New Member Question

[EddieC]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here and if I'm posting in the wrong place, please help me navigate the forum. I'm very grateful for finding this group. I've recently had to acquire a vintage setup in order to run a scanning software on System 9. I bought a G4 Gigabit unit which came loaded with both 9.2.2 and 10.4.11 in the same drive. My first surprise was to see two systems loaded on one drive. I don't remember ever seeing that in all my years using Mac. My questions are the following:

1) I'm ok with the 9.2.2 being there, but I'd like to upgrade the 10.4.11 to a later version. Is that possible without messing things up? How do I do that? Do I just insert the 10.5 installation disk and it will know what to do? I don't want to mess things up because I don't have an installation disk for 9.2.2 (looking to acquire it). By that way, how was this done? Was there a particular installation disk that included both softwares? I really would like to know my way around this since I'll be using this setup a lot.

2) Would it be better to partition the disk in two and have one system installed in each? Or better yet, get another hard drive and have different systems in each? I do need the OSX in that computer to run another scanning software that stopped working after 10.6.8 or something like that.

I appreciate the help!
Eddie

 

[FdB]

Hi Eddie,

I'm new here today too and while I'm no current "feet-in-the-fire" Mac Pro like some here, yet I'll offer a few tidbits that you may consider.

(1). I wouldn't undertake an upgrade to a later version of OS X. As I understand it, you'll encounter a performance loss over your current version (I'll attempt to attach images from http://www.jcsenterprises.com/Japamacs_Page/All_Things_PPC.html concerning this possibility, to this post.) AND, according to another Apple source your version of OS 10.4.11 is the Maximum OS allowed on that machine (if I've gotten that right, also a possible .pdf attached here.)

(2). I recently acquired a PowerMac G4 1.25GHz DP MDD that I intended originally to wipe and install only OS 9.2.2 on, because of a certain affinity for the stability of that particular OS (not unlike the majority of those persons here supposedly). However, lured by the sirens' song of newer versions of software that I did not previously possess and the dreaded OS X, my quest has been to revert this MDD back to OS 10.3.x. while also keeping OS 9.2.2. (We'll see if I actually do this reversion or if I follow my own advice, i.e. "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".) Currently running OS 10.5.8 and OS 9.2.2. and yes, they're both on the same drive. Yes, feeling a bit schizophrenic but I simply choose from which OS I want to boot from, or can run OS 9 within OS X. (Yes, I've backed everything up before I begin to "clean/glean".)

I have installed a Firewire/USB combo PCI card to enable USB 2.0 and Firewire 800 (should I ever use the 800 Firewire), but the standard USB 1.0 ports made my back ups too painfully slow. Picked up the SIIG combo card on eBay for $30 bucks.

Also: Beware the video DVI notation for the video card, because if it's like mine, it requires the Apple Display Connector (ADC*) to DVI cable. Apple's ADC* is a proprietary connector based upon a regular DVI connector. Look closely. I usually run two monitors so I'll just slap another video card in a PCI slot.

I just found what may be the actual install/restore software for this MDD here today. It notes "single CPU" only, so I might be out of luck anyway... but I'll continue to look for yours as well. (Now maybe someone else will chime in here and say they know exactly what you need?)

Anyway, I've ran on enough here. Hope some of it helps you and forgive me if I've offered anything you may have already known. Now, let's see if I can attach anything to this...
   

[geforceg4]

cool post fury - lets try to keep focused on os9 tho right? the admins here discourage spending too much time focusing on osx.. in their words, there are lots of other ppc osx sites but not many others that focus on the classic mac os

the whole reason why we use os9 on g4s is based on the same similar principle that osx is too demanding for these old machines that were built in the day of os9...

[EddieC]

Thank you both for your input! Very useful and informative Fury. Good luck with your project. Roger on the OS X talk, geforceg4.

[FdB]

Hope it helped, Eddie. My apologies to the forum/admins and mea culpa, geforceg4.

[Steve_W]

I have the same machine (MDD dual 1.25) and honestly, I strongly recommend multiple drives.  It can take 4 hard drives out the box, 5 if you do away with the optical drive.  Drives are so cheap, just put 4 in there and have OS X on 1 partition, OS 9 as your main system on another, another OS9 install on another drive as a backup and on the 4th just data.  Works for me!

[FdB]

Thanks Steve. Hadn't thought about this yet. (Head out of the "boxes" for a few years here.) Still wondering about DieHard's "Install/Restore CD/DVD Sets" for MDD 2003 software available here, as it states "Single Processor". Perhaps a trial by fire, later this week.