Migrating from PowerBook G4 to MBP?

The Migration Assistant should take care of everything.

-Bmer
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You should be careful migrating from a PPC to an Intel Mac. Please see the following:

Yes, you can use Ethernet, however Migration Assistant only works with Firewire so you may want to consider a Firewire cable. However, read the following FAQ:

A Basic Guide for Migrating to Intel-Macs

If you are migrating a PowerPC system (G3, G4, or G5) to an Intel-Mac be careful what you migrate. Keep in mind that some items that may get transferred will not work on Intel machines and may end up causing your computer's operating system to malfunction.

Rosetta supports "software that runs on the PowerPC G3 or G4 processor that are built for Mac OS X". This excludes the items that are not universal binaries or simply will not work in Rosetta:

• Classic Environment, and subsequently any Mac OS 9 or earlier applications
  
• Screensavers written for the PowerPC
  
• System Preference add-ons
  
• All Unsanity Haxies
  
• Browser and other plug-ins
  
• Contextual Menu Items
  
• Applications which specifically require the PowerPC G5
  
• Kernel extensions
  
• Java applications with JNI (PowerPC) libraries
• 
  See also What Can Be Translated by Rosetta.
  In addition to the above you could also have problems with migrated cache files and/or cache files containing code that is incompatible.
  If you migrate a user folder that contains any of these items, you may find that your Intel-Mac is malfunctioning. It would be wise to take care when migrating your systems from a PowerPC platform to an Intel-Mac platform to assure that you do not migrate these incompatible items.
  If you have problems with applications not working, then completely uninstall said application and reinstall it from scratch. Take great care with Java applications and Java-based Peer-to-Peer applications. Many Java apps will not work on Intel-Macs as they are currently compiled. As of this time Limewire, Cabos, and Acquisition are available as universal binaries. Do not install browser plug-ins such as Flash or Shockwave from downloaded installers unless they are universal binaries. The version of OS X installed on your Intel-Mac comes with special compatible versions of Flash and Shockwave plug-ins for use with your browser.
  The same problem will exist for any hardware drivers such as mouse software unless the drivers have been compiled as universal binaries. For third-party mice the current choices are USB Overdrive or SteerMouse. Contact the developer or manufacturer of your third-party mouse software to find out when a universal binary version will be available.
  Also be careful with some backup utilities and third-party disk repair utilities. Disk Warrior 4.1, TechTool Pro 4.6.1, SuperDuper 2.5, and Drive Genius 2.0.2 work properly on Intel-Macs with Leopard. The same caution may apply to the many "maintenance" utilities that have not yet been converted to universal binaries. Leopard Cache Cleaner, Onyx, TinkerTool System, and Cocktail are now compatible with Leopard.
  Before migrating or installing software on your Intel-Mac check MacFixit's Rosetta Compatibility Index.
  Additional links that will be helpful to new Intel-Mac users:
  Intel In Macs
  Apple Guide to Universal Applications
  MacInTouch List of Compatible Universal Binaries
  MacInTouch List of Rosetta Compatible Applications
  MacUpdate List of Intel-Compatible Software
  Transferring data with Setup Assistant - Migration Assistant FAQ
  Because Migration Assistant isn't the ideal way to migrate from PowerPC to Intel Macs, using Target Disk Mode or copying the critical contents to CD and DVD or an external hard drive will work better when moving from PowerPC to Intel Macs.
  Basically the instructions you should follow are:
  1. Backup your data first. This is vitally important in case you make a mistake or there's some other problem.
  2. Connect a Firewire cable between your old Mac and your new Intel Mac.
  3. Startup your old Mac in Target Disk Mode.
  4. Startup your new Mac for the first time, go through the setup and registration screens, but do NOT migrate data over. Get to your desktop on the new Mac without migrating any new data over.
  4. Copy the following items from your old Mac to the new Mac:
  

In your /Home/ folder: Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites folders.

In your /Home/Library/ folder:

/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)

Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)

/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist (* This is a very important file which contains all email account settings and general mail preferences.)
/Home/Library/Preferences/ copy any preferences needed for third-party applications

/Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)

If you want cookies:

/Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist

For Entourage users:

Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft

Credit goes to another forum user for this information.

If you need to transfer data for other applications please ask the vendor or ask in the Discussions where specific applications store their data.

5. Once you have transferred what you need restart the new Mac and test to make sure the contents are there for each of the applications.

Written by Kappy with additional contributions from a brody.

SuperDuper! is available now in a Leopard compatible version 2.5. You should just upgrade. Any PPC apps should be reinstalled rather than migrated or copied. Of course it's always better to upgrade to universal binary versions if you can. Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom 1.3.1 are Intel compatible.

.. make sure you backup all your old data before you begin the migration.

In particular migrating PPC apps has proven problematic. In some cases they simply don't run even though they've been migrated properly. Even copying them doesn't help. They need to be reinstalled. I can't tell you why that's the case. I'm not sure if Apple has ever come up with an explanation for why they don't work unless you reinstall them. Since it's hard to know which ones may migrate properly and which won't, I simply recommend reinstalling all of them.

As for software for which there are now universal binaries you won't need the old versions. The upgrades are full applications not patches. Usually developers can always provide download access with some exceptions, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Of course don't get rid of what you have until you are able to get your upgrading completed. In the event that you have an application you will simply need to copy in order to upgrade you will still have it on the other computer or on a backup drive.

Hey Kappy and Brody ---

hmm. this is a v. interesting thread.

am I'm right in thinking I cant boot PPC-authored bootable OSX drives from an Intel MBP also? i.e. I have 10.3.9 and 10.4.10 super-dupered on my External Lacies w/ other backed-up files - I can still access all data, just not the bootable bit of the previous Systems - no sign of the drive options in the Startup Disk window.

You mention Bluetooth keyboard & mouse issues also - seems mine (Apple) are having mega difficulty being discovered or seen. tried new batteries, dumping plist, re-pairing, etc.... no probs on PPC before.

Add to this a screen anomaly - vertical dark lines, like stagelights ( http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1423301&tstart=0 ) I am wondering if this is normal migration hiccups fixed with a software/firmware update, or....

Is there something screwy going on w/ this MBP - at five days old?

I'll be on the blower tomorrow to Applecare - just wondered if you may be able to shed some light ---

Many thnx in adv.

John

Yes, that's correct. An Intel Mac cannot boot from a PPC version of OS X nor vice-versa.

Know nothing about BlueTooth.

Lines in display may be caused by overheating. Be sure your computer is used in an adequately ventilated space with reasonable ambient air temperature.

Hey Kappy --

thnx for the quick reply -- re; bootable drives - gotcha.

the vert. lines thing is intermittent - only while on battery, issue disappears after re-boot or sleep. the penryn version MBP has v. little heat going on at all.

anyways, ta for the migration info.

cheers,

John.