Will Leopard ruin my life?

[Nancy]

Thanks everyone who answered my previous question about monitor jaggies, your help is much appreciated.

I am thinking of getting the new Leopard OS, simply because my current system (10.2.8) will not run some new software and utilities.

I have some software from system 9 though that I still run.  Does the new Leopard still support a classic environment?  I've read the apple website and they don't mention it, nor does the very good review that someone posted a link to a few threads back.

Also, my computer is a G4 PowerPC Dual 867 MHz.  I see that Leopard will run on it, but will it run well?  It seems I have the bare minimum for it.

Thanks to anyone who has any advice for me...

[Dan Millar]

Yup, Classic is dead in Leopard. You still have a few alternatives though. There is nothing stopping you from setting up an OS9 partition alongside your Leopard partition and booting your not-so-shiny G4 in OS 9 when you need to. Or, you can use a program called SheepShaver (gwenole.beauchesne.info/en/projects/sheepshaver) to run OS9 (9.0.4 - not 9.1-9.2.2) inside Leopard - though development of SheepShaver seems to have stopped back at Tiger, the developer "thinks" it should work in Leopard...

May I make a silly suggestion? Might it be easier to buy a used Mac to run your OS9 only programs? They are awfully cheap now... I see them at Goodwill and SA stores all the time, Computer Recyclers on MacFarland often have some, and there are often classic macs for sale here on the "for sale" forum.

Finally, yes, Leopard will run on your G4 just fine with a few caveats - your video card may not support some of the new eye candy or features in iMovie08 and Keynote to name just two. It won't stop you from using these programs, but does limit their features. And don't forget - if you buy Leopard now you can transfer it to a newer computer later on...

Happy Mac'ing!

Dan

[z-mac]

There is nothing stopping you from setting up an OS9 partition alongside your Leopard partition and booting your not-so-shiny G4 in OS 9 when you need to. Or, you can use a program called SheepShaver (gwenole.beauchesne.info/en/projects/sheepshaver) to run OS9 (9.0.4 - not 9.1-9.2.2) inside Leopard

When I had a PowerMac, the solution that I found most neat, flexible and inexpensive was to boot OS 9.2.2 from a CompactFlash card in an external Firewire reader. If you need more than a few gigabytes of space, buy a cheap Firewire enclosure and put a hard disk in it.

[Dan Millar]

Great idea Z! Also, I initially only installed Leopard on external firewire drives, leaving my base config as it was. External FW drives are cheap and you'll need one for Time Machine anyways!

Dan