OS X on PowerMac G4

[aarongibson]

Hi,

I'm using a 1.5GHz Powerbook with a Panther Install Disc and a Tiger Upgrade Disc, however I've also got an old PowerMac AGP G4 running Classic. Is there a way I can run my copy of Panther on the PowerMac? I think it is a Powerbook specific copy. I use both comps at home and don't particularly want to shell out for another copy of OS X for the PowerMac.

Cheers in advance

PS If I have to are there generic copies of OS X or are they all hardware specific i.e. Powerbook, iBook...

Aaron

 

[CanadaRAM]

Yes, the way to do this is to buy the retail box of Tiger -- that's the only legal way to install on a second CPU. And it will get a "generic" OSX install instead of machine specific.

 

[Heb1228]

I use both comps at home and don't particularly want to shell out for another copy of OS X for the PowerMac.

Buying the copies of software you use helps pay for the development of the next version. Want 10.5? Don't steal 10.4.

 

[dmw007]

Buying the copies of software you use helps pay for the development of the next version. Want 10.5? Don't steal 10.4.

Good point.

Plus, as CanadaRAM stated, you then get a version of Mac OS X that will work on any Mac.

 

[Lollypop]

Mind if I ask, why exactly does apple even ship a machine specific version of the OS, what does it contain or do to make it specific? I know dell does something similair, but thats to include drivers and support software, what would apple put on a CD to make it for example powerbook specific?

 

[MisterMe]

.... what would apple put on a CD to make it for example powerbook specific?

Drivers and support software.

 

[Lollypop]

ok, let me rephrase myself, the Mac OS install disc, what would it have to make the CD/DVD machine specific. I can understand that every mac model would have a system specific cd with utilities and system specific support tools.

But the install CD/DVD, why would it need special drivers? For me my powerbook came with a 10.3 cd, when I got 10.4 and installed it there were no drivers I had to install, everything worked fine. The point im trying to make is that macs dont have the extreme sellection of hardware to support, why doesnt apple then cut costs and support the entire hardware library by including all drivers in a single univeral mac os install disc?

 

[sunfast]

Buying the copies of software you use helps pay for the development of the next version. Want 10.5? Don't steal 10.4.

But doesn't he have two copies of OS X? 1 Panther and 1 Tiger

 

[aarongibson]

I have the os x discs as supplied with my powerbook and they say PowerBook G4 on them 15 and 17 inch. I also have a generic Tiger upgrade disc.

I decided that I am going to get hold of a legit copy of panther just to stick on the PowerMac but before I did it I wanted to see whether it was worth it as the PowerMac is an old 400MHz Sawtooth and I wanted to see if upgrading from 9.2.2 would speed anything up. So I connected the Sawtooth to my PowerBook and Panther by Firewire in Target mode.

The comp is running fairly quick but I think I need to beef up the ram and it's only got 10 and 4gb harddrives in it.

Anyway back to software. Whenever I boot the powerbook up now I have a screen before the white screen with the grey apple which displays what looks like an OS 9 folder with a question mark on it before quickly resuming the startup process. Any ideas what it is and can I rid myself of it?

Here is another question. Will Leopard run on the sawtooth as I am thinking of getting a family license for the powerbook, sawtooth and possibly a mac mini that I might use as a media server?

Cheers

Aaron

PS also why does my British flag swap to a US flag sometimes in the finder bar?

 

[mikes63737]

Mind if I ask, why exactly does apple even ship a machine specific version of the OS, what does it contain or do to make it specific? I know dell does something similair, but thats to include drivers and support software, what would apple put on a CD to make it for example powerbook specific?

Apple does this to prevent piracy, just like most other PC manufacturers. It also includes specific drivers that might not be included with the retail version of Mac OS X, and it contains iLife and other stuff.

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

Apple does this to prevent piracy, just like most other PC manufacturers. It also includes specific drivers that might not be included with the retail version of Mac OS X, and it contains iLife and other stuff.

Actually, except for the iApps, it;s the other way around. The Retail disks include drivers and firmware for ALL macs, and the machine specific ones only include drivers & firmware for that machine. Thats why a Powerbook disk wont install on a G5 tower......