Possible to downgrade from OSX to OS 9?

[SkyBell]

I have a 300 MHz Blueberry iBook with 192 MB of RAM (I think.) It runs 10.3.9....badly. It's not really worth using it because it's way too slow and unstable. I was thinking that reverting it back to its original OS would speed things up a bit. Plus, I've always wanted to try OS 9 for myself, I've heard it was a big improvement over OS 8. (Which was terrible, IMO.) But I don't know if it's possible. It sounds pretty straightforward to me, but I just want to be sure there wouldn't be any issues with it.

If so, I do have a question about OS 9: How hard is it to get connected to the internet? I remember OS 8 being an absolute nightmare at it, is OS 9 any better?

 

[ddeadserious]

Unfortunately, running the internet on anything older than OSX will suck simply because you'll have a hard time finding a browser that will load/render everything correctly. You can upgrade the RAM in the iBook to make it more usable, but the reality is simply that it's an extremely outdated computer with very low specs.

 

[SkyBell]

Unfortunately, running the internet on anything older than OSX will suck simply because you'll have a hard time finding a browser that will load/render everything correctly. You can upgrade the RAM in the iBook to make it more usable, but the reality is simply that it's an extremely outdated computer with very low specs.

Well, I'm expecting browsing troubles. It actually does OK with rendering sites and the like in OS X right now. But my question is about connecting to the internet. OS X basically detects everything for you, you don't have to put any info in for it to work. And I remember OS 8 being the exact opposite, with you having to put in every little detail for yourself. I'm asking if OS 9 is more like OS 8 in that regard, or more like OS X.

 

[Creative One]

Well, I'm expecting browsing troubles. It actually does OK with rendering sites and the like in OS X right now. But my question is about connecting to the internet. OS X basically detects everything for you, you don't have to put any info in for it to work. And I remember OS 8 being the exact opposite, with you having to put in every little detail for yourself. I'm asking if OS 9 is more like OS 8 in that regard, or more like OS X.

Simple :

Airport - OS 10 like
Ethernet - OS 8 like...



its a pain getting an iMac G3 on the internet on OS 9

 

[Hrududu]

Well, I'm expecting browsing troubles. It actually does OK with rendering sites and the like in OS X right now. But my question is about connecting to the internet. OS X basically detects everything for you, you don't have to put any info in for it to work. And I remember OS 8 being the exact opposite, with you having to put in every little detail for yourself. I'm asking if OS 9 is more like OS 8 in that regard, or more like OS X.

Mac OS 9 was built to be an internet OS. I run it on my Powerbook G3 with the last build of Mozilla and simple browsing is still doable. Alas, I don't have an actual Airport card in it, but a PCMCIA card and its pretty maintenance free. For the very short time I ran OS 9 on my clamshell iBook, using the built in Airport was cake. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[jodelli]

In OS 9.2.1, bringing up the Apple Menu on the left there should be a clickable Airport icon that leads to its settings.
In the same Apple Menu further down is Control Panels, and near the bottom of this is TCP/IP. This brings up a window similar to the OS X System Preferences>Network settings where you will have an option to use DHCP.

It worked fairly well actually.

 

[Consultant]

Yes of course you can erase the drive and install OS9, as long as it's supported by the machine.

However, perhaps 10.2 would work better on that.

 

[Theclamshell]

i have a 266 mhz pismo g3 on os9 and it was easy, i just plugged in ethernet

 

[SkyBell]

Yes of course you can erase the drive and install OS9, as long as it's supported by the machine.

However, perhaps 10.2 would work better on that.

You think so? I always heard 10.2 was a bit on the unstable side. If so...would it be feasible to dual boot OS 9 and 10.2 on a 3 GB HDD? I don't plan on adding a lot of files to either install, but a little extra space after both are on there would be nice.

 

[Hrududu]

Yes of course you can erase the drive and install OS9, as long as it's supported by the machine.

However, perhaps 10.2 would work better on that.

I can't think of ANY situation in which I would choose to run 10.2 over 10.3. Jaguar EASILY tops my list as the worst version of Mac OS in history. Granted, I never ran OS 10.0 or 10.1 full time on my main machine, but I can definitely remember Jag being SLOW and crashing all the time. If you're going to run OSX at all, 10.3 would be a minimum.

 

[DoFoT9]

its a pain getting an iMac G3 on the internet on OS 9

no it isnt

You think so? I always heard 10.2 was a bit on the unstable side. If so...would it be feasible to dual boot OS 9 and 10.2 on a 3 GB HDD? I don't plan on adding a lot of files to either install, but a little extra space after both are on there would be nice.

eh that would be pushing it a tad!! it would work fine but

and aer you kidding me!!??!?! your the PPC girl and you have NEVER used OS9.... tsktsktsk im dissapointed!

id give it a try!! cant hurt.

 

[Rodus]

There can be issues if you've updated the firmware to run OS X, often then you can't downgrade again. Try running Tiger (10.4) instead of Leopard, it's actually faster in many areas as it's better optimized.
9 isn't great online nowadays but if you are determined to do it then iCab and especially Classila are the 2 browsers to use.
And beef up the RAM, 192 megs, even with OS 9, is really not enough, no wonder OS X is chugging on your machine.

 

[SuperJudge]

Try running Tiger (10.4) instead of Leopard, it's actually faster in many areas as it's better optimized.

Just be sure to disable Dashboard and Spotlight!

 

[dmmcintyre3]

Just be sure to disable Dashboard and Spotlight!

Spotlight I could not live without but dashboard has not been loaded yet and my uptime is 2 days. Would disabling dashboard make that much of a difference on a 1.67 GHz PowerBook G4?

PS: I love OS 9 for some things (like it's ability to run fine with 128 MB RAM) I got into Macs in 2004 (10.3 days) and I have used OS 9

Internet: just plug in an ethernet cable and make sure it is set to DHCP and it will be fine. AirPort I have never used on OS 9 on my computer. My OS 9 machines were desktops (or screenless laptops that had all good parts removed [had 128 MB RAM and no HD][That expensive AirPort card was missing]) but I do remember seeing the internet sharing screen and it was basically a software 802.11b router. You could set port forwarding on it. Now where is that setting on OS X?

your the PPC girl and you have NEVER used OS9.... tsktsktsk im dissapointed!

I'm the PPC Boy on here. Born in 94 and have used System 1 with finder 1 (or whatever the first version was). Have had 86k's and PPC's. Never had an Intel Mac in my house in my life. Closest an intel Mac has come to my house is a Core Duo MacBook in my driveway.

Used:

• s1w/f1
• 6
• 7.1
• 7.6
• 8.6
• 9.0 (on 16 MB RAM)
• 9.2.2
• 10.2 (on a G3 desktop beige in 2006[My first OS X Mac])(But I should have hackintoshed my Dell)
• 10.3
• 10.4
• 10.5

 

[SuperJudge]

Spotlight I could not live without but dashboard has not been loaded yet and my uptime is 2 days. Would disabling dashboard make that much of a difference on a 1.67 GHz PowerBook G4?

That advice is pretty much specifically for the bottom end of officially supported Tiger machines, i.e. anything with a G3 proc that's less than 500MHz or so.

Sure, you can keep Spotlight because things will probably be fine once the main index is built, but you can almost forget about Dashboard for anything without a G4 because it's heavily optimized for AGP (or better) graphics and Altivec. For you? I doubt you'd have any problems with Dashboard so long as RAM isn't an issue, because I know that video card on a 1.67GHz PB wouldn't be a problem at all. Hell, I ran it all the time on my 1.5GHz G4 PowerBook without any detriment to the overall performance whatsoever.

 

[DoFoT9]

I'm the PPC Boy on here. Born in 94 and have used System 1 with finder 1 (or whatever the first version was). Have had 86k's and PPC's. Never had an Intel Mac in my house in my life. Closest an intel Mac has come to my house is a Core Duo MacBook in my driveway.

Used:

• s1w/f1
• 6
• 7.1
• 7.6
• 8.6
• 9.0 (on 16 MB RAM)
• 9.2.2
• 10.2 (on a G3 desktop beige in 2006[My first OS X Mac])(But I should have hackintoshed my Dell)
• 10.3
• 10.4
• 10.5

nice list, i have used a multitude of those operating systems aswell, however i havent come across System 1, only System 4.

i have a whole bunch of emulators that i can run, finder 4, OS8 and OS9. i havent used system7 for a while.. i dont think i have the disk of it either..everything since 8 i have used heaps.

 

[SkyBell]

There can be issues if you've updated the firmware to run OS X, often then you can't downgrade again.

Really? Would there be a way to downgrade the firmware then?

Try running Tiger (10.4) instead of Leopard, it's actually faster in many areas as it's better optimized.

Tiger would be suicide on this thing, much less leopard.

I can't think of ANY situation in which I would choose to run 10.2 over 10.3. Jaguar EASILY tops my list as the worst version of Mac OS in history. Granted, I never ran OS 10.0 or 10.1 full time on my main machine, but I can definitely remember Jag being SLOW and crashing all the time. If you're going to run OSX at all, 10.3 would be a minimum.

It is running 10.3 right now, but it doesn't handle it well. I plan to get it back to OS 9 if I can.

and aer you kidding me!!??!?! your the PPC girl and you have NEVER used OS9.... tsktsktsk im dissapointed!

id give it a try!! cant hurt.

Funny thing is, OS 9 is pretty much the only Mac OS I've never used. I've used most versions of the "System" era, and OS8 and OS X, but never OS 9 for some reason.

 

[DoFoT9]

Really? Would there be a way to downgrade the firmware then?

id try reset the firmware first (by installing the default stuff, then upgrade to where you need to be)

Funny thing is, OS 9 is pretty much the only Mac OS I've never used. I've used most versions of the "System" era, and OS8 and OS X, but never OS 9 for some reason.

tsktsktsk, i love os9!!! i have it emulated and everything!!!!

 

[SkyBell]

id try reset the firmware first (by installing the default stuff, then upgrade to where you need to be)



tsktsktsk, i love os9!!! i have it emulated and everything!!!!

Alright, I think I found the command for resetting the firmware...so I do that first, then install OS 9? (I'm going to try it later tonight.)

 

[SkyBell]

Alrighty, got it dual booting OS 9.2.1 and OS X 10.3.9 with 1.13 GB to spare. Yay! Thanks for the help, guys!

 

[DoFoT9]

Alrighty, got it dual booting OS 9.2.1 and OS X 10.3.9 with 1.13 GB to spare. Yay! Thanks for the help, guys!

awsome!! great to hear! i have my original G3 booting with 9.2.1 and 10.2.9 i think it is, works a treat (put an 80GB HD in there from an old PC i found ). might turn it into a webserver or something.

goodluck with it!

 

[SkyBell]

awsome!! great to hear! i have my original G3 booting with 9.2.1 and 10.2.9 i think it is, works a treat (put an 80GB HD in there from an old PC i found ). might turn it into a webserver or something.

goodluck with it!

Haha, thanks. Making this post from it right now...it's a tad slow with the rendering of web pages and whatnot, but that's to be expected I suppose. The OS itself is nice and quick. (A thousand times better then OS 8...*shudder*)

 

[DoFoT9]

Haha, thanks. Making this post from it right now...it's a tad slow with the rendering of web pages and whatnot, but that's to be expected I suppose. The OS itself is nice and quick. (A thousand times better then OS 8...*shudder*)

i have some of my best memories on OS8, playing Sim City 2000, Space Junkie and Lemmings on the 100mb HD.. used to have SO much fun.

 

[DZ/015]

Come on, OS 8.6 kicked a**. OS 9 was a resource hog by comparison. Try running OS 9 with only 64MB of ram. I dare you.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

tsktsktsk, i love os9!!! i have it emulated and everything!!!!

Mac OS 9 is probably the best operating system Apple has yet made - it works and there's no useless toys and fancy features slowing it down. I'm still using Mac OS 9 everyday on a 266MHz beige G3 mini-tower. I use it to run my own business, that includes using an older version of InDesign, etc. Believe me, it runs a lot faster than many of the iMacs I use elsewhere running Mac OS X ... including brand new aluminum iMacs with Mac OS X 10.5 and the previous version of InDesign.

The only real problem is that at the moment is my useless so-called Internet Service Provider made changes to their servers and I can no longer even connect to the Internet (it simply won't authenticate the Mac OS 9 dial-up connection at their end) and they refuse to fix it, so I'm stuck using this hopless old Windows machine to get my emails.