Mac OS 9

[ckurowic]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place. I'm not sure where else to put it.

Lately I've been using Mac OS 9 on my 400MHz G3 heavily. The specs on this thing would have put it over the $6,000 bar new in 1998. Its got 2x Radeon 128's (16MB's each), 1GB RAM, a 30GB hd, another 80GB hd, DVD ROM, zip drive (ick, useless of course), and various software including Windows 98 (VPC) that runs super fast.

What are your opinions of OS 9 these days? I personally love it and wish Apple would have stuck with the simple, FAST GUI it has (while incorporating new features of course). I use iCab, a decent browser that handles most web pages.

I wanted to get a G3/1000MHz upgrade for it, or maybe a 500MHz G4 upgrade, which would be better do you suppose?


What is the main purpose of buying new hardware these days? Games seems to be the answer. Keep in mind I've got a 1.6GHz G5 w/maxed out RAM as my main iron right now and plan on getting a 2.4GHz 20 inch iMac in February.

Sorry this post is confusing. I'm just looking for generic OS 9/classic Mac conversation.

 

[heatmiser]

I wanted to get a G3/1000MHz upgrade for it, or maybe a 500MHz G4 upgrade, which would be better do you suppose?

I'm almost certain that money would be better put toward saving for a newer Mac. It's really tempting to keep upgrading an old machine, putting in a few hundred dollars every now and then to keep it going. But financially, you'd be a lot better off simply saving for a piece of new gear, for something you'd be able to use for another howevermany years, instead of continually patching a sinking ship, so to speak.

What is the main purpose of buying new hardware these days? Games seems to be the answer.

Not for everyone. I don't play games, but I do like being able to download music and movies and surf the net without hangups. For that, you don't need top-of-the-line hardware. You just need something strong enough to do the task. Yes, a lot of people on these and other forums are in the upgrade rat race, but not everyone is.

Keep in mind I've got a 1.6GHz G5 w/maxed out RAM as my main iron right now and plan on getting a 2.4GHz 20 inch iMac in February.

Sorry this post is confusing. I'm just looking for generic OS 9/classic Mac conversation.

All right, this part mollifies my response above somewhat. As long as you don't keep pouring money into that old machine, that's cool.

 

[HLdan]

What are your opinions of OS 9 these days? I personally love it and wish Apple would have stuck with the simple, FAST GUI it has (while incorporating new features of course).

OS 9 is dead. It's like Windows 95, dead. What's wrong with today's version of OS X? It's not slow, in fact in runs zippier than OS 9. I have been on the Mac full time since Mac OS 8.5 so I KNOW that OS 9 does not have a faster GUI than Leopard or Tiger for that matter.
But to answer your question about why do people get a newer computer these days? For the most part today's apps require an OS that can handle all the features and benefits and a lot of apps today (non-Apple) are very heavily coded and even though they are more bloated than back in the OS 9 days they are bloated with stuff we need for today's productivity.

Remember, back in the OS 9 days most people weren't building their own websites like MySpace and managing music, movie downloads, uploading to YouTube and even professional movie studio production like we do today. Everything in todays computing deals with 3D animation and Hi-Def and a simple 2D OS like OS 9 (though it had lower system requirements) can't cut it for today's applications. Like I said, earlier OS 9 is dead. Apple killed it 6 years ago, you should let it go too, it's no longer supported. I am running OS X on one of old 13" iMac G3 400Mhz machines.

 

[Sun Baked]

OS X gave us stability, SMP, and the real ability to do multiple tasks at once.

All it cost us was something like 10-20% in overhead costs, and have to run apps/drivers through a software interface layer.

But you can really render something complex, print/scan a large job, and surf at the same time.

Even though Apple had extended OS 9 over the years, it was rather unstable, unless you got the mix of control panels and extensions absolutely correct.

Though you still ran the risk of crashing it all doing two things at once.

---

Personally I think the switch to a "slower feeling" GUI and the loss of some speed due to the Unix overhead is worth it.

 

[ckurowic]

10.5 is not zippier on my G5 than 10.4 was. It is far slower, in fact. I am sure they will fix the issues though....

Don't get me wrong. I am not LIVING in the past, I just like nostalgia. And I still have uses for OS 9, so I continue to run it on vintage machines. Mac OS X is slower in a few ways. The main way is the "eye candy". It literally takes longer to minimize a window using the genie effect than OS 9's "window shade". I'm not trying to say 9 is better than 10, because its not, I'm just stating a fact.

True, most people were not authoring their own videos back in the day. We need a certain amount of horsepower now, and the G3's and 9 don't cut it.

I will never let os "classic" (system 7 through 9) go completely. It was my main system for over 9 years. The nostalgia alone will provide the motivation to have a few working classic systems laying around.

I don't use my G3 system to do any "real work".

Its interesting that you say Apple killed os 9 a number of years ago. While this is true in some ways, in other ways its not. My G3 just finished a software update (9.2.2 and other updates). If Apple had truly stopped supporting 9, they would have removed these updates from their servers years ago.

Bottom line: I don't live in the past, I just return to it every once in awhile. The hardware still works great, and I have a good time using 9, it reminds me of what computing used to be.

Os 9 was out when Windows 98 was out, not 95....

It is VERY tempting to spend a little bit of cash to get the 1GHz G3 upgrade, I don't know though. I am looking forward to my iMac, thats for sure. I have delayed the Intel transition for many years now, but its come to the point where I have to run Windows too (unfortunately).


Let me just say: DO NOT FORGET WHERE WE CAME FROM. I think its important to read up and relive the past every once in awhile.

OS X gave us stability, SMP, and the real ability to do multiple tasks at once.

All it cost us was something like 10-20% in overhead costs, and have to run apps/drivers through a software interface layer.

But you can really render something complex, print/scan a large job, and surf at the same time.

Even though Apple had extended OS 9 over the years, it was rather unstable, unless you got the mix of control panels and extensions absolutely correct.

Though you still ran the risk of crashing it all doing two things at once.

---

Personally I think the switch to a "slower feeling" GUI and the loss of some speed due to the Unix overhead is worth it.

Yes. It is worth it, I just wish you could turn off the eye candy.

 

[HLdan]

OS 9.2.2 was released several years ago, I was there. When I said it was no longer supported I meant that there will not be 9.2.3 or higher. Don't expect much more past security updates if any. Otherwise use it if it makes you happy.

 

[iCube]

Whenever I put a new HD in any of my pre-Intel Macs, I ALWAYS install 9.2.2 first and then install 10.4 on top to run in "Classic" for my few OS 9 apps that I love. I occasionally boot in OS 9 because it brings back many good memories of my first computer ever, a new 400MHz iMac Grape DV (which I still have and use) in Feb. 2000. My Grape iMac is now maxed out perfectly with a 120GB Seagate 7,200 rpm HD, 1 GB RAM and 10.4.11. I love the "Platinum" sounds in OS 9. When I first used OS X 10.1, the first thing I asked was, "where are the clicking sounds??" When I run an OS 9 app in OS X "Classic" I get my "Platinum" sounds!! OS 9 really is fun! Control panels were nice. The Control Strip at the bottom of the screen was neat. I loved how you could manually "Spin down" the hard drive. The green Airport strength meter was cool! The Software Update screen was cool too! Sherlock was a great concept back then too!

 

[HLdan]

Let me just say: DO NOT FORGET WHERE WE CAME FROM. I think its important to read up and relive the past every once in awhile.

Well, you did ask for our OPINIONS on OS 9, I didn't know this was up for debate. But since you brought up that last line, we actually came from System 6 on the Classic Macintosh.

 

[ckurowic]

Well, you did ask for our OPINIONS on OS 9, I didn't know this was up for debate. But since you brought up that last line, we actually came from System 6 on the Classic Macintosh.

Oh, I didn't mean to sound like I was trying to debate. Sorry!

I understood what was meant by "dead". For sure there won't be os 9.2.3.


Os 9 is fun! I'm glad to see another user thinks so .

 

[Quillz]

OS 9 was great. It would randomly crash once a week.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Let me just say: DO NOT FORGET WHERE WE CAME FROM. I think its important to read up and relive the past every once in awhile.

It's debatable if we really come from Mac OS 9....
Mac OS X is an evolution of NeXT with some GUI features (Apple menu etc.) from Mac OS 9.

But, yeah... us Mac users probably used Mac OS 9 before coming over to Mac OS X.

I have a few "Classic" Macs around @ home:
- Color Classic (running System 7.1)
- TAM (running Mac OS 8.1)
- Power Mac G3 B&W with Voodoo 5500 grfx (running Mac OS 9.2.2)
- Power Mac G4 Digital Audio (running Mac OS 9.2.2 and Panther)

.. and to be honest I love firing them up once in a while, for good time's sake.

However, Mac OS X is IMHO the single most huge leap forwards in Apple's evolution. It gave us everything we need in a "modern OS", which Mac OS 9 sadly couldn't. It also gave us the power of UNIX, and a very, very beautiful "lick-able" GUI... and gave us the option to move over to x86.
We even got a decent server platform too! ASIP on Mac OS couldn't really be called professional.