!) mouse
into the other connector.

I googled some of this, and found that they often used a USB keyboard
and mouse. The tower only has 2 USB ports, so a keyboard & mouse would
use up both (that sucks).

I dont have any USB keyboards or mice, so I will have to buy something.
But I'm not going to spend a lot, since this computer is old (1999). But
I'd still like to play around with it.

USB keyboards can usually be found for $1 (craig's list, auctions, surplus,
etc.). The local university periodically sells a laundry cart full of
these things for ~$7 -- and usually has a tough time finding someone to
take them!

Yea, but those are PC keyboards. I unsderstand they wont work properly
on a Mac because the Mac needs some special keys. I read on some website
that there is software to redefine the keys, but that could get
complicated (I guess).

I assume I can use a standard USB mouse though, but I dont have any of
them, so I'll have to buy one.


It seems that the original ABD keyboards sell for big money, so I wont
even consider buying one of them. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing
that I could use ANY mouse with a USB plug (is that true?)
But can I use a USB keyboard which is made for a PC? (Knowing that the
specific "windows" keys will be worthless).

The problem you will find is bringing up the computer. A USB keyboard might
work -- but probably only after the OS is running. I.e., if you ever have to
install from scratch, you might discover that it REQUIRES a genuine keyboard
to interact with the machine.

So I either need a genuine Mac USB or ADB keyboard, for things to work
properly. Right?

Hopefully someone on here uses Apple computers and can tell me what I
can use, and buy for little money.

By the way, it has OS9 for the operating system, so it was apparently
upgraded since they sold with OS8.x (according to what I read on the
web).

I assume you mean MacOS v9. (OS/9 is a different beast, entirely)

Yes.
It says OS9 or OS 9 when it boots.