General Mac software discussions: Is it possible to upgrade from Jaguar to Tiger?

Need more information that you have given

by mrmacfixit  - 10/18/08 6:57 AM

What sort of "older iMac" does your son have?
Is it a G3 or G4 processor? (is it one of those iMacs that have the floating LCD screen?)
Does the optical drive have a tray or a slot?
Is the optical drive a CD player or CD/DVD player? (or even a CD-R/W/DVD player)
What sort of external hard drive did you give him that will not run on Jaguar?

Hard drives are operating system agnostic and do not have any particular preference as to what the host computer is running. Windows, Mac System 9, OS X, Linux, Unix all support external hard drives without the need for that drive to be "special"

P

OK,

by mrmacfixit  - 10/19/08 5:55 AM

There may be some installed software on that drive that requires 10.4 but the drive itself should function correctly without using the software. The software is probably some sort of Backup application.

Depending on the speed of the iMac, it may be possible to upgrade to 10.4.11 (last update to that version) but if the processor is a slow one, the experience will not be that good.

Let us know what you find out

P

(NT) OK

by mrmacfixit  - 10/19/08 3:05 PM

That's good

by mrmacfixit  - 10/25/08 6:53 AM

It's a G4 iMac and will happily take 10.4.11 (Tiger)

Although Apple no longer sell 10.4, it is still available in some places. Amazon has it for $180 which is more than it cost to begin with.

You could also check out eBay for a DVD copy of it.

Check the web for OS X 10.4 (Leopard)


P

Leopard

As long as your son is upgrading, why not go to Leopard? This is the current version of the Mac OS and it sells for a list price of $129. According to the Apple web site, Leopard requires a G4 processor operating at 867 MHz or faster. He can find the speed of his processor by clicking on the Apple menu, in the upper left hand corner of the screen and choosing "About This Mac." If he installs Leopard, it will include Time Machine, which is a very elegant backup application. Time Machine will back up to any hard drive that he connects to his iMac.

Buying Tiger

In reply to: That's good by mrmacfixit 

After a terrible experience with some ersatz Tiger CDs sold online, I finally found a brand-new copy on DVD at eBay. (The vendor selling the CDs had been recommended to me, but they really weren't selling the real thing.) Bidding at eBay started low, but at the very end someone else kept upping my offer. I got it in the end (didn't want to start the search again), but it cost a pretty penny—something on the order of the amount that mrmacfixit quoted. Still, it was delivered quickly and was factory-sealed, just as promised by the seller, and worked beautifully.

If you want to buy a copy of Tiger, I suggest only that you be careful. If a (non-eBay or Amazon, say) vendor is offering it at a ridiculously low price or if it's not a new copy, give it the go-by. I expect that even some copies that aren't new will be OK, but how to know? Also, it's helpful to have the manuals and all that.

Buy it from a well-known source, and preferably, from one that has some way to return it easily or to replace it if it is in any way defective. I didn't know what I was doing when I got the CDs mentioned above but should have returned the disks right away (or never gotten them at all) when I saw that they looked different from the pictures of the real Tiger. I also should have known that I wouldn't get it legitimately on CDs. It comes on a DVD. But I didn't know. If you are in any doubt about what you are proposing to buy, either don't buy it or ask about it from someone who can guide you. If you don't know such a person yourself, there always are people like those who moderate and participate in these forums. They are terrific!

Very good luck!

Jenny

Be prepared to spend more than seems reasonable. Tiger is now no longer readily available, so many people selling it feel free to charge a lot more for it. Isn't it odd that other kinds of obsolete products sell for less than their original price, yet software like this brings a premium? Yet maybe you'll luck out, find a relatively inexpensive copy on eBay that no one else will bid on. Good luck!