OS 9 support within OS X 10.4

[snmitch]

Sorry guys - a real neophyte question. Can someone point me to material that would explain how to get OS 9 support installed and working in OS X 10.

The system I am using has a brand new 10.4 install on a brand new disk, but wholly a third of the software that is licensed for this system (without having to buy upgrades) is for for OS9.

Also - my thought was to not add OS9 support; that it would polute the purity and stability of my nice clean OS X install. Comments from experts appreciated..

SNMITCH

 

[MisterMe]

If your software requires MacOS 9 then you have to install the Classic environment. Doing so will not hurt your system in any way. You can find an installer for Classic on the DVD that shipped with your computer. I do, however, recommend that you upgrade your software to MacOS X versions where available. If your application has no MacOS X version, you should explore MacOS X-compatible alternatives. In the meantime, you may find that Classic runs your MacOS 9 software better than if your computer were booted into MacOS 9.

 

[nixgeek]

If you are using the official retail version of the Mac OS X installation discs, they will not include Mac OS 9. You would have to purchase the retail version of Mac OS 9 and have it installed using those discs.

However, if you have a Mac that came shipped with OS X and has the restore CDs (usually grey discs that is specific to that Mac), there should be another disc that adds OS 9 support. All it does is install a working OS 9 System Folder so that the Classic environment can detect it and use for any Classic apps you might have.

As for using Classic mode, if you don't really need it I wouldn't bother since most applications are available for OS X nowadays. It's not like a few years ago where a lot of developers were still developing for OS 9 since OS X wasn't really "ready for prime time." However, if you have any applications that require the Classic environment and there is no replacement, then by all means use it. It does create a little more overhead, but with today's system capabilities it's not much of an issue. Most Macs come shipped with at least 512 MB which should be more than enough to run Classic within OS X (although more memory is always good ). Also, running Classic apps won't affect OS X at all. If Classic locks up, all you have to do is force quit classic and restart it. OS X will continue to chug along happily with no worries.