OS X on 8500 upgraded

[Vorpal Chortler]

I'd appreciate comments about how well Jaguar/Panther might run on This
Old Mac...

setup:

8500/120 with Powerlogix G3/350/512k card running 9.2.2 stably at
400mhz/160mhz backside

ATI XClaim VR128 card

9.1GB IBM Ultrastar and 18.3GB Quantum Atlas V both on original narrow
internal SCSI

448MB RAM

[R. Lynn Rardin]

In article <vorpal-7591D1.17460713072003@netnews.attbi.com>, Vorpal
Chortler <vorpal@hotpop.com.invalid> wrote:

> I'd appreciate comments about how well Jaguar/Panther might run on This
> Old Mac...
>
> setup:
>
> 8500/120 with Powerlogix G3/350/512k card running 9.2.2 stably at
> 400mhz/160mhz backside
>
> ATI XClaim VR128 card
>
> 9.1GB IBM Ultrastar and 18.3GB Quantum Atlas V both on original narrow
> internal SCSI
>
> 448MB RAM

I haven't personally had much luck getting OS X to install on
drives (including a 9.1 GB Ultrastar) hanging off of the internal
SCSI buses of PM 7300s, 8500s or 8600s. Seems to work ok, however,
if I install on an external drive or on an internal IDE drive hanging
off of a PCI IDE controller.

--
-Lynn (rardin@orion.rose.brandeis.edu)

[Phil Lefebvre]

In article <vorpal-7591D1.17460713072003@netnews.attbi.com>,
Vorpal Chortler <vorpal@hotpop.com.invalid> wrote:

> I'd appreciate comments about how well Jaguar/Panther might run on This
> Old Mac...
>
> setup:
>
> 8500/120 with Powerlogix G3/350/512k card running 9.2.2 stably at
> 400mhz/160mhz backside
>
> ATI XClaim VR128 card
>
> 9.1GB IBM Ultrastar and 18.3GB Quantum Atlas V both on original narrow
> internal SCSI
>
> 448MB RAM

In my case I've had fine luck installing OS X 10.2 on internal SCSI
drives on my 7500 and 8500, including a 9.1 GB IBM UltraStar.

My 8500 was upgraded with 640 MB RAM, a G4/450, Radeon 7000, and I found
the performance perfectly useable for a single task, but it bogged down
trying to do too much. Installing OS X on a 7200 rpm IDE drive on a IDE
PCI card made it a bit snappier, but nothing can overcome that weak 50
MHz memory bus. A Jaguar _needs_ at least a 100 MHz bus to truely run
free.

--
Chicago, IL
Remove "GO" to reply.

[Bill B. Johnson]

In article <vorpal-7591D1.17460713072003@netnews.attbi.com>, Vorpal
Chortler <vorpal@hotpop.com.invalid> wrote:

> I'd appreciate comments about how well Jaguar/Panther might run on This
> Old Mac...
>
> setup:
>
> 8500/120 with Powerlogix G3/350/512k card running 9.2.2 stably at
> 400mhz/160mhz backside
>
> ATI XClaim VR128 card
>
> 9.1GB IBM Ultrastar and 18.3GB Quantum Atlas V both on original narrow
> internal SCSI
>
> 448MB RAM

I have seen posts from people indicating that OS X due to its huge size
compared to OS 9 runs fairly slow on old macs such as the 8500 with G3
upgrade cards. It also requires lots and lots of RAM and Disk Space but
you this might not be a problem in your case. I would not try it but you
might be brave so the decision is up to you.

[Jim]

In article <vorpal-7591D1.17460713072003@netnews.attbi.com>,
Vorpal Chortler <vorpal@hotpop.com.invalid> wrote:

> I'd appreciate comments about how well Jaguar/Panther might run on This
> Old Mac...
>
> setup:
>
> 8500/120 with Powerlogix G3/350/512k card running 9.2.2 stably at
> 400mhz/160mhz backside
>
> ATI XClaim VR128 card
>
> 9.1GB IBM Ultrastar and 18.3GB Quantum Atlas V both on original narrow
> internal SCSI
>
> 448MB RAM

It will run OK, assuming you just want to check it out and/or play with
it. For real, everyday use you may find it slow.

However, I personally have run it on much less hardware than that. I
ran 10.0 thru 10.1.5 on a Umax S900 (PM 9500 clone) with the original
200 mhz 604e CPU and an ix3D ultimate rez 8 meg video card! Granted,
I had lots of RAM, but it was just barely useable.

I now have a Sonnet G4/450 CPU and an ATI Radeon 7000 32 meg video card.
OS X is much better since these additions.

Jim

[David]

In article <140720031414057069%rardin@orion.rose.brandeis.edu >, R. Lynn
Rardin <rardin@orion.rose.brandeis.edu> wrote:

>
> I'd agree with that. Panther is reasonably useable on a couple of my
> machines (7300 and 8600) with Newer Tech MAXpowr G4/450 cards installed.
> But I think if I was using OS X every day on these machines, I'd
> probably have a pretty strong urge to upgrade to faster machines,
> based on my experiences with OS X on more recent machines.

Lynn,

I have that card in my 7600 and want to go to 10.2.6. What in
particular did you do to make that happen?

Thanks!

[R. Lynn Rardin]

In article <230720032026519541%not.me@nowhere.com>, David
<not.me@nowhere.com> wrote:

> In article <140720031414057069%rardin@orion.rose.brandeis.edu >, R. Lynn
> Rardin <rardin@orion.rose.brandeis.edu> wrote:
>

> > I'd agree with that. Panther is reasonably useable on a couple of my
> > machines (7300 and 8600) with Newer Tech MAXpowr G4/450 cards installed.
> > But I think if I was using OS X every day on these machines, I'd
> > probably have a pretty strong urge to upgrade to faster machines,
> > based on my experiences with OS X on more recent machines.

>
> I have that card in my 7600 and want to go to 10.2.6. What in
> particular did you do to make that happen?

I used Sonnet's PCI X Installer to install OS X. After the demise
of Newer Tech, they picked up OS X support for the Newer cards.
Although I haven't personally used it, XPostFacto should work, as
well (and it's free). As I've posted previously, I haven't had any
luck installing OS X on SCSI drives hanging off of the internal buses
in my 7300 and 8600. Works like a charm if the very same drives hangs
off of the external bus. If I install OS X on an external drive, then
hang that drive off of the internal bus (after properly terminating,
of course), the machine won't boot. I worked with Sonnet tech support
on this problem and was unable to come up with any solution. I tried
removing all other devices from the internal SCSI chain and even tried
hanging a terminator on the end of the internal SCSI cable instead of
using the built-in terminators in the drive(s), because Sonnet said
that OS X is very picky about SCSI termination. I've tried several
models and brands of drives. No go. Others have evidently gotten
OS X to install on similar configurations, though, so your mileage
may vary. I eventually installed a PCI IDE controller and IDE drive
in my 8600 and OS X installs fine on that. Aside from the internal
SCSI drive problem, I've had few problems installing and running
OS X (including 10.2.6) on my upgraded machines.

--
-Lynn (rardin@orion.rose.brandeis.edu)