Mac OS 9

[akator70]

I've got Mac OS 9.2.2 running on a G4 Mini at 1920x1080 with Ethernet and it's generally good. I'm surprised by how much older software from 6-8 runs fine on it, far more than I remember before I switched to OS X.

However, there's still quite a few freezes and "pauses" while the system seems to get hung up on a particular task. When I was using OS 9 as my primary system with Photoshop, GoLive, Illustrator, and other productivity software I remember having similar issues several times a day and I was very happy with OS X's improvements on that front.

However (and this could be my memory glitching), I seem to be encountering this more frequently now than I remember experiencing back in the day. And networking, that's far less reliable than I remember.

Is this typical with OS 9? Or is this related to the configuration I'm using? Would running at a lower resolution resolve some of these issues? Is there anything else I can do to reduce the OS 9 issues?

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Well the Mini isn't officially supported, perhaps something there could be at fault?

 

[Phipli]

The Mac Mini install isn't perfect. The mouse sometimes freezes when the desktop is loading and the ATi drivers... are garbage. They cause freezes during boot sometimes.

Then Mac OS 9.2.2 wasn't the most stable classic Mac OS - generally bitd you found versions of programs that ran well and used them, because other versions/ programs would just unexpectedly quit or whatever.

If you're trying to run 80s software, remember many of the early games specifically targeted the compact macs and broke Apple programming rules to directly access hardware instead of using the toolbox. It won't be able to write directly to the frame buffer on a Mac 128 if you're using a Mac Mini, same with sound and all sorts of other things.

 

[akator70]

I was coming to the same conclusions but thought I'd ask. Perhaps at some point I'll pickup a Mac OS 9 native machine.