I've been thinking about picking up a PPC mini but am curious about how well OS 9 works on it with the OS9Lives disk. Is it usable to play OS 9 only games? Anything that doesn't work properly (sound, GPU acceleration, etc). Might be a better alternative to trying to fix my 2000 Powermac at this point.
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Questions about OS 9 on Mac Mini
- Thread starter retta283
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WiFi doesn't work, but AFAIK everything else is good. USB runs at 1.1 speeds, not 2.0. The Minis used a Radeon 9200, which is one of the better GPUs with OS 9 support.
The Mac Mini G4 is one of the best gaming setups for OS 9 hands down. Everything I threw at it I could max out, even very late OS 9 titles.
Just keep in mind the internal speaker does not work, you really need amplified speakers with their own volume for the setup to make sense as volume out of the 3.5 jack is at a fixed level.
Actually, OS 9 was more of a hack. Someone managed to make drivers for the Radeon 9200 inside the thing if I understand it right. Classic would be the traditional way to use it. But as it does work, that's why it's such a good native experience, it's among the most powerful Macs able to run it natively.
Which is all to say, it runs 10.4 just fine.
Some OS 9 games don't work at all via Classic mode unfortunately (Shadow Warrior is one) and need a real install.
I guess that OS9 Lives suggestion's are just a few machines, not a compatibility list. Of course Wikipedia's OS9 should be a start point but EveryMac OS9 (Boot/Classic Mode with or without *) can be helpful. I'm not experienced at all with OS9 compatibility and I would love to try some time next year.
I know that the FW800 MDDs and the original 12" PB are supported. iBook G4s older than the final 2005 gen also work but not as flawlessly.