Clean Install Leopard w/o Install Disks

[MotionMan]

I have acquired a Mac Mini, 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4, 1GB RAM, 75GB HD, running Leopard (10.5.8) (this is the highest OSX it can run).

I want to do a clean install of Leopard, but I do not have the install disks.

Is there a way to do this?

MotionMan

 

[vailr]

As long as the optical drive still works, just boot (while holding the option key) with the Leopard install disc and install. Use Disk Utility to wipe the HD before beginning installation.
Be careful buying a used Leopard disc on eBay, however. A genuine "retail" disc is what to look for, not some random disc that came bundled with some other Mac model.

 

[MotionMan]

As long as the optical drive still works, just boot (while holding the option key) with the Leopard install disc and install. Use Disk Utility to wipe the HD before beginning installation.
Be careful buying a used Leopard disc on eBay, however. A genuine "retail" disc is what to look for, not some random disc that came bundled with some other Mac model.

Thanks, but that does not answer my question:

I want to do a clean install of Leopard, but I do not have the install disks.

Is there a way to do this?

MotionMan

 

[Tyranicus]

Without the install disc, you can't do a true clean install. The closest you can get is creating new user account, deleting the old account, deleting any non-stock applications in the Applications folder, and running the 10.5.8 combo update.

 

[Mixolydian]

No.

mac only recently have recovery partitions (circa 2011 and newer)

look on ebay or some download site.

 

[mmntech]

FWIW, I find Leopard runs slow on the G4. Usable but slow. What about Linux?

 

[ginawhiteeed]

A friend's MacBook had slowed down to a snail's pace. Despite looking everywhere for the issue, streamlining everything I could, and yelling at it, it failed to accelerate to usable speed. So I recommended we start from scratch and build it back up with only the things she was using, free of all the other downloads and aborted installs of various software she never used or cared about. It also housed a prior system, and a PC migration from a few years back. All told, the computer was a bloated, duplicated whale of files and applications for what was essentially a light-load writer's computer.
At last, I backed up the essential parts of her system.

 

[TheStu]

A friend's MacBook had slowed down to a snail's pace. Despite looking everywhere for the issue, streamlining everything I could, and yelling at it, it failed to accelerate to usable speed. So I recommended we start from scratch and build it back up with only the things she was using, free of all the other downloads and aborted installs of various software she never used or cared about. It also housed a prior system, and a PC migration from a few years back. All told, the computer was a bloated, duplicated whale of files and applications for what was essentially a light-load writer's computer.
At last, I backed up the essential parts of her system.

Cool? story? bro?

Anyway, OP what Tyranicus said is pretty much your only option. New user account is going to be about as clean as you can get without install media.

If you have an Apple Store or authorized service place nearby, you could always see about getting a disk on the cheap.

 

[MotionMan]

Cool? story? bro?

Anyway, OP what Tyranicus said is pretty much your only option. New user account is going to be about as clean as you can get without install media.

If you have an Apple Store or authorized service place nearby, you could always see about getting a disk on the cheap.

I did the following:

1. Deleted all 3rd party apps;
2. Deleted the contents of the App Prefs folder;
3. Changed the name of the computer in the Sharing Prefs;
4. Created a new admin account and deleted the old account and it's data.

I looks pretty "fresh".

After the fact I realized I also should have FileVault'ed the old account before deleting it, but, in reality, there is not much to recover anyway.

Thanks for the ideas.

MotionMan

 

[TheStu]

I did the following:

1. Deleted all 3rd party apps;
2. Deleted the contents of the App Prefs folder;
3. Changed the name of the computer in the Sharing Prefs;
4. Created a new admin account and deleted the old account and it's data.

I looks pretty "fresh".

After the fact I realized I also should have FileVault'ed the old account before deleting it, but, in reality, there is not much to recover anyway.

Thanks for the ideas.

MotionMan

You always have such interesting questions with your Macs.

 

[MotionMan]

You always have such interesting questions with your Macs.

I try

I think I am always convinced there is a better way of doing things (or, at least, a way that will fit my mild obsessive-compulsiveness).

BTW, you are quite awesome trying to help me (and others) here.

MotionMan

 

[vailr]

Another item to check: run Disk Utility and "verify permissions".

 

[MotionMan]

Another item to check: run Disk Utility and "verify permissions".

What will that do for me?

MotionMan

 

[Mixolydian]

Think of it as the Mac equivalent of cleaning the registry.

 

[rugby]

FWIW, I find Leopard runs slow on the G4. Usable but slow. What about Linux?

I find ANYTHING running on PPC hardware to be slow.

 

[TheStu]

I find ANYTHING running on PPC hardware to be slow.

Yea...

And there's no real cost effective way to drop in an SSD. I think the last generation G4 PowerBook 15" had SATA, but i'm not 100% on that.

 

[vailr]

Yea...

And there's no real cost effective way to drop in an SSD. I think the last generation G4 PowerBook 15" had SATA, but i'm not 100% on that.

There do exist IDE SSD's, in case that would be of interest.

 

[TheStu]

There do exist IDE SSD's, in case that would be of interest.

And there's no real cost effective way to drop in an SSD. I think the last generation G4 PowerBook 15" had SATA, but i'm not 100% on that.

I know.

 

[Rakehellion]

I
After the fact I realized I also should have FileVault'ed the old account before deleting it, but, in reality, there is not much to recover anyway.

You can use Disk Utility to wipe the free space. At least, in the newer versions.

 

[Tegeril]

Think of it as the Mac equivalent of cleaning the registry.

They couldn't be further apart in terms of functionality.

 

[Mixolydian]

They couldn't be further apart in terms of functionality.

The simplest way to describe it is a "cleanup" procedure.

 

[nickzing]

The simplest way to describe it is a "cleanup" procedure.

Always error.

 

[Mixolydian]

Always error.

Not a valid command

 

[umrigar]

CCleaner for Mac still supports PowerPC:
http://download.cnet.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-75453127.html

I would not recommend Linux on a PowerPC Mac; very little support and lots of frustration.

Leopard Webkit PowerPC is worth a look:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/43456/leopard-webkit
http://code.google.com/p/leopard-webkit/downloads/list

If you want to try making it run faster, you could put a SSD in a FireWire and/or USB 2.0 enclosure and use Carbon Copy Cloner to dupe your internal drive, then boot from external & see if it runs any quicker. I bet it'd be more responsive.

Here's info on a custom Flash 11 plugin for PowerPC, too:
http://lowendmac.com/ed/royal/12sr/flash-11-and-powerpc.html

TenFourFox is a current project branch for current Firefox code on PPC Macs:
http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/37761/tenfourfox

 

[mmntech]

There do exist IDE SSD's, in case that would be of interest.

IDE SSDs are very expensive. The 32GB Transcend one is $120 off Amazon. That's the going rate for 128GB SATA ones these days.

Tiger runs pretty well on the G4 but support is very limited.