For the rest of the Mac users out there:  What are the advantages of upgrading
to System 7?  What kind of bugs/pitpalls are still being worked out?  I 
understand that some software is not yet compatible with the System 7.  Are
the newer Macs coming out with System 7 on it instead of 6.0.7?  [Some friends
are in the market for a Mac; was wondering which version they'd get.]  Any
other words of wisdom/comments/suggestions?

22 responses total.

If you buy a new Mac, you should get System 7.

I have not "upgraded," and will not do so until I can get a copy of
System 7, free.

The last two new macs I purchased came with System 7.0, so I would imagine
that all new macs are now shipping with it.

System 7.0 is *very* nice if you are a networked computer.  Other nice
things are that it gives you a lot more keyboard control (if you like that
kind of stuff).  

7.0 does run almost everything a little slower than 6.0.X does/did and it
needs *lots* of RAM.  I like it, though.  When more apps are designed
to use "Publish and Subscribe", I think it will really start to fly.

System 7 is neat, but the biggest drawback is that some programs don't work
with it.  Apple tested a ton of software prior to release, and the docs with
system 7 will give you a good idea of what will and won't work.  Most big
name publishers that had incompatible programs have upgrades available, but
if you've been collecting software for a few years, that doesn't help.  If
you're about to get a Mac for the first time, and buy all new software, I
think it's the way to go.  I'm sticking with 6.07, though my dad is running
both system 6 and 7, switching between the two each reboot with a program
called "System Switcher".  He likes system 7, but said even programs that
are supposedly system 7 compatible crash sometimes (Adobe Photoshop and
other graphics programs), so he needs the ability to switch between the two.
You definitely want lots of RAM with system 7, but at about $50 a meg, 
that's not a major consideration.

The Mac Classic is being *sold* without enough memory to effectively
run the new system.  I wonder how many salepeople are informing prospective
buyers of this built-in handicap?

Macs are classically under-memoried, I guess.
Just kidding.
But the classic is supposed to be a bare-bones system for those who want
to run MacWrite, MacPaint, and the like. Simple old stuff.

Hmm, so since I have a Classic, I'd need to get more memory before thinking
about getting System 7?  I currently have 2 megs RAM that, if I remember
right, can be upgraded to something like 4.  How much memory does System 7
need?

Denise, you CAN go past 4 megs if you like, with the help of an aftermarket
piggyback board...but 4 should be sufficient (and the extra money for the
board would likely not be a wise investment on a Classic). As for whether you
would actually WANT to use Sys7 on a Classic...some tests I ran on my IIsi
showed Sys7 to generate as much as a 30% slowdown from Multifinder on 6.0.7...
and I found MF itself to be unbearably slow on a Classic with 4 megs. If you
are currently using only Finder on your Classic, you would like pull your
hair out going to Sys7 (my tests (not comprehensive, but significant) showed
6.0.7 Finder-only to be THRICE as fast as Sys7). Granted, I am the, uh,
impatient sort, but I personally would find Sys7 on a Classic to be unbearably
slow. However, if you're currently using Multifinder, and it doesn't bug you
too much, Sys7 might be worth a shot in 4 megs. You COULD run it in 2, if you
have a fairly stripped-down System, and worked with relatively small files
(Pagemaker is sorta out of the question ;-)  )
  .

I recently got 80ns 1M SIMMS for $34 each and 100ns 1M SIMMs for $26 each.
If you are paying $50/Meg, you are getting ripped off!

 Wow!  I need a memory board to plug things into before prices go up again!

Are those 1megx8 SIMMs or 1megx9 that you're getting at $34?  A month or two
ago 1megx9-70ns SIMMs were going for $38 each (Micron Technology chips, too)
from Delta Lu out in California (1-800-999-1593, highly recommended), tho that
may have changed. 

IBM's v5.0, Mac's v7.0, and Amiga's v2.0 all sounds like major
improvements, and all occurring at about the same time.  It's some
kind of a sign.  Some kind of a conspiracy.  All three machines
were deliberately held back with less than ideal operating systems.
Some kind of cosmic alignment of the universe.  What if this leads
to a trend?  All computers getting the OS they deserve, right from
day 1.  Then were will we all be?

Running Unix on SPARC workstations.

  nahh..  on the forthcoming ridiculously high-speed HP workstations.
of course something would have to be done about HP/UX first.

RE:10  They were 1megx8 SIMMs.

  Just paid $22 a meg for 1M 1X8 80ns simms. I am *very* happy, since my Plus
is using System 7.0 (with tuneup), System takes up a little over 1M of memory
and will run in a 2.5M environment.

Congrats on the upgrade to sys 7 omni. Now you can play with aliases and  you
can configure your apple menu.

  I think that that is the feature that I like the best. Well, the drag and
drop is cool too.

I just installed system 7.5.1 on my Mac IIcx.  Nice and I need to learn
more about what all it can do but !WOW! it's eating 2.5M of memory just
for the system!  I have 8M installed and have not run into out of memory
problems so it's not giving me trouble.  It sure would be nice if About
Finder would not only tell me how much memory is being consumed but give
me an itemized list.  As it is Finder leaves me in the dark as to what all
it's up to.

You should get a program like "Memory Mapper", which shows a detailed map of
where things are located. it's probably somewhere on the umich archives.

Yeah 7.5 is a hog. It's a lot worse with the GX printer stuff.

Can you suggest an archive I should try for this?

ftp://ftp.the.net/mirrors/ftp.utexas.edu/util/memory-mapper-111.hqx

Does anyone have Works 3.0 for the Mac (to help someone who wants to upgrade
from Works 1.0, on a Powerbook 145B and a Mac Plus -- will it fit?).

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