Should I install original OS

Hi, I have a used G4. Dual 500, 120GB HD, 2 GB ram. Got it from a friend and have been using it with OS X 10.4, which I purchased for my powerbook. He gave me all the disks for the machine. Should I have used all the original disks (os 9.2.1 & OS X 10.1 and OS X10.2)? he also gave me Power Mac G4 Software Restore disk and Software Install disks. Also, he gave me 2 OS 9.2.1 disks, it looks like they are the same thing, does OS 9 need 2 disks? I also want to know if I can install OS 9 onto my old powerbook G4 and how big to make the partition?

I'm assuming you got a retail copy of OS X for your Powerbook, which is what you installed on the G4.

You don't really need to use the original discs, especially if you want to stick with 10.4 and not downgrade to 10.2.

However, the only issue I can think of is that the retail copy of OS X is only supposed to be installed on one computer at a time, unless you bought a Family Pack, which allows you to install it on up to 5 computers.

Finally, why would you want to install OS 9? Do you have a specific need for it or is it because you got it with your purchase and simply want to install it?

Yes, it's just a single license.

He also gave me some old adobe (photoshop 5.5, illustrator 8) full legal mac versions that I want to upgrade to CS2. Do I need os 9 for these? When I put them in, I try to start classic and it can't find a mac os 9 system folder on the startup disk.

Yes, you'd need an OS 9 install to use those old Adobe apps. You don't need a partition.

And as Kash noted, you shouldn't be running a single license to 10.4 on both machines.

ok, then how do i get os 9 to be installed on the powerbook? i have a Mac os 9.2.1 disk, white with a big 9 in gold. when i put it in and restart it tells me to turn off extensions then it stops about 1/4 down the install bar. i've erased the hard drive 5 times today to install os 9. I am so confused. I am using my os X disk to erase the hard drive and then i install os X. A couple of times i got to the point where there was the classic logo in the sytem preferences, but i couldn't install os 9.