Better OS for Pismo

Hello, I'm using a Pismo powerbook right now and I want to know what would be the best version of OS X to run on it. It came with OS 9 and that ran even better than OS X 10.4 does, I just wish it wasn't completely deprecated.

I have 10.4 on it but want to know if 10.1, 2, or 3 would run butter.

10.3 might run better, but as an OS, it's getting a bit long in the tooth. Safari alone for 10.3 is waaay behind the version on 10.4/10.5. Perhaps you can get some performance boost with more RAM? How much do you have now? Maybe a newer, faster drive would help also.

A better hard drive or ram would definitely help, but I don't want to spend money on this computer beyond the PRAM battery I got for it. I'm actually in the mind to getting a MacBook before way too long.

I'm actually using Firefox, pretty much for NoScript so I can keep flash animations and stuff from eating my computer every time I see an ad. If 10.3 has a chance of running better and can still use Firefox, then I'll see about getting it.

The only things I really use are Firefox, Adium, VLC, Finder and Mail.

Aphoxema said:

A better hard drive or ram would definitely help, but I don't want to spend money on this computer beyond the PRAM battery I got for it. I'm actually in the mind to getting a MacBook before way too long.

I'm actually using Firefox, pretty much for NoScript so I can keep flash animations and stuff from eating my computer every time I see an ad. If 10.3 has a chance of running better and can still use Firefox, then I'll see about getting it.

The only things I really use are Firefox, Adium, VLC, Finder and Mail.

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I actually still run 10.3 on my PowerBook G4 myself since my needs are similarly limited. Even though the system requirements for 10.3 are a little steeper than those for 10.2, I saw an actual performance increase when I upgraded from 10.2 to 10.3 on that PowerBook. Based on that, I'm inclined to say go with 10.3 rather than 10.2 even though your specs are lower than mine. Barring that, 10.2 would still be a good option. I wouldn't go 10.1 or earlier... I never used those myself (I switched when 10.2 was first out) but my understanding is that 10.2 is the first version where OS X truly began to realize its potential.

whats the recommended ram to run 10.4 on a g3? The only problem I see with the 10.2 that i have now is that I can't update my itunes and can't hook up an iphone.

To run Tiger successfully suggest you need a minimum of 1GB memory.

Aphoxema said:

I'm actually using Firefox, pretty much for NoScript so I can keep flash animations and stuff from eating my computer every time I see an ad. If 10.3 has a chance of running better and can still use Firefox, then I'll see about getting it.
The only things I really use are Firefox, Adium, VLC, Finder and Mail.

Click to expand...

Might I suggest that you try Camino instead of Firefox. They both come from the same stable but Camino is a good deal less hungry than FFox, and it's faster. It will block flash animations, page ads and pop-ups without the need for add-ons (which aren't available anyway).

Panther is right for the Pismo.