Massive OS X confusion, help a girl out would ya?

Factual Questions
1

Here’s the thing:

I’m not very computer savy, I’m the first to admit, I have been stumbling around the internet for a few years, pretty much picking things up as I went along. I’m not stupid and I learn quick, I feel, and am not afraid to ask questions or to research answers.

Even really stupid questions.

Which brings me to my current computer, Mac G4.

I work with photos a lot and clung to OS 9.2 as long as I could because it allowed me to use PhotoDeluxe [not, PhotoShop or PhotoElements, mind you], a really nice program I found very comfortable to work with, nice tools, nice interface.

So, eventually, along comes the ipod into our home and the Mr insists we step up to OS X, grudgingly I agree. Now at the same time, for reasons I won’t go into here, I also switched to a new browser, from Netscape to IE.

For me this was two whole new worlds that I had to get used to, so now it’s been a couple of few months and I find I am massively confused about a couple of things. I think I’m getting closer to asking the right questions but I still get answers that only serve to confuse me further. (from the odd mac person I see, that is).

I cannot help but feel there is something fundamental that I can’t see.

Here’s where I’m confused, I get that OS X stands on 9.2 and they both exist on my computer at the same time. When we switched to X we, of course, upgraded a lot of stuff. So the scanner is on the desktop of X. But the camera is only in 9.2. Printer works in X, no worries, but Appleworks is only in 9.2.

I have managed to figure out to switch start up discs and access the stuff in 9.2 but it’s really cumbersome like this.

So I think my question is how do I get things like Appleworks, Camera, PhotoDelux (okay, so maybe this ones’ a goner) over into X? How do I upgrade, launch classic, or just do it in X? Because classic isn’t confirgured any longer to connect to the internet, that, or course, is in X.

Is it just me, or am I massively confused?

I’m begging you to help a girl out.

2

There’s an Appleworks OSX update available here on Apple’s website.
Search Apple Support Downloads for other updates you may want.

3

As far as your software that runs in os9 but not in X, you may want to look online and see if the specific makers of your software have an updated version. However, there is a pretty good chance that you will be stuck hopping into OS9 mode to use some of your software. Have you tried using the Finder to go into your os9 applications? To do this, simply click on your hard drive, there should be a folder that says “applications (mac os 9)”, when you double click on os9 only software, it should automatically switch over into “classic” mode, which is what you want. If you need to run classic mode manually within OS X (i.e. you want to start the programs from within classic), simply click on the apple logo and go to “system preferences”, “classic”, and click “start classic”. Either way, it should be less painful than swapping discs and rebooting. My experience with using classic mode is honestly somewhat limited, but this may get you started. Good luck.

4

I’ve totally abandoned OS 9, but for the brief time that I had to use Classic mode after moving over to OS X, I never found it cumbersome, aside from waiting for Classic to start up within OS X.

Squink mentioned the OS X AppleWorks update, which should really help you out. However, you might also want to consider buying the new iWork suite, which basically replaces AppleWorks, a program Apple hasn’t touched since they put out the OS X update over two years ago. iWork has a word processor, called Pages, that looked pretty spiffy when Jobs demoed it earlier this month.

Honestly, though, you might want to seriously consider abandoning your OS 9 applications entirely and migrating yourself over to OS X totally. It’s a very mature OS now, and developers have all but given up on OS 9 now. I don’t know what your photographic needs are, and I’m not an expert in that area, so I’m not going to recommend a program to replace PhotoDeluxe. But if there’s an OS X version, maybe get your hands on that.

And I know you didn’t ask, but you might want to ditch IE, too. Microsoft has said they’re not going to release new versions of it for OS X, probably because they’re getting blown out of the water by people using Safari (made by Apple, kinda slow, but very stable) or Firefox (made by Mozilla, really fast, but crashes on some pages). I love Firefox, but they really need to make it more crashproof before it becomes my full-time browser.

5

For future help, I highly recommend getting the book Mac OSX: The Missing Manual.

Pogue knows his stuff, and it’s very user friendly

6

I think it would help if you had just a little better understanding of how the Mac works, at least with respect to the OSX vs. OS9 thing. I hope this doesn’t confuse you even more…

First, you should understand that there are actually TWO different ways that you can switch between OSX and OS9. Normally, when you start up the computer, it “boots into” OSX. But, by changing the startup disk (as you seem to say that you already know how to do) to a disk that has only OS9 on it, you get it to boot into OS9. If you have two physically separate disks (again, as you seem to imply), it’s important to keep in mind that your OSX and your OS9 are completely separate from each other. They are, after all, on two different discs. When you run OS9 in this way, OSX does not “exist” in any way, you are strictly in OS9.

Now, the other way to switch to OS9 from OSX is to run what Apple calls Classic Mode. Doing this does NOT involve restarting the computer. You start the computer normally, and let it boot into OSX. So there you are, in OSX with the Dock and the cool-looking white menu bar and the blue buttons, etc. And now you want to use PhotoDelux. What do you do? First, find the PhotoDelux program (or the icon, as some people say). As MissDisaster said, it’s probably in a top-level folder called “Applications (Mac OS 9)”. Now just double-click on it, the same way you do to start any other program from the icon. What should happen is that you should see a window that looks just like the old OS9 startup screen, complete with the smiling Mac in the middle and the marching icons along the bottom. That window is, literally, booting OS9 WITHIN OSX. When that window finally goes away, you’ll see PhotoDelux, just as you remember it, completely with the grey menu bar.

It’s important to remember that in this case (as opposed to the first case of restarting and booting into OS9), OSX and OS9 are actually co-existing (well, more technically OS9 is being run on top of OSX). If you hide PhotoDelux, or use the OS9 application menu on the righthand side of the menu bar to switch to an OSX program, you’re immediately back in OSX. Click on the PhotoDelux icon in the OSX Dock, and there you are back in OS9.

This second way (running Classic Mode) is easier and better in a number of ways than rebooting from an OS9 startup disk.

If, for some reason, when you double-click on the PhotoDelux icon from OSX it does not launch Classic, it probably means that you don’t have a valid OS9 System Folder on your main hard disk. All you need to do is find the System Folder on that disk that you use to boot into OS9, and drag it do your main hard disk. Then open the System Preferences, select Classic, and make sure that it’s recognized that System Folder.

Lastly, there’s no reason that you can’t access the internet from Classic Mode. If the System Folder that you use was set up for internet access, it should be exactly the same in Classic Mode.

7

What is “Camera”? If it is what it sounds like — an app to manage a digital camera — dump it and use iPhoto, which should’ve come preinstalled on your new system. A very handy and easy-to-use app that can recognize just about any major make of digital camera without any extra drivers.

8

I too, held out as long as I could. Then I got this beautimus G-5 iMac. It came all set up with both OSX.x.x and 9.2.2. loaded in the way Roadfood described. It works seamlessly. I can fix a picture in Photoshop 5. 5 in classic, and go straight to an OSX app with no hoops to jump through.
I would suggest * theMac OS X conversion kit: 9 to 10 side by side* (its by Scott Kelby) It really helped.
The other thing is you’ll need to have the print drivers for both operating systems to print from both.

9

One thing I’ll add that no one else has mentioned is that most OS 9 internet applications ought to work when running within Classic mode in OS X. You might want to try running the OS 9 Software Update control panel once when you’re booted into the old system in order to make sure you’re fully up-to-date; it’s possible that might be what’s preventing them from working.

10

One other thing: it shouldn’t make a difference to Classic mode whether your OS 9 system folder is on the same drive as your OS X system folder or not. I’ve always kept mine on a different drive. You should be able to select the system folder with Classic preferences in the System Preferences program.

11

Honestly, you people are the best.

As confusing and foggy as my quest was you have helped me to make a breakthrough.

I could not be happier. As I write this I have Appleworks updated and in X. Same goes for Camera (I will be checking out Iphoto however, on your recommendation, it’s been sitting on the dock the whole time, I’ve been ignoring it in favour of programs I am familiar with. Silly girl.), and I have even followed your flawless instructions to access photodeluxe without doing the start up disc thingy.

I can word process again. Life is so very good. Better yet, I can snap photos, download, fiddle with and print without restarting from another disc. Woo Hoo.

A thousand times I thank you. You have kept my head from exploding, {and you know how messy that can be}.

Were it in my power I would grant you each your hearts desire. Or maybe three wishes.

I will have to settle for wishing that heaven’s finest blessings shower down upon you.

Thank you so very much.