[conspire] Imac G3 /Tiger

[Daniel Gimpelevich]

First of all, 5GB can not even hold Tiger, let alone run it. I have a 10GB
drive that is filled to the rim with only a base 10.4 install, with none
of the XCode stuff. OS X really needs for there to be free space available
on the boot device in the double digits of gigabytes _at all times_, on
top of all the stuff you install and all data. At least iMacs take
standard 3.5" PATA hard disks. On some models of iMac, the installer will
refuse to install to any partition that extends beyond the first 8GB of
the drive, which would rule out the use of 10.4 entirely. The bare minimum
RAM with which Tiger is stated to be able to run at all is 256MB IIRC, but
performance will likely be intolerable with that amount.

Rick recommended getting help from a Mac user group and listed a few, but
for some reason unknown to me, left out the obvious one, which meets on
the Apple campus: http://www.svmug.org/

Making an exact carbon copy of an OS 9 filesystem is a bit of a tricky
process if you care about how it will look. However, an inexact, but
perfectly bootable and functional copy may be made using the same method
by which an exact carbon copy of an installed OS X system is made from
the OS X command line. You would be using the "sudo ditto -rsrc
/path/to/src /path/to/dst" command, with some magic involving "sudo bless
something-or-other" afterward. Type "man bless" for more info about that
step.

I don't remember what the current state of AbiWord on OS X is offhand, but
the OOo situation is as follows: There is the full OOo for OS X, which
requires the use of Apple's X11.app implementation of XFree86 (or
equivalent), and that is consequently very poorly integrated with the rest
of OS X. There is a Java-assisted OS X-native port of OOo called
NeoOffice, but it leaves out some features of the full OOo in favor of
greater maintainability.

On Fri, 01 Dec 2006 12:13:59 -0800, John Andrews wrote:

> This may be a little off the subject but I am trying to install os 10.4
> Tiger on an old imac G3 slot loading, 400mhz,9.2.2 os. I've updated the
> ram/firmware.Now I need a larger hard drive.How should I handle the
> whole classic env. and Tiger installation?One article said to create 2
> partions. One 3 gb for 9.2 and the second 5 gb for Tiger and the rest
> for storage.Another said you can put them both in one partition.I need
> to use Apple works from 9.2 and be able to print with a printer which
> needs a 10.x driver to work right.This is for my 84 year old mother who
> uses the computer for email and word processing so it can't be too
> complicated for her to use.Is there another word processing program
> which would open the existing documents? (Apple works stuff) 
> 	Also I need to use the Os 9.2 again but don't have the install disks.
> Can it be copied over to the new drive via a FW enclosure? i.e just drag
> the hard drive over onto the fire drive.Would it boot right and have the
> original desktop exactly like it was originally?
> 	If this is too much to answer, maybe you could refer me to some good
> how-to's. Does open office install on Mac Tiger? Or Abiword? Then I
> could eliminate the whole Classic environment thing.Will Open Office
> Open the 9.2 Apple works documents?