upgrade to os9

[Dan Sexton]

I have a Imac 266 with os8.6 and have found it to be very limiting. But can't seem to find an upgrade to os9 that is within my budget or is safe (not corrupt) any ideas?

[infinite-loop]

Found these on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Apple-OS9-iMac...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OS9-2-1-INSTAL...QQcmdZViewItem

[RacerX]

Originally Posted by Dan Sexton

I have a Imac 266 with os8.6 and have found it to be very limiting. But can't seem to find an upgrade to os9 that is within my budget or is safe (not corrupt) any ideas?

I have 4 systems (5 if you count Blue Box) running Mac OS 8.6. This isn't because I don't have Mac OS 9, it is just that 8.6 has always been far more stable an OS (for me) than Mac OS 9. The only system with a copy of Mac OS 9 on it is my iMac/350, and that is strictly for use in Classic in Mac OS X.

What limitations are you running into? There is a good chance that I've run across them myself (or with clients) and may have a solution for you.

If you are going to make the jump to Mac OS 9, I would highly suggest stopping at 9.1. Most of what Apple did in Mac OS 9 was to enhance Classic compatibility with Mac OS X while it was under development. The last of the true feature enhancements come with 9.1. Mac OS 9.2.x was strictly geared towards improving Classic in Mac OS X v10.1 and later.

Most apps that require Mac OS 9 actually require Carbon and not Mac OS 9 itself. Carbon was introduced in Mac OS 8.5, and the later versions of the Carbon libraries required 8.6 or later. I'm able to run tons of Carbon apps in 8.6 without any issues (even apps that say they required Mac OS 9). I even run iTunes 1.0 in 8.6 (it required a hack to get it to use 8.6, but functionally it works exactly the same as in 9).

[fryke]

I guess the limits might rather just be "classic Mac OS" related. The Mac OS - even in later versions like 9.1 or 9.2 - never got around to solve the real problems it had, in my opinion. That's where Mac OS X took over (with its own share of shortcomings, of course, and some important features from classic Mac OS missing).
But I, too, would say to state those limitations. Some might be solved with 3rd party software, others might be at least explained well - if they can't be solved.

[Natobasso]

Definitely don't upgrade past 9.1 to 9.2.2 because it is specifically designed to work as Classic in OS X, as RacerX pointed out.