[Banana]

I'm looking to upgrade one of my work's imac from OS 9 as clients need some stuff that 9 no longer support, but the company doesn't want to go all out with a Tiger so I hope someone can point me to a good place where I can buy 10.1 or 10.2 for cheap.

The google hits was spotty...

Thanks.

[Brad]

I know this isn't much help, but is there a reason for avoiding 10.3 also?

Mac OS X 10.3 was really a huge leap over 10.0, 10.1, and 10.2, probably the most significant upgrade to date.

For 10.3:
Try here.

*hopes the froogle link lives*

If no worky, try this.

[alcimedes]

any reason why they'd want to go 10.1 instead of 10.3 or 10.4?

[BlueRabbit]

Well, 10.2 is the last supported version for a few computers, such as beige G3's. However, IIRC even the earliest iMacs are supported all the way to 10.3.9, so there's no reason not to go there. Plus, 10.3 will probably be easier to find secondhand.

[Matvei]

Man... 10.1 was a nice beginning but seriously get either 10.2 or 10.3 . The last one being much better than jaguar.

Grades:
Os9 = 6/10
10.0 = 4/10
10.1 = 5/10
10.2 = 6/10
10.3 = 8/10

[chucker]

You'll want to use Panther, as others have mentioned. You'll probably want to get OEM copies, as you can significantly save them money on them -- PriceGrabber has listings starting at $41.99.

[iDorf]

Many places to look:
http://www.macresq.com/store/hitlist...egory=Software
http://www.megamacs.com/v1/index.php?cat=15010
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/osx-center/

Be careful - you need a full install - most OS 10.1-4 packages will be upgrades only.

Would NOT recommend even starting out with 10.1. It will work,
but many applications will not be supported.

If going with 10.2 - download from Apple updates to get to 10.2.8
I use regularly. Current enough to support vast majority of application software. Nice OS!

If going with 10.3 - get yourself to 10.3.5
This is new to me on a new machine - looking good!

[FFL]

get 10.3, it's the best system for the money

[Elysium]

Get Panther, hands down.

Try hitting up eBay... Last year I finally broke down and got Jaguar for my iMac. Got it for $30. The only reason that I didn't get Panther at the time was that Tiger wasn't released yet and prices tended to be around $70. However, now you should be able to track down a used copy of Panther in the $30-40 price range.

Cheers...

[Banana]

The only reasons for 10.1 was 1) concerned about the iMac's age; it's from 2000?, and will not upgrade memory, 2) need cheapest as possible.

This is a public computer as a service to client, and being a nonprofit organization, i would think $20 is pretty much I can ask for. I may get away with a $30 (heck, I may just donate 10 myself).

Thanks for all the help!

[gsxrboy]

I have purchased all the retail packs of 10.x but I seem to have lost my original AU$10 public beta disc! has anyone ever seen one of those around?

[iDorf]

Hope you have enough memory/HD space. Want min 128 memory. HD, not so sure, but think 2G to spare would be min.

Ok - IC position now. If you can find a 10.0 disk, I'll donate a 10.1 (new - never registered) update disk to your cause. They were give aways long time ago. I Grabbed 2.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Banana The only reasons for 10.1 was 1) concerned about the iMac's age; it's from 2000?, and will not upgrade memory,

Panther (10.3), no matter what, will run faster, not slower, than Puma (10.1).

What is the memory? If it's less than 128 MB, forget about it either way.

[BlueRabbit]

The HD should be no problem - the smallest HD an iMac came with was 4 gigs, which should be enough. If it's from 2000, then it's probably 10 gigs or so. As for RAM, it's quite possible that it came with 64 megs; that was the standard until about 2000-ish. However, that sort of RAM can be found pretty cheaply these days.

[torifile]

We've got a 350 mhz iMac with 384 megs of RAM VERY happily running Panther at my parents' house. No problem at all. It runs 100% of the time, serving as a software basestation and print server. Panther is the way to go hand's down.

Originally Posted by Banana The only reasons for 10.1 was 1) concerned about the iMac's age; it's from 2000?, and will not upgrade memory, 2) need cheapest as possible. Thanks for all the help!

I'm in agreement-the latest you can get, the better. I have a Clamshell 300 ibook that runs it as well as a 400 mhz PowerBook that has Tiger on it. Zippy? No. Solid? Oh yeah.....

[uypeterson]

Have you tried Hardcore Mac? Their Yahoo store is at

http://store.yahoo.com/hardcoremac

You are asking for the impossible (10.1 -- ). Also, from what I've read, 10.0 and 10.1 are full of bugs. Most recommend they be skipped entirely. Nothing less than 10.2 is recommended. But, I understand your situation.

Also, a great site is EveryMac.com. Great historical information on the Apple Macintosh.

[SledgeHammer]

Originally Posted by iDorf Be careful - you need a full install - most OS 10.1-4 packages will be upgrades only.

Just FYI, it should be possible to get those upgrade disks to install without having the previous system, but I can't tell you how (because it's frowned on and because I don't remember).

Or maybe I'm thinking of something else...

[torifile]

Originally Posted by SledgeHammer Just FYI, it should be possible to get those to upgrade disks to install without having the previous system, but I can't tell you how (because it's frowned on and because I don't remember). Or maybe I'm thinking of something else...

Yup. When they released the 10.1 upgrade for free, I used it to install on a clean drive. I had 10.0, but I wanted to start from pure scratch and not do an actual upgrade. It was so simple it wasn't even funny. I'm pretty sure there was a thread over on appleinsider.com that talked about it (but it's been so long, I can't even remember when it was released).