System 7.6.1 Applications on OS X 10.3

[Tripps]

I picked up some education programs for the kids yesterday that I assumed would work fine on the forthcoming Mac mini, however a little reading I saw something that said OS X was only backwards compatible with System 9...

Is this true or should I be OK?

[m-five]

System 7 is about 10 years old!

If the system requirements state something like 'System 7.6 or higher' that usually means it was release when 7.6 was current.

OS-X has a OS9 'Classic' mode which lets you run a lot of older software, but ultimately the only way to know is to try it and see.

There may be newer versions of the software you have, or upgrades on the publisher/distributor's website.

[HiRich]

There will only be one way to find out.
OS 7.6 was very backwards compatible, capable of running most stuff way back into the 80s
OS 8 started to ditch stuff related to pre-PowerPC hardware
OS 9 ditched a load more.

I'd suggest that it's better than 50:50, but there's always the risk that it required some arcane extension. Have you tried looking for a manufacurers website, on the off chance there was a (free) update?

[Paul 2000]

All Macs now only ship with OSX installed. Up to about 6 months ago they also had OS9 installed. If you want see if this software will work on your new Mac you'll need to get some OS9 installer disks and then upgrade it to 9.2.2 to get the computer to operate in Classic Mode (as Apple call it) within OSX. Sounds like a load of hassle to me.
Paul

[HiRich]

Is that correct, Paul? I know they stopped you booting the machine directly into OS9, but thought the Classic mode was still available as an environment within OSX.

[Bacardi]

You need to install classic as a custom install. Should be on the X install disk. No hassle.

[Paul 2000]

HiRich said:

Is that correct, Paul? I know they stopped you booting the machine directly into OS9, but thought the Classic mode was still available as an environment within OSX.

As Bacardi says you should get an installer disk called 'Additional Software and AHT' which will enable you to install OS9. You can then run your old applications, but going back to the original post the software Tripps has sounds very old and may not be OS9 savvy.

[Tripps]

HiRich said:

There will only be one way to find out. OS 7.6 was very backwards compatible, capable of running most stuff way back into the 80s OS 8 started to ditch stuff related to pre-PowerPC hardware OS 9 ditched a load more. I'd suggest that it's better than 50:50, but there's always the risk that it required some arcane extension. Have you tried looking for a manufacurers website, on the off chance there was a (free) update?

Cheers for that HiRich, the software in question is educational stuff from Mindscape - looking at the box it was released in 2003, so hopefully it'll be OK.

There are PC versions on the CDs too, so all is not lost if it won't run on the Mac.

[HiRich]

As a guide, I'm runing Office 98 (recommends OS7.5.5) on OS9.1, and I don't recall any upgrades from Microsoft.

Thanks for the tip on Classic. For when I finally upgrade to OSX, I was starting to worry that I'd have to spend as much again updating all the applicatons that I rarely use.

[jmorgan]

A quick shufty at some of my software,OK games, but ask for 7.5 minimum. Running fine on OSX. Some under classic, which I understand is now an emulator and comes with OSX and some with patches to OSX