Downgrade new iMac to Tiger from Leopard

On Nov 1, 2007, at 6:50 AM, David Laffitte wrote:

> I have a client that would like to buy a new iMac but wants to stay
> with Tiger 10.4.10. Is it possible to downgrade back to Tiger after
> buying a new iMac?

It is *nearly* always the case that machines can't be run on earlier
OS versions than they came with.

However, *IF* the only change in this case was to the initial disk
load, it ought to be possible to downgrade with proper technique. I'm
guessing one would need to mount the drive in target disk mode at
least to erase the disk.

Would it be easier to go to, say, Small Dog, and specifically request
a current iMac model with Tiger installed? Worth a try (although
doing it that way the client lacks a Leopard license for the future).

   --John

David Laffitte wrote:
> I have a client that would like to buy a new iMac but wants to stay
> with Tiger 10.4.10. Is it possible to downgrade back to Tiger after
> buying a new iMac?

Visit a store if you can and ask. I've just bought 2 MacPros and they came with the regular set of setup DVDs (Tiger) with a Leopard DVD tossed in the package.

David Ross

At 5:25 AM -0700 11/2/07, johnbaxterlistsmac.com wrote:
>On Nov 1, 2007, at 6:50 AM, David Laffitte wrote:
>
>>I have a client that would like to buy a new iMac but wants to stay
>>with Tiger 10.4.10. Is it possible to downgrade back to Tiger after
>>buying a new iMac?
>
>It is *nearly* always the case that machines can't be run on earlier
>OS versions than they came with.
>
>However, *IF* the only change in this case was to the initial disk
>load, it ought to be possible to downgrade with proper technique. I'm
>guessing one would need to mount the drive in target disk mode at
>least to erase the disk.
>
>Would it be easier to go to, say, Small Dog, and specifically request
>a current iMac model with Tiger installed? Worth a try (although
>doing it that way the client lacks a Leopard license for the future).

        Wha?

        Any iMac model that was previously sold with Tiger should run
Tiger fine. Once they do a hardware refresh, those new models will
probably require Leopard.

        Just put the Tiger DVD in the drive, boot with C held down,
and do an Erase & Install. That should give you Tiger, although you
won't get the bundled software that's included with the iMac. If you
use a Tiger DVD that came with a different Mac model, it will
probably work and give you *that* Mac's bundled software; if you have
a recent enough Tiger DVD to booth the iMac ($129 retail, but I don't
know if you can still buy 'em), you won't even get iLife, alas.


                                                Chris

On Nov 3, 2007, at 7:32 AM, David Ross wrote:

> David Laffitte wrote:
>> I have a client that would like to buy a new iMac but wants to stay
>> with Tiger 10.4.10. Is it possible to downgrade back to Tiger after
>> buying a new iMac?
>
> Visit a store if you can and ask. I've just bought 2 MacPros and
> they came with the regular set of setup DVDs (Tiger) with a Leopard
> DVD tossed in the package.

And we received an iMac on Thursday which also came with Tiger plus
Leopard DVD.

It is not yet known--to me--whether the new laptop models will have
Tiger as a possibility. Particularly on the Macbook, with the chipset
revision, they might well require Leopard.

   --John

On Nov 3, 2007, at 7:32 AM, Chris Pepper wrote:

> Any iMac model that was previously sold with Tiger should run
> Tiger fine. Once they do a hardware refresh, those new models will
> probably require Leopard.
>
> Just put the Tiger DVD in the drive, boot with C held down,
> and do an Erase & Install. That should give you Tiger, although you
> won't get the bundled software that's included with the iMac.

I wanted to point out one caveat. You need to use a recent enough
version of Tiger for this to work. My PowerBook G4, for instance, came
with Tiger installed but can, in fact, run Panther; however, it won't
boot off my retail Panther DVD because it requires a version more
recent than 10.3.0.

I must point out that, if you use an original Tiger install disk that came with a computer, these disks are "keyed" to particular computers and will not work at all on your Mac. THe only way one can put Tiger on a computer sold with Leopard is to have an original set of Tiger install disk(s) as one would purchase from Apple for "upgrade" purposes.

Anyse

On Nov 6, 2007, at 6:10 AM, Anyse Joslin wrote:

> I must point out that, if you use an original Tiger install disk
> that came with a computer, these disks are "keyed" to particular
> computers and will not work at all on your Mac. THe only way one can
> put Tiger on a computer sold with Leopard is to have an original set
> of Tiger install disk(s) as one would purchase from Apple for
> "upgrade" purposes.

And I'm not sure there ever was a Tiger DVD sold for generic Intel
machine use. (I'm not sure there wasn't, but I haven't encountered
one.) At least in my case, the back room at the Apple store copied a
factory image onto my Macbook after replacing the dead drive. (Really
dead. Deceased. etc etc)

And "a computer sold with Leopard" is an Intel machine by definition.

   --John

I also am not ready for the hassels of this version of Leopard. I installed Leopard on my later intel iMac that originally had Tiger and wanted to re-install the original Tiger software but when I hold down the "c" ( or "option") key on start up, the computer spits out the disk and starts up in Leopard again. When I insert the Tiger disk just to use the DiskUtility app to reformat the HD, it says it is not compatible with the system. This is driving me crazy.

Incidently, I numb-brained-out and installed Leopard on my non-intel PowerBook and same thing happened, I could not reformat the disk or re-install Tiger. I thought the disk was damaged. Fortunately, I made an appointment at the Apple Store and they were able to re-install Tiger for me on the PowerBook, with no problem.

There must be a way to do it yourself. I am not a Mac genius but it seems the developers of the Intel based code for Leopard are not familiar enough with the "PC" coding, resulting in a Microsoft type hangup with Leopard. I don't want to lug my iMac to the Apple Store, but I guess I will have to if no body here has a better idea. Thanks guys.

-Dave

Dear Dave,

I am not familiar with intel iMacs but I thought you possibly could
reformat the disk while you start up with the Leopard DVD. After that
restart and now with Tiger DVD. May be there are no rests of Leopard on
the disk left and you might be able to install Tiger again. It is worth
a try I think. If not you can always go back to your reseller.

Success, Piet-Jan op de Hoek (Netherlands)

David Laffitte wrote:
> I have a client that would like to buy a new iMac but wants to stay
> with Tiger 10.4.10. Is it possible to downgrade back to Tiger after
> buying a new iMac?

The current iMac model is the "iMac (Mid 2007)" introduced in August.
According to the article below, it originally shipped with 10.4.10 so
that's the version you'd have to install. If you have the install
disks from another iMac (Mid 2007), no problem. If you don't, I
believe the solution is one already mentioned; boot the new iMac in
Target Disk Mode, connect it to another Intel Mac, install the
version you have then install the 10.4.10 Combo updater (or later).

Mac OS versions, builds included with Intel-based Macs

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303315

Here is the PPC version:

Mac OS: Versions, builds included with PowerPC Macs (since 1998)

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25517