Can I upgrade from OS X (10.3.9-Panther) to OS X (10.4.11-Tiger)?

concorde1 · #1 July 28th, 2008, 12:12 PM

I am currently running OS X 10.3.9 on my iMac G5. It came with this operating system as well as 512MB of RAM and I had them add another 1000 of RAM when I bought it. I have lots of software that runs in Classic (for example, Photoshop 7) and I read that Leopard (OS X.5) will not support Classic software. I have 3 questions:
1) can I upgrade from OS 10.3.9 straight to OS X.4.11
2) will I be able to use iWork '08 and iLife '08 if I do? and
3)What precautions should I take before and during the upgrade?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

nixgeek · #2 July 28th, 2008, 12:30 PM

No. You need to purchase either the retail upgrade to 10.4.x or the full retail version of 10.4.x. From there, you can upgrade to 10.4.11 using the Combo Updater or through Software Update (I prefer the former just to be safe).
So long as you meet the system requirements for iLife 08, yes.
Make sure you don't have anything connected other than the keyboard and mouse, and perform disk repair and permission repair before and after the move to 10.4.x (unless of course you're doing a clean installation). No matter what, just make sure you've backed up your important data.

concorde1 · #3 July 28th, 2008, 01:14 PM

Thank you so much!!!

concorde1 · #4 July 28th, 2008, 02:01 PM

How do I access the Combo Updater?

nixgeek · #5 July 28th, 2008, 02:57 PM

Head over to Apple's website under the download section and search for "Combo Updater 10.4.11". Make sure you download the one for PowerPC Macs.

**fryke** · #6 July 29th, 2008, 04:47 AM

From the speed of answering I'm not sure whether you've understood correctly: The Combo Updater will *only* update a version of 10.4.x to 10.4.11. You'll still have to buy 10.4.x retail version somewhere in order to upgrade from 10.3.9.

nixgeek · #7 July 29th, 2008, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fryke

From the speed of answering I'm not sure whether you've understood correctly: The Combo Updater will *only* update a version of 10.4.x to 10.4.11. You'll still have to buy 10.4.x retail version somewhere in order to upgrade from 10.3.9.

I thought I had made that clear, but thanks for clearing it up again.

concorde1 · #8 July 31st, 2008, 11:42 AM

Thanks. On 7/28 I saw a link (fastmac.com) on this site where I can buy an upgrade to 10.4 with free available upgrades to 10.4.11. I don't know if those "free" upgrades include the Combo Updater or not.