Panther

[rollershoer4MAC]

Can some one tell me some strong points and weak ones opposed to Tiger? Im getting Panther for my ibook and was wondering if it will do for me.

 

[MacHeadCase]

This is all in relation to the Mac on which you're going to install the OS.

I used Mac OS X 10.3.x Panther on my G4 iMac (it's still on it btw, just don't use that iMac anymore) and Panther was the most stable OS I had ever used. even compared to Mac OS X 10.4.x Tiger, Panther is rock steady.

Sure, Panther's Safari lacks some features but you can get them with add-ons. You have to run Apple's Disk Utility because Panther had a problem with easily getting the disk permissions messed up which would bring quirky behaviour, and this is one of the advantages Tiger has over Panther, while Tiger's OS has largely fixed these permissions issues.

Tiger is a lot of eye candy: widgets, built-in image effects with Core Image so software developers can tap into them and easily build apps with them, etc. But these come at a price for older Macs and some of those image effects are not supported by older and less capable graphics cards.

So I think that Panther is not an inferior OS version, not at all. Just make sure you install all the Combo updates to bring it to 10.3.9 and you should be ok. Pay special attention when you download and install software that Panther is meets the requirements otherwise you could do some real damage with software that does not support 10.3.x (unless the installer checks out your system first and lets you know you can't use the software but apps are not all written that way).


Edited to add:

For some Safari add-ons, check Pimp My Safari. Just make sure you download add-ons that are compatible with Panther's Safari and everything will be fine.

 

[rollershoer4MAC]

Alright thanks MHC! I would be installing it on an iBook g3. I was thinking of tiger just because I can buy it new and not have to worry about it not working because someone lied to me and said it was for an iBook.

 

[MacHeadCase]

Just remember that you won't be able to install everything you want in a Panther system. A lot of apps out there are more and more Tiger-only. But then again a lot are for 10.3.9 and later.

 

[MikeTheCat]

Sorry, I'm new to all this Mac stuff...

Where can I get upgrade disks to Panther? I checked eBay and they have a lot of full install disks, would I be able to use that on my iBook G3?

 

[MacHeadCase]

Welocme to Mac-Forums, MikeTheCat.

Full install disks are what you need.

 

[rollershoer4MAC]

Thats another thing if I bought Panther used it would probably be the upgrade disks. And im coming from os9 so i would probably need the full install huh?

 

[MacHeadCase]

Yes absolutely. Full install disks all the way especially if you go from OS 9 to 10.3.x.

 

[rollershoer4MAC]

ok good. Thanks again.

 

[MacHeadCase]

One thing though: be sure to make a backup of your personal files if you want to keep any just in case. You can always choose the Archive and Install procedure for going to 10.3.x but I always refer to start with a spanking fresh install so I wipe the hard drive and install the new OS.

Of course, if you want to keep OS 9 on your machine, you will need to reinstall it in this case. So make sure if you go this route you still have your OS 9 disks.

 

[rollershoer4MAC]

No I dont want to keep anything Im starting fresh with just panther.