run Panther off external HD? os 9 on ibook? network with XP?

heyhey

i really love my original tangerine ibook with OS 9.2, had it for years now just one addition I'd like to make:

I have a free copy of OS X.3 panther for teachers, and I'd really like to use it for the iMovie software mostly.

However, my ibook's HD is only 3gb, and i want to keep OS 9.2 on it with the graphics software I have installed.

So I fingured I'll just get an external HD say 50-100gb and install OS X on that, then boot my ibook off that HD and move completed movies thru ethernet or USB to my XP where my cd/dvd burner is. Ahh, utopia...

Except I have no idea:

1- how to 'dual-boot' (i think the term is) so I can selectively boot off the main HD or the xternal

2- what's a recommended external HD model and supplier?

3- has anyone done this before? any hiccups to watch for?

4- how to connect my ibook via USB or Ethernet (preferred) to my XP without a router? or possibly recommend a router?

5- Advice on home networking my ibook with my XP?

thanks for any and all advice...

You can most definitely do this.

To select which OS you would boot into you usually go into "Startup Disk". That is in System Preferences in OS X, and I am assuming it is in roughly the equivalent place for OS 9. You just select the OS you want and then hit "reboot". Simple as that.

As for recommended external HD's, I use a drive enclosure, and then I bought a drive spereately. There are some smaller self contained units out there with like 80GB available. Will leave that up to someone else to give you more info. If you are interested in the do-it-yourself method ( seperate enclosure / drive ), let us know, and we can walk you down that road.

I have done this before, and Apple has made it pretty seamless. There is also a command, I think it 's CTRL-SHFT-ENTER when you boot, that will actually give you a boot menu, I think. Again someone else probably knows more about this.

You can connect your iBook to you XP machine. If your XP machine has an ethernet card, you can use a crossover cable ( usually orange in color ), and this will be like a mini-network. There are FireWire/USB solutions for this out there as well, but why spend more money when you already have the tools needed ( except the $6 crossover cable, which you must purchase ).

My networking recommendations? get a router/switch. For like $80 or less this will save you a lot of hassle, allow you to share your broardband, and give you room to add more machines later if you need. Plus most of them have built in firewalls, which is really nice, so you don't have to keep the overhead of firewall software on any of your machines.

Of course these are just my thoughts, I would expect more ideas from others though