Mac Musings

Forward into the Past: Finding Older Software for Macs

Dan Knight - 2008.03.12 - Tip Jar

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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.

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