OS 9 on a Power Mac 6200

[theCaptain]

I am trying to install 0S 9 on a 6230 series Power Mac from and iMac DV Software CD. I boot from the Cd and Try to install, but whenever i try to open the installer I get a message saying that "this program will not run on this machine." I know for a fact that this machine is compatible with OS 9 [its in the documentation]. Is the Install CD actually able to recognize that the machine I want to install OS 9 on is not an iMac.

[endian]

Yes - the install disks that Apple's been shipping with hardware lately are only for that particular model. You'd need a 'generic' OS9 disk to install on a 6200.

Not sure if you'd want to though, 9 will probably be slow on it

[theCaptain]

Thanks for the info. I figured it would be slow. I just love upgrading things and the fact that I can put iTunes on this machine is really cool. Also in a couple of weeks I can update to 9.2.1.

[theCaptain]

Nevermind about iTunes, it requires USB macs.

[Natester]

Actually - it's not that iTunes requires USB Macs, it's just that it will be extremely slow. In fact, iTunes on that machine will likely be too slow to use at all. I've tried it, I know. iTunes on a machine of that age crashes for every little thing, it won't allow you to stop in the middle of a playlist even. It's only possible use is CD ripping, and listening to the internet radio. Other than that - don't bother. Use QuickTime, or find another, more compatible MP3 player.

I know it's great to be able to continue to upgrade software on machines like that, but it's really not worth it. It was amazing to see what I was able to load on my Power Mac 5200 before I was finally able to buy a new machine, but now, I keep it around with its original software, and it's actually useable. It's just faster and easier to try and keep older machines to System 7.5, only 8.1 if it's absolutely necessary.

[theCaptain]

Well, I actually did it. I used the iMac restore CD. I simply opened the CD image and dragged all the files needed onto the 6230's hd. Then I upgraded to 9.1 and believe it or not the speed is pretty good. Much better than you would expect from such an ancient piece of crap. The fact that I have 64mb in there is probably helping a great deal. Now I can be sure that when I install programs it will give me the PowerPC native versions, Before it would install 68k versions a lot of the time [an example of this would be DAVE]

[scope]

I installed 9.0 on an old 6100/60 and although its mind numbingly slow, I only use it to stream MP3's to my G4 and save hard drive space.