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OS8.6 vs OSX
- Thread starter douglas
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If you want to upgrade to OS X you may consider buying new hardware. OS X is light years ahead of OS 8.x but as a consequence its cpu/memory hog. You will need at least > 800 mhz G4 and at least 512 MB Ram to feel at home. If you dont want /plan to upgrade from your existing specs then you re probably better off with 8.6 .
Get the base eMac in addition to your system. It's only 5 times the cost of Panther and it'll run it well, plus you'll get iLife and GarageBand, Appleworks, plus lots of other goodies. 1.25GHz G4 will make your 350MHz beast seem painfully slow, and it'll run Panther very very well.
350Mhz G4 too slow? No way.
Your model is either a Yosemite or a Sawtooth motherboard,
if it is a Yosemite motherboard then you can overclock it to 400Mhz
If it is a Sawtooth motherboard then you can overclock it to 465Mhz without problems in the Open Firmware.
I have an original Sawtooth 400Mhz model, overclocked and stable at 533MHz.
The only thing you'd really need for speed is a good enough graphics card (I have a Geforce 3 64Mb)
You can follow my instructions for a Sawtooth model at
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/25114/
Otherwise, for a yosemite machine:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3-ZONE/yosemite/OC.html
As long as you have at least 128Mb RAM then you will have a nice OS X machine.
Your model is either a Yosemite or a Sawtooth motherboard,
if it is a Yosemite motherboard then you can overclock it to 400Mhz
If it is a Sawtooth motherboard then you can overclock it to 465Mhz without problems in the Open Firmware.
I have an original Sawtooth 400Mhz model, overclocked and stable at 533MHz.
The only thing you'd really need for speed is a good enough graphics card (I have a Geforce 3 64Mb)
You can follow my instructions for a Sawtooth model at
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/25114/
Otherwise, for a yosemite machine:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3-ZONE/yosemite/OC.html
As long as you have at least 128Mb RAM then you will have a nice OS X machine.
You can tell whether it's a Yosemite or Sawtooth by opening the side and looking at the heat sink. A sawtooth's one is huge, whilst a yosemite one is pretty small (2.5 inches by 2.5 inches)
grabberslasher said:
128 is the BARE minimum. I can't stand having less than 512 MB. I would recommend as much RAM as you can fit in your box... it is the cheepest upgrade. But if you are going ultra-low RAM then make sure you keep 10-15% of your hard drive empty for virtual memory.
Gyroscope said:
800mhz? Please. I run Panther on 400 and 450mhz G4s and it's great. I also run it on a 333 G3 and it's fine. At work I have Jaguar on a 233 G3 and that's just barely okay--but sufficient for web/email/word processing use.
The minimum specs I personally think you need to run Panther is a G3 300 with 256 MB of RAM anyhting slower is painfully slow and anything over is fast enough
Well, i think panther would run just fine on your computer. The only problem i see you having is running classic. I hate classic so maybe i am the wrong person to give this advice, but classic will kill your computer. I think classic is a necessary evil, but you have to realize that to run old applications, you CPU has to process OSX+Classic+what ever app you are running in classic+anything else you have running at the same time. 350mhz is fine for panther. I would consider upgrading, because it will run a little slow on your computer, but you should be fine. You could look into just buying a new processor for it. GigaDesigns makes a 1Ghz for $270 and Panther supports it. Ram would help you as well. How big is your Hard Drive? I have a 400Mhz PowerMac G4 that i am currently upgrading. Specs are: 1Ghz GigaDesigns processor, 64Mb ATI Radeon 9000Pro, 120Gb Seagate HD, Sonnet Tempo ATA133 controller, Pioneer DVD-RW. This all is costing me less than $800. something to think about.
JasonElise1983 said:
Thanks for the advice. Given all that, I am wondering if it is worth upgrading to OSX since my software is Classic (upgading my CAD software would cost a few $K, with nominal benefit)? If I upgrade my processor to 1ghz, add ram, (my harddrive is 100gb), install OSX, will my software run any better?
Well yes actually. You have to realize that if you upgrade your processor, you will be running a processor 3 times faster than the one you are running. I didn't mean to say that Classic is bad, i used QuarkXpress 5 in Classic for a long time (before getting Quark 6, being dissapointed and switching to InDesign). I had font problems mostly. It is slower than OSX is though. I probably have worst experiences with it, because the last time i used it i was running a 500Mhz G3 iMac. OS X is Great. I recommend anyone upgrade. I'm actually trying to get my office to make the switch right now. No matter what you do, upgrading your hardware is a great solution. OSX panther is relatively cheap ($129), i suggest installing it with 0S 8.6 and just giving it a try. If you don't like it, sell it to someone. Just my two cents though.
Any G5 based system will likely provide a huge performance boost compared to a G4 based system. If the goal of upgrading the OS is to improve productivity then you should probably upgrade your hardware as well. You could keep your old system around for a while as you make the transition in case you run into any problems. It is an expensive option, but how much is your time worth to you?
Only one problem - the Classic environment requires Mac OS 9 or later; Mac OS 9.2.2 is recommended. Since you have Mac OS 8.6 installed on that Mac, if you do nothing other than install Mac OS X, the Classic environment won't be usable. The Classic environment has its advantages over booting into Mac OS 9 - if a Classic app crashes, taking down the whole Classic environment with it, Mac OS X won't crash - you can simply restart Classic, then restart the app you were using. You won't need to restart your computer just because of a badly-behaving Classic application. That is the primary advantage of Classic; other than that, your applications won't run any better under Classic than they did in Mac OS 8.6 (barring improvements in Mac OS 9 that affect how well your apps run).douglas said:
That is true also. You will need to upgrade to OS9 to use OSX. When you order OSX (or go buy it somewhere) you can also get an upgrade to OS9 for $19.95. (http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/questions/howto.html) I say Classic will work, and the Hardware improvements may actually improve your application speed. They for sure won't run any slower than what you are already running. So if you are happy with what you have, then you will be just as happy after upgrading. I say go for it, and don't look back.
-jason
-jason
douglas said:
OS X is SOO superior, it's not even funny. However, I would recommend you get a new system (new eMacs are great! - wait for a leftover or new refurb if you wish).
Classic with a 1.25 GHz G4 and 512 MB of RAM (the amount you should get) will crush OS 8.6 with a 350 MHz G4 and 128 MB RAM.