Installing Mac OS X Tiger
Before installing
I've installed Mac OS X many times on the same computer (don't ask me why, I do many stupid things :)). Anyway, here are some things you should know before installing:
1. Make sure you have a legal, licensed Apple Machine (a.k.a. Mac). It's illegal to install Mac OS X on anything other than a Mac.
2. Be sure that you have the disk that came with your computer! With the new Intel Macs out, an older Tiger disk will not work with the new Macs.
3. Make sure you backup your stuff before installing. Although there are options that allow you to preserve your settings and data, the result is a more bloated hard drive and your Mac *may* run slower.
OK, you ready to install Mac OS X? Let's go!
Installation
1. Insert the disk into the Mac, and click "reboot" from the Apple menu. Now, as the computer boots, hold down the 'C' key. This will insure that your Mac will boot from the CD, and not from the hard disk.
2. Booting from the CD usually takes longer than the hard drive, so be patient. When it finally loads, you'll be presented with a list of languages to choose from. Hit next.
3. *Do whatever you normally do with license agreements*
4. Click "options". This allows you to confirm what type of install. Here's a definition:
- Upgrade to Mac OS X, Install Mac OS X (this is grayed out if OS X is already installed)
- Archive and Install (choose this if you want to retain your data and settings, but as I explained above, this option takes up a lot of space)
- Erase and Install (do this if you've backed up your data and are ready for a clean install of Tiger)
5. The next step gives you an option to customize everything. I HIGHLY recommend this, because if you don't, you'll end up with all sorts of stuff you don't need on your hard drive. Here are my top picks:
- X11 -- *DO THIS ONE.* It allows you to run X11 apps (ported from Linux) on Mac OS X, and this is your only chance to install it, so if you change your mind later, you'll have to reinstall Mac OS X, or use a third party X11
- iLife -- This one's installed by default, but it's an awesome one.
Things you might not want that are installed by default:
- Printer drivers -- You might want them, but my experience was that the drivers were all out of date anyway, and so I manually had to install one driver from HP. It certainly wouldn't be worth it for me to install all those other drivers when I only use one printer.
- iWork Trial -- Apple's just trying to get you to buy their software, and although you may want to try it out, it's a huge install, and then it expires after 30 days.
- iDVD -- Most people probably want this installed, but for Macs that don't have a DVD burner (MacBook and Mac Mini), it's kind of pointless.
- Fonts -- Fonts from all sorts of different languages, but you might not need all of them, and then it saves you quite a bit of hard drive space.
I managed to trim my last Tiger install to just over 3.8 GB :). (The default is 11 GB)
Now you can go ahead and install it. Oh, and you might want to skip the DVD check, if you're absolutely certain that your DVD is OK (saves a lot of time).
Midway through the installation, you'll need to insert Disk 2, so have that handy.
When you first boot into Mac OS X, you'll notice that you have to go through another program to set up your computer. Tip: if you don't want to register your machine, make sure you DON'T set up the Internet. The registration attempt will fail, and then it will allow you to send it later.
Afterward
Congratulations! You've installed Mac OS X. Here are some things you may want to do first thing:
By all means update Mac OS X. Choose Apple -> Software Update to update your Mac.
Fun things to install for OS X:
Adium (Instant Messenger Client)
The Battle For Wesnoth (Open-source strategy game)
Firefox (Open-source web browser)
Gimp (Photoshop clone)
GROWL (Notifications manager)
(Archive utility) Universal Beta
(Windows Media Player plugin for QuickTime)
(Allows you to apply skins to Mac OS X) Intel Mac Beta
If there's something incorrect, or you feel I missed something, by all means tell me!