I have no clue why, but I kind of want to see what Apple's original ideas for OS X were. I know some things were different on it (for example, the Apple menu was placed in the middle instead of the left corner) and I think it would be fun to explore it a bit. But, most importantly, would it support Mac hardware, like Core i7's and i5's and memory and what not. Also, is there any place that you could even download it?
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Anyway to run the original OS X Kodiak preview on a new Mac?
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It won't even run on any Intel-based Macs.
You're going to need to buy an old PPC Mac off somewhere else.
It sounds like we have a Padawan who is unfamiliar with the Mac OS prior to OS X. To which I say, if you want to see the finished intent of OS X then install Snow Leopard. It is the last stable version of OS X before iOS bastardisations took hold and the last version of OS X that can run Front Row natively.
In fact, If you really want a throwback to the original intent of OS X then install OS X 10.2 on a PPC mac, the real changes from Aqua started with 10.3 and its graphite interface where everything looked like iTunes but worse and Apple wanted you to know its PowerBooks were made out of titanium.
But anyway, I installed Kodiak on a Blue and White G3, indeed it was an icon without any features. The original intent was to place it in the centre of the screen to mimic the location of the Apple logo on Apple's studio displays.
It was entirely superfluous with no point at all except to really remove the consternation that the Apple menu no longer did what you thought it does. It was a "design feature" for later CRTs and flat screens that didn't have the Apple logo on the front of them.
On the other side of things it was also a reminder, that the Apple menu was no longer a launcher where you could store custom folders and shortcuts to places on your mac such as your applications folder. This initially caused a whole lot of commotion amongst Apple users, as you could no longer run apps from there like this.
In fact, If you really want a throwback to the original intent of OS X then install OS X 10.2 on a PPC mac, the real changes from Aqua started with 10.3 and its graphite interface where everything looked like iTunes but worse and Apple wanted you to know its PowerBooks were made out of titanium.
But anyway, I installed Kodiak on a Blue and White G3, indeed it was an icon without any features. The original intent was to place it in the centre of the screen to mimic the location of the Apple logo on Apple's studio displays.
It was entirely superfluous with no point at all except to really remove the consternation that the Apple menu no longer did what you thought it does. It was a "design feature" for later CRTs and flat screens that didn't have the Apple logo on the front of them.
On the other side of things it was also a reminder, that the Apple menu was no longer a launcher where you could store custom folders and shortcuts to places on your mac such as your applications folder. This initially caused a whole lot of commotion amongst Apple users, as you could no longer run apps from there like this.
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To be honest, I'm only seventeen and only recently got a Mac of my own. I remember using old versions OS X 10 on original iMacs in my elementary school back when they were still slightly usable. Even then they were pretty terrible, even though most of them were only a few years old. I don't remember the OS they were running since I was about 6 or 7 at the time and didn't know how to check (or really cared) but I would have to guess Tiger, considering I'm pretty sure they were slot loading. We also had eMacs (boxy polycarbonate version of the original iMac with better specs) and in about 2007 they were replaced with the first Aluminum iMacs. Those had Leopard on then and I think they actually still have them. That's actually what sparked my interest in Macs. There was something about those that I loved for some odd reason. Back to the older OS's, I've looked at OS 9 in SheepShaver, and System 7 in Mini VMac I believe. I never saw the light of the first OS X versions though. The oldest would be Tiger.
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You're not missing anything OS X was basically unusable before 10.3 Panther and I was an early adopter of OS X. It caused OS 9s life cycle to drag on for so long that Steve Jobs had to come out and give OS 9 a funeral to make sure it was dead.
If you really want to run old versions of OS X then buy an old world Mac such as a beige or blue and white G3 and install it. I do like old macs, but they're not much good for anything these days.
So what would you recommend for getting for running the early versions? Is there a certain iBook/iMac that would be good for running them and what should I pay for it? I've seen iBooks for anything around $40 to like $160. I was thinking $100 is a bit too much but I'm not sure
Any Beige G3, any Blue and White Power Mac G3, an original Power Mac G4 400, 450 or 500mhz, A G4 Cube, an iMac G3, or DV an eMac, a PowerBook G3 up to bronze keyboard, or an early iBook G3/G4.
Certain later G4 have additional kernel requirements to boot. Ideally I'd use something with an Old World ROM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_World_ROM