[G4] New to me G4/OSX questions...

[Tony Johansen]

On 13/5/2006 12:34 AM, "Kenn Engstrom" <kennvfridr at yahoo.com> wrote:

...and this is my first look at OSX.
> I think I want to install an OS 9 version so I can run some of my
> software in classic mode if necessary.  It's been my understanding that
> I need to have OSX in a partition, is that correct?  Can I just install
> OS 9 now, or will I need to start fresh and reinstall OSX?  Or, does
> the partition just come into play if I want to boot into 9.x.x?

Hello Kenn, and welcome to OS X land

This time next year you will be wondering why it took you so long to get
here :-)

Jamie and JR have done a great job of dealing with the practicals but there
are a couple of issues to consider.

Firstly there is a large difference between OS 9 on a separate partition and
OS 9 in Classic. It has been my experience that OS 9 programs running in
classic can have printer difficulties etc. It seems to me that this is
because OS 9 has troubles figuring out what OS X is trying to do. I think
having OS 9 on a separate partition works better as you can set things up so
that poor old '9' can feel more at home and can organise stuff to suit
itself. And you will still have 'Classic' for those times when you have a
need for just a couple of minutes in '9' land.

After all 'Classic' was only ever intended as a way of getting those with
lots of OS 9 programs to make the leap to OS X, it was never meant as a
permanent solution.

And of course what has happened is that most of us with OS 9 partitions now
hardly ever use them for '9'. In my case I use it to store my iTunes
library, it is just the right size. And OS X has no troubles looking into
'9' land, it is only '9' that has trouble looking into '10'

You can set up a 'drop box', a folder that is common to both partitions and
appears on both desktops for passing files from one side to the other.

Now about OS X. You  DO need OS 10.3.9 as a minimum as virtually all current
software out there is now like Firefox etc is requiring that. You need discs
anyway so look for a more recent version. And 10.3.9 is excellent. The only
thing worth shouting about in Tiger is spotlight. So same price I would
choose Tiger, but if I could find a cheaper Panther disc I would go with
that if it was 3.9 but any earlier version is not worth the trouble.


Tony
http://www.tonyjohansen.com
A Life Of Art