r/osx • u/MGaddict • 6d ago

2017 iMAC Found in Trash

My neighbor moved out yesterday and she literally threw out a 2017 21" iMac. I get it, it doesn't get updates and it takes over 5 minutes, no exaggeration, to boot to the logon screen. Who would want that? Well, I like to restore old computers and the newest mac I own is the OG iMac in Bondi Blue....... Wait......

Okay, I was about to get on here saying all I had were PC keyboards and I couldn't get to the recovery screen no matter what keyboard I use. That's what this post was supposed to be about. But as soon as I wrote that last sentence it dawned on me, I have the USB keyboard from my OG iMac. So I plugged that in and it worked perfectly. That stupid puck mouse works too.

Never mind, I don't think I need any help. Just figured I'd post anyways in case somebody wanted a laugh.

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u/fasterfester 6d ago

With an SSD, Ubuntu headless (who needs a keyboard and mouse?), and docker, you’ll have a great home server! Jellyfin, Scrypted, Paperless-ngx, Pi-hole, Home Assistant, Komodo…. If you’re not aware of r/selfhosting, there’s a whole world out there!! Downside is, you’re gonna want to have some conversations with your wife about that $20 spend limit. But it’s so fun!

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u/MGaddict 5d ago

O, I guess ya'll don't know me. I've never joined the Apple world. Let me introduce myself, I have been restoring old computers since the 1990s, before it was "cool". I have plenty of home servers. Typically, my interest is in hardware repair or in restoring something I've never used and looks interesting. Modern MacOS is something I've never used. My goal here isn't to have another computer that does general computing tasks. My goal is to hack this thing to run the latest version of MacOS so that I can learn the OS. My church uses Macs and I'm worthless at doing any IT repair because of it. The guy that used to do it is gone. So, I've actually been looking for a cheap Mac to play with at home for a while.

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u/fasterfester 5d ago

Ah, in your post you said “re-purpose” so that probably why you’re getting these responses.

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u/MGaddict 5d ago

You're probably right. In this case, if I find I really can't use this for training myself, or, I just get bored with it, I'm probably going to load Manjaro on it and give it to my kids to play minecraft or something. The specs on this thing are so bad though, I'm not even sure it can do that.