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[Cube]

Hi there one and all...Rob here...I started my Mac journey at primary school back in Australia...we were programming on Apple IIc and IIe...I loved that white pizza box and little monitor on top! Then in secondary school they had Macintoshes...I was blown away by being able to draw on a computer (I remember those guys in the US who produced the comic book "Shatter"...totally on a Mac!) We were even publishing our school magazine and newspaper on them! Then after saving enough, begged and borrowed enough money I bought my first Mac..a Performa with a colour monitor! That colour desktop was fantastic! I got older and a sideline was self-publishing and illustration. I went through a series of Macs - Cube, (then regrettably - now- traded in for a..) Powermac G5, iBook G3, Titanium Powerbook 1ghz, a couple of iMac G3s, Powerbook G4 1.5, Macbook Pro 2.16ghz (on that now), a Newton Messagepad 2000 and 2001, iBook G4, iMac G4...have I missed any out?! Most of these have gone by way of selling on...but I managed to find a Cube with box and all a few years back...I'm not letting go of that again! All along the way I always straddled the divide between OSX and OS9...never was able to let go of theat cool, simple and fast platinum GUI...and somehow the programs (they're not apps!) seemed cooler because they were so lean. And most of my Macs seemed to reinforce the idea that Macs were more versatile and tougher than PCs...most of those machines also had to endure moving from one side of the Earth to another...and not just once! Look forward to hearing from others out there! Stay safe, everyone!

[WonderWaffle]

Hello there, I'm just a computer enthusiast (and maybe a bit of a tech hoarder) who has a good bit of nostalgia for Apple devices from the late 90s and early 2000s

[Megher]

Hi,
my name is Megher.
I work with Mac from 128K.
I just trying to recreate my old G4 with Mac Os 9 again to have access to old DAW files (DP, PT, Logic)

thanks for your great work!

[amadama]

Hi everyone,
I'm Alex from the USA. I have been lurking here for a while and my interest in digital audio got re-ignited.
Not knowing much about the topic I have greatly appreciated all the information provided here.
Hoping to leverage all the hardware I already have stashed away and get something up and running soon.
Thanks!

[tuborgman]

Hey!

Eugene is here. I don't have an old Mac hardware, but a number of MacBook pros ) I run Sheepshaver vm to run OS 9.0.4 on couple of them in order to have access to music production software that don't run on modern macOS anymore and have real fun with things like PlayerPro tracker etc.  So far everything run smoothly and I really enjoy the possibility to run quality sound on old OS under VM.

Thanks!

[Phalynx]

Hey from TX. Glad I found this place. I am rebuilding my younger years in music with a G4 MD 1.25DP. Excited to bring it back to life.

[marty120666]

Good morning.

Hi.

I'm a new summer 2000 Imac G3 owner who is struggling to work out how everything works in macos 9.2.2 but am having fun in trying things out. Finally got it on the internet and have downloaded Classilla and upgraded the firmware.

I have downloaded a few games but still trying to work out how stuffit works.

regards
Wayne

[Matt_C]

Good afternoon all,

I joined up a week or so ago as I am interested in getting to grips with my new old Powermac G3.

I must admit I am currently writing this on a brand new iMac that I had Apple make for me to a spec of my choosing, however I still love "Retro" (is it yet retro?...I don't know...) gear.

My interests lie in music production (Oldskool Jungle and DnB), and although I am a complete novice I have been playing around with a lot of modern DAW's (Digital Audio Workstation...you probably know that already) but there is something about those grey Akai samplers that just grabs me, and the sound, they just sound better right?
I am 38 at the time of writing this, and my start in the world of apple computers came in 2011, so I know very little about previous iterations of these computers, but I have found that they are able to connect directly to the samplers that I am using and I have managed to get Recycle working with them...Very happy!

I purchased a Powermac G3 from eBay, and got it home only to find that it has OS 8.6, and I have read through this forum that I must upgrade to 9.2.2 if I wish to put a larger hard drive in..which I do.
This place is already been a treasure trove for me, and I am sure I will be annoying some of you for more information at some point.

Thanks to those who have already posted the answer to a lot of the questions I had, and I look forward to chatting with more of you soon.

all the best,

Matt.

[Soulfingers83]

Hello everyone,

A few weeks ago I collected a Beige G3 in great condition from a guy on ebay who surely possesses the single largest collection of Vintage Macs in the UK!

Booting it up the first time felt like meeting an old friend who you lost touch with but know you will always get along. Familiar and actually you realise how much you miss them being around. Until then I had not been in touch since my Snow White iMac G4 2000 gave in the ghost several years back after many years of dedicated loyal service.

Since then I had a brief but very productive courtship with a high performance G5 Macbook Pro that sadly died a death too soon due to a careless moment. Since then I've had fairly bland affairs with Intel Based Mac Mini's that struggle in vein to run Mac OS X Mountain Lion.

Needless to say I'm pretty excited to be going back to basics for a while with this one, and what motivated this was a desire to delve into the capabilities of an excellent Akai hardware Sampler that I picked up cheap recently and the Akai MESA software is pretty limited in scope to Mac OS 9 or Windows XP. I knew instantaneously I had no appetite for faffing with an old XP machine but OS9 seemed like a challenge I could take on relatively painlessly.

So here it goes, I've got a firewire pci card in it hooked up to a modest 120GB hard drive which I'm going to use to ferry docs across from my Mac Mini and get setup with the software.

At the same time, I feel myself falling down a bit of a rabbit hole where I'm considering playing with some other cool software that is now defunct and almost impossible to get running on modern hardware- Propellerhead Rebirth 3308!

It looks like there's a few of you that have trodden this path before who have been generous enough to impart wisdom and insight to fellow enthusiasts and tech heads like me- my humble gratitude to you all for creating such a comprehensive resource that gave me the confidence to embark on this new project.

Wish me luck! 

[theviirus]

hello.
ive been here as a lurker for a while now but since my OS9 activities have moved on from a virtualized OS9 and into a real OS9 computer, i figure I would join in.

I am THE VIIRUS.  Im an electronic musician who started tinkering before really understanding how to put anything together; cart before the horse.  Eventually got a G4 pismo, ableton, more editing stuff, so on until I had to give it up and move to OSX on an ibook.  The my ibook died and i replaced it with a G4 tower with a habit of kernel crashing.  Spent the last 10 years on a 2009 macbook pro.  Moved onto a 2018 mac mini.

Always been in love with OS9 stuff because it was the first time I could create without feeling like I needed a full on studio, or pro tools systems, to capture it all.  In recent years Ive been trying to virtualize OS9 using sheepshaver and modifications and getting nowhere useful very fast; sound still doesnt work.  I have a project coming up that requires the Victoria High Quality macintalk voice so I started browing local ads for classic mac stuff; I was hoping for a cheapo G3 powerbook or something e-salvage quality, but found a dual processor 800mhz G4 (quicksilver) with lots of ram and a good track record.  Now, im pulling all the parts together to make a Pro Tools HD system I never had but dreamed of; but why?!  Partly for me, partly to see if it runs, maybe xfer the multitracks for my next album into it, partly to maybe make it easier to record others, maybe to do something that everyone else ISNT doing.  Maybe ill make a portable project studio running on solely discarded high tech?

The future is now, everything sucks ass, but its nice to be here with you all at the intersection of nostalgia, anachronism, and techno-necromancy.

[Gizmo]

Hi all.
My forum name is Gizmo, and my real name is Ken
I’ve been a browser here since 2009 when I needed information about installing OS9 on a second G4 Mini.
I’ve been a Mac user since 1985 when I used a Mac+ to do some factory layout at Ford Motor Company…yup, they bought it for me!
Since then I have had my fair share of Macs  and still have about 18 in my house, 8 of them still in regular use and all networked. My main Mac is a 5.1 Pro and my oldest is a Mac+
I even have a Color Classic that I converted to PPC…still works. My favorite is my fully functional G4 Lampshade. It is so beautiful I have to get it out of storage and drool over it a few times a year.
I’ve spent the last week or so trying to install Cubase on a G4 Mini. Back in the 90’s I produced a couple of cds on my old Macs running OS9. I had legit versions of Cubase 3 and 4 and they did everything i wanted, however I became a Logic Pro convert around 2004 with Logic Pro 7. But now I want to rework those cds but cannot install Cubase on the G4 Mini because it doesn’t have a floppy which the installer cd requires me to insert…hmmmph!
I think in my life I have converted at least 30-40 people over to Macs from PCs (at least thats what they tell me). Unfortunately I’m not sure that I would do the same today. My newest Mac is a 2010 and I have to admit for me the shine has gone off their products these days and who on earth can afford a decent Mac Pro 7…not me that’s for sure. I think I’ll always love my older machines though and they will be with me for many more years, especially the ones that boot into OS9 haha!
(Oh, BTW, My forum name is Gizmo, and my real name is Ken. I was born in the UK and now live in Ottawa Canada.)

[megantano]

Hello, I am from Mexico, I learned my first steps in mac on a Macintosh Classic, now after so long, I have to get rid of all my macs, since they take up a lot of space, I had to throw some away, because I changed my address, but every cable I pull, every CD player, every Mac, I feel bad, a whole story with Mac ...

I want to revive some macs, but I can't find all my discs, I have original floppy and CD systems, but I want the universal 9.2.2 because I have the 9.04 for Imac, I also want the mac os tiger, I have some backup discs, but They are damaged, I hope you can help me to set up some macs, I have many models, a lot of software, many cables and devices very advanced for their time ...
I hope my message is understood since I used the google translator.

Greetings

[synclavier]

This is Joey. I'm a musician from Nashville, TN. I really appreciate this website being here and the people that still appreciate old Mac stuff. I look forward to getting to know you folks here and becoming a part of the community. Thanks!

[uizin]

Hi guys! Trying to install OS 9 on a Cube, I see a lot of useful resources here, great community!

[jukebox]

Hi all,

I recently found this website. It's awesome! I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only musician with a passion for macOS 9!

I've been doing music for a very long time... guitar, bass, keyboards in various genres. I started on PC in the very early 90s, bought myself a copy of Cubase (I think it was Cubase Score 2.0), before buying my first Mac and moving to Cubase VST. It was a beige Power Mac 7600 running system 7.5.3, and I was instantly hooked to Mac OS. I finally switched to a slot-loading iMac G3 in 2000, which I still think is one of the most beautiful Mac ever.

I then made the switch to macOS X and Logic Pro X, which I loved and still do, but I somehow missed the days of macOS 9. A bit of nostalgia, of course, but I also really loved the simplicity of this OS.

A few months ago, I found an old slot-loading iMac G3 400 on the street. The same blueberry one I used to own. Only thing broken were the 2 speakers, but I ordered some online and was able to replace them. It's now working like a new!

I'm now trying to set up an old-school music system, so this site is invaluable for me!

Thanks for reading

[Calcobrena]

Hello, just found this website and am excited by the amount of archived DAW and plugin related material that I've yet seen elsewhere on the internet! Thank you so much for all of the work put into keeping everything maintained.

[DesertMac]

Summer '84 doing interior carpentry for a SF B&W photo lab. They had a Macintosh with a Jasmine 50mb ext HD and Apple printer to run their business. They let me use the Mac at night when they were closed.

The first time I moved the pointer around the little GUI screen I KNEW that it was something I had always wanted but never knew existed. Working with the "Mac" applications...Paint, Write, Draw, and then Clarisworks was like an off planet experience.

Over time I had:
MacPlus, Classic, SE/30, IIsi, Quad 650, P6116CD, PB 540c, PB 5300c, PB 1400cs, WallStreet, Pismo, a Graphite G3/366 SE Clamshell, iBook G3 12" 900, iBook G4 14" 1.42GHz, PowerBook G4 1.67GHz, 17" (DLSD/HR - Al) PB, a couple of iPads, and probably the last Mac I will own, a 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo-powered Late 2009 iMac.

With the help of iFixit I have been able to take all of the iBooks and PowerBooks down to the frame and fix or replace anything that didn't need soldering :-) I always upgrade the macs however I can.

The sad part of my Mac experience is post Snow Leopard. I bought my iMac used from somewhere in Texas, an excellent deal. I partitioned the HD for Snow Leopard and anything that came along on the other.

Bought Yosemite :-/ An industrial looking POS made for gamers or something. No more customizing, can't toss stuff from the Application folder, always being asked "Are you sure you want to..." like some nanny state over lord or worse yet, "You don't have permission..." WHAT?? I really need the Chess application to run the OS??

IMO Apple corp turned into a greedy nonsense filled corporation run by 20 something gamers and Soy Boys. Laptops without USB ports or CD drives?? Are their targeted buyers so weak they can't carry a few extra ounces of machine??

My real shake your head moment was when they screwed up AppleWorks so bad. So I have "lived" in System 9 for 20 years and just adapted to OSX for web browsing, eliminating everything "i" named. Even lately I have to use the Yosemite partition as Snow Leopard is struggling on line :-/ Gotta wonder why I can do banking, go to my VA site, ebay, etc. with TenFourFox but can't use youtube and a lot of other sites???

Now the good stuff on the best system ever made on the best computer ever made IMO, my Pismo.

I have hacked AppleWorks 5 with ResEdit and have a fantastic application. I've written books, screenplays (created my own screenplay and book programs in AW 5.) I make slide shows, have spread sheets for various things, etc. It is hooked up to a HP B&W printer, a real work horse for printing my music lyrics, book drafts, etc.

*If I want to play mp3's I have Audion 3 and a folder full of music folders, no iTunes nonsense. Audion can also encode mp3's, listen to web radio shows, etc., plus it can be customized with a variety of "faces."
*If I want to work with images...AppleWorks 5 and Graphic Converter do the job.
TEXT: BBEdit, Text-Edit, CD Coyote, etc.
DA Stuff: Screen Ruler, Zoom lens, Digital Color Meter
MUSIC/SOUND: Apple CD Audio Player (no nonsense, just straight music playing) MPegger for converting the Sound Studio AIFF stuff into mp3's; Audacity
ADOBE: ALL the Adobe stuff...Acrobat Reader, Page Mill, Home Publisher, Site Mill, Photoshop 5.5, Illustrator, etc.
REFERENCE: As a writer, most valuable...Infodesk and American Heritage Dictionaries, Correct Grammar, etc.
OTHER GOODIES: Drag Strip (early dock program but better;) Finder Pop; Alias Menu; Double Scroll; Moire Screen Saver; PICTify; Pop Char Lite; Snap To; Wrap Screen

I'm typing on my iBook G4 1.42 using a hacked (improved :-) TenFourFox vs 28.

While I am not a programmer, I do like to hack things to fit my world. System 9 is amazing and Apple REALLY messed up on not keeping it going. It can use apps from 7, 8, and 9, it is "quiet" when working on things, etc. The only issues I have learned to deal with is its tendency to be a bit flakey and I have adjusted to saving my work often during a project.

My best to all of you 9er's :-))

[Thinkxd]

Hi Everyone, My name is Grant, and I'm in Grand Rapids, MI. Mac user and fan since tinkering with MacPaint on a Mac Plus on the HS newspaper back in '86. Through the years and through the Macs, I still use them today as an information architect and UX designer. I always regretted selling my 8600 back in 2002 when it was getting a little pokey for the time. Over the years, I found my floppies and Zip disks full of old gems were only getting older and I needed a bridge to the past to archive them in the modern age and I really started to miss that old beige power mac I had all tricked out... I recently found an 8600/300 in great condition and have been having fun resurrecting it and even setting it up for multi-boot with SCSI2SD. It's been a journey.

It's easy to take for granted that all of the hardware and software and know-how will always be out there but as most of you know, things are getting scarce and even all the things I used to know have gone fuzzy. That's why I'm glad I stumbled on this community! 

Cheers!

[hardyspicer]

Thanks for adding me, long time Mac user from G8 to Mac Pro, unfortunately I just can't let go of the past. OS9 apps are essential for working with my keyboards and other audio gear, sad that Apple don't support these old software as they would do exactly what they said they would do and weren't over bloated with functions that you were never going to need......Logic Pro and Digital Perfomer spring to mind the latest versions have a steep learning curve and Terabytes of samples that aint gonna make you famous, you spend more time on these than just making your own original samples that could make you famous.

[lewzer0]

Howdy from the midwest.

I have a G4 that I believe works, but since it came to me minus a HDD, I'm really hoping to use the resources here to get it going. 2 of my friends do music production on their macs and it's so easy to use whenever I come over to hang in the studio. I really want to improve my skills/knowledge so when I come over I'm not constantly asking "hey, how do I do this?".