Will this work?

[nicholas]

If you are going to muck around with it, try and upgrade the OS to it's max (OSX 10.4.11) it becomes very usable if you do so, 10.2 is really awful and not supported very much software wise...

10.5 is the last version of OSX that runs on these old machines.

http://leopardassist.sourceforge.net/supported.html

Just make sure to max out the RAM. (2GB usually)

[nicholas]

Hmmm... not sure who wrote that but he forgot to point out that on the iMAC G4 800Mhz PPC (table lamp version) it DOESN'T WORK with 10.5...

I've tried it myself on my fully expanded iMACG4 and yes you can install 10.5 but...

Expect countless "Application Not Responding" crashes & lockups...
Random and totally unpredictable and unexpected Freezes...
Utils & Apps that you download written for OSX 10.5 not to install and most will (if they do install) quit with random errors telling you all sorts of weird stuff...

Ended up having to reformat the drive and doing a total re-install of OSX 10.4 again...

Definetaly not worth even attempting to install 10.5 on these particular iMAC G4 Models as you'll soon realise if you do that it doesn't have the power or the GFX Board to cope with 10.5 apps...

Erm... Frank, that page is a listing of machines that DO run 10.5 when you use the Leopard Assist program linked at the top of that page.

It runs on lowly 450MHz G4 Cubes faster than 10.4 does.  It's more stable too.

1. Install 10.4
2. Download this file and unzip it
3. Run LeopardAssist.app (Click Options and then Optimize for machines with crap graphics cards)
4. Insert 10.5 disc and continue.
5. Profit!

[nicholas]

I did use LeopardAssist with the install and the results were as posted above, I also visited many MAC forums and almost everyone using this particular model of the iMACG4 had the same problems... (and other ones that I hadn't encountered yet)

People far more knowledgeable than me on these forums were explaining to others (like myself) that because of the type of GFX card, Bus speeds etc... that trying to run OSX 10.5 one this model is pretty pointless as most of the apps and utils written for 10.5 will as I've described either crash or will run so slowly and unresponsive as to make them unusable...

I've tried it myself and believe me unless all you want to do is run the OSX 10.4 version of Safari you regret ever installing 10.5 on an iMacG4 @ 800Mhz, (if you start to upgrade Safari to the 10.5 versions you end up with a browser that is so slow and unresponsive it makes the 10.4 version look super fast)...

If you don't believe me get yourself an old iMac G4 of the type mentioned and try it for yourself then you'll understand how bad it is. (heck even Apple themselves and their tech support will tell you the same)...

I've got an even worse G4 here with 512MB RAM and a Mach64 or other such crap graphics card in it and it ran Leopard ok before I put MorphOS on it.

Firefox ran fine on it too, Safari is shite. :lol:

edit:

You have to remember to click the Options/Optimize button to disable the fancy gfx stuff though.  If you don't it WILL run like shite.

[nicholas]

I visited many mac forums, contacted my local Apple stores tech dept and even contacted the guy who originally installed my iMacG4 (he's an apple engineer) before I tried this out as I didn't think it would be as bad as these folk claimed, however it turned out they were 100% correct it just doesn't help on these particular models...

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac_800_17_fp.html

I was given many technical explanations as to why it's pointless installing OS 10.5 on this type of iMac, but it's only after having tried it myself I can assure you while it may work on others (even of a lower spec) OSX 10.5 on this model makes 10.4 look like it's running in some sort of turbo mode...

All I can say is if you ever get the chance to try it on one of these models then you'll understand what I'm talking about here..

You should sell both of them and get a G4 Tower with a Radeon to dual boot MorphOS and Leopard.

[nicholas]

Nah... more than happy with the G5 (well apart from a 7 month old HD bloody failling and spending all day yesterday fitting a new one and re-installing everything)...

The simple reason I didn't buy a PC or other type of old Mac was I don't like towers or desktop boxes, the iMAC G5 is just perfect for me as it only takes up the same space as a 20" flatscreen TV and I only need it for browsing the web & uploading/downloading stuff...

Came to the conclusion that MorphOS is not for me, the iMac does it's job for the net and my Amigas cover every other computing need I have, all in all I'm more than happy with the way things are as they suit my needs perfectly...

What about the X1000?

[nicholas]

Still very interested in buying one but I'll have to wait (like everyone else) and see what the final specs are when it gets released, if it runs OS4.x it should be ok but if it's running MorphOS then I doubt I'll be buying one...

Again though being in a tower is not ideal for me with all my VIC20s, C64s, SNES & Amiga's taking up so much space already, reckon the NatAmi when it gets released will be better suited for me and to be honest more my type of machine ie: 68K...

I thought you didn't like OS4?

I don't care for it much either these days, it's rapidly becoming a poor Linux clone with less compatibility for Amiga software than MorphOS.

[nicholas]

Sorry don't understand your question :confused:

@ nicholas

I don't like OS4 on a real Amiga with a PPC card cos it's slower than a dead donkey (although Karlos tells me it's ok if you have a GFX card)...

But, if the X1000 is built to handle OS4 and has good enough specs on it's final release then it should run OS4 at it's best... (I hope)

MorphOS even though Iggy has pointed out it wont be used on the X1000 is after much mulling over by myself not for me mainly due to the silly Licence you have to buy for it, far too restrictive in my opinion...

OS4 is tied to the hardware in much the same way as MorphOS is.

Say you break your OS4 box, you have to buy another OS4 licence when you buy a new box as it comes bundled with it and is priced accordingly.

You cannot buy any OS4 hardware without an OS4 license being bundled with it.

Same as when you buy an Apple computer, OSX is bundled with it and is priced accordingly.  You cannot buy any Mac without an OSX license being bundled with it.

[nicholas]

@ nicholas

OS4 isnt tied to one machine or a single licence, I can install my on any Amiga own as all it requires is the serial/registration number printed on the disk envelope to work...

Heck. if I really wanted to I could give it away to everyone and they could download the OS4 cd ISO image from plenty of sites on the web and they would be able to run it easily on any machines they own with a PPC board...

So it's not tied to the hardware or needing another licence if one of my Amiga were to break all I have to do is install it on another Amiga and enter the number...

We weren't talking about Amiga's, we were talking about OS4 boxes (X1000/Sam/A1)

[nicholas]

I was talking about OS4 on my Amiga...

Anyway if the X1000 is released with OS4 and all that restricting licensing crap then just like my Macs it won't take me long to hack it so I can get rid of such restrictions...

Hack what exactly? There is nothing to hack.

When you buy the hardware to replace the broken hardware a new OS4 license comes bundled with it. Which will make you the owner of one broken board, one working board and two fully paid for licences of OS4.

What are you going to do with the second license?

Sell it? To who? For what purpose? All "designed for OS4" boxes come bundled with a license whether you want one or not?

[nicholas]

The MorphOS license restriction complaint is valid. When I build a new PC I can move my copy of Windows to it, but with MorphOS I have to buy another key.

Franko, you DO have a point.

Indeed, but Franko doesn't seem to realise that OS4 licencing is just as bad.