I wish to upgrade a dual 1.0ghz G4 Powermac to a new iMac. I plan on upgrading most of my software but will also need to run my Freehand MX for building exhibits. Will I have any issues? I have no problem downgrading the OS (I have all retail versions up to SL).
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7.2), 3GB ram, 120GB hard drive
Well, my advice would be since any newer Intel iMac would be a big step up from what you are using now, I would look at older iMacs that still can run OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard natively.
Look at 2010 to mid 2011 model iMacs. These were originally installed with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
OS X 10,6 is the last OS X version to support older PowerPC software like Freehand MX.
The older aluminum design iMacs had more features for the money.
The new slimline iMacs, while cool to look at and are faster, other features have disappeared.
No longer a built-in optical drive.
No dedicated FireWire port.
No digital audio in port.
The SD card slot has been moved to the back of the iMac instead of staying on the right hand side panel of the iMac.
No Infared receiver for remote operation via an Apple remote.
The new 21 inch screen models can't be upgraded at all. They are glued up, sealed up, throw away computing appliances, now.
The new 21 inch screen models can only have a total of 16 GBs of RAM.
The 21 inch screen models, also, use slower 5400 RPM notebook style hard drives.
Tthe new models come with OS X 10.8 installed and you can't run older versions of OS X without using a virtualization program to run OS X 10,6 Snow Leopard Server so,you can still run your version of FreeHand.
Since your new iMac will undoubtedly only boot into Mountain Lion (and not allow you to install Snow Leopard), your solution is to install Snow Leopard Server into Parallels or VMWare Fusion (or perhaps VirtualBox).
The Apple Store now offers it at a 95% discount (at least in the USA & Canada) for $19.99 + sales tax & shipping. Telephone sales only:1.800.MYAPPLE (1.800.692.7753). Apple Part Number: MC588Z/A.
Freehand MX must be updated for Snow Leopard and the patch can be downloaded here:
http://helpx.adobe.com/freehand/kb/cant-launch-freehand-mx-mac.html
It will look something like this (note that you can open the Snow Leopard windows to full screen; it is made smaller here to show, in my case, Lion running concurrently with it):
[click on images to enlarge]
Also you can download Creative Suite 2, which includes Illustrator from Adobe's website. You may want to experiment with some of your Freehand docs and see if they can be imported (and/or copy/pasted) into Adobe's Illustrator, which still has an upgrade path:
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html
As with all PowerPC software that requires Rosetta, CS2 will not run on your new iMac and must again be used in virtualized Snow Leopard Server, as is Freehand MX.
Here is an example of CS2 Photoshop running in SLS in Parallels:
This solution will also allow you to run all of your other PowerPC apps until you can research their upgrade path, if any, to versions that run on the Intel CPU.
I decided to go with the earlier 2011 iMac model for a number of reasons including memory and hard drive upgradable and SuperDrive. I ordered one from Powermax.com and a 32MB memory upgrade from OWC. It has SL loaded and I have the retail CD should I need it. The memory upgrade should make the machine scream. I might add a 2.5" SSD in the future when the larger ones come down in price. Thanks for your suggestions.
You are Welcome!
Enjoy your "new" iMac.
🙂
Running Freehand on a new iMac?
