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Which OS X on powerbook?

M

markobb

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2013
18
0
I have os x 10.5.8 on g4, want to make a fresh install of os x 10.5.5 (dvd from macbook pro 15") and it says in setup that OS cannot be instaled on this computer.

I have os x cd 10.4.8 and it throw out krnel panic.

Can somebody tell me why i get that problem? As i know on powerbook g4 can be instaled anything till os x 10.5.8

So why g4 wont let mac os 10.4.8 or 10.5.5 be instaled on it?

I also would like to install os x with minimal preferences, that g4 can run faster, is it the ,ac os 10.4.8 the lowest for it?
 
I would venture to say that the disc that you have is most likely made ONLY for the macbook pro and the 10.4.8 also likely came with another machine and that certain model is the only one that it works on because if apple let the disc that came in the box of all there equipment install on every mac then they would have had a hard time selling retail versions of Tiger and Leopard which were big sellers.You will need to get a RETAIL disc of leopard that can be installed on all models that allow the os.If the 10.4.8 defiantly came with your powerbook I have no clue why you get the kernel panic.Im sure someone on here can help you,the powerpc forums are a lot kinder than most of the other forums.
 
You have a couple of options here. Like Intell said, if you have the MacBook, you can target disk mode the PowerBook and use it as the install destination. If you do not, then you must get a new disk. You want a retail disk or a restore disk for your model. Retail disks may be found on eBay or Amazon, where as restore media can be purchased from AppleCare. I do not recommend trying to modify your existing set of disks.
 
Don't try the gray OS X Leopard install disks. The reason is, they came with a machine running Leopard, which was released in late 2007, almost 3 years after PowerPC was discontinued by Apple. Therefore, the latest gray disks you can buy for PowerPC will have 10.4 Tiger. Any gray disks with 10.5 Leopard will be Intel only. There are no Leopard gray disks that will work on PPC.

The Macbook will only have Intel binaries stored on its disks. That is why it won't let you install Leopard from these disks, as your computer is a PowerPC, not Intel. Leopard disks can be bought as cheap as $60 on eBay, and up to $70-$250 on Amazon. Pretty pricey. I would get in touch with AppleCare and ask if they can send you replacement Leopard disks, which will be white. They will work on your PB.
 
jrsx said:
Don't try the gray OS X Leopard install disks. The reason is, they came with a machine running Leopard, which was released in late 2007, almost 3 years after PowerPC was discontinued by Apple. Therefore, the latest gray disks you can buy for PowerPC will have 10.4 Tiger. Any gray disks with 10.5 Leopard will be Intel only. There are no Leopard gray disks that will work on PPC.

The Macbook will only have Intel binaries stored on its disks. That is why it won't let you install Leopard from these disks, as your computer is a PowerPC, not Intel. Leopard disks can be bought as cheap as $60 on eBay, and up to $70-$250 on Amazon. Pretty pricey. I would get in touch with AppleCare and ask if they can send you replacement Leopard disks, which will be white. They will work on your PB.
Click to expand...

Leopard restore discs made for an Intell Mac contain an entirely universal installation of Leopard. It is very easy to put a PowerPC Mac into Target Disc Mode and install Leopard from an Intell Mac's restore discs. The hardest part will be tricking the Installer into letting you install it onto an AMP formatted drive. Once you've got it installed and the drive is AMP formatted, it'll boot on any G4 or G5 machine without a problem. The same goes for the iLife reinstallation discs that come with Intell Macs up to iLife 2009, the last version of iLife that runs on PowerPC Macs.
 
Intell said:
Leopard restore discs made for an Intell Mac contain an entirely universal installation of Leopard. It is very easy to put a PowerPC Mac into Target Disc Mode and install Leopard from an Intell Mac's restore discs. The hardest part will be tricking the Installer into letting you install it onto an AMP formatted drive. Once you've got it installed and the drive is AMP formatted, it'll boot on any G4 or G5 machine without a problem. The same goes for the iLife reinstallation discs that come with Intell Macs up to iLife 2009, the last version of iLife that runs on PowerPC Macs.
Click to expand...

Now this is something I've never heard...I heard that all gray disks that came with Intel Macs only had Intel binaries to slim down the installer. Thanks for the info!
 
I have 10.4.8 from MBP 17 2008 and 10.5.5 from MBP 15 2009.

So i need retail disc of Tiger? Is it Tiger lot less demanding for G4 of Leopard, couse ill rather have faster G4 that a newest OS X on it.

OK G4 is power pc and not Intel, so how come that i have instaled 10.5.8 on it?

Yes i want to install fresh copy on G4.

Yes i have MBP15 wich came with OS X 10.5.5 but i dont have experiance with target disk mode an so, maybe someone has step by step somewhere?

tnx for help
 
The Macbook's Tiger restore disc cannot be used with a PowerPC Mac. It only contain Intell code.
 
Based on my experience, Tiger is lighter in general atleast for single G4 and G5. I have owned many iBooks, PowerBooks and iMac G5's (with FX5200 card). With Dual G5 configurations I dunno if one can see noticeable difference.

Then again I still install Leopard most of the time, lowest end configuration I've had was overlock PM G4 DA (733 -> 867) with 512MB RAM, I can't remember which card it originally had but I did flash Radeon 8500 to work with the machine.
 
jrsx said:
How is it that the Leopard disks are completely universal then? I'm not sure I'm fully understanding you.
Click to expand...

I think the retail discs are universal, but the machine specific (grey) restore ones are dependent on the architecture of the Mac they are designed for.

Cheers :)

Hugh
 
jrsx said:
How is it that the Leopard disks are completely universal then? I'm not sure I'm fully understanding you.
Click to expand...

Because Tiger was never released as a universal disc. There was always only a PowerPC Tiger disc or Intell Tiger disc. Only retail Tiger Server was ever universal, except for the Tiger Server that came as a restore disc.

Hughmac said:
I think the retail discs are universal, but the machine specific (grey) restore ones are dependent on the architecture of the Mac they are designed for.

Cheers :)

Hugh
Click to expand...

Leopard restore discs contain the same code for both CPU architectures. The only thing that prevents installation on a PowerPC Mac when using a restore disc is a few lines of text in the Installer file that checks for machine compatibility. Once that is bypassed, it'll install just fine and work exactly like a retail disc.
 
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