Mac OS X Unleashed

Mac OS X Unleashed

By John Ray and William C. Ray

Installing Mac OS 9.x

The Mac OS 9.x install procedure will be documented very briefly here. This procedure should be pretty familiar for most Mac users and is quite simple. If you already have Mac OS 9.x installed, jump ahead to "Installing Mac OS X."

If you've just partitioned your drive, you're probably already booted from the Mac OS 9.x CD. If not, boot from the CD now by holding the C key while turning on your computer with the CD inserted.

Double-click the Mac OS Install application. The Mac OS 9.x installation is like most wizard-based tools. The initial welcome screen is shown in Figure 2.9.

02fig09.jpg

Figure 2.9 The Mac OS 9.x installer should be completed with only minimal interaction.

Click the Continue button on the welcome screen to continue with the installation. Next, the Select Destination window will prompt for the drive that will contain Mac OS 9.x. If you're going with a multi-partition setup, hopefully you've named the drive that will receive OS 9. If you're on a single-partition setup, only one choice is available. Figure 2.10 displays the destination selection screen.

02fig10.jpg

Figure 2.10 Choose the drive to receive Mac OS 9.x.

Click Select to continue.

The installation software will display some important information about Mac OS 9.x. In particular, it lists these concerns (not all will apply if this installation is on a fresh partition and you've followed the instructions so far):

  1. Turn off security software
  2. Make sure that your PowerBook is plugged in
  3. Be sure that the computer is booted from the 9.x CD

Click the Continue button to proceed.

The Apple installer displays the software license agreement. Be sure to read this thoroughly, you'll be tested on it later during the Mac OS X installation (just kidding).

Click Continue to continue. If you agree with the software license, click Agree in the dialog box that appears. If you don't, you're not going to get any further!

At long last, you're ready to start the actual installation. The Install Software window is displayed in Figure 2.11. The installer is prepared to begin copying files.

02fig11.jpg

Figure 2.11 Click Start to begin copying files.

Tip

Even if you're a well-versed Mac user, it's best not to use any of the customization options that are available during the installation procedure. Mac OS X will make modifications to the OS 9.x installation so that the Classic environment can be used. It expects certain components to be present in order to work correctly.

Click Start to begin the installation. The entire process will take about 15 minutes on a reasonably fast G3, and under 10 minutes on most G4s. At completion, you'll be prompted to reboot your machine.

Finishing Up the 9.x Install

If you've installed Mac OS 8 or 9, you know what comes next. When Mac OS 9.x boots for the first time, you'll be taken through a series of assistants that will help configure file sharing. Luckily, there is no need to go through with this process if you're installing Mac OS X. When Mac OS X updates the 9.x installation, it will install additional software that inherits your settings from the parent OS X environment. You can choose Quit from the File menu to exit out of the assistant.

If you plan to boot directly into Mac OS 9.x occasionally, you might want to go ahead and complete the setup assistant process. The assistant asks for a piece of information related to the system setup, and then makes the appropriate changes to the configuration files. You can navigate between the assistant screens by clicking the left and right arrows near the lower-right portion of the window.

The steps are self explanatory, and are documented briefly in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1. Using the Setup Assistant Process

Information Change
Standards for keyboard layout, time, currency, and so on Choose the country's settings that best match your location.
Name and organization Enter your name and, if applicable, your company, school, and so on.
Time and Date Select whether you are observing daylight saving time and choose the current day and time.
Location To set your time zone, click the location closest to you.
Simple Finder Preferences If necessary, you can simplify the Finder's menu system.
Computer Name and Password A name for your computer, and a password you can use to log in to it on the network.
Folder Sharing If you'd like to share files with other computers on your network, you can turn on file sharing and create a shared folder.
Internet Setup Choose the method of connection to the Internet and a name for the configuration.
Network/Modem Settings Choose the network or modem settings that are appropriate for your installation.

You're now ready to install Mac OS X. If you'd like to continue at a later time, shut down your computer. Otherwise, insert the Mac OS X installation disk now.

Note

Apple mentions in the installation instructions that the most recent firmware upgrades should be installed before installing Mac OS X. According to the documentation, these updates are located on the Mac OS X CD. However, my CD does not include any firmware updates. I recommend checking future revisions of the OS X CD as well as Apple's Web site.

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