PowerPC programs not recognised on 9,1 iMac with Rosetta installed

It sounds like you are trying to run old applications written for the original Mac operating system – the one that was not based on Unix and NeXTstep.

Classic was the name of an environment that let some PowerPC-based Macs run Mac OS 9 applications while they were booted up into Mac OS X. For example, the iMac [G4] (Flat Panel) (a.k.a. "Pixar iLamp") could run versions of Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, and could also run some Mac OS 9 applications under the Classic environment in Mac OS X. (Think of Classic as being like Mac OS 9 running inside of a Parallels-like virtual machine.)

Rosetta 1 allowed Intel-based Macs that were running Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard to run certain applications that were written for Mac OS X and PowerPC processors.

They are both transition aids – but for different transitions. No Mac supports both.

shazbot wrote:

Could I try and turn the iMac into an external monitor for the iBook?

Apple used the model identifier iMac9,1 for three 2009 iMacs. A clock speed of 2.66 MHz narrows it down to two possibilities:

• iMac (20-inch, Early 2009) – which does not support Target Display Mode
• iMac (24-inch, Early 2009) – which supports Target Display Mode using Mini DisplayPort input, and whose LCD panel has a native resolution of 1920x1200 pixels

Looking through the iBook entries in the MacTracker database, I don't see any iBooks with Mini DisplayPort output. The last iMac that Apple ever released, the iBook G4 (Mid 2005), had a Mini-VGA output from which you could get composite and S-video output using adapters. Some earlier ones had an "AV port" (probably Apple-specific) that supported composite video output, or composite video output and VGA video output.

My guess is that if you have a 24" Early 2009 iMac, you'd be very lucky if you could find a way to hook it up to be a Target Display for the iBook – and have things actually work. If you have a 20" one, there's no chance of finding a way to make it work, at all.

You might be able to find third-party emulators for Intel-based and/or Apple-Silicon-based Macs that would let you run old programs built for the original (pre-OS-X) Mac operating system, and 68K or PowerPC processors. These are mostly labors of love, rather than polished, "guaranteed to work or your money back" solutions.

I haven't kept track of which emulators are out there, or well they would run, or what you would need to have on hand in the way of equipment to even load them up with ROM images and operating systems to play with them.