Mac OS 9 Lives
Mac OS 9 Discussion => Hardware => Topic started by: gert79 on August 10, 2025, 07:19:41 AM
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Hello community, long time i didn't post here.
I was thinking of maybe adding a mobile option for my sound editing, to copy stuff from my QS onto it for oldschool editing on the go, not sure if it does exist but maybe a serial port would be cool to hook up the Opcode Studio 4 and a firewire soundcard? Also for file transfers firewire would be better than USB 1.
I looked around for the "latest" machines that can run OS9 natively and found the Powerbook G4 Titanium series, in some places it was said they are not reliable, had some issues? Also it was said the "non titanium" (aluminum) series cannot run OS9 native, but i found some forum posts that is factually is possible?
The "Pismo" type i would like to avoid, sorry to say the look does not appeal to me.
Then i also found a model "A1007", PowerBook 4,3, G3 which looks very promising, and i thing native resolution of 1024x768 would be perfect for SVP.
All these machines can be had in a price range from 80 to 150 euro, i am just not sure which to choose.
Are there any machines to avoid, that have common errors that will be a problem? Dying displays, dying powersupplies? Are there any machines that have some specific strengths?
Important for me would be also that i can build in a SSD in the availabe space, given the availability of SSD for the footprint. Also to extend RAM to 1024 MB given the availability of RAM modules.
I have actually researched the whole thing a bit, it is just really hard to get proper info from sellers aswell.
Any input welcome :)
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All the laptops that can run OS9 use fluorescent display backlights. They are now 20 or more years old and these fluorescent tubes are all worn out.
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Titanium Powerbooks are famous for bad hinges and flaky paint.
The multicolour iBooks all have 800x6000 screens, but G3 iBooks are also 1024x768. I believe there's an issue with keyboards developing a smell? But I don't know the details of that.
20-25 year old laptops are quite likely to have issues, though. Adjust expectations...
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i had to go thru 10 tibooks before i scored some perfect specimens. Worth it, totally. (in cartman voice)
do we have a list of Cardbusses that work on mac os 9? cause im tryint to transfer a simple .sit from a WIN10 machine to a tibook9.2.2 and i cant figure out whats the easiest way...