Getting newer applications to work on System 7.6.1

[jholt5638]

I've been bouncing between 7.6.1 and 8.1 on my Q700. The main reason why I couldn't decide was that Outlook Express 5.06 which supports gmail doesn't work in 7.6.1 officially, it "requires" 8.1. So I decided to experiment with resedit. Using it, I changed the system version to 8.1. At first this didn't work but I also added the appearance extension and that got everything going. I sure there is a better way than globally changing the System version to 8.1 like editing the Outlook Express application to remove the check. Would that check be in the resource or do I need to break out a hexedit?. But, now atleast I can check my mail and the lower footprint of 7.6.1.

 

[Quadraman]

http://lowendmac.com/2007/hacking-mac-os-7-6-1-to-work-with-many-os-8-apps/

MacOS 8 (the early versions, at least) are still largely based on System 7, that's why so much software is backward compatible with System 7. The only reason for the name change was so Steve Jobs could get out of the clone contracts which stated that Apple would only allow the clones for as long as System 7 was still being marketed and then the contracts would have to be renegotiated for MacOS 8. The only exception was Power Computing who managed to get a much sweeter deal from Apple than the rest of the clone makers so Apple had to buy out their contract rather than just cancel it outright with the system change. 

 

[Paralel]

I have actually gotten more than a few pieces of Mac OS 8.0 & 8.1 to work just fine in 7.1.1. So, getting programs that prefer 8.0 or 8.1 to run under 7.x shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[techknight]

As long as you have the carbon library and appearance extension it should be fine

 

[jholt5638]

I didn't even think to try the carbon library, I assumed it was for 8.5 and up.

 

[markyb86]

carbonlib 1.0.4 is for 8.1+up, I can't seem to find a newer one that the installer 'requires' less than 8.6.. it's probably fine to just copy the extension from another install just like appearance manager.

 

[techknight]

Mac os apps from that day were Carbon API based, so you need it. I dont know if I ever got it running under 7 or not. Its been too long.