Recommended OS for Macintosh SE

[Jaek_3]

SE FDHD with 4 MB of ram

 

[Reasons.]

I've got the same model, and would tend to recommend 6.0.8. It works smoothly, and most of the apps and games I've wanted to run will work under it. If you need any applications that will only run under System 7, try any revision prior to System 7.1.1. After that and the processor and RAM requirements of System 7 really start to limit performance (though performance under 7 is pretty much always poky on those).

 

[Jaek_3]

Thanks 

 

[rsolberg]

Another vote for 6.0.8. I just got a 4MB SE FDHD and it crawled with the System 7.1 installed on the internal HD. 6.0.8 flies- I can't believe how fast it boots.

 

[tanaquil]

I had a Classic back in the day, which is pretty much a repackaged SE, and I liked both 6.0.8 and 7.1 on it (7.1 only with 4 MB of RAM, which you have). You could use System Picker if you want to be able to dual boot.

 

[Elfen]

Lets make it unanimous - System 6.08. Unless you have an App that needs System 7, you should be fine with System 6. Just have with the extensions you need and you should be fine.

System 7 crawls on a 8MHz 68K Mac. and you need 4MB for it to run (which you have). If you try to boot with System 7 with anything less than 4MB, if will crash with out or memory error.

 

[yuhong]

Actually, the absolute minimum RAM limit for System 7 to boot is 1.5MB.

 

[tanaquil]

Maybe (the 1.5 limit), but you'll be living in misery. I stuck with 6.0.8 on my Classic a lot longer than I wanted to because I couldn't afford to upgrade from 2 MB to 4 MB.

It's funny, I don't remember 7.1 on the Classic feeling slow, but it was 1993. What I do remember is the pain of trying to squeeze all my stuff on that 40 MB drive...

 

[BadGoldEagle]

What I do remember is the pain of trying to squeeze all my stuff on that 40 MB drive...

Yeah now I'm struggling with my MBP's 512Gb SSD. So small! Next time I'll get one with a bigger capacity!

Jaek_3, it depends on your HD size. If you have like a 100mb+ disk then you should do what tranquil said and get 6.0.8 and 7.1. Use system picker to switch partitions.