[chris v]

Anybody know what the most recent version of Mac OS that will runon 68040's? I've got an old Centris, Performa and Quadra, that I'm thinking about refurbishing real nice, and donating to whoever has a use for them (might send 'em to Mexico).

Is it 8.0, 8.1 or 8.5?

I own 7.5, 7.6 and 8.5, so I'd need to track down a CD of 8.0 or 8.1 if that's what they'll run.

Thanks,
CV

[reader50]

Mac OS 8.1 is the highest version a 68040 can run.

[chris v]

That's what i thouught-- just had a moment of doubt.

Any ideas about a good source for a 8.1 CD?

CV

[reader50]

You can get an 8.0 CD here for US$50. Free download update to 8.1 from Apple.

You can also get the full 8.1 CD on MacResQ for $70, but it takes some searching.

And then there is ebay.

[Dr Evil]

Just because you CAN run 8.1 on a 68040 does not mean you SHOULD. I put 8.1 on a lowly Power Mac 5200 with a 75MHz PPC 601 chip in it and the OS DRAGS even though it has like 32mb of ram, which is a lot for that Mac. Personally, I would stick with either 7.5.5 or 7.6 for optimal productivity. Just my $0.02.
(edit- the Power Mac was a 5200 instead of 5500)

[ 06-18-2001: Message edited by: Dr Evil ]

[MacMonster]

If you add a PPC upgrade to your 68040 machine, you can use OS 8.5.

[oscar]

Originally posted by MacMonster:
<STRONG>If you add a PPC upgrade to your 68040 machine, you can use OS 8.5.</STRONG>

heck, stick a PPC and you could run 9.1, abit slowly unless you have a g3 upgrade ($199) and a decnt video card. (good luck on a 68k, but I've seen crazier, maybe ca$h could help yea there =) )

[waffffffle]

Yea, I've found that 8.0 and 8.1 are pretty slow to use. They made my 6400 pretty slow, but now of course im running 9.1, which is very very painful, but I sort of need AS over IP. I should probably find myself an 8.6 CD but I don't have the money to spend on an old computer that's only used for CD burning. I've been looking into another OS for it that would give me AS over IP and CD burning but Linux looks scary. I've learned a little bit of unix from OS X and my Comp Sci stuff, but any OS that won't install right off a CD onto my Mac is not for me. Hey, I was annoyed to see that you had to reboot the machine twice to install OS X. Anyone know if BeOS can burn? Or even do AppleTalk? 9 is just to slow for me to use, when I know my machine definitely has some power left in it. How about OS X DP2? I heard that runs on machines back to the stone age. . . Can anyone help me out with that one?

[chris v]

I have no intention of upgrading the CPU's on these old machines... I just want to get them in as good working order as possible, and donate them to someone who can use them. I've got a 150MZ 604 and two G4's, so basically, I have no use for these older machines.

I had system 8.0 running on the Quadra for a while, and don't recall any speed issues, other than that slow is just slow. However, the hard-drive died, and I had to reformat, and the only system disk I had at that point was 7.6. I had "borrowed" the 8.0 disk from a freind, but I'd rather seek out an 8.1 disk that I can own, and make copies of for these machine's future owners to have, as well.

Was 8.0 or 8.1 ever released by Apple on floppy disks, or just CD? The Performa has a CD drive, but the Quadra and Centris don't, although I have a SCSI external drive I can use to install onto them with a CD.

CV

[WDL]

One of my four Macs is an old Centris 660AV using 8.1 and it works fine.

Of course it's slow, it's only 27 mhz - but how much speed do you need for word
processing and many other functions.

I also used it on the internet for six months with a 56k Global Village modem and
had no problems there either. Believe it or not, the 27 mhz is faster than the 56k
modem can supply.

For a speed boost I would sometimes set my Netscape to reject all images.

Still in use, but not on the net.

Two other suggestions for your old Macs - shut-ins (handicapped) in particular, and seniors.

WDL

[ 06-18-2001: Message edited by: WDL ]

[redeew]

Check out ; OS? in this forum.