Old Mac OS on a new iMac?

[Hormuz]

If I bought a brand-new iMac from Apple now, could I install Mac OS 10.5 on it?

 

[redheeler]

As a virtual machine to run a PowerPC application that doesn't require graphics acceleration yes, but not as a natively-bootable OS. Officially only the Server version can be virtualized, but if you only have the normal client version there are ways around this restriction.

 

[Hormuz]

As a virtual machine to run a PowerPC application that doesn't require graphics acceleration yes, but not as a natively-bootable OS. Officially only the Server version can be virtualized, but if you only have the normal client version there are ways around this restriction.

How about 10.6? That's a native Intel system, isn't it?

 

[redheeler]

How about 10.6? That's a native Intel system, isn't it?

So is 10.5 and some later builds of 10.4, but all of these are way too old to support any current Mac hardware outside of virtualization. The newest iMac/MacBook Pro/Mac mini 10.6.8 will run on was released in 2011, and the newest Mac Pro was released in 2012.

 

[Hormuz]

So is 10.5 and some later builds of 10.4, but all of these are way too old to support any current Mac hardware outside of virtualization. The newest iMac/MacBook Pro/Mac mini 10.6.8 will run on was released in 2011, and the newest Mac Pro was released in 2012.

Many thanks for this.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

You can't boot a new iMac from an older OS.
Simply impossible.

You CAN run an older OS inside a "virtual machine", as others suggested above.

 

[Hormuz]

OP:

You can't boot a new iMac from an older OS.
Simply impossible.

You CAN run an older OS inside a "virtual machine", as others suggested above.

OK,permit me to impose on you-all a bit further. If I run OS 10.6 inside a virtual machine on a new IMac, will I be able to use present-day peripherals - for example, print to a present-day color printer - from OS 10.6 software running in the virtual machine?

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

If, and a big if, the drivers are compatible with Snow Leopard.

Check the printer's download site and see if there are SL drivers.