Someone trashed this Bondi Blue iMac G3... can I fix it?

[@VeronicaExplains]

Addendum comment! 1. Pronunciation of "Bondi Blue" (bond-eye vs bond-ee): this falls under "tomato tomato potato potato"- please call your comments off! Language is fluid and if you understand what I mean, that's probably good enough. I pronounce lots of words "wrong" since I'm USian/Minnesotan/whatever. I've heard Apple staff say either one, so I'm confident my meaning is clear here. Besides, if I said it the other way, you all would tell me in the comments how wrong I am! Can't win! ;) 2. See above about pronunciation of GIF. :P 3. I've added a "donation inquiry" section to my contact form at vkc.sh. I probably won't respond in the comments about hardware donations, but you can try the contact form if you have something interesting for this or any other vintage computer I've mentioned on the channel.

[@cdl0]

Pffft. . . .Americans! Is that eeeither or is it eyether? 🙂 Now all you need to find is a mint-condition Apple Lisa, and then brace ourselves for some more comedy gold with how to pronounce the aforementioned name.

[@jacquelineliu2641]

@@cdl0 Wait, there are multiple ways to pronounce Lisa?! (I'm not a native speaker)

[@cdl0]

@@jacquelineliu2641 Yes! Veronica will surely explain when she finally gets an Apple Lisa and does a video about it.

[@TheducksOrg]

literally named after australia's best known beach - "bond-eye" :)

[@VeronicaExplains]

@theducks.org but Apple employees literally say it both ways, so maybe we don't need to comment about it, especially when I asked folks not to. Like, there's no way to say it without inviting critical comments from someone. Language is fluid and maybe don't get bothered by folks pronouncing things different than you?

[@SonnyCoCo]

I love how accessible your videos are. Your explanations are always ever so clear and understandable. Please keep making more awesome videos like this Veronica 🤘

[@OctavioGaitan]

The G3 iMac is my most favorite computer of all time. It pretty much DEFINED my childhood in school. I still have mine. Thanks for sharing this.

[@notation254]

Love the references to Action Retro and Macintosh Librarian! Those channels are awesome, and so are you!!!

[@krazykidmusic4954]

I love repair and you did a good job! In the modern era, I love to show people how I’m still rocking a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro I got from a dumpster. Amazing how usable dumpster finds are! Glad you restored this one and didnt let it go to waste!

[@gopherman96]

Woo! Great to see this up and running, with all its screws :) I love these iMacs - my parents bought me a tangerine model as my very first gaming computer way back in the mid 2000s when they were starting to get super cheap. Absolutely loved that thing! Still have it, but it's got a bad flyback, which is a non-trivial part to track down a replacement for, so that's a repair for another day.

[@draygosmith]

I remember when I was a kid and these started showing up in my friends' bedrooms. It was a lot of people's first computer that was really theirs -- not the "family's" computer. Good memories!

[@GSBarlev]

This is so cool. Even cooler that you did a full restore and not a restomod (aside from the SSD). Happy Marchintosh!

[@W1ldTangent]

I'm not a fan of restomods in the sense of doing a total replacement of the innards with something modern, but I'll agree making allowances for some modern practicalities like this is necessary.

[@BustinCasts]

You just took me back to my middle school days Veronica! Thank you. I really enjoyed this video, back to a part of my childhood I hadn't thought about in a very long time and put a huge smile on my face. Hope this machine serves you well into the future. Definitely a cool conversation piece at the very least.

[@LonSeidman]

Great find! I have two of these in my basement - one I think has a G4 upgrade. Maybe it's time to dust them off!

[@rickedwards6150]

A previous employer had a *lot* of iMacs. The pucks never even got to the users’ desks; they were all replaced with Logitech mice. We had a big box full of the unloved and unused things. They’re probably in a landfill.

[@bubgerkirg]

this kind of content is sooo up my alley! you rock veronica, pls keep making awesome videos :D

[@certs743]

Great find. My first computer was an Apple IIGS and years later my first iMac was a well loved iMac G4. Loved that machine. Later I owned the Quicksilver and Mirror Drive Doors PowerMacs which were just beautiful.

[@dingokidneys]

Love to see your videos and really happy to see you getting that old iMac back up and running. Keep up the good work. It's always a happier day when there's a new Veronica Explains video.

[@junebug9320]

Killer video! I feel like I really missed an opportunity to pick one of these up when every college and high school was dumping these for cheap, so now I'm relegated to getting a fixer-upper, and I'm going to absolutely reference this when I eventually find the imac g3 of my dreams

[@aaronring4704]

Love the Jeff Goldblum ad Easter Egg! I have a non-functioning slot-load G3 that I brought home about 12 years (and two house moves) ago, with the intention making an aquarium. This gives me hope that reviving it is a more realistic project, and it will fit in well with my G3 Powerbook and G3 iBook! Thank you for "finally getting around to this!"

[@radiicall]

You are really fun to watch Veronica, these videos have a certain charm

[@thatjpwing]

Excellent video. This gave a great synopsis of your quest without falling too far into the weeds. These old machines are wonderful; I'm happy you saved this one from a landfill. Great job!

[@mcosta3810]

Great video! So just last week, one of my best friends and I *just* got his orange iMac back up and running again. Great find, and looking forward to your Linux video with this!

[@timhaines3877]

Seeing that puck mouse brought back high school memories of sitting in the library "surfing the web" and the carpal tunnel that came from using the wretched things!

[@fedordedov783]

I'm the guy that family and friends now contact when getting rid of old tech. I've scored a ton of stuff from excellent 24 inch monitors to entire pre-built PCs. Even got a set of monitor arms for free when my mother in laws neighbor upgrade his setup. I've only paid for my laptop and even then it was purchased used. There is so much tech out there doomed for the landfill that deserves a second chance. In an era where everyone is concerned with their ecological footprint the **last** thing we want to do is throw them away in a dumpster. Though I will say that you want to make sure you choose a reputable electronics recycler i.e one that is not going to ship it on barge to a 3rd world country to sit and slowly decompose in a massive field with zero environmental concern.

[@blevenzon]

Brilliant as always Veronica

[@emmyw6587]

What an absolute beauty of a machine. Thank you for the video Veronica!

[@AndersInnovation]

omg. i have that same guitar, that same bop it, and just picked up a broken imac g3 trying to restore and found your video. did we just become best friends! thank you for posting this, it is going to be really helpful!

[@rebootretro]

Your rescued iMac is in WAY better shape than the one I restored. Mine had severe damage to the housing; I buffed it with a headlight buffing kit. It distorts the plastic texture unfortunately, but it looked way better afterwards since it was so bad. Your plastic housing looks amazing still, no yellowing and no deep scuffing. Great find!

[@Kehvarl]

Since you did mention image format pronunciation and obligate me to comment, I guess I must do so: I love your channel and am happy to have found it, thanks for the videos!

[@troybarnes66]

So glad you gave Ms Fox a shout out!! I adore her channel

[@moeskido]

Excellent and helpful. I have a Bondi iMac of my own, acquired last year, that I need to open up and inspect. Videos like yours help me prepare for all of the components that will need attention. Thank you for this. Subscribed.

[@keithlambell1970]

Thank you for your patience. Great to see it run again :-)

[@bornsonoran]

I love your use of alteration!

[@matiassaibene9539]

It's magic, when the computer turned on it's pure magic! Congratulations for such excellent channel content.

[@praus]

I love Ms. Fox too. Great job with this old Mac.

[@Gojirosan]

I have two of these awaiting exactly what you have done to that one. I hope you've prodded my motivation into gear! Great video, thank you.

[@dungeonseeker3087]

The person on KZbin whom, IMO has the most experience with CRTs is Adrian Black, he honestly has a bit of an obsession with them. I literally seen him stitch a broken CRT board back together, flyback and all, composite mods, he even got hold of a CRT rejuvenator and tested it on a few old CRTs once. He is imo probably the best person to ask about CRTs. Also worth noting, you should NEVER EVER open a CRT unless you know how to do it safely, the flyback is usually putting out between 17Kv to 24Kv, if you touch the wrong thing it means almost certain death. Stay safe 😀

[@swampmonkey420]

THANK YOU FOR PROMOTING E WASTE DISPOSAL!! Much love from NZ and an retro refurbisher that runs an e waste program!

[@pic101]

Really great work. Lovely machine, now!

[@gustavberntsson1578]

Wow what a great video Veronica! I know because I've seen it :)

[@ArcadianAeon]

As someone else with an old G3 iMac (mine's Strawberry Pink!) I'm looking forward to seeing where you take this project someday. Great video!

[@vidarberg2155]

I really love how you explain stuff. Greeteings from Norway:)

[@JPEaglesandKatz]

Hey, what a find and how great you got it working!! Have fun with it !

[@elijahpetrill2011]

New favorite youtuber! Especially with those punk outros! So entertaining!

[@LoesserOf2Evils]

Great that this old machine could be and was revived! Congratulations!

[@aa-au]

Great recovery on the iMac! The iMac colour was named after an Australian beach, and it's pronounce Boni-eye, not Bond-ee - there is a big debate on the Apple KZbin community on this one. Apple marks the caps as part of a checklist post production. This was common in a lot of manufacturers at the time. If the CD-ROM drive is not flush up against the front of the iMac, then it is not mounted correctly. I think you pointed out about the tabby thing, just make sure it hooks into the wire 'U' or Omega shaped spring. BTW, I saw your subnet mask... :)

[@gyorgybereg6916]

I love the vibe of your channel. ❤

[@slembcke]

Nice. I had a second hand original iMac in the early 2000's. It was the first machine I ran Linux (Yellow Dog Linux), and OS X on. :)

[@willemvandebeek]

Congratulations with your free iMac, this restoration video was very satisfying to watch. :)

[@delscoville]

A friend of mine found a dozen iMacs in a dumpster behind a school. She asked for my help and I was able to get six of them running by exchanging parts between them. She let me have one of those we gotten to work for my time and trouble. This was back in 2003 when a G3 was still quite useful. Not long after that, a church gave me two newer IMac DVs, so I had three of them for awhile before selling them off. I sold the best one to a friend.

[@alfredklek]

I attended a large, northeastern US university from 1999 to 2003. I remember campus computer labs filled with these machines as a freshman but by the time I was a junior, and a full fledged computer geek working for the university's residential network management arm, they were all gone. It's easy to forget just how quickly technology, the companies associated with it, and the pubic attitude towards it changed during that time period. I didn't see it happen but I'm sure my school filled dumpsters with iMacs over some summer break and brought in truck loads of Dell towers to replace them.

[@dewdude]

My sister had a 300MHz G3 iMac, I think it was one of the second gen models. I acquired it from her in 2004 after she was about to throw it out. This was back when my Linux skills were....so so; I knew of it, I remembered a few commands from my days of shell accounts, but that was about it. My primary issue back then was trying to install an OS you didn't know on your sole computer. There was this new distro people were talking about, Ubuntu. Since they had PPC support I decided to give it a try. Well that did the trick. I installed that early version of Ubuntu and did all my initial hardcore Linuxing on that iMac. Not an Apple fan, but it made a nice little Linux machine.

[@eddjcaine]

ah that old start up sound! Beautiful

[@snappy4368]

Wow I loved this video!!!! Your so lucky you were able to find this comptuer like that! How nice it must be to escape the disgusting high prices of these units on online resellers! (your ebay meme about budget breaking made me laugh, its so true!!!) Also, appreciated you message on vintage electronics, always urks me to think of vintage comptuers that could be repurposed for other uses being recycled, or worse, thrown away incorrectly...

[@punboleh7081]

I'd love to see the COBOL compilers of that era. Were there any COBOL IDEs for classic MacOS?

[@johncenaversusthings8452]

This video made me nostalgic and I wasn't even born when these computers were in production

[@LeftoverBeefcake]

Each and every one of my personal projects are always seen through to completion, and I'm going to keep telling myself that to avoid my deep shame and embarrassment.

[@liquidsonly]

I have a tendency, once the hard parts are doe to lose interest. The end result isn't the goal, it's the problem solving for me.

[@ironcito1101]

Mine too. I always finish what

[@m.d.williams3244]

Nice job! I too am someone who can heat up a soldering iron as well as a keyboard. I have done a lot with old tube radios (I am old enough to say I cut my tech teeth on tube stuff), and that includes CRT's. For the most part you have a heater circuit with low voltage for the cathode filaments, three electron guns (fancy word for cathode) for red, green, and blue colors, a shadow mask for color convergence and an internal metallic "aquadag' coating. That's the internal anatomy of the CRT. The deflection yoke is three (usually) flat wound coils around the neck that control the electron beams with magnetic fields for the vertical/horizontal sync and picture scan interlace, and you have a "Flyback" transformer that provides the 15-20,000 volts to accelerate the electron beams from the guns into shadow mask/phosphor screen in the front of the tube. The flyback also provides the horizontal beam scan and helps with horizontal sync. Most of this stuff works together with some pretty tight tolerances. Usually if the high voltage flyback circuit craps out, it drags nearly everything else down with it. The best policy for a working crt system is cautiously clean it up with a low suction vacuum cleaner and judicious use of canned air. This is a great idea because high voltage has a big static field that attracts dust. Not only that, the dust will form structures that will eventually form defacto electrodes that can cause high voltage arcing. That will kill everything in short order! So, clean it up and "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies to the rest of everything in there. A word of caution: Please allow the unit to sit for at least half an hour before you open it up and start poking around in the CRT enclosure. There are caps in the flyback circut that can hold very high voltage for a period of time and that can hurt you or damage the equipment if they get shorted to ground with an errant hand tool or finger. Get all of the dust out, make it look pretty (no liquid cleaners please!) and it should work fine and last a long time... Thank you for the videos you post here. One of them inspired me to breathe life into a 2011 Macbook Pro with a nice Linux Mint install. Now it works better than it did on OS-X!

[@marnixds]

Well done!

[@jerrymckee4332]

That’s awesome!! ❤

[@haymobachmaier]

Great work👏👏👏

[@AddieDirectsTV]

I love that you included the Cherry and Spoon on your map animation.

[@KaelaNicole]

Awesome video, kickstand goes below.

[@kjamison5951]

They are fairy bulletproof in the metaphorical sense. I still own my Rev B Bondi Blue and I have added a few others since then. One of them had a CRT problem - suspect a crack in the neck. I was working through the HV stuff to remove the scary stuff that drives the CRT with the view to replace it with a 15” 4:3 LCD panel. Alas, that project has been on hold due to ill health. Thank you for the video!

[@rdraffkorn3184]

the grounded wrist strap reveal was the best .... the ssd and adapter was really cool too :)

[@wtfcxt]

Although I wasn't alive at that time, it's still very interesting seeing these older systems Great video!

[@tallpaul9475]

That battery is what we use in our building automation controllers, since 1998! Amazing.

[@drewzero1]

About 10 years ago I bought a slot-loader G3 DV out of a pile at an electronics recycler for $3, on the condition that I removed the hard drive onsite. That was one of my most challenging surgeries to date, only possible because I'd just done a combo drive swap on another G3 and it was fresh in my memory. The lone screw wedged somewhere in the case brought back some late nights spent trying to get those two G3s back together; I think it's a rite of passage for working on these machines.

[@NeoNine10]

I have an iMac from 2011 that works well with Linux. Expanded its lifespan since Apple dropped support for it past High Sierra and works well with newer distros. I did have to do something to enable brightness control with editing a text file though. Sound would also only work with no further configuration needed after immediate installation if i chose a distro with Pipewire. Otherwise i’d have to go deeper into the system again to enable it.

[@lurkerrekrul]

In my area (lower edge of Connecticut) we have "bulk trash pickup" twice a year where the city will haul away almost anything you put on the curb for free. People clean out their basements, attics, closets, etc, and pile it all up on the curb. 80% of it is trash, but about 20% is stuff that's still usable. I've seen 3-4 of these iMacs over the years. I know nothing about the Mac and dont' really have a desire for one. I did bring one home for my friend once. I think he got it working. I also gave him some kind of Mac that looked like a big, white CRT monitor (not one of the 4" thick flat ones), but he said that one didn't work. Of course I see a lot of old Dell and such systems. They usually fall into one of two categories: Complete, but older with weak specs, or newer with good specs, but missing components. Oh and laptops that are missing the power supplies about 98% of the time. The last one I found is a Dell i5 that doesn't boot. According to Google, it needs a new CMOS battery, which is super easy to install. You just remove the hard drive, remove the memory, remove the keyboard, open the case, take out the power switch, disconnect all the cables, remove the motherboard, flip it over and pop in the battery. Simple!

[@1olddoggie]

Another great video! I am embarrassed to say that my ey had one of these machines. I had put all of our music on it I realize now that I should have rescued it. Live and learn!

[@plutoniumshore]

I always love to see older equipment getting a second (or third) chance at life.

[@Wandering_Horse]

I remember those from a tech school I went to, I cant imagine learning web design in a room full of fruity iMacs. Awesome to see one resurrected and fully functional. Look forward to an old school Slackware install on it!

[@Wandering_Horse]

Regarding recycling hardware I just recently donated a HP Z230 workstation to a student along with a fresh copy of Debian 11.

[@EricaCalman]

So just a guess but I have seen capacitors marked like that on RF boards before so I'd be willing to bet it's a certification/QA mark from the factory not someone refurbishing.

[@AD7Films]

Nice work! I learned a lot by watching your video. I regret giving away my mom's old G3 imac (green colored one), I should've kept it. I still have my old quicksilver G4 with the Iomega drive lol and also the mirrored drive doors G4.

[@MikeWood]

How Bondi blue cool is that. Nicely done. It was too early for them, but I always thought the iMac would benefit from some tasteful LEDs under the back translucent cover. Not sure if it could be done on such a machine natively though.

[@MarkTengPhoto]

This was the iMac that they used in the computer lab at my photography school, and it sure brings back memories.

[@paramcomputers007]

Old is GOLD ❤

[@leonidas1347]

felicitaciones Veronica muy bueno soy admirador de todo lo retro de Apple me encanto😂😂😂

[@GarthBeagle]

Woot! Great job!

[@ariel_chess]

15:37 Thank God! My brain couldn't handle knowing there were missing screws.

[@andrina118]

Just subbed - great stuff Veronica!

[@eDoc2020]

Now all you need is an original power cable. And regarding dirty electronics, there's a broken old iMac I might take home which was so dirty I didn't realize it had the transparent plug.

[@queens.dee.223]

I love the FF6 wind sound. Any advice for finding a new home for a beige G3 tower and a Quicksilver G4?

[@techdept]

Awww, great to see a machine rescued, and it looks like it could be an early Rev A iMac too! I just got one of my own tahat's gonna need a little TLC, but this video made me smile! :)

[@VeronicaExplains]

I think it might be a revision B based on the board, but I need to finish reading the service manual. I'm excited to get cracking on some upgrades for it at some point, too. That'll be fun!

[@ActionRetro]

Thank you for saving this lovely dumpster iMac! Video idea: "I Did My Taxes With Quicken 98" edit: Woohoo, FrogFind!

[@VeronicaExplains]

"I did my taxes with Quicken 98 and only got audited three times: The Veronica Explains story"

[@ActionRetro]

@@VeronicaExplains 😂😅

[@eduardoschubert5738]

Nice find. I recall that time, here in Brazil appeared a lot of "G3 look alike clones" but they were ordinary PCs from several other brands.

[@joeyownbey4606]

A lot of people don’t realize these baby’s contain gold real gold in the electronics !!

[@VerwirrteMiauKatze]

Found this channel randomly. I like it here, so I stay.

[@artistnyc123]

Of course, it still works. Seen a lot of PCs left for trash, but never in my life a Mac.

[@brianlewis5088]

I love old tech. I picked up a IBM Model M today for 10$ and it works.

[@jordondavidson3405]

Well Done!. I put Yellow Dog Linux on my own Rev A Bondi Blue iMac when it first became available. Fun fun fun!

[@DavidHuffTexas]

Love it! More vintage Apple stuff, please!

[@rodneytorres8843]

Next level restoration for this machine. Not so much into Apple since those days when I used them regularly. Need more Linux as you say. The plasma spin video is awesome to get started. Thanks Rodney...Silicon Valley near life resident. From Hawaii.... K Bye.

[@kittyztigerz]

wish you have seen adrian digital basements channels because i love how he work on almost a lot of old vintages computer and he explains more details about it i like it

[@JoanDoe-pq5fu]

"Who among us isn't drowning in a sea of unfinished projects and unrealized ambitions" oof. Got me there

[@VeronicaExplains]

I might put it on a t-shirt, I haven't decided!

[@JoanDoe-pq5fu]

@@VeronicaExplains, do it nihilisa Frank style. Extra ostentatious.

[@jensputzlocher8345]

Mr. Action Retro installed OpenBSD7 on one of these BondiBlue IMacs - he pushed it to modern times. He has thus breathed life back into the computer - which now functions in a contemporary manner with a modern operating system and a modern browser.

[@Destide]

Return of the mac! Good idea getting an expert on the CRT you might only get to make mistakes with the coils once

[@VeronicaExplains]

That's exactly what I was thinking!

[@eupher2]

Really if you discharge the tube, it's all safe for the most part. but still need to be careful.

[@VeronicaExplains]

@@eupher2 Even after discharge, though, there's still some damage that can be done even beyond the electrical concerns. Between vacuums and sensitive components, I feel good recommending to my viewers that they reach out to experienced technicians when it comes to the finer points of CRT repair.

[@eupher2]

@@VeronicaExplains That's true it can happen. I respect you for being safe and asking experienced people for help. I wasn't trying to be a wise guy or anything.

[@Genecaster]

6:05 I just dug into a G3 I bought from my buddy in high school (would have been around '09) of a similar early revision (tray loader). It sat basically that entire time under my care in "It booted when I bought it but it has been shoved to the back back back WAY back burner on my project list and I'm not going to do anything with it until I do" state until I decided just yesterday to finally do something about it. My caps were all marked when I did the teardown. As for plans, I happen to have a SODIMM that I believe came from a Cisco 2801 router that I'm going to try and use to bump it up from 64 (which itself I believe might be an upgrade from stock done years ago) to 256, then do a 64 gig CF card for the drive, as it's my understanding that CF is essentially "IDE but smaller." Clean it up a bit and run OS 9 as it sounds like 10 might just be a bit too much for it to handle. Racking my brain I think this might be the only Apple product I've ever owned personally, and I've essentially never even used a Mac of any sort, so the utility of this machine to me is more of a learning experience. I'm somewhat familiar with PowerPC CPUs...but only as they appear in old Cisco gear haha.

[@nbrowser]

Admittedly, I'm not the biggest Mac fan out there but I do maintain a new M2 Air to keep tabs on the iDevices in the house...but in a corner sits a Graphite iMac DV SE with some upgrades...yes it still runs OS 9 cause I want it that way. Nice classic iMac with that lovely CRT display...so good for a trip back in time.

[@mig.5]

great job Veronica! you could install on it some linux distro for old computers!

[@ibizenco]

My first Mac was an iMac G5 with "Panther", back in 2004, so these I only know from the Internet. Luck you! ☺

[@gecko2000405]

Pretty damn cool!

[@TheBasementChannel]

First time viewer here. Great video, love the intro, and the graphic effects. Bondi named after Bondi beach in Sydney.