The short-term fix may be to try Camino browser 1.6.10, the last one supported
for OS X 10.3.9, still available from their download page. The newest won't do.
Another would be to get Firefox 2.0.0.20 from the older downloads at the Firefox
page at Mozilla Firefox and see if that can help. Also, if the computer has very
old Shockwave and Flash players (adobe site has newer) those may be updated
but Panther 10.3.9 does not use the newest of these, either; so get the correct
ones for the older OS X and also get and use the Uninstallers for these products
first, or you will not be able to install the newer of them. This question has been
answered in one way or another. On more than one occasion by me.
The PowerMac G5 (tower) and others, given adequate RAM, hard drive capacity
and free space, and other considerations, can run Leopard 10.5.x and getting
the retail disc package is the path. Also, if you use iLife components, to get a
newer retail version suitable for use with the OS X is a good idea. Your G5 should
be able to run the last iLife (iPhoto may be handy. I don't use but have it.)
Consider adding RAM and a second hard disk drive among other possibilities.
You may call and ask if it is still possible to get the retail Leopard 10.5 installer
disc set from Apple sales (see phone number in main pages of this web site)
and they may be able to sell you a copy. If you may need iLife, maybe you can
get a deal at the time by purchasing both. On that, I do not know. I was given
a cast-off retail disc set from persons who had upgraded past the OS X, yet
I have not installed Leopard in my computers. Tiger is adequate & stable.
The best path would likely be to do a totally new installation on a secure erased
hard disk drive, overwrite zeroes, reformat, full new install; or a second hard disk
drive in the computer dedicated to this new OS X version, and keep 10.3.9 on
another hard disk drive for awhile. You could dual boot some OS X versions.
If you want to see some specs on most Apple items, you can get a good free
downloadable database from MacTracker worth a look:
http://mactracker.ca
You can browse Apple - Support and read about products & requirements;
maybe even search for the range of hardware and OS version for yours.
http://www.apple.com/support/ This may take some time for older versions.
Supporting older software in a newer OS X version... this question may be
one for the discussions about the software itself, to see if that has a limit
in the path open to you, be it Tiger 10.4 or Leopard 10.5.
Good luck & happy computing! 🙂
{ edited }
