os9 -> Panther upgrade question

[hpeezy]

i'm going to be installing Panther on my sister's G4, currently running OS9.

first, my extremely general question is: what's the best way to do this?

my thoughts are that it would be much simpler, and less dangerous to have only the one operating system (Panther) installed. my sister is less than knowledgeable about computers and how to screw them up, and i was told that if OS9's still installed, it's possible she could go in by accident and mess with the system settings.

so i was told, do a "fresh install", make sure the drive's journaled and have just Panther installed. i have an external HD to backup and transfer all of her files, not a problem there.

but my other issue, is that i want to make sure that all of her files (photoshop and quark projects) work with the new OSX versions of the programs. and if not, she would need to stick with OS9 until that's sorted out (and i don't think she has or could find, the original cd's to reinstall her graphic programs in OS9)

so secondly: is there any way to install Panther alongside OS9, and then later remove only OS9??

i converted to macs only after OSX so i've never had to deal with any of these upgrade issues..

THANKS!

 

[MisterMe]

i'm going to be installing Panther on my sister's G4, currently running OS9.

first, my extremely general question is: what's the best way to do this?

my thoughts are that it would be much simpler, and less dangerous to have only the one operating system (Panther) installed. my sister is less than knowledgeable about computers and how to screw them up, and i was told that if OS9's still installed, it's possible she could go in by accident and mess with the system settings.

so i was told, do a "fresh install", make sure the drive's journaled and have just Panther installed. i have an external HD to backup and transfer all of her files, not a problem there.

but my other issue, is that i want to make sure that all of her files (photoshop and quark projects) work with the new OSX versions of the programs. and if not, she would need to stick with OS9 until that's sorted out (and i don't think she has or could find, the original cd's to reinstall her graphic programs in OS9)

so secondly: is there any way to install Panther alongside OS9, and then later remove only OS9??

i converted to macs only after OSX so i've never had to deal with any of these upgrade issues..

THANKS!

It is possible to do everything that you asked about. My suggestion is to do a thorough maintenance job on the G4, update MacOS 9 to MacOS 9.2.2, install MacOS X on top of it. If you currently have any Carbon apps installed, they will now open in MacOS X. Your old MacOS 9 fonts will be available to MacOS X as well. It is possible to screw-up MacOS X if you boot into MacOS 9. It is also possible to screw-up MacOS 9 if you boot into MacOS 9. It pays not to be stupid. There is really nothing to fear. To your last question, you may indeed remove MacOS 9 at a later date. My advice, however, is "Don't." MacOS 9 uses a few hundred megabytes of space. On most recent Macs, that impact is small compared to the inconvenience of reinstalling the OS when your critical app will run only in MacOS 9. Now there will be those who will advise you to do some kind of clean install or another. My experience is that it simply is not necessary. MacOS X administration is meant to be virtually transparent to the user. Keeping things simple will virtually guarantee that everything works as it should. It doesn't get any simpler than a regular upgrade.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Personally, I would do a complete clean install WITH Classic support.
You can always boot from that OS9 system folder if you want to.

Apply the 10.3.4 combo updater (10.3.5 is too flaky IMHO)
Reinstall your apps. If you can't find the disks, then simply copy them from your backup into the Applications OS9 folder & copy over any prefs or loose bits over.

You'll have no probs opening Photoshop 4-6 files from either 7 or CS.

Quark 6.1 is a complete nightmare. We run it at work.
Wait for the 6.5 update (due within the next couple of months)

To be honest, I prefer running Quark 5 in classic at home because I know I can get reliable PDFs from it with Distiller.

To run any graphics app with postscript fonts in classic, you'll still need ATM as a Control Panel.

Suitcase is HIGHLY recommended -- not Fontbook. Keep your fonts in one folder at root level of the drive. Suitcase can also manage system & classic fonts.

Finally, be prepared to spend some time over this.
And if you can max out the RAM, all the better...