hey lookie, I'm actually asking Mac questions!

[orl770]

Firstly, OS X Jaguar will run fine on that iBook (OS 9 will be MUCH faster, but Jaguar is SO MUCH worth the lag time you will feel and will be plenty usable - I have installed it on a 333MHz Rev D iMac and am quite happy with the performance).

However, the person selling you the iBook mentions that even though Photoshop is installed on the the iBook, he/she doesn't have the original Photoshop install disks, which means upgrading the drive is not an option if you want to keep Photoshop.

As for 6GB HD being big enough, if you are going to install Jaguar, you will need to wipe the harddrive (goodbye Photoshop) and then you can run OS9 and OSX side-by-side on a single partition.

So in conclusion, if you are going to buy this iBook and need Photoshop, leave it alone and don't add a new HD or Jaguar, and if you don't need photoshop and don't need lots of storage space, you could easily put Jaguar on the 6GB HD although you will not have a lot of room for tons of apps/MP3 files, etc.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Fukui]

Max out your RAM

I have used a G3 400Mhz iMac at work, and if your going to use X on it, 512 MB+ of memory would be recomended. I got it up to 1GB and it ran pretty well.

300Mhz is pretty slow, especially since it is on a 66Mhz bus, so it is much slower than the mac at work I used (100Mhz bus). If I were going to get it, I would probably make a dual boot between PPC Linux and OS9, then you can use Photoshop and Office 2000 and still keep GIMP and all the other Linux stuff. OS X (Quartz) eats up screen space, so 1024 is a minimum, that iBook only has 800x600. If you were going to buy it, I would not get Jag, just spend some money on alot more RAM, upgrade the HD, and copy OS9 system folder, photoshop, and Office 2000 to another disk like a zip drive or something. It's really amazing that an entire OS can be moved to another computer just by copying the folder!

I would recomend though, saving alittle more and getting a 800Mhz iBook w/CDR-DVD, those are really fast.

Think about it. If you know your going to want a faster mac later, why spend your money now and again later? Then your getting an iBook for 555 and maybe later get a 999 iBook, your spending about 1499 anyway... better to just save alittle longer and spend only 1299 for MUCH faster system with bigger screen higher res-screen, DVD/CD-RW etc. IMHO.

 

[vniow]

First of all, it'a a done deal. I've already sent the order for it and I should get it by next Wednesday at the earliest.

Second, a couple people here have mentioned Linux and no offense, but there is no way in hell that I'm going to be staring at a console and typing in code all day.
I've tried Linux before and I didn't like it. I don't exactly have the bandwith to download at least three 650MB isos either since I have a max of 28.8k connection.

Photoshop isn't that big of deal for me right now. I already have a 667Mhz PC with more drive space than I'll ever need to run Photoshop if I need to. Right now, the GIMP is all I need. It would be great to have Photoshop, but it's not neccacaraly a requirement.
I'm not buying this as a powerhorse. If I needed that then it would be a lot cheaper to upgrade my PC.

I'm buying this for portability and convienence since I plan to move out of the house as soon as I get enough money to do that and chances are I won't have enough room for a mid-tower with a 17" monitor at first.
I don't have even close to enough cash to buy a newer or brand new computer of any kind now. This is the best deal I can get for the money and even if I did, I'd probably still buy it and save the rest of my money for much more important things.

It's already got the max anount of RAM (320MB, my PC has 256 and it runs just fine with XP) so I think Jaguar will run alright on it, especially since I'm buying a 5400rpm hard drive with 8MB cache, as long as I make everything smaller seeing as it's only an 800x600 screen and all.
And even if I want to keep Photoshop, I can always copy it to my PC and put it right back when I reinstall everything on the new drive.....right?
I think you can, I'm just not sure, smebody might want to clue me in on that?

 

[Fukui]

And even if I want to keep Photoshop, I can always copy it to my PC and put it right back when I reinstall everything on the new drive.....right?

Yes, you can, but HFS (Mac Fie System) uses extra data that older programs still use and cannot be represented on Fat32 or NTFS, therefore you need to take whatever programs you want to save and make a disc image out of it using a program called disk copy (comes with the OS X 10.2 in the Utilities Folder) just select "new image from folder" and image it to file. The Image file will be flat which means it only contains data but no "meta-data" that can be lost transfering it to a PC hard drive. Since Jaguar has built-in windows networking, you should just be able to connect to your Win-Box and copy the image file to it no problem.

Then you can install your new HD and install Jag and just double click the .DMG disk image file from your windows computer and copy the contents back to your new HD.

If you want to sqeeze some more speed out of X the try setting to 16-bit color, changing the "minimize effect" to 'scale' instead of genie, and when installing Jag only install the languages, extra fonts, printer drivers etc. you would need. You'll get better performance and 1-2GB extra free space.

Good Luck.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Fukui


Yes, you can, but HFS (Mac Fie System) uses extra data that older programs still use and cannot be represented on Fat32 or NTFS, therefore you need to take whatever programs you want to save and make a disc image out of it using a program called disk copy (comes with the OS X 10.2 in the Utilities Folder) just select "new image from folder" and image it to file. The Image file will be flat which means it only contains data but no "meta-data" that can be lost transfering it to a PC hard drive. Since Jaguar has built-in windows networking, you should just be able to connect to your Win-Box and copy the image file to it no problem.

Then you can install your new HD and install Jag and just double click the .DMG disk image file from your windows computer and copy the contents back to your new HD.

Actually if it already has OS9 installed it will probably already be using HFS+. I believe HFS+ is what you are referring to. HFS is the old filing system that Apple used up until OS9. Also Disk Copy is a standard program with every Mac OS since System 7 or 8 not just OSX.

 

[vniow]

Hey thanx, I just saved all of that to a text file.

Wish you could copy apps and still have them work on Windowz machines.

I also have a distro of Linux that I can install in about ten minutes, so it won't exactly take a lot out of my time, would it be easier to copy the files to that instead of going through all that 'meta-data' stuff?

 

[chmorley]

OS X on an iBook

My wife runs Jaguar on her 366 MHz iBook w/320 MB RAM. It runs just fine for her. Sure, OS 9 runs a bit faster, but the added stability of Jag is worth it. Her HD is big enough for her needs, but I'm not sure it would meet yours. The HD upgrade sounds like a good idea.

Photoshop 5 is probably just worth trying and seeing how it runs. I used to run Photoshop 6 in classic mode on my TiBook 667. It was all right. My wife, however, found that running classic apps ate up a great deal of her available RAM. Either way, it's worth a shot. You certainly can upgrade to OS X and still keep your OS 9 stuff intact. Many here have reported that doing a clean install is best. That's probably the case, but simply upgrading works just fine.

Congratulations! It seems like you've been wanting a Mac for a while!

Chris

 

[pianojoe]

Jag on the iBook: The interface will not be very snappy, but it'll run OK.

I do admit that Photoshop has some slight (!) advantages over the Gimp. I'm quite experienced in handling both applications, and I must say, if you're cool with the Gimp, don't fork out for PS. If this is not your bread and butter software you'll be fine.

BTW, I wonder if all people who claim that PS "kicks the Gimp's ass in every respect" have a legitimate knowledge to make a statement like that. The Gimp is sometimes underestimated due to lack of knowledge. Try it, it's free!

And, someone mentioned that the vendor might have PS 5.0 on the hard drive, but no original CDs. Hmmmm, I wouldn't pay a penny for THAT.

Just my $0.02.

 

[Fukui]

I also have a distro of Linux that I can install in about ten minutes, so it won't exactly take a lot out of my time, would it be easier to copy the files to that instead of going through all that 'meta-data' stuff?

Well, you mean copy Photoshop to the linux install?

Hmm, I am not sure what the FS is on PPC linux. Can it run on HFS+? Definitely not on the PC version...

The only problem I see, is that you'll have to re-copy everything to your new HD from the old one anyway right? If you still want to use Photoshop in Classic, then you gotta preserve the original file system (it uses meta data instead of file extentions like .EXE so if you coped the files, they couldn't startup Photoshop etc. because it wouldn't know if it was an executable or not! OS X Cocoa Framework though eliminates this problem.), so you have to back up to a disk image, unless you know how to copy the files between the HD's directly.

P.S. When installing Jag, DO NOT use Unix FS as classic won't function and neither will carbon (apps ported from OS 9 like photoshop), so make sure to use HFS+.

P.P.S The only reason why I mention using Disk Copy for X instead of 9 is that in 9 it can't be copied to Fat32/windows FS and still be openable (there would still be data loss), but with X disk copy, it simply attaches a .DMG file extention, so it can be saved to other file formats like on windows.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Fukui

P.P.S The only reason why I mention using Disk Copy for X instead of 9 is that in 9 it can't be copied to Fat32/windows FS and still be openable (there would still be data loss), but with X disk copy, it simply attaches a .DMG file extention, so it can be saved to other file formats like on windows.

That is good to know for everyone. Thanks.