Apple SW Versions
MacOS
7.x.x doesn't run on anything older than the Plus.
7.6.x doesn't run on anything older than the IIci IIsi and IIfx.
8.0/8.1 requires at least a 68LC040.
8.5 through 9.1 require at least a 601 PPC.
9.2.x requires at least a G3.
Rule of thumb: Power Mac G4 with FW400 can boot OS 9; FW800 cannot.
Classilla - Mozilla for MacOS 9.x and PPC machines
http://www.floodgap.com/software/classilla/
An update of Mozilla 1.3.1
QuickTime
Latest for 8.6 & 9.x is 6.0.3. See
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL510?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Also, 5.0 for 7.5.5 - 9.x. See
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1158?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
OS X
10.0 = Cheetah
10.1 = Puma
10.2 = Jaguar
10.3 = Panther; 10.3.9 is the last update, 4/15/2005
10.4 = Tiger; Classic env f. PPC only; 10.4.11 last, 11/14/2007
10.5 = Leopard; 10.5.8 last update, 8/5/2009; reqs. G4 >= 867MHz (workarounds f. this);
Classic environment eliminated; last to support writing HFS disks/images
Use a GPU supporting Core Image/Animation: >=GeForce 5200 or
Radeon 9500
10.6 = Snow Leopard; Intel only
10.7 = Lion; Core 2 Duo or newer
10.8 = Mountain Lion
10.9 = Mavericks
10.10 = Yosemite
10.11 = El Capitan
10.12 = Sierra
10.13 = High Sierra
Panther on a 7300 w. G4 upgrade is slow.
The 50 MHz bus of the "7500 series" and, by extension, the "8500
series" and the "9500 series" as well, is the limiting factor.
The Beige has a 66 MHz bus.
The B&W and some later models has a 100 MHz bus.
The Digital Audio and some later models have a 133 MHz bus.
266 MHz and faster buses are common, now.
Tiger and Leopard are best on a 133 MHz or faster bus machine.
Latest Versions for PPC Macintosh
Camino
www.caminobrowser.org
2.1.2 is final release (4/2012), for 10.4 and up
AuroraFox
17.0.2esrpre (has all fixes from FF 18, allows plugins)
20.0a2 (plugin support gone)
TenFourFox
http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/
Originally a fork of Firefox, up-to-date to FF 45.9. Now a feature-parity release based on FF 45ESR.
For 10.4 & 10.5, with G3, G4 & G5 optimized versions.
Runs most add-ons (extensions); no plugins (NSAPI deprecated)
Update 2018: as with all vers. of FF <57 (& <FF55ESR) no extensions on AMO will run (XPCOM & XUL
kicked to the curb...)
SeaMonkey/Mozilla
http://www.seamonkey-project.org/
Mozilla 1.7.13 - final release (4/2006)
10.4 : 2.0.14
10.5 : 2.26 (May, 2014)
Seamonkey for PPC is for G4 & G5 machines running OS X 10.5.x:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/seamonkey-for-ppc
Safari
Latest ver. for:
• 10.5 Leopard: Safari 5.0.6 (7/2011) w. WebKit 604.5.6_2 (6/2018)
• 10.4 Tiger: Safari 4.1.3 (11/2010) w. WebKit 533.19.4
Use Leopard WebKit to upgrade : https://sourceforge.net/projects/leopard-webkit/
As of 1/2018, Tobias Netzer continues to update it.
OmniWeb
https://www.omnigroup.com/more
For PPC with 10.4.8+: 5.11.2
iTunes
Latest ver. for:
• 10.5 Leopard: 10.6.3
• 10.4 Tiger: 10.6.3, 9.2.1 (101MB), 8.2.1 (77MB, spec. for G3)
• 10.3 Panther:
QuickTime - http://support.apple.com/downloads/#quicktime
Latest ver. for:
Seashore 0.5.1 - seashore.sourceforge.net
For 10.4.11 and up
Airport
The original card will connect to WPA (not WPA2) and TKIP (not AES), but only in OS X 10.3 or later.
Acrobat Reader
OS9: ver. 5.5
10.4.11: ver. 9.5.4
7.x.x doesn't run on anything older than the Plus.
7.6.x doesn't run on anything older than the IIci IIsi and IIfx.
8.0/8.1 requires at least a 68LC040.
8.5 through 9.1 require at least a 601 PPC.
9.2.x requires at least a G3.
Rule of thumb: Power Mac G4 with FW400 can boot OS 9; FW800 cannot.
Classilla - Mozilla for MacOS 9.x and PPC machines
http://www.floodgap.com/software/classilla/
An update of Mozilla 1.3.1
QuickTime
Latest for 8.6 & 9.x is 6.0.3. See
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL510?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Also, 5.0 for 7.5.5 - 9.x. See
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1158?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
OS X
10.0 = Cheetah
10.1 = Puma
10.2 = Jaguar
10.3 = Panther; 10.3.9 is the last update, 4/15/2005
10.4 = Tiger; Classic env f. PPC only; 10.4.11 last, 11/14/2007
10.5 = Leopard; 10.5.8 last update, 8/5/2009; reqs. G4 >= 867MHz (workarounds f. this);
Classic environment eliminated; last to support writing HFS disks/images
Use a GPU supporting Core Image/Animation: >=GeForce 5200 or
Radeon 9500
10.6 = Snow Leopard; Intel only
10.7 = Lion; Core 2 Duo or newer
10.8 = Mountain Lion
10.9 = Mavericks
10.10 = Yosemite
10.11 = El Capitan
10.12 = Sierra
10.13 = High Sierra
Panther on a 7300 w. G4 upgrade is slow.
The 50 MHz bus of the "7500 series" and, by extension, the "8500
series" and the "9500 series" as well, is the limiting factor.
The Beige has a 66 MHz bus.
The B&W and some later models has a 100 MHz bus.
The Digital Audio and some later models have a 133 MHz bus.
266 MHz and faster buses are common, now.
Tiger and Leopard are best on a 133 MHz or faster bus machine.
Latest Versions for PPC Macintosh
Camino
www.caminobrowser.org
2.1.2 is final release (4/2012), for 10.4 and up
AuroraFox
17.0.2esrpre (has all fixes from FF 18, allows plugins)
20.0a2 (plugin support gone)
TenFourFox
http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/
Originally a fork of Firefox, up-to-date to FF 45.9. Now a feature-parity release based on FF 45ESR.
For 10.4 & 10.5, with G3, G4 & G5 optimized versions.
Runs most add-ons (extensions); no plugins (NSAPI deprecated)
Update 2018: as with all vers. of FF <57 (& <FF55ESR) no extensions on AMO will run (XPCOM & XUL
kicked to the curb...)
SeaMonkey/Mozilla
http://www.seamonkey-project.org/
Mozilla 1.7.13 - final release (4/2006)
10.4 : 2.0.14
10.5 : 2.26 (May, 2014)
Seamonkey for PPC is for G4 & G5 machines running OS X 10.5.x:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/seamonkey-for-ppc
Safari
Latest ver. for:
• 10.5 Leopard: Safari 5.0.6 (7/2011) w. WebKit 604.5.6_2 (6/2018)
• 10.4 Tiger: Safari 4.1.3 (11/2010) w. WebKit 533.19.4
Use Leopard WebKit to upgrade : https://sourceforge.net/projects/leopard-webkit/
As of 1/2018, Tobias Netzer continues to update it.
OmniWeb
https://www.omnigroup.com/more
For PPC with 10.4.8+: 5.11.2
iTunes
Latest ver. for:
• 10.5 Leopard: 10.6.3
• 10.4 Tiger: 10.6.3, 9.2.1 (101MB), 8.2.1 (77MB, spec. for G3)
• 10.3 Panther:
QuickTime - http://support.apple.com/downloads/#quicktime
Latest ver. for:
- 10.5 Leopard: 7.7 (8/2011), 7.6.4
- 10.4 Tiger: 7.6.4 (9/2009)
- 10.3 Panther: 7.4.5, 7.5 (6/2008) - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3661
Seashore 0.5.1 - seashore.sourceforge.net
For 10.4.11 and up
Airport
The original card will connect to WPA (not WPA2) and TKIP (not AES), but only in OS X 10.3 or later.
Acrobat Reader
OS9: ver. 5.5
10.4.11: ver. 9.5.4
Macintosh (ancient) Disk Image & File Compression Types
.bin : Disk Copy NDIF (New Disk Image Format) compressed image, which requires Disk Copy 6.1 or later to use. Download this software to your hard drive and then double-click it to use it.
Disk Copy 6.1 (or later) or Disk Image Mounter 2.1 (or later) from Apple are the recommended applications to access all disk images released by Apple and are the only supported applications to access NDIF disk images.
.sea : Self Extracting Archive; to use, download, double-click the downloaded file (this decompresses it).
.sit : StuffIt format compressed archive
Disk Copy 6.1 (or later) or Disk Image Mounter 2.1 (or later) from Apple are the recommended applications to access all disk images released by Apple and are the only supported applications to access NDIF disk images.
.sea : Self Extracting Archive; to use, download, double-click the downloaded file (this decompresses it).
.sit : StuffIt format compressed archive
RAM Specs
Early Power Macs
Apple used 5V FPM and EDO DIMMS. PC based systems used 3.3V
EDO and 5v & 3.3V SDRAM. DDR is basically a modified version of SDRAM
that allows it to access the memory 2 times in 1 cycle. Most newer
digit systems accept EDO RAM without complaint, but they only see it as
FPM. I think the 6500 may see it as EDO if available, but can't
remember exactly.
PowerMac 7x00, 85xx, 86xx, 9xxx - up 128Mb, 168-pin non-EDO FPM 5.5V
Apple used 5V FPM and EDO DIMMS. PC based systems used 3.3V
EDO and 5v & 3.3V SDRAM. DDR is basically a modified version of SDRAM
that allows it to access the memory 2 times in 1 cycle. Most newer
digit systems accept EDO RAM without complaint, but they only see it as
FPM. I think the 6500 may see it as EDO if available, but can't
remember exactly.
PowerMac 7x00, 85xx, 86xx, 9xxx - up 128Mb, 168-pin non-EDO FPM 5.5V
Macintoshes that run BeOS
PPC models that can run BeOS 4.5 & 5:
PM 9500,8500,7600,7300,4400
Likely the TAM, PM 6500,5500 & 5400, and Performa 6400,6360
PM 9500,8500,7600,7300,4400
Likely the TAM, PM 6500,5500 & 5400, and Performa 6400,6360