joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

I just got hold of a few Mac's. They were all damaged, so am looking to fix them up. I'm pretty good with PC's and laptops, having done a lot recently.

Anyway, a couple don't boot, I'm looking to re-install the OS and take it from there.
One came with some OS discs, but they have actually been bent in half, so there is a visble crack in them. I didn't want to risk it in the slot loaders on the Macs themself, so tried to make a backup on my PC. My PC won't recognise the discs. I don't know if thats because they are damaged, or if it is because they are for Macs. Thats sort of my my 1st question.
2nd is, whats the deal with Mac OS's? Do you need licences and keys like Microsoft stuff?

thanks

ScoobyDoo555

1stly, what OS is it? Haven't tried my Mac OS discs in the PC (for obvious reasons!)

The Mac requires a license, just like most software. No key though.

Dan

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

Well, they are pretty late Powerbooks with G4 processors. The discs were 9.2.something, but from my very limited Mac knowledge, I can go for something later like a 10.4 (whatever cat that is).
Also, again from my limited knowledge, its looks like you can get a lot of updates for free of the apple site. So can a sub 10 OS be upgraded to an OS X version?
Also, how is the licence defined? I mean, at least with windows you have stickers on the machines etc. I'm not looking to pirate anything, so I just want to know how it would work.

corradoboy

Don't bother with OS9, go straight for the latest version of OSX you can get. Once installed you can get the latest updates straight from the Apple site to get you up to the last revision of that OS (10.3 (Panther) got to 10.3.9, 10.4 (Tiger) is up to 10.4.10). No stickers or keys or anything. One disc can theoretically be used on as many machines as you want. I've no idea who owns the license on my install

The ones that don't boot may boot from disc to allow you to start fault-finding. Insert an install disc and hold C (or is it D ). If it doesn't work (it didn't on some G4's) then use an external drive and try the same. If that fails use a Firewire cable between a working Mac and one of the dodgy ones and look into booting from a target drive.

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

Thanks for that. I just won OS X 10.2 of ebay for less than a tenner.

corradoboy

10.2 is OK, but it really started getting good with 10.3.

Markus

I'll echo what corradoboy says and add that I'd simply not bother with 10.2. To be frank, if the machines will run it, get them onto 10.4 (Tiger). We're currently up to 10.4.10, which is due to be superseded by 10.5 in October, so if you were to run 10.2 or 10.3 you'd be pretty far behind the times. Apple does not release any security updates, or any other update for that matter for 10.2 any longer, and I'd not be suprised if the same will happen for 10.3 once 10.5 starts shipping.

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

So with 10.2, can I update for free from the apple website?
Or are the updates the last digit only? Ie 10.2.update.

corradoboy

Yup, 10.2.x only. Each major release (10.x) has to be bought (or nicked).

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

Damn. No wonder there was no one else bidding on it