[G4] firmware: update needed?

[Ronald Steinke]

On Mar 12, 2008, at 2:18 PM, Eric Smith wrote:

> * One way to run Leopard on an under-spec'd system would be to  
> install it
> on a conforming system and then simply move the disk to another  
> machine.

There is one thing drastically wrong with this approach.

When you do the install on the first machine, the installer puts in  
portions of the software that are specific to THAT machine. If you  
move the hard drive with that installed software to another machine,  
you may not have all the portions that the second machine needs and  
you may have portions that are only applicable to the first machine.

In other words, you take a chance on getting the proper software  
installed to run the second machine properly. You may win, and you may  
lose, it's up to chance on that.

My recommendation is to use a Firewire connection and start the older  
machine in Target Mode, do the installation and select the older hard  
drive as the destination of the installation. I did this with a 633MHz  
G4 and Leopard runs as well as I can ask it to.

YMMV, good luck.