What is the Maximum OS for an Imac G4 800 mhz

[Theretrogamingroom]

I would like to know what the maximum OS for an Imac G4. Some sites say 10.4 others say 10.5. I am confused. What is it?

 

[racepres]

I use 10.4.11 on mine... but, I have never tried to go "up" from there..

I have the capability to try to go to 10.5, Just don't see a good reason to do so.

Try it if you have it, If not LMK and I believe that I could try for you!

RP

 

[Anonymous Freak]

The official minimum install for 10.5 is 867 MHz; so your model *JUST* missed it. Although 10.5 generally can be made to install without issue on systems that are just under that spec. I have a G4 Digital Audio, one generation older than the minimum-supported for 10.5, and it installed just fine even with a 450 MHz CPU, using an OpenFirmware trick. It ran just fine when I upgraded to a dual 1.0 GHz, and then to a single 1.5 GHz. It also runs fine on my minimum-spec PowerBook G4 867 MHz.

 

[johnklos]

You can run 10.5 if you want. 10.5 generally takes more memory, but is generally faster. Much new software requires 10.5 as a minimum, plus you get Time Machine.

 

[Theretrogamingroom]

Ok. Now I have a 10.5 disk. How do I do the "Open Firmware" trick?

 

[johnklos]

Here's one way:

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071214143723301

Another is to use another machine and put the iMac into Firewire target mode and install onto it.

 

[Christopher]

I did the:

dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0

d# 867000000 encode-int " clock-frequency" property

and after that was done I typed mac-boot hit enter and hit the C key as soon as possible.

 

[mcdermd]

Glad to see my OF hack passed around still

imac600 also made a great little utility called LeopardAssist that you can use if there is already an OS X version running on the Mac.

 

[~Coxy]

You can run 10.5 if you want. 10.5 generally takes more memory, but is generally faster. Much new software requires 10.5 as a minimum, plus you get Time Machine.

In my experience, 10.5 is slower. (At least on 1GB of RAM or less, which for a lot of G4s is the absolute- or practical max.)

Also note that you lose Classic.