IMAC - OS9

Hey All,

Long time Apple II user (Apple IIe for about 15 years) and PC user for
the last ten years. I've used Mac's at work extensively and quite
familiar with them.

However, I just came into posession of a friend's old IMAC with OS
9.0.4 with 64 Megs of RAM. The friend is moving out of the country and
content with her iBook and needed to get rid of the bulky IMAC system.

I briefly poked around the web and didn't come up with much, but I was
curious what applications were available for download for the IMAC/OS
9??

My friend has an old version of MS Word on the system but something a
little more up to date. I recently started downloading OpenOffice for
a small start up I work at. Something like that for the IMAC would be
nice.

Otherwise, not looking for much Basic web surfing and office type
applications will be fine for me. I'm not worried about games and the
like. That's what my PS2 and PC's are for.

Any help would be appreciated!!

Thanks,
Don

Don <> wrote:

> However, I just came into posession of a friend's old IMAC with OS
> 9.0.4 with 64 Megs of RAM. The friend is moving out of the country and
> content with her iBook and needed to get rid of the bulky IMAC system.

Load up at least 256 MB more of RAM and put OS X on it (10.3.9 is a
good, stable and fast release that is not too ram hungry - i don't think
you will gain much with "Tiger", aka 10.4.x.), then you will have much
more to choOse from, both commercial and share-/freeware. It should be a
stable, quite usable, although not, obviously, a very quick system.
Options are becoming very limited for OS 9.

> I briefly poked around the web and didn't come up with much, but I was
> curious what applications were available for download for the IMAC/OS
> 9??

iCab is said to be the only browser that is still being developed for OS
9. Otherwise, things are becoming outdated. OS X is six years old by
now.

> My friend has an old version of MS Word on the system but something a
> little more up to date. I recently started downloading OpenOffice for
> a small start up I work at. Something like that for the IMAC would be
> nice.

AFAIK, OO and its non-X11 sibling, NeoOffice, are available for OS X
only - at least in recent versions. Both are good, but reasonably
resource hungry. AppleWorks is still available for both OS 9 and OS X,
as is (AFAIK) NisusWriter.

> Otherwise, not looking for much Basic web surfing and office type
> applications will be fine for me. I'm not worried about games and the
> like. That's what my PS2 and PC's are for.

Welcome! :-)
--
/Jon
For contact info, run the following in Terminal:
Mail: echo 36199371860304980107073482417748002696458P|dc
Skype: echo 139576319600233690471689738P|dc

In article < .com>, "Don"
<> wrote:

> However, I just came into posession of a friend's old IMAC with OS
> 9.0.4 with 64 Megs of RAM. The friend is moving out of the country and
> content with her iBook and needed to get rid of the bulky IMAC system.

If it what others call an iMac, you may upgrade it to Mac OS X as follows:
First upgrade to latest Mac OS 9.2.x - free from Apple site. Check Apple
support for Firmware updates of you model, and run it - must be run under
Mac OS 9. Then you can try install Mac OS X, but if you have too little
RAM, get 512 MB; after install, do a "Software Update" from the Apple menu
while the computer is networked. And you may get a larger hard disk - some
tens of GB recommended. If you have never run Mac OS 9, you will have no
need for it.

--
Hans Aberg

In article < .com>,
"Don" <> wrote:

> I briefly poked around the web and didn't come up with much, but I
> was curious what applications were available for download for the
> IMAC/OS 9??

<www.versiontracker.com>
<www.macupdate.com>
<www.macdownload.com>

--
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush.

Michelle Steiner <> wrote:

> In article < .com>,
> "Don" <> wrote:
>
> > I briefly poked around the web and didn't come up with much, but I
> > was curious what applications were available for download for the
> > IMAC/OS 9??
>
> <www.versiontracker.com>
> <www.macupdate.com>
> <www.macdownload.com>

And the granddaddy of them all:

<http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/>

m.


--
matt neuburg, phd = , http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
Tiger - http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/tiger-customizing.html
AppleScript - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596102119
Read TidBITS! It's free and smart. http://www.tidbits.com

In article < .com>,
"Don" <> wrote:

> Otherwise, not looking for much Basic web surfing and office type
> applications will be fine for me. I'm not worried about games and the
> like. That's what my PS2 and PC's are for.
>
> Any help would be appreciated!!




Www.snarkish.com

Check there for the people form the old Compuserve Macintosh forum.
They may be able to point you to some avaiilable stuff.

In general you won't find anything over the counter fo rthe most part.
ANything that old is likely used.

DMK

In article <sunclad->,
"D. Kirkpatrick" <> wrote:

> In article < .com>,
> "Don" <> wrote:
>
> > Otherwise, not looking for much Basic web surfing and office type
> > applications will be fine for me. I'm not worried about games and the
> > like. That's what my PS2 and PC's are for.
> >
> > Any help would be appreciated!!
>
>
>
>
> Www.snarkish.com
>
> Check there for the people form the old Compuserve Macintosh forum.
> They may be able to point you to some avaiilable stuff.
>
> In general you won't find anything over the counter fo rthe most part.
> ANything that old is likely used.
>
> DMK

Do NOT install OS X. DO install OS 9.2.2. Load up minimum 128MB of
physical RAM (the more, the better). Grab/download as many pieces
of freeware and shareware that are updated for 9.2.2 as you can find
that fit the categories that interest you. You might even want to make
a sacrifice to Micro$oft to get Word and Excel (I'd go with Office 98
and all relevant updates), but if you can find a suitable alternative,
even better

This is the strategy I'd follow. Just some things to consider. Or, better
still, sell the machine and buy a newer Mac

Happy computing,
Eric

In article
<ericp06- >,
"Eric P." <> wrote:

> Do NOT install OS X.

Why not?

--
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush.

In article <michelle->, Michelle
Steiner <> wrote:

> > Do NOT install OS X.
>
> Why not?

I wonder that to: there is a G3 here that works wonderfully under Mac OS
X.3 at least.

> > Or, better
> > still, sell the machine and buy a newer Mac

And if one has gotten Mac OS X up and running for awhile, it is easier to
target exactly what new model one may want to have. And one gets a good
second computer for a low price. There is little point in selling this old
computer, as you get virtually nothing for it.

--
Hans Aberg

In article < .com>, "Don"
<> wrote:

>I briefly poked around the web and didn't come up with much, but I was
>curious what applications were available for download for the IMAC/OS
>9??

Just go to www.pure-mac.com and browse their software descriptions and
(usually) direct links for downloading, everything is well organized and
user-friendly unlike that godawful VersionTracker site. Pure-mac has
indicators whether the software will run under classic or OS X (or even
Intel Native or 680x0 native).

Most people will recommend iCab to run under classic but I always use(d)
Mozilla 1.3.1 (WaMCom special build), it renders pages better IMO.