Six Second Slam Mac OS
While Mac OS 9 isn’t officially dead for customers, Apple does see the day when computers shipped to customers will be Mac OS X only. In fact, when Apple ships Mac OS X 10.2 next week, customers will buy a three-disk set — none of which will be a Mac OS 9 bootable CD.
The current Mac operating system is macOS, originally named 'Mac OS X' until 2012 and then 'OS X' until 2016. Developed between 1997 and 2001 after Apple's purchase of NeXT, Mac OS X brought an entirely new architecture based on NeXTSTEP, a Unix system, that eliminated many of the technical challenges that the classic Mac OS faced. ORB-SLAM2 is a real-time SLAM library for Monocular, Stereo and RGB-D cameras that computes the camera trajectory and a sparse 3D reconstruction (in the stereo and RGB-D case with true scale). It is able to detect loops and relocalize the camera in real time.
Many people in the creative pro market and in education still run their machines using Apple’s Classic operating system. The Jaguar software retail package that Apple will ship next week includes a Mac OS X 10.2 system install, a second install CD containing printer drivers and applications, and a third disk, which contains the developer tools. For the first time, Apple will not include a bootable Mac OS 9 disk.
“We are not including a full Mac OS 9 CD in the Jaguar software update for the simple reason that an overwhelming majority of customers that will be buying the upgrade already have an OS 9 System Folder,” said Ken Bereskin, Apple’s Mac OS X product manager.
Apple will be posting information to their Web site in the next few days enabling customers running Mac OS 8.6 or under, or that no longer have their Mac OS 9 CD, to get a copy of OS 9. Under the Mac OS up-to-date fulfillment program, with proof of purchase of Jaguar, customers can purchase Mac OS 9 for $19.95.
Apple’s computers still come loaded with Mac OS 9, but the only way to fix the system if you break it or to reinstall it is to use an included restore CD. With Jaguar and the new machines, you will still be able to boot into OS 9 if you so desire.
“We ship all of our systems, including the recently introduced dual Power Mac G4s, with Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 preinstalled on the hard drive. Users can open the Startup Disk System preference, switch back to Mac OS 9 and restart if they choose,” said Bereskin.
It won’t be long, however, until Apple won’t be giving customers the option to even get a copy of Mac OS 9. Of course, when a few more major applications like Quark and some audio applications make their way to Mac OS X, most customers won’t feel the need to run Classic at all.
“Looking forward, there will be a day where we won’t invest in Mac OS 9 development — we envision a day when computers will be OS X only, but that day isn’t today,” said Bereskin.
Many people remember Mac OS X 10.6.8 fondly. Not just 10.6 Snow Leopard, but particularly its very mature 10.6.8 release, the final one in that series. It’s considered a stable and perfectly fine version. It’s not a problem—until they want to mitgrate to a newer computer with the same files, preferences, users, and other elements as their current one. That’s particularly true when they want to keep their system and essentially brain transplant it to the latest two updates, macOS Catalina and Big Sur, and find there’s no direct path.
Apple offers Migration Assistant both when setting up a Mac (whether new or erased) and as an app within macOS, particularly to migrate user accounts and applications. As a source, you can use a Time Machine backup, a disk image copy of your macOS startup volume (via a cloning app, for instance), or another Mac.
But Migration Assistant has its limits: in Catalina and Big Sur, you must migrate from a backup made from or a computer running Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan or later. Attempts to copy from older installations lead to an error.
However, you’re not stuck. You have several alternatives you can try.
Upgrade past 10.6.8
It may seem like a pain, but if you have a computer that can be upgraded to 10.11 El Capitan or later, that’s your best bet. This list of models from One World Computing will help you figure out if your Mac can be upgraded that far. It covers years of Mac releases. (No Macs that can run Snow Leopard can be upgraded to Catalina or Big Sur, which would solve the problem, too.)
Apple has instructions on installing a terminal release of Mac OS X or macOS for its old computers.
Once upgraded to El Capitan or later, you can then run Migration Assistant to transfer data to Catalina or Big Sur.
If your computer’s last OS option isn’t El Capitan, read on.
Copy just the user directory
When spanning such a long gap between releases, you may not need applications or any settings files—you just want to transfer all your document, pictures, and other personal files. In that case, you can use these directions in a Mac 911 column from last year. While that article was written to help you overcome a Migration Assistant failure, it also works when Migration Assistant can’t.
Each of the techniques in that article lets you move the files you need over to a new Mac. The options vary by what your older system is capable of and the level of technical detail you want to cope with.
Install an older Mac OS on an external drive for migration
If the Mac you’re upgrading to (not from) is in the right range of vintages, you can do the following:
- Install Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan on an external drive. (Download El Capitan from Apple’s site.) El Capitan seems to be the last release that can migrate files from Snow Leopard.
- Use the Startup Disk preference pane to select that external drive and restart.
- Use Migration Assistant during setup or after setting up on the external drive to transfer data from your Snow Leopard Mac.
- Use Startup Disk to restart with your newer Mac’s intended startup volume.
- Now run Migration Assistant pointing to the external drive.
If you don’t own a Mac that can install El Capitan, you might be able to borrow such a machine from someone and use the same external drive approach that won’t affect the startup drive of their system.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Balthasar.
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Six Second Slam Mac Os X
We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.comincluding screen captures as appropriate, and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.
Six Second Slam Mac OS