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In my experience dealing with them, I have found Other World Computing to be a pretty good company. I bought mine UMAX S-900 from them, as well as the hard drive and RAM upgrades for my PowerBook, and received very satisfactory service in all cases.

OWC makes a point of catering to the needs of older "low end" Mac users, with their online build to order used Mac store, and extensive lines of upgrade products.

So it's only natural that OWC would choose to sponsor Ryan Rempel's solutions to running OS X on older, officially unsupported Macs and Mac clones by hosting him on their website.

Ryan Rempel notes:

"While Apple has limited its support for Mac OS X to those machines that originally came with a G3 or G4 processor, it is possible to install Mac OS X on some earlier machines. The unsupported machines that work now are the 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500 and 9600, as well the clones that were based on one of these systems (the Umax S900 and J700, and the Power Computing PowerWave and PowerTowerPro). Other models that use the PCI architecture may be made to work in time. (Models based on the Nubus architecture are less likely to ever work with Mac OS X).

"I put together the kernel extensions that make Mac OS X work on unsupported machines, based on the source code that Apple made available in the Darwin project. I had never done any operating system programming before, but I really wanted Mac OS X to run on my 7300. When I made the installation instructions available on my web site (on the day Mac OS X was released!) I was overwhelmed by the response from people who were so pleased to be able to use Mac OS X on their computers.

"Now, Other World Computing has generously provided resources to allow me to spend more time working on Mac OS X for unsupported systems. Here's what's available now:
• The original installation instructions
• A beta version of my new installation software, Unsupported UtilityX. You can install Mac OS X from an unmodified Mac OS X CD, and it only requires three extra clicks!
• The latest package of kernel extensions for unsupported machines. This is useful for those who have already installed Mac OS X.
• L2CacheConfig, my utility for enabling the L2 cache under Mac OS X for G3 and G4 upgrade cards.

"And we've got some plans that we're pretty excited about:
• More information about potential problems and solutions, based on the 800 email inquiries I've answered in the last 2 months
• Information about the compatibility of various devices with OS X on unsupported systems.
• Further work on other systems, like the Powerbook 2400 and 3400.
• Further work on nagging issues, like PCI video card support.
• A bi-monthly e-mailing to keep you up to date

"There aren't any guarantees, but we hope that Mac OS X on unsupported systems can be made to work better and better.

"Ryan Rempel"
osxguru@macsales.com

You can check it out at:
http://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/

For Ryan's tutorial on installing OS X on unsupported Macs, visit:
http://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/framework.cfm?page=Instructions.html

Sonnet PCI OS X Installer 1.0 For Crescendo/PCI Processor Upgrade Cards

Also, Sonnet Technologies has released its breakthrough OS X solution for Crescendo/PCI processor upgrade-enhanced Power Macintosh and Macintosh-clone computers. Provides the solution that enables your PCI computer upgraded with any Sonnet Crescendo/PCI G3/G4 processor card to use Mac OS X and run the latest apps.

NOTE: Mac OS 9.1 must be installed before installing this software. Mac OS 9.1 is included with Mac OS X.

Applies to Following PCI Computers:
• Power Macintosh 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8515, 9500, 9515, 9600
• Workgroup Server 7350, 8550, 9650
• Daystar Genesis and Millennium series
• Mactell XB-Pro
• Power Computing PowerTower Pro, PowerWave
• UMAX J700, S900

Supports System Software:
• Mac OS X

Sonnet PCI OS X installer sells for $29.95

For more information, visit:
http://www.sonnettech.com/downloads/osx_upgrade_sw.html#cpci

Charles W. Moore

.