Installing earlier software

[Willmac2]

Hi, I'm new to this, so be gentle!

I run 2 G4 desktop macs, with OS 9.2 installed. I did try OS X 10.2 (Tiger) but the mac's ran slow in Classic mode.

Last week I bought a secondhand 2.3GHz G5 desktop machine, running OS X 10.5 (Safari)

The problem I have is that I can't run my earlier version programs in Safari. So I would like to reformat the hard disk in the G5 and install my earlier OS X 10.2 (Tiger) instead.

How can I do this, please???

 

[bigeasy_uk]

Hi Will,

I think your getting a bit confused with the OS names, 10.2 is jaguar, 10.4 is tiger and 10.5 is leopard.
Your G5 shipped with 10.4 so that is the earliest version you can run, just stick the disk in the drive and either hold C down on boot to boot directly fromthe disk, or option (alt key) and choose the disk from the menu.

 

[Willmac2]

Installing earlier software

Hi bigeasy_uk.

Thank you for your reply.

When I purchased the G5 it had the system installed already, and no system disk was supplied.

The system says that it is Safari OS X 10.5.

Why can't this machine run the earlier system?

 

[bigeasy_uk]

Hi Will,

The reason it won't work with OS's older than 10.4 is that there are no drivers on the disks and apple are well known for not supporting older OS's on newer hardware. 10.4 and 10.5 both should run OS9 programs through the "classic environment".
You could also try an emulator called sheepshaver, it supports MacOS 7.5.2 - 9.0.4.
I'm still confused about the Safari OS X 10.5 bit, could you post a screenshot of the "About This Mac" window?

 

[Nameci]

You cannot run classic on 10.5, you can however run classic on 10.4...

 

[bigeasy_uk]

You cannot run classic on 10.5, you can however run classic on 10.4...

I stand corrected.

 

[Willmac2]

Installing earlier software

Hi bigeasy_uk

I have attached two screen images from the G5 showing what it says about the System.

If Nameci is correct, can I simply buy an OS 4 system disk and use that to reformat the hard disk, to be able to run in the classic mode?

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Hi bigeasy_uk

I have attached two screen images from the G5 showing what it says about the System.

If Nameci is correct, can I simply buy an OS 4 system disk and use that to reformat the hard disk, to be able to run in the classic mode?

Run Software Update on that computer, it appears to be running the original 10.5 version, Apple released 8 updates to 10.5 Leopard.

 

[stroked]

It's showing Safari, because the Safari browser is open. Open iTunes, and it will show iTunes in that spot.

Install some more RAM (memory) and your computer will be a lot faster.