Pagemaker 6.5 with Panther

Pagemaker 6.5 is not compatible with OS X. It's an OS 9 application. You would need to install OS 9.1 or higher on your computer to run PM6.5 either in OS 9 or through Classic in OS X.

OS 8.6 or higher would have been installed on your computer when it was new. You should have an installer CD for some version of the older Mac OS. However, to use Classic you need OS 9.1 or higher. If you don't have an OS 9.1 or higher installer CD, then you will need to purchase one. I believe you can buy one at www.macsales.com.

In the long run you might be better off upgrading Pagemaker. It has long ago been replaced by Adobe's InDesign.

You do not have to uninstall OS X. You can install OS 9 and OS X together on the same hard drive. You cannot use PM 6.5 with OS X. However, OS X has an OS 9 emulation called Classic. However, to use Classic in OS X you must have OS 9 installed on the hard drive.

As I said before you can upgrade from PM 6.5 to InDesign. Contact Adobe about an upgrade price. InDesign replaced Pagemaker several years ago.

Ruben,

As Kappy stated, you have to load OS 9 and leave it on your system with OS X to run Pagemaker in Classic mode.

Pagemaker was discontinued several years ago and has been replaced by InDesign (which runs in OS X). You can get Adobe InDesign® CS2 PageMaker Upgrade for US$349.00.

Hello Ruben,

As a frequent visitor to the Adobe forums, and an occasional user of PageMaker myself, I know of a very few people for whom PageMaker works well under Classic. For me, it does work when everything in my computer is perfectly in shape, but have come to expect a major or minor disaster at any time. The necessity for frequent, and even serial backups is a vital one here.

If you like PageMaker and don't feel like spending more money in programs that may be oversized for your needs, I would suggest that you

1. Make a small partition in your HD (perhaps about 5 GB), and install a copy of OS 9.1 or higher (up to 9.2.2) and of PageMaker there. You would need to boot from that partition every time you want to use PageMaker. Or, if your HD is not large enough or you don't like the idea of partitioning it,

2. Get an old, cheap Mac and keep it exclusively for running non OS X applications. I kept my wife's old iBook 300 precisely for that; being a portable, it uses very little storage space. Plus, I can continue using my main Mac as usual.

HI, Ruben. Let me add a comment to Oldy Nuts', since I find that Pagemaker 6.5.2 works just fine for me in Classic mode (OS 9.2.2 running within OS X 10.3.5). I don't use it often enough to justify the $350 upgrade to InDesign, but when I use it, it's because nothing else I have will do.

Oldy Nuts' two suggestions are both good, but I'm not convinced that you'd always have to reboot into OS 9 to use PageMaker if you did install it and OS 9 on your primary hard drive. My experience suggests that it would be well worthwhile for you to try running PM in Classic.

Hello, eww.

Without doubt, you are one of those few privileged ones for whom PageMaker works under Classic without any hitch. Of course it is worth for Ruben to try the Classic way first, if he feels like it. I was just preparing him for what may well be the only way for him to go: work under 9.1 or above.

As I said, PageMaker works very well for me under Classic if everything is OK in my Mac. But I experience very frequently crashes, or loss of information, or unopenable files, which make me prefer to work directly in 9.2.2. This is something everyone has to test for her/himself using her/his particular equipment and setup.