Which Mac OS for Imac 266

[Dragonbate]

I recently found an Imac on the side of the road. To my surprise it boots and seems to run fine though I cannot access the OS due to not having the password. The Apple guy at BB suggested putting OSX 10.2 on it with the proviso that it will be slow but web content will be displayed properly. I understand 9.22 will be faster but FF is not available for it and I may be stuck with IE 5 or so.

I am planning to set this up for the kids to play with- my daughter will be four in February. Any recommendations? Also saw that 9 is as cheap as $5. on Ebay. Anyone know if there is some kind of trick there or is it just so old and cheap that thats the going rate. Thanks for any insight.

D

 

[keeleysam]

10.3.9. OSX gets faster on older on older hardware with new versions, just turn of dashboard and install 512MB of RAM.

 

[Nothinman]

I can't imagine anyone would recommend a copy of MacOS that's not OS X as that would be like installing Win98 on a machine. Get some memory for it and put OS X on it and you'll be a lot happier with it.

 

[chcarnage]

If the iMac doesn't have at least 128 MB RAM you're stuck with OS 9. But you can still run Mozilla 1.2.1 there.

If you decide to go OS X, 10.3 fits this iMac best. 10.4 won't run and 10.2 is slower.

There is plenty of educational software and games for kids available. Normally the games aren't ressource hungry and many run in OS 9, too. Spy Fox is a great title and the company Tivola made many, too. (But in my personal opinion four years is too young for such software, let alone the internet).

Some Mac OS CDs on ebay aren't boxed retail updates, they are restoration CDs that were delivered with and often only work with specific Mac models.

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: chcarnage
If the iMac doesn't have at least 128 MB RAM you're stuck with OS 9. But you can still run Mozilla 1.2.1 there.

If you decide to go OS X, 10.3 fits this iMac best. 10.4 won't run and 10.2 is slower.

There is plenty of educational software and games for kids available. Normally the games aren't ressource hungry and many run in OS 9, too. Spy Fox is a great title and the company Tivola made many, too. (But in my personal opinion four years is too young for such software, let alone the internet).

Some Mac OS CDs on ebay aren't boxed retail updates, they are restoration CDs that were delivered with and often only work with specific Mac models.

http://wamcom.org/latest-131/ - Mozilla 1.3.1 for OS9

 

[Dragonbate]

Thx guys, I decided to go with 9 from a reputable resaler to keep my investment low for the time being.

 

[Nothinman]

I decided to go with 9

My condolences.

 

[Skitzer]

Originally posted by: Dragonbate
Thx guys, I decided to go with 9 from a reputable resaler to keep my investment low for the time being.

Wow ...... big mistake!

 

[chcarnage]

Woah, what's wrong with chosing OS 9? "Condolences", "big mistake"... Drama much?

For the time being this is a hobby project and $10 for OS 9 might very well be a better investment than $80 for 2x128 MB RAM (which is the top amount this iMac can recognise) plus OS X. Even with 10.3 OS X ain't no fun on a 266 Mhz CPU with a measly 6 MB VRAM. Sorry but I don't think you've seen OS X running on a similarly specced machine. OS 9 is enough for basic web browsing and educational software and if you think this iMac has much more potential that can only be unleashed under OS X you are, to put it mildly, optimistic.

 

[Nothinman]

Woah, what's wrong with chosing OS 9?

It's like installing Win9X on a machine, it may perform better and be cheaper in the shortterm but it'll only lead to pain and frustration.

 

[greylica]

Yellow Dog Linux can help him too.