Hello,

I may have found the answer on another person's thread, but nothing beats having a discussion about your own personal case...

I have been running Pro Tools Digi 001 on a G4 with OS 9.1 for quite a while now, and everything's been fine. But the the OS 9.1 has begun to become outdated ... endless Shockwave/Flash error messages ... so many things made for OSX only now.

So, I think I'm ready to upgrade to OSX. I could either have both OS 9.1 and OSX on the computer and use the 9.1 to run the Pro Tools and the OSX for everything else, or I could upgrade the Digi 001 as well. Apparently, it will work up to 10.3 (Panther).

Are there any things I need to worry about here?

What are the steps I must take? (I still live in the dark ages, and am scared of making some irreversible change to something that works well.)

Thank you for whatever information you may be able to offer.

quaco

First, what's your computer?
Next, to go OS X means you need RAM, OS X eats RAM for breakfast.

I will call some Digi001 user around.

Hi quaco,

Welcome to the 21st century.

I finally gave in and traded up from my Digi 001 to a Digi 002R and I have not regretted it. I've had no problems and it has allowed me to continue updating the PTLE software. Digidesign's hardware exchange program made it easy. Check their website @ http://www.digidesign.com/ to check the compatiblity of Digi 002 and whichever OS X you upgrade to. For one thing, you'll be able to remove the PCI card since the 002 is firewire. You'll now be able to put your Mac to sleep once again! There are still some diehard 001 users around, but it's a legacy product that will prevent you from enjoying any further Pro Tools updates. And lepetitmartien is correct: the more RAM the better.

Ron

I think it's:

Mac G4
450 MHz
256 MB RAM

Pretty standard five years ago.

Thank you for the advice and the goodwill! Just curious, why would anyone want to stick with Digi 001, rather than get an 002. Does the old one actually have any advantages?

With the Digi 001 you're limited to running ProTools LE version 6.4. Think your G4 will struggle @450MHz and 256MB RAM though.

So maybe the better idea is to get OSX, but keep the OS9 on there as well, solely for running my Pro Tools LE.

Or are you saying my computer will have a tough time with OSX anyway?

(Sorry for all the questions...)

FYI, if you're using MAC OS 9.1, and want to upgrade to OS X.x, you must upgrade to OS 9.2 first.

OS 9.2 is available (free) at the Apple/MAC support

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75288

This site also explains which G4's are capable of starting up in both OS X and 9.2 and how to set them up.

I installed a second hard drive in my MAC G4 (AGP graphics w/ 400MHz) and "partitioned" the 2 different drives,... I left OS 9.2 on the old, original drive, and run OX 10.3.9 on the new, bigger hard drive. I can start up in either OS, and run "Classic" OS 9.2, while in OS X.

I also added 2 512 MBs of RAM. It all runs great! I'm still new at the Digital Recording, so I can't reply to the Music Apps you're questioning, but I know the Mac OS and the G4 pretty well.

I'm in the process of choosing a new 1.4Ghz (or faster) processor to install in my G4 and will also upgrade to more RAM in order to get my mini recording studio off the ground. I only want to record 3 or 4 instruments and 2 vocals at a time.

G4's are highly upgradable, depending on your model. Good Luck!

Judy

This post has been edited by jce44: Thu 16 Feb 2006, 16:32

Well, I've found that - for example - running OSX Panther on a G3 500MHz laptop was just about acceptable for basic use, but way too slow for running audio software such as ProTools LE. I was running OSX Panther from an external firewire drive, booting it as a startup drive, as I wanted to preserve my original OS9 install on the G3's drive rather than have OSX 'upgrade' it to OS9 "Classic" - which is not the same thing as OS9.2. thereason was because i was running other audio apps that required OS9.2. Also, I didn't have much space left to install OSX anyway!

Suggest visiting Digidesign site and checking the compatibility info for the Digi 001 system
here

This post has been edited by ianstonehouse: Thu 16 Feb 2006, 16:26

Thanks, folks, you've given me some things to look into. I do appreciate that!

(Feel free to keep the posts a-coming though. I know there's more I could learn...)

This post has been edited by quaco: Thu 16 Feb 2006, 20:15