Dear Matt,
You have sometimes asked readers to send suggestions for things to write about, though you never seem to run out of relevant things to discuss. One thing I would very much like to see you write about is the compatibility of various machines and operating systems. We know, of course, that the latest machine will run the latest OS, but will they, for example run OS 10.4.11?
Many people are dependent on older software, especially to access data that will not convert to something more modern. Right now I need to replace my old G4 Powerbook, great as it is/was. Can I run “Tiger” on a new MacBook Pro? On a new MacBook Air? Perhaps even more important than answers to such questions would be a discussion of how one can get answers to such questions. To my surprise, Mactracker seems to be of no help at all. With Lion about to appear, and the absence of support for Rosetta, this kind of thing will become even more important.
Gene
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Gene,
It is only possible to use a version of Mac OS that’s the same or newer than what came on a Mac from the factory, so you will not be able to run Tiger on a new MacBook of any sort. With this knowledge in mind, you can check Mactracker to see which operating system your Mac shipped with, and know that it won’t support anything older than that.
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I have not seen a clear answer to: Will Lion work on Intel Core Duo 32-bit machines?
Thanks
Bill
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Bill,
Lion cannot be installed on Core Solo or Core Duo 32-bit computers. It requires a Core 2 Duo or newer processor, at least 2GB of RAM, at least 4GB of hard drive space and you can only access the software in the Mac App Store if you have Mac OS X v10.6.8 or later installed. Like Snow Leopard, there is no support for PowerPC Macs.
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On Dogs and Hotspots:
Hi Matt,
Same problem with our yellow lab, even though we carefully rinse the salt water out of her fur, she still has a few hot spots on her neck and cheek and under her ears. First we tried dandruff shampoo, as it’s got anti-fungal stuff in it. Then we used cortisone cream with antibiotic cream too—and some anti-fungal cream in addition. It got better slowly. We didn’t end up shaving the area, though if it had continued, we would have had to.
We will have to try the iodine rinse next if they come back. We have trouble here on Cape Cod with the intense humidity, so we have to make sure we get her neck area very dry after swimming.
Thank you for adding this info in addition to all the wonderful computer info.
Jane