Can I use iMac Tiger discs on an iBook?

[Jody]

I just got my iBook back from having its hard drive replaced.... I don't have my Tiger disc anymore (my brother has it) and would like to get the ibook updated to tiger.

I DO however have my iMac G5 disks that have tiger on it. But when I try to install it it says that these discs cant be used on that computer. Is there some way around this? Can I somehow use the imac G5 discs to install Tiger on an iBook?

 

[mad jew]

Well, even assuming you have the extra licence for Tiger, it's not possible to use a new iMac's disk inside an iBook. They require slightly different code - particularly in the area of power management. Just get your Tiger disk back form your brother if possible.

 

[maya]

Google, my friend. I do not want to promote how to do it, however it can be done. Seek and you shall find.

 

[mad jew]

I'd be careful. There's stuff missing on your iMac's disk that you need on your iBook. However, you may be able to download the necessary files from somewhere I suppose...

I wouldn't bother personally - too much could go wrong. Probably nothing permanent, but I can't imagine it'd be the most stable version of Tiger ever.

 

[pdpfilms]

I am going to make this politically correct and MR friendly..

"My Friend's" G5 locked up and needed a reinstall about a year ago. "He" at the time owned a powerbook, and could only find the 10.2.7 disc from the powerbook, and decided to use that until "he" could find the G5's. Weird things began happening. Most notably, the battery icon appeared in the top left corner next to the time... Showing that the computer was in fact plugged into a power source. Other discrepencies in the system preferences occured, such as weird power settings and things.

To sum up, I.... er.. "he" would probably suggest not using that disc. Not only is it not legal, but it makes things behave oddly.

 

[mad jew]

Not only is it not legal, but it makes things behave oddly.

It doesn't have to be illegal, technically speaking. However, as you say, it's not a cool way of getting an OS. I'd say it's even worse installing a desktop OS onto a laptop too.

 

[Jody]

hmmm.. well this is extraordinarily frustrating... i just want my laptop to work like it did last week... damnit. I wont be able to get that disc for at least a week.

 

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says....why does your brother have *your* Tiger disk? He should buy his own copy - not use yours.....oh yeah!

 

[mus0r]

COMPLETE BS!

Yes, you can use the disks from the iMac. It's all the same, trust me. I work for a school district and we all image our computers from an iMac G5. That same OS goes onto eMacs, Powermac G4s and all sorts of other machines. They're just trying to scare you, or sound like they don't advocate your using the other discs incase you breach the licence agreement by using them.

 

[Mechcozmo]

COMPLETE BS!

Yes, you can use the disks from the iMac. It's all the same, trust me. I work for a school district and we all image our computers from an iMac G5. That same OS goes onto eMacs, Powermac G4s and all sorts of other machines. They're just trying to scare you, or sound like they don't advocate your using the other discs incase you breach the licence agreement by using them.

Do you use an image ON the iMac, or the DISKs that came with the iMac? Huge difference.

And while new disks work with much older computers (at least 2 years) anything in that time is a grey zone of kernel extensions, drivers, etc. So you don't really know what you're sticking onto your machine...

 

[Counterfit]

COMPLETE BS!

Yes, you can use the disks from the iMac. It's all the same, trust me. I work for a school district and we all image our computers from an iMac G5. That same OS goes onto eMacs, Powermac G4s and all sorts of other machines. They're just trying to scare you, or sound like they don't advocate your using the other discs incase you breach the licence agreement by using them.

They won't necessarily work. You should always use the discs that came with your Mac, later retail discs (or at least ones that were available at the same time ad your Mac), or discs from a later model of the same line (i.e. 15" aluminum PB discs in a titanium PB). If you used retail Jaguar discs in a 15" aluminum PB, you would be missing software for the automatic screen dimming, and the backlit keyboard, which are both controlled by software. However, that same software was included on all Panther discs (and later).
Now, as to why a PB 10.2.7 disc caused problems in a G5: Only two versions of 10.2.7 were made available, one for the first G5s, and one for the PBs that were released in September '03. It was never made available for download.

 

[Mechcozmo]

It was never made available for download.

Wasn't that the one that messed up the networking? I thought it was... I could have sworn I downloaded a 10.2.7... then again, that was a while ago.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

Search my friend, search...

 

[mad jew]

Duff-Man says....why does your brother have *your* Tiger disk? He should buy his own copy - not use yours.....oh yeah!

I'm willing to give Jody the benefit of the doubt, and assume it's a Family Pack version of Tiger.

I work for a school district and we all image our computers from an iMac G5. That same OS goes onto eMacs, Powermac G4s and all sorts of other machines.

They're all desktops though. Still, I wouldn't recommend using the same disk on different machines.

They're just trying to scare you...

Umm... Why? We don't directly/personally benefit from people doing the right thing. Sure, I don't advocate or partake in piracy in any form, but that doesn't mean I'll try to scare people into joining me on my moral high horse.