System 7 natively boots on the Mac mini G4

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Classic Mac OS versions & stability

  • Thread heavily debates which classic version was “best”: some praise Mac OS 9.2.2 as peak Mac OS; others argue System 7 (often 7.6) or Mac OS 8.1 were the real zenith.
  • Experiences conflict: several recall Mac OS 9 as crash‑prone and prone to disk corruption (no memory protection, cooperative multitasking, flaky IDE), while others found 9 much more solid than early System 7, which they remember as unstable until ~7.6.
  • Comparisons with Windows 95/98: opinions split on whether Win98SE was more or less stable than Mac OS 8/9. Everyone agrees NT‑based Windows (2000/XP) were far ahead architecturally.

Performance, UI “snappiness,” and animations

  • Many remember classic Mac OS as extremely responsive: minimal, purposeful animations, nearly instant UI, and little perceived latency.
  • Some emphasize that classic animations were brief, information‑rich (e.g., zoom rect from icon to window) and didn’t block input, unlike many modern, decorative animations.
  • Others note early Mac UX “awfulness” as much about low RAM and slow disks as OS design.
  • There’s discussion of preemptive vs cooperative multitasking; several point out that preemption was feasible on 68k/PPC (Amiga, Lisa, Apple’s own alternate OSes) and that limitations were mostly historical/compatibility debt.

Hardware, clones, and architecture

  • Nostalgia for 90s PowerPC hardware (Performa, PowerTower/PowerCenter, StarMax clones) and the confusion of “MHz wars” versus real performance (cache sizes, FSB speeds, pipeline design).
  • Interesting detail on CHRP‑ish machines mixing Mac and PC subsystems (PCI, ISA, PS/2, ATX) and strange Open Firmware device trees.
  • One nitpick: System 7 on a Mac mini G4 still relies on the built‑in 68k emulator; it’s not “native” in the sense of running directly on PPC without that layer.

Legacy use and retro setups

  • A small business refurb market exists for Mac mini G4s running hacked Mac OS 9, used in production by dentists, vets, museums, and repair shops needing legacy software.
  • System 7 on a mini is seen mostly as a curiosity due to missing drivers; for almost all real‑world classic apps, Mac OS 9 or emulation (e.g., vMac) suffices.
  • Some users still wrestle with native‑boot OS 9 vs Classic mode on later G4 iMacs; OS9Lives images and SSD + IDE adapters are common solutions.

Retro tools, languages, and emulation

  • Python deprecations broke a System‑7‑related tool; this sparks debate about removing obscure features vs maintenance burden.
  • For tooling that preserves old Macs, people argue between ultra‑portable C89, Go, Free Pascal/Lazarus, etc.; maintainability and developer time often win over maximal portability.
  • Alternatives for running classic software on modern hardware include Executor, Advanced Mac Substitute, and historical efforts like Rhapsody and GNUStep.

HyperCard and old‑school productivity

  • Multiple commenters reminisce about HyperCard as a rapid‑prototyping powerhouse used even in professional contexts.
  • There’s criticism of overkill modern stacks (Electron/React) for simple tools, contrasted with how quickly similar things were built in HyperCard‑style environments; Decker is suggested as a modern homage.