Panther and OS 9

[Moke]

I'm upgrading from a G3 and OS 9.2 to a 17" Powerbook and Panther. I need to still use a couple of OS 9 applications. Currently in OS 9.2 I can use the Control Panel / Start Up Disk command to restart in any bootable partition. For Panther can I partition the hard drive on the Powerbook into at least two partitions, reinstall Panther and all native applications on one partition and OS 9.2 and custom applications on the other partition. If so how would I boot up the OS 9.2 partition? Where can I go to find out exactly how to do this?
Or does "Classic" mode allow me to use my OS 9 applications???

Thanks.

[strider42]

OS 9 is not bootable on new machines. But the whole point of classic is to run OS 9 programs. Otherwise it wouldn't really be doing anything. For machines that are OS 9 bootable, you don't need a separate partition. OS 9 and OS X reside happily on the same partition and you just go to the startup disk preference pane (OS X) or the startup disk control panel (OS 9) to choose whihc system to boot into.

[Westside guy]

"Classic mode" will do it (unless like me you didn't install it; this is only an issue if you've manually reinstalled your system). You don't need to reboot into OS 9; the new powerbooks won't do it anyway.

[Horrortaxi]

You can partition the drive and put 9 and X in different partitions, but you don't have to. I really can't see any benefit to it.

Your OS 9 apps will run in classic mode within X. Depending on what they are you might get a performance hit in classic. If that happens you can boot into 9. More than likely you can just use classic mode.

To set the startup disk in OS X go to System Preferences -> Startup Disk, and select your 9.2 system folder.

EDIT: I forgot that the new Macs won't boot into OS 9. Classic it is. I still don't think you need to worry about partitions though.

[Moke]

Thanks for the replies. This 'X' stuff is all new to me so pardon the confusion. The way I understand the concensus here is the new 17" Powerbook and Panther will not boot into a OS 9 residing on another partition or otherwise. My only option to run OS 9 applications like Photoshop 6 is to run them within "Classic" mode which resides inside OS X. Though I may find the application to run a little slower in Classic I should have little problem using it.

A final question: When I attempt to install OS 9 compatible PS 6 for the first time on the new Panther machine I'm assuming it will recognize the "Classic" mode and install uneventfully? Is there a technique to installation?

Thanks again everyone. Ain't technology grand....

[sahnert]

when doing an install that requres OS9 the computer automatically boots classic if it's not already running. It works pretty well. Only caveat is that some programs do not work with OS9 or "must be installed while running OS9 natively". In that case there's really nothing you can do.
I have had that experience and will have to go buy brand new versions of programs to use in X because of it. I don't know specifically about Photoshop, but I would look around for compatibility info before you "take the plunge" so you know what you are getting into.

[Awimoway]

There isn't a lot of crystal clear info on this. One word of warning is that Panther comes with Classic, that is, it comes with support for running OS 9 in Panther, but it does not come with any version of OS 9 installed. Therefore you will need to make sure you still have your OS 9 installation disks somewhere so that you can install 9 and be able to use it in Classic.

And to be honest, I'm not exactly sure how you do this. In my case, my first Mac came preinstalled with Jaguar and OS 9. So when I did a clean install of Panther, I just had to use the OS X compatible software restore disks that came with my computer to put 9 back on. But if the only OS 9 disks you have can only run in OS 9, I'm not sure how you can install it on a new machine. I'm sure there's a way. In System Preference's Classic pref pane, it automatically searches for OS 9 bootable folders. So maybe if you just insert the OS 9 installation disk, the Classic Pref Pane will recognize it and let you install that way.

I know that for $20 Panther owners can mail order from Apple a set of disks that let you install OS 9 onto a Panther system, but the form is mail-in only so if time is of the essence, this isn't a good way to go.

[Powerbook G5]

I've noticed that Classic works better under Panther than it did under Jaguar, too. A program that refused to install previously under 10.2.8 installed perfectly under 10.3.1. Not only that, but it starts up a second or two faster and seems to manage memory a bit better, too. I hardly ever use Classic anymore besides a few older games and a Corel program I have from my OS 9 days. Besides that, I am OS X all the way.

[Nermal]

When you buy your 17" PowerBook, it will come with Classic, and its necessary support files, preinstalled. You won't need to partition or manually configure anything. When you try to install an OS 9 app, Classic will automatically start, and installation will proceed just like it does in "real" OS 9.

[brutus]

maybe i am to blind to see how but i just installed panther on my new pb12 1ghz and nothing else. it came with jaguar and i instantly ordered the panther update which i installed.

If i try to open a classic prog or go to the classic option in system preferences i get a message that there is no classic system folder and os9 is not installed.

But how do i install it or is there no os9 version on the jaguar and panther install disk?!

Will quake III run under classic in panther?!

[Awimoway]

Originally posted by Awimoway
One word of warning is that Panther comes with Classic, that is, it comes with support for running OS 9 in Panther, but it does not come with any version of OS 9 installed. Therefore you will need to make sure you still have your OS 9 installation disks somewhere so that you can install 9 and be able to use it in Classic.

[brutus]

ok, but my old pb 667 came with osx jaguar and ox9.
my new pb only had one disc wiht osx jaguar and i bought the update to panther. Does that mean that all newer pbs shipped with jaguar do not have os9 attached!?! Or is there an os9 version on my jaguar disc?!

if not, how much is os9 at ebay?!?