I have looked through this forum as well as Apple's and have also talked with my local Apple tech guy. The solution until I receive the install CDs appears to be rather simple considering all the fuss. I simply connect my G3 to my friends G4 (which has a dvd drive) via firwire. I then use "target disk mode" by restarting my computer while holding the T key and thus set up my G3 as the "target" disk. The G4 (the "host" hard drive) is then restarted with the Tiger install dvd and then he selects my computer (which should now show up on his) as the destination disc to install Tiger.

After install I restart my computer normally and all should be well barring any unforeseeable glitches. I've never had any hardware or softeware issues in the three years I've had my G3 and neither has my friend with his G4. I've also confirmed that my firmware is more than adequate in terms of compatibility. So with patience and perhaps a smidgen of prayer it should go allright and serve until the actual Tiger install CDs arrive.

If it doesn't work then I can aways reinstall my Jaguar CDs and upgrade it all back to 10.2.8. Hell, if I'd realized all this hassle I'd never have bought Tiger since I've no real complaints with my current setup. I'd have put the money towards getting the remaining 512 RAM to upgrade my machine to 1G, and then that would have served fine until I eventually upgrade to a new computer sometime down the road.