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WARNING: If you use Guest accounts in Snow Leopard, a bug has been that wipes the guest account contents entirely. 10.6.2 resolves this issue according to Apple. It may related to an earlier 10.4 bug that I indicated below, about using the Migration Assistant between PowerPC and Intel Macs. Instead if you have done so, be sure to backup at least twice and if necessary, rename the Guest account something else and give it admin access until the issue has been resolved. You can also migrate from PowerPC to Intel Macs using the user tip on: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2295
Apple's migration to Mac OS X means that if you want to run Mac OS X as smoothly as possible, you'll want Mac OS X native applications and hardware. The migration to Mac OS X went in these stages:
1. Macs which could install Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 and boot into both, and use Classic in Mac OS X to have limited Mac OS 9 driver compatibility but the ability to run most Mac OS 9 applications. Macs of 1998 through 2002 pretty much fell in this stage.
2. Macs which could install Mac OS X, and use only the restore disks to install Mac OS 9 for use with the Classic environment. Macs from 2003 with few exceptions through 2005 fell in this stage.
3. Macs which could not install any form of Mac OS 9, short of a hack using the ROM chip from a Mac OS 9 capable machine, but comes with Mac OS X. This stage began January 2006, and ends October 25, 2007.
3.5 January 2006 Mac OS X 10.4.4's release on Intel Macs introduces a new third party code known as Rosetta. This allowed Apple to continue with Mac OS X, and PowerPC code under a new CPU architecture by Intel. As part of that transition, Apple also introduced Universal software code that ran both on Intel as native software, and on PowerPC natively, and Intel only code for Intel Mac Applications. Classic is not available on Intel Macs, but continues until stage 4 when 10.5 is released on PowerPC Macs. PowerPC Macs need to maintain 10.4.11 or earlier to have Classic compatibility, but could still boot into 9 to run Mac OS 9 natively if they supported it earlier.
4. Classic disappears under 10.5 (it still runs under 10.4.11 on PowerPC Macs). Starting October 26th, 2007 Apple's knowledgebase article 303137 has now announced the demise of Classic. Used and Refurbished Macs manufactured from the prior stages which don't have 10.5 installed will not change their capabilities unless 10.5 is installed. 1st stage Macs of 867 Mhz or greater are still be able to boot into Mac OS 9. 2nd stage Macs need 10.4.11 or less installed to use Classic. 3rd stage Macs are not affected by this issue. It is possible to have one 10.5 and one 10.4.11 or less partition on the same machine, or a separate Firewire hard drive on the same machine with 10.4.11 or less to be able to use Classic. Rosetta continues to be available for Intel Macs. Partitioning instructions are on Apple Article 61301
5. August 28, 2009, Apple introduces Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6. The first operating system totally divorced from PowerPC Mac hardware, however it is capable of still running PowerPC software like 10.5 to 10.5.8 was before it. Rosetta is an optional installer with 10.6. This means if you have a Mac Mini with only 2 USB ports on the rear (as opposed to 4 or 5), an iMac G5 or less (link helps you identify iMac G5s from Intels), a PowerMac G5 or less (The Mac Pro looks like , whereas the PowerMac G5 looks like ), a Powerbook or an iBook, you won't be able to use Snow Leopard, and will have to settle for Leopard or less. Also the Macs which are compatible must have a minimum of 1 GB of RAM (You can find this in Apple menu -> About This Mac. 512 MB, 540 MB, 640 MB, or 768 MB of RAM won't cut it) in order to install Snow Leopard.
6. July 20, 2011: Mac OS X Lion's release. Now not only is the operating system divorced from PowerPC hardware, but software as well. Rosetta may not be installed on Mac OS X 10.7, without virtualizing 10.6 Server. Macs released after this date will not run Mac OS X Snow Leopard or earlier natively, and thus can't run old PowerPC Mac OS X applications, without virtualizing 10.6 Server. It will only run on Core2Duo, Xeon, and Core i processors by Intel in Macs. This means if you have data that needs migrating from a PowerPC Mac to an Intel Mac, you need to find an intermediate format that works on both before upgrading. For more details about Lion, see my Upgrade FAQ details. See the Intel section of this tip for more about the software compatibility. For more on what this means, I wrote an extensive tip on Apple Support Communities.
Select 'About this Mac' from the Apple menu and click the More Info... button. Click 'ATA' in the left pane of System Profiler when it opens, and locate your hard drive in the right pane. Below the hard drive manufacturer's product or model number, you'll find several lines of information about the drive. One will be 'OS 9 Drivers'.
Able to boot into Mac OS 9 and use Classic ( Exceptions *) | Only able to use Classic in 10.4.11 and earlier ( Exceptions *). | Not able to use Classic or boot into Mac OS 9, but able to use Windows virtualization |
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iMac G4/800 Mhz Superdrive (not able to boot into 10.5) | The iMac G4/800 Mhz Combo drive model (only 867 Mhz and higher can boot into 10.5), and the faster iMacs through iMac G5 | iMac Early 2006 (using the Intel Core Duo) |
All eMacs that are 700 and 800 Mhz will boot Mac OS 9 (not able to boot into 10.5). 1 Ghz eMacs with the model # M8950LL/A (able to boot into 10.5) eMac 1 Ghz with no Superdrive released May 2003 and earlier (able to boot into 10.5) | 1 Ghz eMacs with the model # M8951LL/A, M9252LL/A, and M8951LL/B. 1.25 Ghz eMacs and faster eMacs | iMac ( mid-2006 Educational version) using Intel Core Duo |
iBook G3 (not able to boot into 10.5) | iBook G4 | MacBook |
Powerbook - Titanium 15' model (has ports behind the keyboard between the hinges in the back of the computer) (867 Mhz Mhz and higher with similar port description can boot into 10.5) | Powerbook G4s with side USB ports | MacBook Pro (using the Intel Core Duo) |
PowerMac G4 - 1 and 1.25 Ghz single and dual processor models with NO Firewire 800 (867 Mhz and higher of this description able to boot into 10.5) | PowerMac G4 One Ghz through 1.42 Ghz models with Firewire 800. See the image here to tell apart Firewire 400 from 800. The model # for these Macs were M8839LL/A, M8840LL/A, and M8841LL/A PowerMac G5 | MacPro - identifiable by two optical drive flaps (as opposed to one on the PowerMac G5s) and USB and Firewire ports on the front of the cheesegrater style case. |
Mac Mini (w/2 USB ports) not able to use 10.5 without a non-user upgradeable RAM to 512 MB or greater | Mac Mini Intel Core Solo and Duo (w/4 USB ports) |
Intel (Virtualization) and PowerPC (Emulator) Macs solutions Open Darwin's Darwine for PowerPC, and now a limited Intel Mac WINE solution on Mac OS X Hints iEmulator Q (QEMU) by Kberg | Intel Mac (virtualization) solutions Apple's Bootcamp (only available in Mac OS X 10.5 or later on Intel Macs) Integrated with Apple's operating system Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), and Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Allows you to use XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista on a dedicated boot volume on any Intel Mac. Previous beta versions of this program no longer seem to be available directly from Apple, and they may have expired by now. Other virtualization solutions on this page may have a Boot Camp converter if you choose not to install 10.5. Parallel's Workstation - a virtualization environment for 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, Me, 2000, NT, XP, 2003, any Linux distribution, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2, eComStation, or MS-DOS in secure virtual machines. Note, release build 1898 have a bug that limits your machine to 1.95 GB of RAM on machines with more than 2 GB of RAM. Contact the vendor if you have this bug and need help fixing it. Virtualbox - virtualization environment for various non-Apple operating systems CrossOver Mac Another WINE based solution being developed for Mac OS X. No Windows required to run Windows applications! WineBottler - a third WINE solution. DOSBox XP on Intel Mac - disk images to install XP on an Intel based Mac (no longer available) CAUTION! This type of installation could make your Mac inaccessible, if you don't know how to get out of potential issues outlined by Macworld. Note there may be certain license restrictions not mentioned on website. Check with Microsoft for details. VMWare | PowerPC only compatible (emulators) Lismore Systems GuestPC Microsoft VirtualPC |
Special thanks to Mrgreenbeans, an Apple Support Communities subscriber for the instructions below:1. Mount the disk image containing the HP scanner software.I was able to make my HP Scanjet 3970 work with Leopard. In addition, in the installer provided, there were scanner drivers for the HP Scanjet 2400, 3670, 3690, and 4070. You can find the directions on University Wisconsin Green Bay.
2. Control-click to 'show package contents.'
3. Navigate within the package to a folder called 'sub installers.' There will be a series of installation apps in there, all of which work in Leopard. Run those, one at a time, and then you should be set.
In upgrading an older iMac to Mac OS X, you may accidently trigger a sequence of events that causes its screen to go permanently blank. To prevent that, if you have an iMac that uses the old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display (as opposed to LCD, Liquid Crystal Flat Panel display with a dome or display stand), be aware that it probably will need a firmware update to go to Mac OS X. Before that firmware can be updated the PRAM battery must be in good shape. Similarly before you zap the PRAM, the PRAM battery must be in good shape. If your PRAM battery hasn't been replaced in more than 3 years, it is a 3.6 V 1/2 AA battery, that a service technician should be able to replace for you. Once replaced, if you find yourself in a black screen situation, try zapping the PRAM. If that does not work, and you have a built-in Firewire port as my Identification section describes above, then you also have a back panel below the screen that opens up to reveal a VGA port. If it has a VGA port, attach a VGA display and apply the firmware update necessary while booted into Mac OS 9. The firmware is found on Apple's article 86117. Those which don't have a VGA port need the steps on Washington Apple Pi's website followed to restore the screen image.Return to top, E-mail webmaster with corrections and additions, visit the Upgrade FAQ or Mac OS X related links page.