Can't run CD-ROM set of magazines in 10.4.9; worked fine in 9.2

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Level 1

12 points

Can't run CD-ROM set of magazines in 10.4.9; worked fine in 9.2

My "Complete National Geographic" set of 31 CD-ROMs used to run great on my Cube, which I bought in 2000 with OS 9 (Classic) installed. When I finally bought OS X ( now 10.4.9), keeping 9.2 loaded for older programs, the NatGeo stopped running even though it is still installed in Classic. I tried reinstalling it in OS X but the installation CD wouldn't run. The index CD that served as its engine now brings up only a "disk not recognized" error message. I can get the welcome music to play by clicking on its icon, but that is the only one I can navigate or even recognize. The NatGeo's system requirements are "Power PC, System 7.5 or higher, 8 MB RAM, 32 MB free HD space." The whole program does run normally when tried on a PC in Windows 98 but is there hope to ever run it again on my Mac, or have I updated my OS and QuickTime (7.1.6) too far to do that?

Power Mac G4 Cube Mac OS X (10.4.9) 576MB

Power Mac G4 Cube, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on May 17, 2007 11:05 PM

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Answer 1

Douggo

Level 4

2,740 points

May 18, 2007 1:04 AM in response to sudoku

There are a host of programs that refuse to run properly under Classic, for a variety of reasons. Your hunch about QuickTime support may be somewhat on target, depending on how the CD's were authored relative to QuickTime codecs. Sad to say, but there are times when having an older Mac running OS 9 or earlier is the only way to have access to these older programs.

-Douggo

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Answer 2

May 18, 2007 5:13 AM in response to sudoku

You might have to do some hacking and find out what the actual National Geographic content is - Quicktime Movies? PDF's? Flash?, JPEGs?

If you are lucky it's something simple like that, and you can extract the data from them, but it sounds like it's a custom program which incorporates all of them.

Also might try contacting National Geographic and seeing what they offer for an upgrade. They might cut you a deal.

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Answer 3

sudoku Author

Level 1

12 points

May 18, 2007 9:04 AM in response to Douggo

Thank you. I recall a few times when I delayed a QuickTime upgrade because of the warning that popped up indicating all other versions would be wiped and the new version would not necessarily improve everything, but eventually I really needed that 7.1.9 and hit the button. I am still mulling this and will do a little more research, but I may end up just running it on the dreaded PC.

Power Mac G4 Cube Mac OS X (10.4.9)

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Answer 4

sudoku Author

Level 1

12 points

May 18, 2007 9:22 AM in response to jimmy james

Thanks for the suggestions. I spoke to National Geographic a while ago, even before this problem arose, because I wanted to know if they would be issuing CDs covering 1998-on. (This set is 1888-1997.) They had no plans to do so. My set has been discontinued and the distributor can no longer be contacted, but I still have a few more phone numbers and emails to try.

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Answer 5

May 23, 2007 3:25 PM in response to sudoku

sudoku, I was going to ask about which version of the Nat Geographic you have, but you finally detailed it. Same version as me, and I'm sure I've had it working, in OSX 10.3.9 and Quicktime v6, on my old PowerBookG4.

Just for info, as far as I know there have been 3 different Complete Nat Geographic released since the early 90's, all three came from different software suppliers, all three of whom are now uncontactable.

This release has all the pages shipped as .jpg in the images folder on each cd. Unfortunately they're not named in any meaningful way. If I remember right, the other versions were only slightly better, with pdf documents for each magazine (I didn't buy those, I got either one magazine or one year (1993 I think) free as a cover cd with MacFormat UK.

In any case I've been severely unimpressed by the scan quality in this version. And the pokey little window used for the search.

Have you tried running the installer in OS9 (or whatever) ? and then running the installer app from within Classic ? Don't forget to reduce the screen colours to 256.

Let us know how you get on, if all else fails I can try to install and run it again.

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Answer 6

sudoku Author

Level 1

12 points

May 24, 2007 10:30 PM in response to Simon Teale

Thank you for the additional ideas. I have already tried unsuccessfully to run the installer in 9.2, but your note jogged my memory to attempt a fix that just might work. I will let you know. Also, Simon, I would like to mark your post as Helpful, like the others, but at the moment yours only shows a Solved button to press. I'll try again at next logon.

Power Mac G4 Cube Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Power Mac G4 Cube Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Message was edited by: sudoku

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Answer 7

sudoku Author

Level 1

12 points

May 25, 2007 4:08 PM in response to sudoku

Case closed! I'm sure you all knew this already, but I finally figured out that I was not truly in Classic (9.2.2) when trying to open the application. Instead, I was using the toggle button to open Classic from within OS X, and that is not good enough. Robin Williams said it in her book on OS X, but did I remember? Not until I went back to the book. I needed to actually SWITCH my startup disk to Classic and reboot. Once I was in Classic, I couldn't find the program and had to use old Sherlock to do so. Next, I took a chance and ran the Installer again without removing any original programs. All went well; the installer recognized what was already there and the only pop-ups I got were about keeping my newer versions of QuickTime. I chose the new ones, with no problems. I did trash an empty folder that was not part of the original program. Then I clicked the new alias I had made, inserted the index CD, and my registration card popped right up for the first time since I installed OS X. I hit OK and the directory appeared and navigated just as it should. I tried several CDs, which all open properly and allow zooming to nearly full screen size. Simon, I did not change my color setting but I will do so just to see if that makes things even better. I am not getting the cool National Geo theme song with the intro anymore, but that's a small price to pay. Thanks, all!

Power Mac G4 Cube Mac OS X (10.4.9)

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Answer 8

May 26, 2007 2:23 PM in response to sudoku

sudoku,

Excellent news.

I was hoping to hear that you had found a way to have it instantly be able to find the required files from disk, rather than asking for the files from a specific cd. In this day and age of 200Gb and 500Gb disks, I have no trouble giving up 15 Gb or so for something so worthwhile (even if I am a little upset at the scan quality).

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