I know this doesn't really pertain to the PowerPC forums, but since there isn't a good place to post about early Intel I thought I'd put this here. I have an early 2008 Intel iMac, and I want to install Tiger on it. Before anyone says it will not run, I can confirm that Tiger Server will at least run. I have installed 10.4.7 Server on mine, but there are problems due to it being 2 years older than the iMac. I was wondering if anyone has both a 2008 iMac and the install discs for 10.4.10 from a 2007 iMac. I've found a good price on these discs, but don't know if they'll even boot on the 2008. I've seen some install discs be compatible with other Macs if the hardware is similar enough. Again, this really doesn't relate to PowerPC, but the people here seem to have a lot of knowledge on early Intel systems too.
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iMac install discs compatibility question
- Thread starter retta283
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We deal with early Intel because a lot of us PowerPC users also own early Intel systems. By the time our PowerPC Macs all die this forum will probably be all about early Intel. 
Anyway, as of 10.4.4 Tiger discs were universal. You can take a look at Macintosh Garden to see if this will work for you. There's a 10.4.6 DVD download. Scroll down.
The bigger issue is if your particular Mac will support that version. Every Mac has a minimum system that can be installed. You will need to lookup your model to see if Tiger will even install. If the minimum is Leopard, you're out of luck.
Anyway, as of 10.4.4 Tiger discs were universal. You can take a look at Macintosh Garden to see if this will work for you. There's a 10.4.6 DVD download. Scroll down.
The bigger issue is if your particular Mac will support that version. Every Mac has a minimum system that can be installed. You will need to lookup your model to see if Tiger will even install. If the minimum is Leopard, you're out of luck.
I am running Tiger Server 10.4.6 on it, so I know Tiger as a base OS works. However I do not know if the install discs that came with a 2007 iMac will boot on a 2008, even though the hardware is near identical.We deal with early Intel because a lot of us PowerPC users also own early Intel systems. By the time our PowerPC Macs all die this forum will probably be all about early Intel.
Anyway, as of 10.4.4 Tiger discs were universal. You can take a look at Macintosh Garden to see if this will work for you. There's a 10.4.6 DVD download. Scroll down.
The bigger issue is if your particular Mac will support that version. Every Mac has a minimum system that can be installed. You will need to lookup your model to see if Tiger will even install. If the minimum is Leopard, you're out of luck.
OK. Well, I looked it up for you.
Looks like the Early 2008 iMacs have a minimum OS of 10.5.2. That rules out Tiger.
Strange. Don't know why Tiger Server installed fine then, maybe the server versions had something different. I found a consumer 10.4.6 disc, I'll try it, and if it works I'll go forward with the 2007 disc
The 2007 disc will likely boot, but the installer will probably block you from going forward because these system install discs are usually locked to the specific hardware model(s) only.
I posted a guide to achieve a similar result you are going for with a MacBookPro1,1 (2006) using a 10.4.10 disc designed for a 2007 model MacBookPro3,1. With a little tinkering, I was able to successfully boot and install Tiger on the MBP1,1 using the 2007 disc.
Edit: I was then able to adapt this to install Tiger on a 2008 MacBookPro4,1 which officially requires Leopard as a minimum.
Take a read through, you should be able to tweak the steps to match the 2008 iMac model specifics using your 2007 disc:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...and-general-faqs.2059200/page-3#post-26027686
It should be a fairly safe bet to say that the Tiger client copy will work if the server copy does.
The retail Tiger discs were not universal. They were PPC-only, and so is that 10.4.6 disc. The only universal discs were the grey ones shipped with Intel Macs and the retail Server 10.4.7 disc, which happens to be the same build (8K1079) shipped with the 2006 Mac Pro.
Even if the mminimum OS is Leopard, there's still a chance that Tiger will boot nonetheless, provided all available updates have been applied. I ran Tiger on a 2008 MacBook Air, for instance.
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The issues with Tiger Server were likely due to missing drivers for e.g. the GPU, which the 10.4.10 discs for the 2007 iMac include, so I'd use those as a starting point and update to 10.4.11 afterwards. I don't have a 2008 iMac so can't test if the 2007 discs boot, but if you install 10.4.10 using them on an older machine (modifying the installer as @AphoticD mentioned) and run all updates it may work.
here is an LOL for ya;
I have the itools install disk still
Every newton OS install disk
most of the Palm install disks for the Mac
another 30 gigs of apps and system installs for the power Mac archived
a gig of systems and apps for the 68K macs
I spent a lot of time archiving this stuff back then. I just don't tell anyone until it is so old that no one cares about it anymore