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Best OS for a Quadra 800

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macintoshman

macintoshman

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Well, System 7.5 is driving me insane. it is less stable than a Styrofoam couch. Would 7.1.1 Pro be better for it? and will I be able to use Open Transport?

 
I'd go with 7.1, which takes up the least RAM of any version that can run on a Q800 (this means more speed) or patch up your 7.5 to 7.5.5 (if I recall Apple has the updater on the same page you can find 7.5.3).

7.6 is a stable OS and is also a good choice, though it will use more resources. While OS 8 will run, it won't be a speed demon.

 
To be pedantic, a Styrofoam couch would be quite stable. It's actually a very strong material, and a solid couch made out of it would be very stable, if not comfortable. Durability is another story.

Anyway, go with 7.1. Better system requirements.

 
IMHO, it depends on how much RAM you have:

4 - 16MB: System 7.1 or 7.1.1, lightweight, speedy, and great for low RAM systems.

16 - 32MB: System 7.6.1, or if you can't get it, 7.5.5: more modern than 7.1, yet still very speedy on the '040s

32MB+: Mac OS 8.1, the most modern OS that will run on a 68k. If you have a big HDD (reccommend at least 250MB HDD for it to be usable) and a lot of RAM (32MB+), OS 8.1 will absolutely love you. I have 8.1 on my hotted up LC475 (full '040, 32MB RAM, 1 GB HDD, 1MB VRAM), and it flies like a bird :)

 
RAM and hard disk space are going to be considerations. Newer versions of the OS demand more resources to run. If you can, I would run 8.1 on it. It isn't as lean as 7.6.1, but has more features and is still runs fast enough on 040 machines if you have enough memory and disk space for it.

 
If you've got the disk space, IMHO on a Mac with that much RAM you're best off with 8.1, its the most modern, it can run newer programs, and on a Mac like yours, it should be very fast.

 
A/UX is certainly the most interesting for the Q800, but 7.1 is very, very fast on a 33MHz 68040. The overhead in the later systems will slow even a Quadra down a great deal, while admittedly adding functionality. I personally like the simplicity of 7.1.

Much depends on what you want to run on it and put into it. I'd say 8.1 mainly if you want a second large(>4GB) HFS+ formatted drive or drives on a Jackhammer card or the like; 7.6.1 if you want Cyberdog, or to connect to a X.4 share (with some updates - there's a good guide to this on system7today.com), or to do much internet-wise; 7.1 if you just want it to be fast, or if you'd like to set it up as an Appleshare 4 File/ Print Server; A/UX 3.0 (better than 3.1) if you want to tinker with a UNIX/MacOS 7.0 hybrid.

 
I'd personally run 7.1. Of course it depends on what you want to do with it, but I like running the OS that shipped with the computer, just to experience what it was like when the machine was new.

 
You can also try to find a 601 upgrade. That should get things going if the 040 seems to drag under 8.1. Be sure you ditch the built in emulation code in favor of Speed Doubler, though, or your 68k apps won't run as fast as they could.

 
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