Is OSX Server right for my ibook?

LNNKLVR · #1 January 8th, 2009, 08:51 PM

i have an ibook power pc g4, OSX 10.3.9. i received an ipod nano (4th generation...newest one) for christmas and am unable to install itunes 8 without upgrading my operating system to tiger 10.4. i was told by my local mac store to buy the black disks from ebay to upgrade. i found some black disks, purchased them and just received them today. i may have made a mistake and am just wondering if i can make these disks work, or if i have to purchase something new.

the disks i have are NEW PowerPC 10 CLIENT MAC OS X 10.4.3 Tiger Server. Can anyone tell me if these are the right disks? and if not, which ones do i need? also, if these are the correct disks, how do i go about installing? i'm afraid i'll erase all my photos and music.

icemanjc · #2 January 9th, 2009, 12:05 AM

Looks like you hit the gold mine or close if you got it cheap. Mac OS X Server is pretty much plain Mac OS X with server applications that allow you to manage a server such as running your own web server and pretty much do a lot of stuff that Mac OS X can't do to keep it short.

So you'll be fine with Mac OS X Server, you'll just have applications you don't need. As long as you ignore those apps, you should be fine.

I'm surprised they told you to buy discs off of ebay, I would of thought they would try to sell you one.

LNNKLVR · #3 January 9th, 2009, 08:21 AM

Yeah, they don't have any discs in stock and can't order them because they said mac no longer makes them since leopard came out. i did get them for a pretty good price. now if only i can figure out how to install them...

**Giaguara** · #4 January 9th, 2009, 08:41 AM

The same way you'd install OS X (and then just add the serial later)

Make sure you enough free space on your hard drive, and a backup of everything you have on your hard drive, run disk utility to make sure the disk is fine, and then pop in disc 1, and hold down C to boot to the disc at startup (or select restart from menu). Select install type - if you keep everything, do 'upgrade' -- even wiht this, you want to make sure you have a backup of your drive. Other option would be to go with clean install (or archive & install, storing all previous system in a different folder but this will take some extra space on the drive).
After install is complete, the server will ask to restart, and you will then be asked to insert the serial number that is on the CD sleeve. Don't enable any services in the server setup assistant as you don't need them - and once you are logged in, set up your Mac as you wish.