Hello,
I have a blueberry iBook, With the following specs:
Mac OS X 10.3.9
300 MHz PPC g3 Processor
with 544MB SDRAM
My main use for this computer will be to type notes and maybe receive email using a email client. And basic web browsing.
So is it a good idea to downgrade from panther to OS 9?
Thank you very much!
-Adrian.
In terms of web browsing, Classilla on OS9 is probably better suited to web browsing than any of the browsers compatible with Panther. Other opinions needed on that.
Otherwise, both systems are still capable of doing those tasks. While System 9 has the added benefit of being able to run most of the software here, additional programs for earlier versions of OSX might be a little bit harder to find. If you want to use it for just the tasks you mentioned, it may fall down to whichever interface you prefer.
I have a graphite iBook with OS9. I did try to put X on it but there wasn't enough disk space, far too many old games
If you have enough disk space left, you could install both OS9 and OSX. Web browsing might be tricky. even when I had 10.1 on my iMac G3, it couldn't handle even the Apple startpage. But when I upgraded to Tiger, Safari was capable of loading almost every webpage I visited. OS9 and OSX can both handle email and note-taking. OSX-3.5 GB. OS9-500 MB. Innes does have a point with all the games you can run in OS9.
I think I may switch to OS 9 for the games and the large amount of apps for download os 9 compared to OS X and upgrading to jaguar wouldnt work with out xpostfactor on my g3. I did find out SIMCITY is on os 9 so thats a plus 
I was reading the wiki with the downloads ( http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/macintosh-system-922-1021-power-macintos... ) What Download should i use? I was thinking the retail 9.0.4?
You might try the IBook install CD, if you can handle 7Zip:
http://www.mediafire.com/?t7oo007ezs669
I would second dual booting 10.3.9 and 9.2.2 too. I had that setup with my Bondi blue, but I had an external SCSI HDD for storage. As you dont have a SCSI HBA, USB drives have become quite affordable.
OK, I think I will install OS 9 but remove OS X.. Would OS 9 Boot faster than OS x
Oh yes. You would see a huge speed leap when you use OS9.
Would it be possible to install os 9 From Usb flash drive? I read about people running from flash drive
Install From ? Yes.
Boot From ? No.
If you're going for OS 9.2.2 plus all the latest patches, you'll want to OS 9.2.2 for the MDD. Comes as an OSX disk image - boot into OS X, mount the image and drag/drop the contents onto the boot hard disk.
Whats MDD? ^_^
MDD = Mirrored Drive Doors
I got OS 9 On my iBook! I Was even able to boot and install from a flash drive!
Boot from USB ? On an iBook ?
Startup Disk CP won't work because you won't have any USB drivers loaded by boot time. Tried it on a PBG4, from USB and from PCMCIA, no dice.
I'd always thought you could boot from Firewire on PowerPC and from USB on Intel.
PLease let us know your secrets.
response to earlier comment - browsing on Panther/10.3.9 is indeed a pain in the butt - I'm currently having some success with Shiira 1.2.2 with Java disabled (using it now in fact to post this) - agree that Classilla on OS 9 is probably better (more stable anyway) but if you end up with Panther (ie. dualboot) Shiira might be useful - you also might have some luck with iCab and Sunrise
Camino is fantastic. I am actually able to use flash player. How did you boot from a flash drive? Tried that on my G3 and it didnt work.
Your title is wrong. Moving from X to 9 is NOT a downgrade. It is simply a better choice.
Gary
Really i´d like to know how you accomplish the task to boot from a USB
sounds almost esoteric.
I installed os 9 into classic thanks to the MDD then i formated a flash drive in the Mac file system and installed os 9 drivers, then i installed os 9 to the flash drive afterwards i copied the the ibook install disk contenets to another file in the flash drive. (Big flash drives wont show up in this part not sure why?) anyways held down option key and saw the name of my flash drive (the icon was a hard drive though) then i was able to boot in to it i will post picture soon.
Also OS 9 is really a upgrade i see that now!
Well done! Os9 certainly is a great operating system. If you don't mind I would like to document this, since there is no method of loading OS9 with a flash drive known. You've made a nice discovery! I'll test this myself tomorrow.
booting from usb on ppc macs is often wrongly assumed impossible, it's just very hit and miss as to which macs will boot from usb, for example : my now dead 600mhz ibook g3 booted from usb fine (both x and 9), my 500mhz ibook g3 won't boot from usb. My iMac G4 and PowerMac G4 QS will boot from usb but my PowerMac G5 won't
Like said, this is a truly great achievement,
From your instructions it sounds like it wasn't an install of OS9 onto the flash drive, but a copy of the OS9 installer on the flash drive. Very clever. And from the pics it looks like you used Startup Manager to choose it to boot from. I'll be trying all this tonight.
What I had previously referred to as impossible, was
1) formatting a USB stick as Mac HFS - this worked.
2) running the Mac OS 9 installer from CD and installing OS9 onto the USB stick - this worked.
3) rebooting the Mac back into OS9 or OSX from hard disk and selecting the USB stick in Startup Disk CP - this worked.
4) clicking restart and expecting the Ma to boot from the USB stick - I could never get this to work.
Feel free to document this! everyone should know! (Credit is nice though 
)
If any one has questions just ask!
Much of the trickery to booting USB drives on PPC machines has been documented on MacOS X Hints: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20061017084322177
