Seeking OS 9 programmers!

Question

Seeking OS 9 programmers!

Mac OS 9 program needed to be a VoIP client, that can fit on a flash drive. Needs to be able to make outbound calls, receive VoIP inbound calls, and provide a simple to use User Interface.

If you are not a programmer but know a good archive of Mac OS 9 software, or a place where Mac OS 9 programmers meet or interact online, please let me know.

I am searching for a way to make older Macs still usable in today's world. The idea is simple - make these machines useful and they won't need to be thrown into landfills or other garbage dumps. My Mac is sitting idle because I can't figure out how to get VoIP working in Mac OS 9.

If there is a programmer out there that is willing to tackle an issue I might be able to finance the project, although not by a lot. At least a million of G3 iMacs have been sold, and if they can be used for VoIP and similar then they can continue to be of great use.

iMac G3 233, Mac OS 9.1.x, VoIP, G3 iMac, programming

Posted on Mar 2, 2007 10:01 PM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 3, 2007 4:07 AM in response to Bojan Landekic

There is this great resource:

http://www.os9forever.com/

Also many of the search engines on my FAQ* have a Classic or OS 9 section:
http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html

Contacting the people writing existing Mac OS 9 programs may yield someone who is able help.

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Answer 2

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Mar 3, 2007 6:24 AM in response to Bojan Landekic

Hi, Bojan. Every G3 iMac can run Panther (OS X 10.3-10.3.9), so there's no need to limit yours to OS 9. I don't use or understand VoIP, but if it can be used in 10.3.9 and doesn't require hardware that's missing from your iMac (in which case it would also be missing in OS 9), then you can use VoIP on the iMac.

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 3, 2007 8:51 AM in response to a brody

While true, a G3 233 is hardly a place I'd run Mac OS X 10.3.9. First off, you are limited to the 8 GB partition size. Secondly, no Firewire making backing up a slow and painful task. Thirdly, you have to upgrade the firmware while in Mac OS 9 before installing 10.2 or later. And there is a limit of addressable RAM on that model which makes it harder too. I forgot to mention because the servers have been slow this morning:

* Some links to my pages may give me compensation!

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Answer 4

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Mar 3, 2007 12:22 PM in response to a brody

I agree that a Mac without FireWire ports or room inside for another hard drive is a poor excuse for a computer, but that's true whether you're running OS X or OS 9.

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Answer 5

Mar 3, 2007 12:46 PM in response to Bojan Landekic

After using OS X for several years, I am rather annoyed at the 3D interface. It's bubbly, rounded and spherical, whereas the displays are 2D, so it creates a rather false sense of interaction. While I was confined to a G3 iMac in between my Dual G5 and Macbook swaps, I found the Mac OS 9 interface to be rather appropriate for the 2D displays of flatpanels. It's lack of multi-tasking (though it's claimed it has it) rather appeals to me as in a way the user then focuses on one task at a time. If I'm writing a song, I'm not going to be posting on a website, if I'm painting a backdrop for a film I won't be composing a song in the background, too.

If Apple's future OS designs could allow the user to disable multi-tasking code entirely, and use a flat 2D user interface, I personally would welcome these additions. OS X is far too slow as it is, and OS 9 would literally fly on the new hardware. Imagine future porting Mac OS 9 and optimizing it for a Quad G5 and comparing the speed to Mac OS X 10.4?

Regardless, far too off topic.

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Answer 6

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 3, 2007 1:03 PM in response to Bojan Landekic

Bojan,
Thanks to http://www.haxies.com/ and some theme authors, you have Shapeshifter, which can force the interface to look more like Mac OS 9. Additionally, you'll find on my http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html page ways of making Mac OS X look like Mac OS 9 so that you can look at the interface in a way that is most pleasing to you. Note some of these interface changing programs are operating system version specific, so upgrades may not be possible until the third party has updated to make themselves compatible with the new Mac OS X release or upgrade.

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Answer 7

Mar 3, 2007 2:02 PM in response to a brody

Is there a community or a site somewhere specializing in custom themes for OS X the way OS 9 was? I remember all sorts of awesome customizations for OS 9 that I haven't seen yet even tapped for OS X? Some people's desktops didn't even look like a Mac!

I looked at Shapeshifter a while back, but any customizations that are version specific are not going to be wide spread due to upgradability concerns.

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Answer 8

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 3, 2007 2:04 PM in response to Bojan Landekic

There was http://www.resexcellence.com/

It may eventually be improved. They are having a slow start getting it back up and running.

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Answer 9

Mar 4, 2007 12:48 AM in response to a brody

I've made a post there as well, rather like their new style. Though not much useful content.

It's unfortunat that Apple simply sells millions of computers that cannot run Mac OS up to 9 and provide absolutely no documentation on their site. I consider that irresponsible.

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Answer 10

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 4, 2007 11:28 AM in response to Bojan Landekic

Actually they do have a legacy section:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/LegacyTechnologies/index.html

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Answer 11

Mar 4, 2007 11:38 AM in response to a brody

Maybe not so irresponsible afterall, I sort of was surprised when I couldn't find such a section - how did you find it?

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Answer 12

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 4, 2007 11:42 AM in response to Bojan Landekic

I went to http://developer.apple.com/ went to Technical Notes: http://developer.apple.com/technicalnotes/ and then at the bottom of the page found Legacy Technologies.

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Answer 13

Mar 4, 2007 11:50 AM in response to a brody

ok, I should have done that! 🙂

Sometimes the easiest of solutions escapes me after working for hours and hours and hours and hours and... where's my System 7.5...

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Answer 14

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 4, 2007 11:52 AM in response to Bojan Landekic

Was that a rhetorical question?

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Answer 15

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 4, 2007 6:21 PM in response to Bojan Landekic

I've found a centralized themes site:

http://www.macthemes.net

Warning about the themes. Some are operating system specific and will only work with a specific update of the operating system and not others.

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