Old MacBook Pro 4.1 with OSX 10.5.8 Leopard - ANY way to put a modern browser on it?

[777funk]

I use this old MBP for music production software. Unfortunately, I can't download anything for the music software. All I need is a browser that will allow a Recaptcha to do so but Firefox v.16 is too old to do so and I can't download the latest FF or Chrome with OSX Leopard.

The laptop works fine for my needs (music and video) and has most of the software I need to use on it. I hate to trash the laptop and start over (lots of $$$ software). Is there a way to either upgrade the OS (or even just the browser)??

 

[Fishrrman]

A legacy (older) version of Firefox ?
"Ten-Four" Fox ?
iCab ? (I believe they have older versions available)

 

[777funk]

It looks like v16 of firefox is the last to work with OSX Leopard. Maybe I just need to upgrade the OS. I'd really like to keep using all the software I have on the laptop (Final Cut Pro, Adobe Creative Suite, Ableton Live, and a bunch more). Hopefully that won't disappear or become non functional with an OS upgrade.

 

[Amethyst1]

Is there a way to either upgrade the OS (or even just the browser)??

Upgrade to OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8), then you can run Firefox 45 ESR. You'll have to buy a Snow Leopard DVD from ebay or so... officially at least.

Or go all the way up to El Capitan (10.11.6) which is the latest version to officially work on your MBP. Then you can run Firefox 78 ESR.

But you need to check if your software will continue to work first.

 

[777funk]

Thanks! Would I have to re-install the software (assuming it is compatible of the newer 10.11.6 El Cap)?

Sorry if this is a newb question. I'm a linux user (seems similar to the OSX).

 

[Amethyst1]

Would I have to re-install the software (assuming it is compatible of the newer 10.11.6 El Cap)?

If you upgrade from 10.5 to 10.6 (and then to 10.11 if desired) then your software will be preserved.

Update - 10.6.8 can actually run Firefox 52 using Firefox Legacy.

 

[chown33]

Moderation Note

This thread was moved to the Early Intel Macs forum.

According to the following website:

Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com

EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Lookup - lookup Apple Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad specs by serial number, order number, model number, model ID, EMC number and more.

everymac.com

A MacBook Pro 4,1 uses a Core 2 Duo CPU. That means it goes under the Early Intel Macs forum, as noted here:

Welcome to the Early Intel Macs forum!

This forum is for discussion of consumer and professional Mac models from the first few years following Apple's transition from PowerPC to Intel processors. Notebook and desktop models with Core 2 Duo, Core Duo, and Core Solo processors are covered in this group, which roughly corresponds to...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[eyoungren]

I use this old MBP for music production software. Unfortunately, I can't download anything for the music software. All I need is a browser that will allow a Recaptcha to do so but Firefox v.16 is too old to do so and I can't download the latest FF or Chrome with OSX Leopard.

The laptop works fine for my needs (music and video) and has most of the software I need to use on it. I hate to trash the laptop and start over (lots of $$$ software). Is there a way to either upgrade the OS (or even just the browser)??

I have a 4,1. I am viewing your thread and typing this message in the latest version of Vivaldi. I know Snow Leopard and El Cap have been suggested, but you can also run Mojave if you want.

 

[B S Magnet]

I use this old MBP for music production software. Unfortunately, I can't download anything for the music software. All I need is a browser that will allow a Recaptcha to do so but Firefox v.16 is too old to do so and I can't download the latest FF or Chrome with OSX Leopard.

The laptop works fine for my needs (music and video) and has most of the software I need to use on it. I hate to trash the laptop and start over (lots of $$$ software). Is there a way to either upgrade the OS (or even just the browser)??

Bookmark this WikiPost to keep up to speed on which current-ish browsers work with the OS X version you’re using on “Early Intel” (pre-Core iX) Macs.

TenFourFox for Intel (see above link) works very well and its overall security is patched and kept current. I use it on my 2011 MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard as my main browser, and I love it.

That said, if you can, a bump up to Snow Leopard (either upgrading from Leopard, or by creating a new hard drive partition and installing it there) should open you to a lot more latitude on browser (and software) possibilities, and it has a long-established reputation of being rock solid and a bit lighter on its feet than Leopard.

And as @eyoungren noted: with the MacBookPro4,1, you are able to install much later versions of OS X and macOS, at least up to 10.14 (which is the last edition of the OS to be able to run 32-bit Intel-based software).

 

[bobesch]

Thanks! Would I have to re-install the software (assuming it is compatible of the newer 10.11.6 El Cap)?

Sorry if this is a newb question. I'm a linux user (seems similar to the OSX).

This is, what I would do (have done) and @eyoungren and @B S Magnet already suggested: either an upgrade to SL (more browser-options) and/or macOS-Patch (Sierra/HighSierra/Mojave) and optionally a dual-boot drive.
(I personally think, the dual-boot option is the better one, because it leaves your current well-functioning Leopard-configuration untouched.)
- get a >= 250GB SSD for 30 bucks and an external USB-housing for about 10bucks
- connect your SSD within the USB-case and create two partitions on that SSD with DiskUtility: the last partition gets 12GB, the 1st one all the rest. (if you're gonna keep Leopard/Rosetta, then devide the first portion into two partitions: one for L/SL, the other for the macOS upgrade)
- get Sierra/HighSierra/Mojave-Patcher and install the patched macOS version onto the last (12GB) partition of the SSD (for first installation and for further recovery)
- clone-copy your internal drive to the external USB-SSD-drive with CarbonCopyCloner. (For the dual-boot-option make a clone-copiy of your system onto each partition: one for Leopard, the other for the macOS-upgrade)
- put the SSD into your MBP4,1 (the original drive will stay untouched as a backup-drive and goes into the USB-case for further clone-backups of your Leopard/music-production-partition)
- boot from the last Sierra/HighSierra/Mojave-patcher partition and install patched macOS onto the the Leopard-partition to make the upgrade to patched Sierra/HighSierra/Mojave. (If anything fails, you have your original disk still in a save place and may clone-copy it back to your internal SSD).
For the dual-boot-option the SSD starts with Part1:Leopard / Part2: Leopard / Part3(12GB): Patcher.
(If you want to have the option to reduce the SSD to only one partition, it's important, that Part1 is the partition, that will remain after consecutively deleting Part3 and Part2.)
Keep HFS+ as the file-system for the patched macOS-partition (this should be the standard procedure w/o anything necessary to be done), so you can still access the drive/partition with the upgraded macOS whenever you've booted into Leopard/SnowLeopard.
- after installation reboot into the patcher(12GB)-partition and complete patching the upgraded macOS-partition.
- reboot into the upgraded Sierra/HighSierra/Mojave-Partition.
Voilà ...
Now you should have a 32bit-compliant macOS with HFS+ file-system (compatible with pre-APFS both intel- and PPC-Macs) and optionally on the second partition Your untouched Rosetta-compliant Leopard configuration.
The last (12GB) partition keeps the Patcher-installer for any reinstallation/repatching-procedure (that's useful, if you ever happen to run into a macOS-update and need to repatch the system. Alternatively you can create a USB-stick with the patcher and than delete the tiny portion at the end in order to increase size of the partition, that is just in the location before it)

I've been through this routine several times and it's awesome to see, how @dosdude1 made this happen!

 

[bobesch]

Ah, and finally there's the option of a small Linux-distro in a virtual machine with VirtualBox, if you want to stick with Leopard and Your running system but just want to have the option of a modern browser.
To have a decent performance it's better to have an SSD and 4GB of RAM (first make a clone copy of a current spinning-drive to the SSD and then keep the current spinning drive in an external USB-case for clone-copy-backups).