Now that I've installed Mac OS 9 on Jennifer, I find that, like any new version of the OS, it's a little slower than Mac OS 8.1 which is what was on Jennifer. It's a pretty nifty OS, although I'm barely using any of the new capabilities on my server. Just Personal File Sharing IP, nothing else new that the previous OS didn't provide also.

Upgrading to the new OS gave me the chance to reinstall all of the applications, leaving out some junk that I had installed and decided not to use after all, like SETI. Disk access is quite a bit slower, especially when you open a folder with many items for the first time. After that it seems to cache the contents, but it's still a bit slow to open the Extensions folder say.

As for incompatibilities, I have encountered only one thing. My Apple Color OneScanner stopped working. The driver won't load, therefore I can't use the scanner. I tried updating the driver but it still doesn't load. No mention of any problems with OS 9 and the scanner have been mentioned in any of the Mac OS news sites. It was never a really popular item so perhaps nobody has said anything yet.

But, as with any sort of setback, this can be looked on as an opportunity, rather than a problem. Scanner doesn't work? Then it's time to upgrade to a new scanner. I've had this scanner for at least four years, since before I moved into my current apartment. I haven't used it much, but it is only 300 dpi which is fine for web pictures but a little limiting if I want to blow up a picture.

So I've ordered an Epson Perfection 1200S, the S is for SCSI. It's a 1200 dpi scanner, which costs less than $300, certainly less than the $600 I paid for my old scanner. I'll give my old scanner to my brother, who can use it with his Performa and color printer. I'm sure he'll find some good uses for it.

My policy is to try to keep the most current Mac OS software running on my machines (I'll upgrade my PowerBook once my new hard drive arrives, which may be a few weeks since IBM just started shipping to OEMs). This in turn forces me to upgrade software that has stopped working. So my applications stay current, the old stuff that doesn't work and doesn't have an upgrade are removed, and obsolete applications are removed.

The first Mac OS I owned was 6.07, which came on my IIsi. Back then it was just System 6.07, no Mac OS nomenclature. It was simple, fast, elegant. Folders were just colored outlines, you could boot into the Finder or Multifinder, and it had these cool sounds.

One of the cool extensions that I got for 6.07 was called Finder sounds. Finder 6.07 was the first Finder where there were hooks for sounds to play during Finder events. So this extension had sounds for windows opening, closing, resizing, moving; menus being used, applications opening, even a little melody for the About this Macintosh window. Subdued and classy. The current Finder has sounds that can be turned on through the Appearance Control Panel. They're pretty good also, but Finder Sounds was truly something special for its time.