Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: We Make DIY Upgrading Easy! Maximize your Apple MacBook / MacBook Pro. Up to 8.0GB Memory, up to 1.0TB HD & More. Easy Guide + Free, Detailed Installation Videos. Click here

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Musings

Forward into the Past: Finding Older Software for Macs

Dan Knight - 2008.03.12 - Tip Jar

del.icio.us Bookmark in del.icio.us

Sometimes you have to go backwards to move forward.

In this case, moving forward means having a bootable version of Mac OS 9.2.2 on my dual 1 GHz Power Mac G4. I have a version of 9.2.2 installed that works just fine for Classic Mode, but it won't let me boot the computer natively.

I sent an email to Bill, the guy I bought this Power Mac from when he upgraded to a G5, wondering if he might still have the original installer discs that came with the computer. Over the weekend, his wife dropped them off, and this morning I spent several hours installing software.

I found that I couldn't run Software Restore under Tiger, and Mac OS X 10.4.11 was the only bootable OS I had on this computer. So the next step was installing Mac OS X 10.2, the version that shipped with with this computer, to a partition that didn't have a bootable system. That took some time.

Next step: Boot into Jaguar, install Software Restore, and "restore" all the apps, Mac OS 9.2.2, and other stuff that was on the four Software Restore CDs. It took a while, as the computer locked up a couple of times during the process. But eventually I had everything installed.

For good measure, I next ran Software Update to get to OS X 10.2.8, rebooted, and ran yet another round of updates. The whole process took most of the morning, but now I can boot into Mac OS 9 if and when I need to.

There's a bit of frustration there, as I use a Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard, and Logitech doesn't have drivers for the Classic Mac OS - or if they do, I can't find them. Likewise, I've run into a brick wall finding a version of the Logitech Control Center (LCC) software that will install under Jaguar. Versions 2.2.2 and 2.4 claim to be compatible, but neither will install.

Working Toward a Solution

I've been thinking for some time that we need a software version guide on Low End Mac for those using older versions of the Mac OS and those who want to buy older versions of software to use with their current setup. For instance, what version of LCC can be installed under 10.2? How much RAM does Photoshop 1.0 require, and what versions of the Mac OS does it work with? Where can I download or update my version of Internet Explorer? What's the oldest version of Dreamweaver that's OS X native? Are there versions to avoid?

I'm looking for researchers. If you'd like to help with the project, please email . Thanks! LEM

Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986, sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Mac Musings

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.