Should I run OSX Panther, OS9, or OS 8.6 on a PowerBook G3 Lombard?

ClarkNG · #1 February 26th, 2005, 10:35 PM

I just purchased a PowerBook G3 333mhz Lombard with 64mb RAM and a 4 gig HD from Ebay. It comes with OS 10.3 Panther [clean install, no OS9]...is it me, or does that seem a little too demanding for the hardware? I haven't received the computer yet, so I wouldn't know how it runs. I'm going to be using this computer for work, specifically Java Programming and PHP / MySQL web development. A lot of things appeal to me about OSX -- it runs on UNIX [I'm a linux user, and I've become quite comfortable with a bash shell,] it's great for Java development, and I can run a private server (to test PHP scripts before putting them on the web) fairly easily. However, if this thing is gonna run dead slow, why bother? Perhaps I should install the OS9 that Lombards come with? Or the super secure 8.6?

Thanks in advance,
-Clark

albloom · #2 February 27th, 2005, 08:10 AM

With only a 4gb hd, does panther give you any actual
room for apps and data? I should think precious little.

I dunno about the "super security" of 8.6 -- most folk
seem to think 9.1 is superior.

**Giaguara** · #3 February 27th, 2005, 08:15 AM

OS X does not install when you have 64 MB RAM, absolute minimum before OS X even installs is 128 MB. And even with 256 MB it is painfully slow.

I'd say OS 8.6 or 9.1 would be a lot faster. If you want to play with anything Unixxy with it, how about some Linux? Mandrake maybe?

albloom · #4 February 27th, 2005, 08:40 AM

Good point, Gia. Clark *surely* hasn't seen that puppy.

ClarkNG · #5 February 27th, 2005, 11:02 AM

Here's an email and reply sent by me, then the seller:

Quote:

Clark> Hi- I just used the Buy It Now feature to buy the Powerbook G3 with Paypal. Could you please notify me when you ship it? Thanks. Also, out of curiosity, how does 10.3 Panther run on a 333mhz processor with 64 megs of RAM? I'd imagine pretty laggy? I'd be fine running out and buying some additional RAM.

Rusty-SF> I'll send you the tracking number when it is shipped.

I haven't really opened too many apps, just used terminal on it with that clean install. It will be kind of slow, you can put 256mb more in it for $50:

http://memoryx.net/powg333bronk.html

I mostly used it as an OS9 machine in the past, and installed OSX on it when I reformatted it, didn't use it too much after that.

I've already got a machine running SuSE 9.2 Pro. I'm very, very happy with it. I love linux, and I love how you can customize it and tweak it as much as you want. It's a great power-programming workstation. However, it's taken me six months to tweak everything into perfection (DVD-ROM recognition, libdvdcss [huge ordeal,] ogle, video drivers, sound drivers, compilers, version consistancies...) I don't really feel like doing that all over again to get a good machine up and running to my specifications.

I think I may go with OS 9.1. Can someone give me some "pros and cons" of OS 9.1? Please consider that I'm going to be doing a lot of PHP and Java development, and it'd be GREAT to run a local server from it. Is OS 9.1 sufficient for this kind of work? Also, how big of a deal is it to install an OS of a previous version? (IE, OS 10.3 -> OS 9.1.)

Thanks for all the help!

ClarkNG · #6 February 27th, 2005, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giaguara

OS X does not install when you have 64 MB RAM, absolute minimum before OS X even installs is 128 MB. And even with 256 MB it is painfully slow.

I'd say OS 8.6 or 9.1 would be a lot faster. If you want to play with anything Unixxy with it, how about some Linux? Mandrake maybe?

Hmm, this guy already has OS 10.3 running on it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting

(Check out the pictures of it running OSX.)

**Giaguara** · #7 February 27th, 2005, 11:19 AM

The title on hte page says 128 MB RAM, but the specs say 64 MB.. I know for sure that OS X does not install when you have 64 MB RAM, I have tried it several times and it just does not do it. So the only way it can have 10.3, is that it HAD at least 128 MB before, while the system was installed. If some RAM was them removed, it may now have 64 MB RAM, so I am pretty sure that if it now has 64 MB only, it just does not boot to OS X. The minimum minimum it needs to run is 128 MB, so you may want to ask him how he has installed OS X on it if it now has 64 MB RAM on it.

ClarkNG · #8 February 27th, 2005, 11:24 AM

Thanks, I'll ask him about it. I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna install OS 9.1 though. How hard is it to revert to a previous version OS? Is Mac OS 9.1 good for web development? Java programming? Server hosting (not public, just something to run my scripts on?)