[Indigo Boy]

I just wanted to get some input from those "in the know." I have a friend who bought a used Performa 5215 (all in one). It sports a 75mHz PPC 603 processor and a 1 gig hard drive. It also has 40 megs of physical RAM. At this point, it uses System 7.5.3 with Update 2.0.

Will OS 8.5 a) take up too much space on her hard drive? and
b) run too slow on the 5215 (or will it be speedier because it is more PPC native)?

Also, would the 8.5.1 update be available for download? I understand it was a little more stable.

I appreciate your input!

[WDL]

8.5 will work, but would suggest she go to 8.6 (free - download after you
have 8.5 installed).

There are nice features in 8.6 which don't exist in 8.5 - additionally, 8.6 is generally
considered to be the best and most stable OS Apple ever produced.

She will have smoother and faster operating if she turns virtual memory on.
VM used to be a dog prior to OS 8 - but from 8 on, it has worked very well.

After 8.6 is installed, she should go to the Apple download site and get
Apple Font Manager 1.0 which corrects the one serious bug in 8.6. After she
downloads it, she should run Font First Aid (included in the download)
once for it to make corrections in the system. It never has to be run again.

Then presto! - she's home free.

WDL

[This message has been edited by WDL (edited 02-19-2001).]

[Indigo Boy]

Thanks, WDL, for your helpful and thoughtful advice! I will probably help her install 8.5 initially and get her on the Internet and then help her download and install the updates you prescribed from there.

Thanks again!

[WDL]

Indigo Boy:

Hope you get to read this in time - before you install:

The best way of jumping to a new system like this is to initialize
the hard drive as a first step. That means the hard drive will be
stripped of everything that's on it now, so she should back up anything
she wants to keep to use with the new system.

This would be a perfect opportunity to install the new system in
HFS+ otherwise called HFS Extended format.

It's much more efficient and saves a lot of space on the hard drive - this was
only available starting with OS 8.1.

You should also have a good disk test/repair utility such as TechTool Pro
(Micromat - latest version 3.0.2) or Norton (don't know what the latest version is
because I don't use it anymore) or DiskWarrior, which is excellent, but doesn't do
as much as TTP.

When the install of 8.6 is complete - (and after a Restart or Shut Down of course)
run Disk First Aid from the Install CD several times (at least three) to check out the system
and make any repairs.

Then run your disk utility such as TTP to test everything and make any repairs.

Then optimize the hard drive - (TTP and/or DW will do this for you).

The first time you optimize, it may take quite a bit of time - thereafter, it will be
much quicker.

I have 4 Macs and test/repair weekly and optimize monthly - keeps everything
nice and smooth and stable - almost never any problems.

Good ops.

WDL

[Indigo Boy]

Oops.... well, I did the basic installation before reading your second e-mail. Everything went smoothly, and it seems to be working fine. I have not downloaded 8.6 yet, because we have been unable to get her on line! I suspect her phone lines may be a hindrance.

There are two small drawbacks I can see so far: She doesn't have much hard drive space available anymore, and 8.5 seems pretty sluggish on her machine. Is there a way I can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and perhaps get both more hard drive space and a little quicker behavior in 8.5 by deleting some parts of it? Speech comes to mind, as does some of the Internet installation, but are there other parts I could safely delete?

Thanks!

[WDL]

To get the space she's going to need - you really should back up
everything on the hard drive - then initialize it and reinstall the
newer system in HFS+.

Trying to gain space by deleting parts of systems has become a very
dicey proposition because there are so many interdependencies
throughout the newer systems. One false move and you have a Mac
that doesn't work.

Another problem with not having much space is that you may not be
able to optimize at all - sufficient space is required to do that.

If at all possible, this would be the time to start out fresh. Important
documents could be taken off on floppies/zips, and 3rd party apps
could be reloaded after the upgrade. May take a little time, but would
be well worth it for smooth operations and increased capabilities.

WDL

[Indigo Boy]

Thanks again for your suggestions, WDL. I know that what you are suggesting would be helpful for her computer, but, to be honest, I've already spent a great deal of time at her house trying to get her on the Internet (still unsuccessfully!), and the upgrade to 8.5 was part of the process. It got us closer, but I am beginning to think her phone lines are causing some problems.

I do appreciate your input, however; I just don't know how much more time I can put into this project, especially "gratis." (Especially since she is thinking about getting a new Titanium PowerBook in the not-too-distant future!).

[WDL]

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

If your friend is getting Ti PB and you have trouble getting that
sucker online - you'll KNOW there's trouble with her phone lines.

Don't write off the older Mac though - I've got four on the go now
- my oldest is seven years. They all serve a purpose.

One benefit of keeping older computers as you move up - if disaster
ever strikes - I can be back in business on one of the older Macs
in about 15 minutes - thanks to Zips and regular backups.

WDL

[Indigo Boy]

You were most helpful, and I am grateful for your intelligent, thoughtful responses to my questions.

[WDL]

You are most welcome - and thank you for taking
the time to reply.

WDL