I tried MacOS 9.2 via QEMU & UTM and it was underwhelming, what is going on?

[2aw]

I found MacOS 9 is underwhelming, the GUI is very primitive, and slow (it could be QEMU or UTM's fault, although I doubt a spinning HDD on a real Mac would be any faster).

It made me feel I shouldn't buy an iMac G3 or an iMac G4 or an eMac.

I installed Classilla, still many websites do not work.
I installed Office, Word was very primitive looking, but usable.

One big problem is that I havn't found a way to transfer word files between MacOS 9 and MacOS 11, does anyone know how to do that with QEMU & UTM?

With QEMU & UTM, there were some start up bugs with the audio and restarting the virtual machine.

With the above being said, can you all tell me tips to make MacOS 9 run better?

 

[Amethyst1]

I found MacOS 9 is underwhelming, the GUI is very primitive, and slow (it could be QEMU or UTM's fault, although I doubt a spinning HDD on a real Mac would be any faster).

I installed Office, Word was very primitive looking, but usable.

The "primitive" GUI is typical for a late-1990's OS and applications. It's not like e.g. Windows 98 or a 1999 Linux distro has a much "better" GUI OOTB, although it's all subjective. The GUI being slow could well be due to QEMU not providing 2D acceleration. Mac OS 8.6's GUI is very fast on my 400 MHz G4 with an ATI Rage 128 Pro and a spinning (7200rpm) hard drive BTW.

It made me feel I shouldn't buy an iMac G3 or an iMac G4 or an eMac.

Don't use an emulator to judge performance of OS 9 on a real machine. Honest answer, please: What would you use it for? If you don't have a genuine use (such as period-correct applications or games) for a Mac running OS 9, don't buy one. Don't even think about browsing the web on OS 9.

I installed Classilla, still many websites do not work.

Classilla is abandoned and outdated. It's less capable than TenFourFox.

With the above being said, can you all tell me tips to make MacOS 9 run better?

Run it on a real, fast G4 Mac, such as a Mac mini, which makes a surprisingly good little OS 9 box (unofficially, but who cares?).

 

[ovbacon]

I found MacOS 9 is underwhelming, the GUI is very primitive

This gave me a good laugh 😂

 

[DeltaMac]

Hmm... OS 9 still works pretty good on my eMac.

 

[Doq]

Hmm... OS 9 still works pretty good on my eMac.

That makes two of us.

Plus my two Titaniums (Vittorio, Littorio) run OS 9 very well.

It'll scream on a G4 mini but I don't have one of those (yet, stay tuned).

the GUI is very primitive

There are many, many tools and extensions out there to build out your ideal Classic Mac experience. If you like the Dock in OS X and macOS after, A-Dock is your best friend and is an essential piece for my personal OS 9 installs.

I havn't found a way to transfer word files between MacOS 9 and MacOS 11, does anyone know how to do that with QEMU & UTM?

If you have network configured you can use DAVE to connect to a file share on your host, though you may need a bridge machine to get it fully across as as far as I know, DAVE only has SMBv1 support.

 

[paardenkapper]

Yup, I used MacOS 8.6 when it was pretty recent and the Windows systems of the time were equally bad looking.
But we've come a long way since then and we're spoilt brats

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Welcome to an os made in 1999

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

I found MacOS 9 is underwhelming, the GUI is very primitive, and slow (it could be QEMU or UTM's fault, although I doubt a spinning HDD on a real Mac would be any faster).

Mac OS 9 Lives - Downloads

This might help with it looking more modern.

 

[repairedCheese]

View attachment 2204919

I found MacOS 9 is underwhelming, the GUI is very primitive, and slow (it could be QEMU or UTM's fault, although I doubt a spinning HDD on a real Mac would be any faster).

It made me feel I shouldn't buy an iMac G3 or an iMac G4 or an eMac.

I installed Classilla, still many websites do not work.
I installed Office, Word was very primitive looking, but usable.

One big problem is that I havn't found a way to transfer word files between MacOS 9 and MacOS 11, does anyone know how to do that with QEMU & UTM?

With QEMU & UTM, there were some start up bugs with the audio and restarting the virtual machine.

With the above being said, can you all tell me tips to make MacOS 9 run better?

As others have said, welcome to the 90s. There is no improving it. This is it. This is what you get. And transferring files between the current version of macOS and the old Mac OS usually involves something called a bridge machine, something that knows how to talk both SMB and their own proprietary AFP, used only by old versions of the operating system.

There are no better web browsers for OS 9. It's all primitive. Oh, and it's also very unstable compared to modern operating systems. It will crash, quite a bit.

That all said, QEMU is not a great way to run OS 9, SheepShaver runs much better. Sure, it only runs up to 9.0.4, but it does it much faster. It's also pretty unstable, unlike good old Basilisk II, but that only emulates 68k Macs up to OS 8.1. Also both of these emulators make it much easier to transfer files.

 

[A Hobo]

This thread initially gave me a hearty chuckle, but now I come to realise that’s all this thread is good for.

 

[TheShortTimer]

View attachment 2204919

I found MacOS 9 is underwhelming, the GUI is very primitive...

@Amethyst1 has pretty much encapsulated the general consensus. What did you expect from a 24 year old operating system?

This, is what I was using at the time.

Note the absence of any GUI - now, that's primitive!

It made me feel I shouldn't buy an iMac G3 or an iMac G4 or an eMac.

You've been warned repeatedly that you're going to be disappointed by the performance of these machines and their software. Please do not buy any PPC Mac - they remain viable computers but they will not live up to your expectations. Ever.

I installed Office, Word was very primitive looking, but usable.

This stuff is decades old! It will inevitably look extremely primitive alongside the latest software.

This gave me a good laugh 😂

This thread initially gave me a hearty chuckle...

 

[startergo]

View attachment 2204919

I found MacOS 9 is underwhelming, the GUI is very primitive, and slow (it could be QEMU or UTM's fault, although I doubt a spinning HDD on a real Mac would be any faster).

It made me feel I shouldn't buy an iMac G3 or an iMac G4 or an eMac.

I installed Classilla, still many websites do not work.
I installed Office, Word was very primitive looking, but usable.

One big problem is that I havn't found a way to transfer word files between MacOS 9 and MacOS 11, does anyone know how to do that with QEMU & UTM?

With QEMU & UTM, there were some start up bugs with the audio and restarting the virtual machine.

With the above being said, can you all tell me tips to make MacOS 9 run better?

Try these settings.

 

[Amethyst1]

This, is what I was using at the time.

I take the fact you’re showing a German copy of DOS as a compliment directed at me.

This stuff is decades old! It will inevitably look extremely primitive alongside the latest software.

At least we had skeuomorphism back then.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I take the fact you’re showing a German copy of DOS as a compliment directed at me.

Well of course!

At least we had skeuomorphism back then.

I had to look that up as I hadn't heard of the term before. Very interesting!

 

[haralds]

I would try Sheepshaver, an emulator optimized for earlier versions of Mac OS.
There are some prebuilt & bundled versions set up by Columbia University here: http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/macos9osx.html

 

[orionquest]

With the above being said, can you all tell me tips to make MacOS 9 run better?

Install Mac OS X!

Still monkeying around with stuff you didn't experience when they were live.
Is your fascination fading?

 

[2aw]

I already deleted QEMU, it was too slow and there were no good programs to run and I couldn't transfer files back and forth between my main computer and MacOS 9.

I will stick to a modern OS like MacOS X and up, from this point on.

 

[retta283]

I already deleted QEMU, it was too slow and there were no good programs to run and I couldn't transfer files back and forth between my main computer and MacOS 9.

I will stick to a modern OS like MacOS X and up, from this point on.

Dare I say that early versions of Mac OS X will not please you either. Your browser options will be just as poor before Tiger, and the UI is still rather different than a modern version (though not as markedly). I fear it may be a case of grasping at straws.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

It’s funny because I’ve been playing around with QEMU too. I even ran the Public Beta for OSX. I have not been successful with Rhapsody or the Dev Previews.

 

[orionquest]

Dare I say that early versions of Mac OS X will not please you either. Your browser options will be just as poor before Tiger, and the UI is still rather different than a modern version (though not as markedly). I fear it may be a case of grasping at straws.

True, I never install OS X until 10.3 came out. I knew the prior version were still very rough just from reading reviews. They didn't even have list view in the Finder FFS!

 

[orionquest]

I already deleted QEMU, it was too slow and there were no good programs to run and I couldn't transfer files back and forth between my main computer and MacOS 9.

I will stick to a modern OS like MacOS X and up, from this point on.

Lol so no Part 4? or 5?

There is always sheepshaver... yeah stupid name but it also runs OS 9 on MacOS.
Here is a prebuilt system ready to go

Mac OS 9 for macOS

A SheepShaver-based system for running Mac OS 9 under macOS

www.columbia.edu

I've used this to open some old files I had, which only worked with old OS 9 programs.

 

[Amethyst1]

[…] there were no good programs to run […]

There are many cool/interesting applications and fun games for the classic Mac OS… But they’re best experienced “the proper way”: on a real Mac.

I will stick to a modern OS like MacOS X and up, from this point on.

And stick to real hardware. OS X sucks even more in an emulator (or VM) than OS 9 does. The lack of graphics acceleration makes for a progressively worse experience the more recent you go.

It’s funny because I’ve been playing around with QEMU too. […] I have not been successful with Rhapsody or the Dev Previews.

I had DP2 and DP3 running in QEMU. I don’t remember if I tried DP4 or PB (I probably did), but Rhapsody and DP1 require extra work.

 

[za9ra22]

I already deleted QEMU, it was too slow and there were no good programs to run and I couldn't transfer files back and forth between my main computer and MacOS 9.

I will stick to a modern OS like MacOS X and up, from this point on.

I've never used QEMU because there are other platforms - Sheepshaver and Basilisk II specifically - which reputedly run more smoothly and offer easy file exchange with other systems. Basilisk is good for earlier versions of Mac OS (System 6-7) and Sheepshaver up to Mac OS 9.0.4 (I think)

I pretty much use 'classic Mac OS' for everything except internet/email, sometimes emulated but usually on vintage hardware such as a PowerBook 170 or Wallstreet/PDQ. There are several advantages, not least of which being that almost the entire range of software from that time is available for free, from a few repositories, so unless you need something 'mission critical' like the latest functions in Excel, you can get, and run, just about anything you are likely to need.

There's also the benefits of simplicity in classic Mac OS, where it is easier to focus on what you're doing, rather than on the demands of the system and constant notifications/feature creep/updates which are not exactly productive. Using Word 5 or 6 with its easy-access tools and features, versus doing battle with post-2007 versions with The Ribbon makes life a great deal easier, for example.

 

[AphoticD]

Yup, I used MacOS 8.6 when it was pretty recent and the Windows systems of the time were equally bad looking.
But we've come a long way since then and we're spoilt brats

Yep, I pre-ordered this when it was brand spanking new

I always felt Mac OS 8.5 (and then 8.6) looked great. Somehow the slickest, "funnest" Mac OS in my nostalgic memory banks. Maybe it was playing Snood, Dirt Bike 3D and Nanosaur on the "5 Flavor" iMac G3s in the computer lab in high school that made this particular OS stand out for me... Either way, solid as a rock and quick to boot!

It's all relative, and yes, we are too spoilt. Humans are the worst

 

[dandeco]

I've also tried running Mac OS 9.2.2 on UTM on my M1 MacBook Air, and the VM starts out working fine until either it locks up or the sound goes dead at some point. I don't have this problem with my Windows XP VM on UTM...