I am trying to install Final cut pro studio V1.0.1 (2005) on OS X lion. I get a message "You can't open the application final cut studio.mpkg because power pc application are no longer supported

You won't find any help at tech support ... other than telling you the facts: Intel processor Macs require FCP 5.1 or higher. FCP 5.0 and earlier were written for PowerPC processor Macs, long before Apple switched to using Intel processors.

And then there's the issue of the OS. OS 7 will allow FCP 7 (and sometimes even FCP 6) to work OK, but versions earlier than that have spotty operation on Lion.

Here's a brief history of full FCP versions and recommended OS compatibility:

* = requires PPC ** = works with both PPC and Intel *** = require Intel

FCP 1.0* OS 9

FCP 2.0* OS 9

FCP 3.0* OS 9, OS 10.1, OS 10.2

FCP 4.0* OS 10.2, 10.3

FCP 4.5* OS 10.3

FCP 5.0* OS 10.3 (OS 10.4?)

FCP 5.1** OS 10.4, 10.5

FCP 6.0** OS 10.4, 10.5, 10.6 (OS 10.7?)

FCP 7.0*** OS 10.6, OS 10.7

FCP-X*** OS 10.6, OS 10.7

Essentially, you have a newer Intel processor Mac with a new OS and very old, incompatible software. You might be able to find a used version of Final Cut Studio 3 on sites like ebay or craigslist as it is no longer offered by Apple as an upgrade.

Alternatively, you could purchase and download FCP-X, but it is an entirely different application, sharing virtually nothing with previous versions of FCP.

-DH

What is happening is the FCS installer requires PPC compatibility and OSX 7 does not include Rosetta, the PPC emulator.

There have been some posts with people figuring out a work around (installing Rosetta from a 10.6 system install package or some such process). Even if you get the FCS v1 package to install, you would be trying to run it on a system that does not support it well as David notes.

Still, if you want to give it a go, caveat emptor applies.

Good luck,

x

Installing FCS 1 on an Intel Mac:

Mac OS X 10.4. All of the suite will install. FCP will work, but be prepared to have functions randomly disappear and lots of crashes. Motion and LiveType will work but occaisionally lose their Alpha channel. Compressor and DVD Studio will not work at all. Soundtrack will work.

Mac OS X 10.5 and higher. Forget it.

Installing FCS 1.5 (Universal Binary with FCP 5.1)

Will work on Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 only when you have applied all FCS updates before launching any app from the suite. I haven't tested it on 10.7

As remarked above, your best hope is to find a used upgrade copy of FCS 2009. An upgrade disc set contains all the files needed for a full installation. All you need is the serial number from any previous, full price retail copy of FCP, Production Suite or FCS to validate and continue installation.