iMac G4 700mhz - my experience installing 10.5
HEY!
My experience was:
I own an imac G4 700 mhz. 768mg ram now installed, and DVD burner upgrade.
I used the modified install DVD method.
I used the archive and install method on my main HD, and it worked OK..
Dial up internet, safari, itunes, iphoto, Appleworks, Diablo II all worked.. Only thing, was the wireless card would not go on. I installed 10.5 onto my firewire external HD using the first install option (intall onto the old system), and that worked fine, and would let me boot from it. More interestingly, it recognized the wireless card!
So I tried to fix the wireless card problem on the internal HD, by rebooting with the shift key down (no good), then tried removing the airport2.kext file in library/extensions.. that didn't work either.. SO..... in desperation, I booted from the external drive, and tried cloning the external drive onto the internal drive, using Superduper.. that didn't work.. system wouldn't boot.. I later learned that Superduper isn't supported by Leopard.. (if I had looked, it was listed at macintouch .com as one of the unsupported apps in leopard).. I tried the Erase then install, and that didn't work - saying that the Migration Assistant couldn't be verified!
SO, I had a trashed internal HD.. I then installed 10.4 onto it, and then used the first install method to put leopard onto the hard drive. it recognized the wireless card then! YAY! Then I used Migration assistant to move the data from the external HD to the main HD.. All worked, but now the wireless card no longer is recognized.. :-( What a pain!
Finally, I just took the hard drive out of the external case, and put it into the mac replacing the internal drive. ALL is fine now. Later, when Superduper gets upgraded, I'll back up my now main hard drive, back onto the external hard drive...
PHEW! MANY many hours wasted!!
Bottom line -> first install method worked best for me. I do understand why Apple has to eliminate a few mac models with each major OS update. They simply can't keep continuing to support all of the older mac models, as it takes too much manpower etc.. I wish they would let us decide if the OS is too slow for us to use though...
I know I need a new Mac.. I just wish the Macbook update recently was more significant.. (base model coming with dvd burner, and led screen etc)
If Apple's upcoming OS updates won't work on this mac, I may revert to 10.4, and just wait for a more significant Macbook upgrade to buy new.