Opinions...Starting Over With Panther

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dayzy27

macrumors newbie
Hi,

I have a few questions. I'm upgrading from 10.2.8 to Panther and am wondering just how many of my current settings I should change.

I have an iBook, 10GB, 192MB RAM.

1. Is there any reason to keep OS 9.2? I haven't used it in over a year and it is using up valuable space on my dinky hard drive.

2. I have Office 2004, but the box says that it requires 256 MB RAM...can I still install it and use it or is the difference in RAM going to prevent this and make Office difficult to use?

3. Entourage or Mail? I've used both, but don't know if one is recommended over the other. Or should the decision be based on my personal opinion?

4. I've toyed with just backing everything up and completing deleting/erasing my current setup and installing Panther on a clean slate? Bad idea? Good idea?

Thanks for the input.
 
If you don't see going back to 9.2 - and, if you haven't booted into it in a while, you probably wont - I see no problem with deleting it.

As far as Office goes: that 256MB is more of a strong recommendation than a requirement. However, it won't cost you much to upgrade your RAM. I have a 1999 Lombard PB that is technically work's - and they might ask for it back - but I upgraded the RAM from 128 to 340 (replaced a 64MB with a 256MB) for very little money. 340MB works a lot better than 128MB for me, and it was cheap ($50? something like that).

As far as mail apps: I prefer Mail, just because it means I don't need Office. I have Office X, and so I have Entourage, but I just don't see a need to run it. It's a fine app.

I erased my HD when I installed Panther (on the Lombard PB). Worked fine for me. Got rid of lots of garbage. BTW, when installing Panther, be sure to pick the Options button and do not install any languages you don't need. Also, avoid extra printer drivers. You can save a lot of space that way.
 
1) It's ok to delete OS 9. You still have Classic. And you can delete Classic if you never need it.

2) I think 256 MB is the 'preferred' amount of RAM that Microsoft wants you to have, my father runs Office X on a G3 400MHz with 192 RAM and it's just fine. Go ahead and install it, if it doesn't run (which I doubt it won't) just go get 128 MB of RAM. But you should be fine.

3) I've never used Entourage, only Mail. But it is a matter of personal preference only.

4) I think that is a very good idea if you do it correctly, just make sure you back everything up, and have all the install disks to Word 2004, Virtual PC, ect. In my opinion, this is also a matter of personal choice, I just like to do a fresh install to get rid of all the stuff I've accumulated over the months.

wow, jsw beat me to it, i need to type faster next time..... :(
 
musicpyrite said:
1) It's ok to delete OS 9. You still have Classic. And you can delete Classic if you never need it.
Click to expand...
Wrong - Classic REQUIRES Mac OS 9 to be present to be of any use. Deleting Mac OS 9 makes Classic inoperable.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Wrong - Classic REQUIRES Mac OS 9 to be present to be of any use. Deleting Mac OS 9 makes Classic inoperable.
Click to expand...
Well, installing Panther adds in all the files needed (i.e., "System Folder"). My PB runs Classic, and the disk was wiped before Panther was installed. So, yes, you can't delete System Folder, but you can wipe the drive before installing Panther, and it will install all it needs for Classic - which is less than 200MB.
 
jsw said:
Well, installing Panther adds in all the files needed (i.e., "System Folder"). My PB runs Classic, and the disk was wiped before Panther was installed. So, yes, you can't delete System Folder, but you can wipe the drive before installing Panther, and it will install all it needs for Classic - which is less than 200MB.
Click to expand...
Wrong again - Retail Panther discs DO NOT include a FULL Classic install. (All the other components needed for Classic are installed, but Mac OS 9, the most critical one, is NOT installed.) I suspect the same is true for computers (like my iMac) that came with Panther.
 
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