Macos 9 Or Os X?, To buy a dual booting Mac or not? Options

[zeze]

hi all!

I'd like to buy a new dual 1.25G Mac, but I have a doubt about it;
I use a 9600/450, 640MB, OS 9.1, with Digidesign d24 card and Pro Tools 5.1.3, plus Native Instruments, and for this reason I'm planning to buy a dual booting Mac 1.25G to continue using my stuff; I dont know how PT 6 manage soft synths since Direct Connect it's dead, also, when the NI synths will be available for X?
Please, if there is someone who made this upgrade, I'd need a suggestion about which mac to buy: dual booting mac or not? what I'd miss with Firewire 400 instead of 800?
my last question: do I need to install a 10k or 15k rpm hard disk inside the mac to make 32 tracks playback without problems? if yes, what accelerator card suits best?

thanks in advance
peace
zeze

[ThorD]

I bought a dual-boot Mac (the iMac G4) and I am happy with the solution.

For now, I use MacOS 9.2.2 for all my music apps, and I have the freedom to move to OSX / Jaguar when I feel the time is right.

I easily installed a memory expansion card myself, and although other internal expansion options is limited on the iMac G4 there's enough FireWire and USB ports to allow me to hook up the external soundcards, midi interfaces and hard disks I require.

ThorD

[rickenbacker]

I've been thinking hard about this myself, lately. I decided that right now I'd like to stlll have OS 9 boot capability, so I've gone for a dual 1GHz that a local shop had marked down to a good price.

I'm not bothered about FireWire 800 - yes, it's dead fast, but no current hardware is available to take advantage of it and FireWire 400 is still plenty fast enough and always will be. Plus there's loads of great hardware for it, like the MOTU interfaces, a lot of which you can get second-hand.

[tacoboy]

OK!

For starters moving from a 9600 to a G4 is a giant leap for mankind!

Whether it be a 400 ,867 or a dual processor you will be satisfied to some extent. I had a 400 and moved to an 867 (older better one with 2mb of L3 cache and superdrive) and I certainly cant complain! Im not surprised if this machine can predict the weather for 70 solar systems.

Now we start to talk about dual 1.3 gig processors? ARE THEY TOO FAST? I dont know cos' ive never used one.

Id say try and pick up a refurbished G4 as you might get whiplash merging straight to DP!

[tacoboy]

OK!

For starters moving from a 9600 to a G4 is a giant leap for mankind!

Whether it be a 400 ,867 or a dual processor you will be satisfied to some extent. I had a 400 and moved to an 867 (older better one with 2mb of L3 cache and superdrive) and I certainly cant complain! Im not surprised if this machine can predict the weather for 70 solar systems.

Now we start to talk about dual 1.3 gig processors? ARE THEY TOO FAST? I dont know cos' ive never used one.

Id say try and pick up a refurbished G4 as you might get whiplash merging straight to new DP!
(also they only run OSX) until you get the CD that apple has quietly brought out to convert New OSX booting macs to dual boot!

[tnitz]

1) I wouldn't worry too much about Firewire 800 - it will be a while yet before things are out at a reasonable cost to use - it is likely that a PCI slot card interface will be available for cheap far before the peripherals are.

2) I don't know what you plan to do with the 9600, but if you are keeping it, you could always rely on it for your OS9 stuff until you are completed converted over.

3) Do you currently have any hardware you need to move over to the new machine? If so, are OSX drivers available? Your hardware investment may make the decision for you.

4) While there really isn't a reason to not get a dual-boot machine (except, perhaps, Airport Extreme and even then there will probably be a PCI unit available), I personally would make the leap all at once. I'd go with the newest unit and not look back. Anyway you cut it, it's a big leap and gonna cost some dough. I can't answer for you, but I am glad to be finally out of OS9 completely - I never did like the transition stage. However, it does work well, for what that's worth.

[zeze]

hi tnitz, thanks;

my first and most important need is to run ProTools/24 - MacOS9 - on a faster machine since the 9600/450 gets out of cpu too often, so the chance is to transfer my audio system - d24 card+DSPfarm - to a faster computer; also I'm looking forward to see PT6 working on OSX even though not all the plugs&synths are available yet;
in the meanwhile I want to run my studio safely on OS9.

that's what I'm planning to do with the new dual booting mac:
first I'm taking a second 120G hd to put internally and install there the OS9.2, then I'll mount the Stealth Serial Port G42001 on the modem place to keep on using my serial MOTU MidiTimePiece AV interface that I know will do the job also on OSX;
at the moment I have a PCI Adaptec 3940UW SCSI card mounted on the 9600 connected to two hds devoted to ProTools but I dont know if it's supported by the new macs - any updated driver for it out there? - ;
I'm also buying an internal Yamaha cdrw F1 to install on the second drive door to use mainly for cds mastering - what do u think 'bout it? is it a good choice?

I'll keep u posted in the future about my system 'revolution';

peace

[tacoboy]

Zeze, if you buy a mac with the capacity to boot both the O/S's you should keep them both on the same drive and dedicate your second drive for audio. Do the new DP's allow DB?

[tnitz]

I agree with tacoboy regarding having the new drive devoted to media. You could consider partioning a drive for your system software - I don't, but many do.

I've not had luck with serial port stuff in OSX, but I gave up easily - don't have any help to offer there. I also know there were some problems with SCSI cards in at least one iteration of OSX - again I gave up and moved on.

Sorry I am not more help but it does sound like your hardware is suggesting a dual boot machine - you may find you stay in OS9 until you can work all the configuration issues out. My approach was different and not ideal - I simply forced myself to switch and layed aside all my legacy stuff - It's been a few years and I still haven't replaced everything. But I also have a few beige Macs around to use when I need to use some of that hardware.

Also, firewire 800 holds some promise for the future so I have also been somewhat reluctant to jump into alot of SCSI or firewire 400 peripherals where speed is paramount. I hope to get a PCI card for firewire 800 as soon as available.

[zeze]

hi tacoboy,

yes, I can partition the 1st hd in two and install OSX in the first and OS9 in the second and devote the new hd to record audio, but what is the OSdrive fails or crash and need to be repaired? you may say I can always restart from an OS cd and use Disk Utility, supposed it can do the job, but what if I need to recover files when it's necessary to reformat the drive? can Disk Warrior do that recover? I read that until now the Norton Utilities is not recommended for OSX.

maybe I could make 4 partitions, two per drive, and install OSX in the 1st, OS9 in the second (1st hd), another OS9 in the 3dr (2nd hd) and use the 4th partiton for audio; I think that could be safest.

however, I still dont understand why you say I 'SHOULD KEEP THEM (the OSs) BOTH ON THE SAME DRIVE', is there a particular reason for that?
besides, what u mean with 'DO THE NEW DP'S ALLOW DB? if DP stands for Digital Performer I dont use it, but what's DB? sorry, I'm a newby here....

thanks