At 6:04 PM -0600 5/30/2004, Frank P. Eigler wrote: ery few problems. > >Seriously. Strip down the beast; reformat the drive; install from proper >CDs.
Well, I finally found out why my G-4 wouldn't install OS-X. I worked at the problem all day and on into the night until 4 AM, and I am bald now, because my hair is scattered around the room in the little tufts I pulled out from time to time while screaming in frustration. At one point the G-4 was all opened up with all its insides scattered about, and there were PCI cards, memory chips, and disconnected cables everywhere. Then I started putting things back in, piece by piece, buttoning the box back up and restarting the computer and trying again to install X each time. And so the long day wore on. I lost count of the number of startups and shutdowns. Many hours into this fiasco, OS-X finally installed. Here's what the problem turned out to be: OS-X didn't like one of the computer's three 512-meg memory chips. Although OS 9 has always been perfectly happy with it (for two years), X wouldn't run if that chip was in there. Every time I put it back into a slot, OS -X had another "kernel panic." So, there's $120 more that X is going to cost me, if I want to use it. That's in addition to whatever I have to buy to make my printers and peripherals work again, not to mention the time it will take troubleshooting them. Neither my HP Laserjet 5 MP nor my Epson Stylus 1280 will print in X or its Classic mode. Eudora won't retrieve mail. I don't know what else won't work yet, but everything I tried seemed to fail. Then I decided to install my new iLife suite, but the computer told me that 10.2 isn't good enough, I've got to upgrade to 10.2.7. So, I went to Apple's website and tried to download the updater, but it's gigantic--100 megs--and with my dialup connection it would take ages to download. So, I can't use iLife either. I have found this OS-X to be just one giant, expensive pain in the neck, and although it's now finally installed on this G-4 (and will even start up in it, if I leave one third of my computer's memory out), I can't really see what I'm gaining here. I will have to live in 9.2.2 for all practical purposes, as I begin the long struggle that I see every day on this list as people try to make their equipment and apps work in OS-X. Will it be worth it in the end? I don't know. And I can't go up to 10.3, because I've been told that it removes the ability to boot back into OS 9. All I do know is that I've never in my life had so much trouble with anything as I've had these last two days trying to install OS-X on this computer. It's just been pure hell, and had I known what I was in for, I never would have tried it. Everybody talks about how much trouble Windows is, but I would ask this: do Windows installers have to rip the entire insides out of their computers just to install an OS? I seriously doubt it. So much for Apple's vaunted "ease of use, plug-and-play," and all the other things that Macs used to stand for. Tom Art website at http://www.ThomasBakerPaintings.com Archaeology website at http://www.nmia.com/~jaybird/AANewsletter/ -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
