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(OS X 10.4.11) - How can I run higher unsupported vesions of Browsers

S

Shubendu_Singh

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 18, 2016
4
0
I am a complete Mac Noob. Infact this is my second time handling a Mac OS. Unfortunately I'm stuck with this very old LAPTOP (Mac OSx 10.4.11 - Tiger?, Intel) for awhile due to....reasons.

Right now, Safari(4.1.3) and Firefox(3.6.28) are the highest this OS is allowed to run. But Youtube Comments, Disqus Comments, LiveFyre Comments refuses to load in these older versions.(and other things)

Please, I need help in finding a method where I can run atleast Firefox(14+) or Safari(7.x+) or IE(10+).

Can I do it through Wine or Bootcamp or something?. I really do not want to install a whole Windows in VirtualMachine or something to run a simple browser. Just need help where higher versions of these browsers (preferred-Mac, Ifnot-Windows) can be run. Thanks. (Didn't know where to put this thread because forums OSX older versions didn't had 10.4 category)
 
Shubendu_Singh said:
I am a complete Mac Noob. Infact this is my second time handling a Mac OS. Unfortunately I'm stuck with this very old LAPTOP (Mac OSx 10.4.11 - Tiger?, Intel) for awhile due to....reasons.

Right now, Safari(4.1.3) and Firefox(3.6.28) are the highest this OS is allowed to run. But Youtube Comments, Disqus Comments, LiveFyre Comments refuses to load in these older versions.(and other things)

Please, I need help in finding a method where I can run atleast Firefox(14+) or Safari(7.x+) or IE(10+).

Can I do it through Wine or Bootcamp or something?. I really do not want to install a whole Windows in VirtualMachine or something to run a simple browser. Just need help where higher versions of these browsers (preferred-Mac, Ifnot-Windows) can be run. Thanks. (Didn't know where to put this thread because forums OSX older versions didn't had 10.4 category)
Click to expand...

There's no way you can run an up-to-date version on your OS unfortunately. If your Mac is Intel then it would definitely support Snow Leopard, so you might as well update to that -- it's a far better OS than Tiger anyway.

If you're running a PowerPC processor, TenFourFox would be your best bet.
 
Chrome requires Snow Leopard (10.6) or later
I would like to suggest that you upgrade your OS X version
Good luck :)
 
Can you by any chance upgrade to 10.5.8 ?

As keysofanxiety said, use TenFourFox. It's Firefox coded for PPC.
 
Shubendu_Singh said:
I am a complete Mac Noob. Infact this is my second time handling a Mac OS. Unfortunately I'm stuck with this very old LAPTOP (Mac OSx 10.4.11 - Tiger?, Intel) for awhile due to....reasons.

Right now, Safari(4.1.3) and Firefox(3.6.28) are the highest this OS is allowed to run. But Youtube Comments, Disqus Comments, LiveFyre Comments refuses to load in these older versions.(and other things)

Please, I need help in finding a method where I can run atleast Firefox(14+) or Safari(7.x+) or IE(10+).
...
Click to expand...
OP - please tell us more about your laptop.
Go to the Apple menu, then About This Mac. You will see the exact CPU that you haver, and how much RAM is installed.
Click on the More Info... button.
That will open the System Profiler. Under Hardware, you will see Model Identifier.
It will be something like MacBook2,1 - or MacBookPro2,2 - or (much older) PowerBook3,5
What do you see listed for Model Identifier?
 
keysofanxiety said:
There's no way you can run an up-to-date version on your OS unfortunately. If your Mac is Intel then it would definitely support Snow Leopard, so you might as well update to that -- it's a far better OS than Tiger anyway.

If you're running a PowerPC processor, TenFourFox would be your best bet.
Click to expand...
No these are not up-to-date Firefox or Safari that I want.
I want (ATLEAST) Firefox 14 which was released in 2012 or Safari 7 (2013) or IE 10 (2012).

DeltaMac said:
OP - please tell us more about your laptop.
Go to the Apple menu, then About This Mac. You will see the exact CPU that you haver, and how much RAM is installed.
Click on the More Info... button.
That will open the System Profiler. Under Hardware, you will see Model Identifier.
It will be something like MacBook2,1 - or MacBookPro2,2 - or (much older) PowerBook3,5
What do you see listed for Model Identifier?
Click to expand...
It says,
Mac OS X Version 10.4.11
Processor : 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory : 1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Model Name : Macbook
Model Identifier : Macbook 2,1

(Also sorry to ask multiple question in the same thread but, Thrse is no way to install this X11 thingy without the original disc right? I cant make older GIMP versions run because of this. And there is no way I would be able to find a disc so old in somebodies else's house.)
 
I'd wait on trying to upgrade to Snow Leopard, one of the issues I faced was that my graphics card did not support OpenCL which was introduced with Snow Leopard. If you try to upgrade and it's not compatible you will fry your graphics card in about 6 months. I did, fried mine because I did not head the warning.
 
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mildocjr said:
I'd wait on trying to upgrade to Snow Leopard, one of the issues I faced was that my graphics card did not support OpenCL which was introduced with Snow Leopard. If you try to upgrade and it's not compatible you will fry your graphics card in about 6 months. I did fried mine because I did not head the warning.
Click to expand...
wow. And no I'm not going to upgrade it. Machine is too old to throw any money at it now. I might have to as an absolute absolute last resort if no trick worked and I got stuck with this for some longer time.
 
Shubendu_Singh said:
No these are not up-to-date Firefox or Safari that I want.
I want (ATLEAST) Firefox 14 which was released in 2012 or Safari 7 (2013) or IE 10 (2012).
Click to expand...

Well as mentioned, these won't run or install on your OS. Nothing we can do about that.

You're on an Intel processor, so update to Snow Leopard, and you'll be able to run them (with the exception of IE, as that's not compiled for OS X). Absolutely no reason to stay on Tiger.
 
Shubendu_Singh said:
wow. And no I'm not going to upgrade it. Machine is too old to throw any money at it now. I might have to as an absolute absolute last resort if no trick worked and I got stuck with this for some longer time.
Click to expand...

You can upgrade to Leopard if you want, it still used OpenGL for video, but check which browsers are compatible with it before you attempt to upgrade or you may just lose time. Leopard also used the disk upgrade and apple charged 150 for it (or something like that). You'll also need the specific install disk for your model.
[doublepost=1460040177][/doublepost]
keysofanxiety said:
Well as mentioned, these won't run or install on your OS. Nothing we can do about that.

You're on an Intel processor, so update to Snow Leopard, and you'll be able to run them (with the exception of IE, as that's not compiled for OS X). Absolutely no reason to stay on Tiger.
Click to expand...

He has to make sure his video card is able to use OpenCL read my first comment.
 
mildocjr said:
You can upgrade to Leopard if you want, it still used OpenGL for video, but check which browsers are compatible with it before you attempt to upgrade or you may just lose time. Leopard also used the disk upgrade and apple charged 150 for it (or something like that). You'll also need the specific install disk for your model.
[doublepost=1460040177][/doublepost]

He has to make sure his video card is able to use OpenCL read my first comment.
Click to expand...

Horse hockey, Snow Leopard still runs on systems that can't utilise OpenCL, and upgrading to SL won't damage a machine if the GPU doesn't support OpenCL. The only portables that could use OpenCL were the 2008 Unibody MBs with GeForce 9400M (or later).

The fact that your GPU died 6 months after upgrading to SL is a coincidence and no way related.

OP should upgrade to 10.6.8.
 
mildocjr said:
Is the website compatible with Chrome? You may have luck finding chrome to be compatible.
Click to expand...
No Chrome doesn't work with 10.4 at all. Using Firefox. Camino and that 10four-something isn't much help too. Some sites are better on Safari, some are better on Firefox. Somehow I am managing. =/

Also to others,
Are we sure I can't run a higher version firefox etc. using Vinebox or something ?
 
Step 1 - upgrade your system to Snow Leopard, so you have a chance to run some newer browsers.
The typical reason that many users stay on Tiger (or Leopard) is that they have a PPC processor, which can't go beyond 10.5.8 (Leopard), where TenFourFox would be a good choice - and close to up-to-date for many uses.
However, TenFourFox can't run on Intel processors, which is what you have. But, you CAN update the OS X system.
If you want to continue to use your old Macbook, and you also want a browser that is mostly secure, and can load the majority of modern web sites - then you have little choice except to upgrade. Snow Leopard (10.6) is easy to find, and you can still purchase Snow Leopard directly from Apple for less than 20$US.

Step 2 - I would also suggest that even if you stay where you are, upgrading to more RAM is cheap, and there's no downside to upgrading to the maximum on your MacBook: 3GB.
Here's an example: http://www.datamemorysystems.com/dm50-190e-x-2/

I'm not sure about "Vinebox or something", but a virtual machine solution would also like to have that extra RAM, as you would be using two operating systems at the same time.

Another possibility would be to abandon OS X, and install Ubuntu, or some other Linux distro. That may get you the more modern web browsing that you want, yet continue to use your old MacBook.
 
What's your budget for getting this Mac to do what you want?
Specifically, what's the upper limit on dollars and time you're willing to put in?

What's the minimum version of each browser that would be acceptable?
State this as a specific version number. If you don't state a clear minimum, then we have to guess what will be acceptable. The clearer you are in telling us what you'll accept, the better we can be in determining how to obtain it.
(EDIT: Oops, I see this was provided in post #7.)

There isn't a zero-cost option. The world has moved on a lot since 10.4.11, and the OS moved with it. When the OS moves on, so do the browsers.

If you're considering virtual machines or services like Vinebox, then it seems pretty likely you're willing to accept some cost. This is why we need to know what your budget is. You should also state whether you're willing to accept an ongoing subscription fee, and for how long, or whether a one-time expense is more suitable.
 
Last edited:
mildocjr said:
Since everyone insists on upgrading to Snow Leopard, you can upgrade if your graphics card is in this list:

http://www.everymac.com/mac-answers...snow-leopard-fully-compatible-intel-macs.html
Click to expand...
All - that means every early Intel Mac, up to those that began to ship with Lion installed - all support Snow Leopard.
The OpenCL stipulation is for those Macs that can boot to 64-bit mode. Those early MacBooks do not boot to 64-bit EFI - but Snow Leopard is still compatible, just not with 100% of features. That is no different than some other technologies that are available on newer Macs, but the OS X versions that support that technology will still be compatible with a wide range of older Macs. There's nothing new about that.
Snow Leopard is a good upgrade for the OP, to provide access to newer browsers (at least for another year or two). The GMA 950 graphics is mostly irrelevant - until one wants to go beyond Lion, and 32-bit systems won't boot on Mountain Lion (unless you tweak the system)
 
I feel as though you all are throwing caution to the wind with this upgrade when this upgrade screwed a lot of people at the time. I am at least having the OP do some research to ensure that they will not be affected by going to an OS that requires more out of his graphics card.
 
mildocjr said:
I feel as though you all are throwing caution to the wind with this upgrade when this upgrade screwed a lot of people at the time. I am at least having the OP do some research to ensure that they will not be affected by going to an OS that requires more out of his graphics card.
Click to expand...
People have been running 10.6 on MacBooks for nearly 6 years; it's well tested and reliable at this point. There are no unknown parts of this equation.
 
The biggest limitation for the graphics chip in that MacBook is when you feel like upgrading past Lion.
No such issues for the OP, I expect, who simply wants a more up-to-date browser.
Snow Leopard is fine, no, great on those Macbooks, assuming that the OP also upgrades the RAM installed.
 
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