Subject: Re: slightly Off-Topic: MacOS upgrade 8.5 to ???
From: Gordon Neault (gordo-x@shaw.ca)
Date: Wed Dec 26 2001 - 11:14:15 MST
On Wednesday, December 26, 2001, at 09:09 AM, Bob Patton wrote:
> I currently have YDL 2.0 and Mac OS 8.5 on a beige G3
> with 352 MB but only a 6GB hard drive. One of my kids
> new games needs at least Mac OS 8.6. I would like to
> get this game working with the least effort possible -
> I really don't want to have to do a clean install with
> all the backups and restores and I especially do not
> want to mess up the YDL side.
>
> Should I just upgrade to 8.6 or should I go for
> 9.something?
Only consider upgrading to OSX/OS9; otherwise don't bother.
>
> Is the best way to do such an upgrade to get CDs from
> Apple or can I download the 34MB file which I found
> for the 8.6 upgrade and do it locally?
Download and run the installer, it should be painless. Under no
circumstances should you pay for CDs if you already have 8.5.
>
> Given my smallish hard drive and slowish processor
> (266MHz I believe) I am under the impression that
> upgrading to Mac OS X would not be advisable. Is this
> correct?
Personally I am a big fan of OSX and OS9. Having said that, don't
upgrade without a need. Most performance issues with OSX are due more to
a small RAM configuration rather than a "slow" processor. At 352MB you
are either at or above the sweet spot; I really don't see a problem
here. You will of course want 10.1.2 but that''s easily upgradable from
10.0.4. At around 256MB or less, OSX begins accessing swap rather
heavily and that is where performance issues come into play.
> Would it mess up the Linux install if I did?
Provided you don't reformat, Linux should be fine with some
configuration of boot. In my opinion you should wait until you can pick
up another IDE drive and install OSX/OS9 on separate partitions there
(make it master and linux slave). I have a pretty thick application set
and both OS's have 12GB partitions with about 60% free.
> Would any of my Mac software stop working on OS X?
No, because with 2 partitions you can easily boot into OS9 alone; that
will take care of the few apps that don't like Classic mode. Your bigger
problem might be apps that don't like OS9 vs OS8x; I see more potential
for incompatibility here. Having said that, most apps can be easily
upgraded to work (and usually without paying extra- the exceptions would
be things like older games and HD optimizers).
Q. Do you want to spend anything? A: No- just run the OS8.6 upgrader
Yes: I would say you're looking at about $200 for a drive and OSX.
> Any assistance/opinions are much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bob Patton
>
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