Older Mac OS versions and older Macs

[maron]

Is there any advantage to using older versions of Mac OS
with older Macs? Obviously you can't use OSX with an old
8500/120, but (for example) would OS7 run noticeably
faster on it than OS9?

[Crucifyself03]

>Is there any advantage to using older versions of Mac OS

>with older Macs? Obviously you can't use OSX with an old
>8500/120, but (for example) would OS7 run noticeably
>faster on it than OS9?

Yes, but much software will not run in 7.x thee days. Good luck finding all
the 7.x software on the net.

7.x is also quite buggy and outdated.

[Bill]

Crucifyself03 wrote:

>

> >Is there any advantage to using older versions of Mac OS
> >with older Macs? Obviously you can't use OSX with an old
> >8500/120, but (for example) would OS7 run noticeably
> >faster on it than OS9?

>
> Yes, but much software will not run in 7.x thee days. Good luck finding all
> the 7.x software on the net.
>
> 7.x is also quite buggy and outdated.

Remember 7.5.2 which shipped with the first PCI Macs? You want to talk
about buggy; that OS and the subsequent updates until they got to 7.5.5
makes OS 10.2x look like heaven. I was ready to throw my 7200
(literally) out the window when an Apple update (7.5.3.867539 or
something like that) wiped out my ability to print to my Stylewriter
2400. My son had to actually stop me from tossing it.

Bill

[Peter KERR]

maron asked:

> Is there any advantage to using older versions of Mac OS
> with older Macs? Obviously you can't use OSX with an old
> 8500/120, but (for example) would OS7 run noticeably
> faster on it than OS9?

Simple rule of thumb (wait for the thousand contras...)

68k Mac - OS 7.1
NuBus Mac - OS 8.1
PCI Mac - OS 9.1

Note that there are min & max hardware limits for each OS,
and min & max OS limits for each machine.
The arguments on these should keep this thread going
far longer than it deserves...

[foo]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 02:07:08 -0400, maron <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:

>What about OS 8.1 then? Was that stable enough to use?
>What I have now is OS9.1 and it seems sluggish on
>this old computer.
>
>The alternative would be to upgrade to a faster processor,
>but I have no idea how to do that on a Mac.

Which Mac? Go to [url]www.macsales.com[/url], click on accellerators, plug in
your Mac model, and you can see exactly what's available.

[maron]

Bill wrote:

> Crucifyself03 wrote:
>

>>>Is there any advantage to using older versions of Mac OS
>>>with older Macs? Obviously you can't use OSX with an old
>>>8500/120, but (for example) would OS7 run noticeably
>>>faster on it than OS9?

>>
>>Yes, but much software will not run in 7.x thee days. Good luck finding all
>>the 7.x software on the net.
>>
>>7.x is also quite buggy and outdated.

>
>
> Remember 7.5.2 which shipped with the first PCI Macs? You want to talk
> about buggy; that OS and the subsequent updates until they got to 7.5.5
> makes OS 10.2x look like heaven. I was ready to throw my 7200
> (literally) out the window when an Apple update (7.5.3.867539 or
> something like that) wiped out my ability to print to my Stylewriter
> 2400. My son had to actually stop me from tossing it.
>
> Bill

What about OS 8.1 then? Was that stable enough to use?
What I have now is OS9.1 and it seems sluggish on
this old computer.

The alternative would be to upgrade to a faster processor,
but I have no idea how to do that on a Mac.

[Brian Carlin]

maron <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message news:<3F1B2431.807@nospam.com>...

> Is there any advantage to using older versions of Mac OS
> with older Macs?

Yes. Usually an older Mac works best with the OS that it came with,
originally. They were designed to work together. Of course I would
be tempted to upgrade to the latest OS that will work, because I'd
want certain features, such as AppleScript.

A database of old Macs, production dates, and the range of OS releases
that can be used with them are available at:
[url]http://lowendmac.com/[/url]

Scroll down and see the links on the right side to get to the Mac
models that interest you.

[Georg Schwarz]

maron <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:

> What about OS 8.1 then? Was that stable enough to use?

yes, it's rather stable; probably less stable than a UNIX system like OS
X though.

--
Georg Schwarz [url]http://home.pages.de/~schwarz/[/url]
[email]geos@epost.de[/email] +49 177 8811442

[foo]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 12:49:35 -0400, maron <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:

>foo wrote:

>> On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 02:07:08 -0400, maron <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
>>
>>

>>>What about OS 8.1 then? Was that stable enough to use?
>>>What I have now is OS9.1 and it seems sluggish on
>>>this old computer.
>>>
>>>The alternative would be to upgrade to a faster processor,
>>>but I have no idea how to do that on a Mac.

>>
>>
>> Which Mac? Go to [url]www.macsales.com[/url], click on accellerators, plug in
>> your Mac model, and you can see exactly what's available.

>
>Thanks for the link. That looks like just what I need.
>Am I going to need an extra case fan or a bigger power
>supply to go with it? Or would putting a 400 MHz upgrade
>in an 8500/120 not cause any problems?

In an 8500/120? You can load that thing up - no problems at all.

But I'd look into a used G4 before I put more money into that... a
used G4 might run $400 - $800 these days and would offer a
considerably better upgrade path and options, plus better graphics,
plus current-OS support.

[Ron or Midgie Bardo]

In <1fygomt.1gzj712i38ewwN@geos.net.eu.org> Georg Schwarz wrote:

> Peter KERR <user@host.domain> wrote:
>

>> 68k Mac - OS 7.1

>
> or 7.5.5 for the faster ones with adequate RAM.
>

>> NuBus Mac - OS 8.1

>
> I would ad the 601 PCI Macs here. With adequate RAM 8.6 might also be
> an option.
>

>> PCI Mac - OS 9.1

>
>

I would like to add that I ran OS 7.6.1 on a Performa 631CD with
20 MB RAM and was quite stable for me. A friend still has that old
beast of ours up and running.

Ron Bardo <rmbardo@chartermi.net>