Preserved Topic: OS X - what's the deal?? (Page 1 of 1)

I purchased OS X for my Mac, (beige G3-300 with 256megs ram), and tried to install it. First it told me I needed to put 9.1 on there, which it provided - I did so, and then tried to put X on it - it didn't crank up - crashed almost the moment the screen came up; wouldn't even crank up with extensions off!?!?! Prior to installation I had read something about my drive having to be in "Mac HFS Extended" format - I don't know if it is or not . . . I went back to 9.0. (what is a BIOS update?? - was in there somewhere. . .)

So, what are people's opinions of the new OS, and what is my problem with it? I know that is a BIG question, but I would really like to figure out why I can't use it, considering that it says it'll work on my machine . .. If I DO have to reformat my drive, where the hell am I gonna get 18 gigs of space to back it up before I do??

I was told it was a single button shin-dig, you pop in the CD, press OK and it does it all.

-mage-

I've said this a couple of times before: Forget about Mac, PC all the way, heh...

That's easy fo you to say, Max - you don't have a full color pallette!

Seriously, give me an answer to my question, not filler for the junkies who'd rather laugh at my superior machine. (ha, ha) . . . .

Okay, before this turns into another lame platform war, i'll answer the question.

First off, I view separate partitions for Mac OS X as almost a must. It can work on the same partition, but when you have problems like you are having now, you can't really track them down very easily. A clean partition guarantees that if you ARE having problems they are legitimate problems not caused by odd file system issues.

All I can suggest for trying to get it on the same partition is to perform a completely clean install of OS 9.1, aka erase all your system files/prefs/etc. I'm also curious as to when it crashed exactly. Was it when the OS X CD reboots off itself to start the installation process? Or had the installation started at all?

Anyway, if you have 18 gigs of documents you need to save somehow, your best bet might be to just buy another HD.

OS X is truly something special, and I'm surprised someone like Mr. Max doesn't see the beauty of a unix with a bonafide consumer GUI and the ability to run the big important programs that make a designer's job possible. The big glaring problem that I've found is the memory-hog nature of OS X. It probably works good on your machine with 256 megs, but on my G4-400 with 128 megs it can get pretty sluggish. Despite sluggishness with the minimum ram configuration, I ran it for a week without any crashes (a couple programs crashed, but not worries). Classic seems to work flawlessly. I found it to be a usable platform thanks to classic, but OS X Apps have a long way to go. For instance, there isn't really a decent web browser among the lot. For now you're not missing much except the Unix functionality, but I really think OS X will get big in the next couple years as 9.1 apps are slowly replace by carbon and then cocoa apps.



-jiblet

Could be any number of things. OS X barely has any apps that work with it yet, so I would personally stick with 9.1. You did read on how to boot up in 9.1? Go to apple's site and delve into their forums. You'll get a lot better perspective there. I'm almost solely a mac user and I haven't purchased OS X yet because of the lack of software. I'm looking very much forward to the MP advantages with my MP machine when the heavy hitters do start releasing there carbon versions. Wonder if I'll have to pay the whole cost since it's a different OS?

:: j e n i ::
fist-eater

I'm gonna fall in line behind Jeni on this one.

Stick with OS9.1. I've read tech specs on OSX, and while it looks great on paper, it performs quite poorly in almost every simulated test.

Doesn't make for a stable operating system, even though it's based on FreeBSD, which I support whole heartedly. Regardless, stick with OS9, and go to OS11 when it comes out. By then, I'm sure, they'll have figured out how to program an OS that is Mac, not Windows.

Thanks for the input - it looks like I'll stick with 9.0, since 9.1 wouldn't crank on my computer. Don't know why, and I don't care to experiment with a three year old machine. Maybe when I get my next Mac?

Thanks again!