*checks MacTracker* Yes, it would appear that 7.1.2 was the first OS for the PowerPCs, shipping with the 6100, 7100 and 8100. I can't really imagine seeing System 7.1 on a PowerPC though! (I always associate System 7 with 68ks, especially the pre-7.5 ones as you usually only see those versions on LCs and things, not normally even on newer 68ks let alone Power Macs!)

Yeah, usually you see 8.0 or 8.1 on the fast 68k's and ANY PPC, 7.5.x on the mid-68k's, and anything lower on the lower-end 68k's, version depending on the amount of RAM. I can only imagine that a PPC under an early version of System 7 would boot "wicked fast".

It would be interesting to see whether System 7 is "wicked fast" on the early Power Macs or not - they did contain a lot of 68k code which would slow things down of course, and I seem to remember reading that the early PPC versions were a bit buggy too, but then again System 7 is more lightweight than 9.1 or even 8.x, so who knows? 9.1 certainly takes a long time to boot up on my PM6100, though it's responsive enough once warmed up. Back in 1994 the first PPCs were of course very fast machines anyway, I'd say they were considerably better than the old clunkers from the PC side of the day - I expect they seemed "wicked fast" anyway, even if 7.1.2 was slower than it should have been on them.

Ram is the 40 MB that was already inside it when I got it. I can't remember exactly how long it is to boot and I can't check as I'm not at home at the moment, but it's certainly not quick - over a minute definitely. SheepShaver boots OS 9 a lot faster on my PC than the 6100 does.

I expect the 6100 takes longer than the 6500 - they're quite a bit newer and faster aren't they? I was just saying that it's on the timescale of minutes though! Although even my PC seems to take that long these days and that's a fast machine - all the more reason to have a nice fresh installation very soon, with Vista of course

That's insane - I'd never run OS9 on one of those things. In fact I wouldn't run it at all if I could avoid it; buggiest classic OS ever. It had well and truly outgrown its cot by that stage. I really can't see anything OS9 has over 8, unless you are attempting to acquire the virture of patience.

I have 7.1.2 on my 7100/66. 7.6.1 with Speed Doubler is a much more usable OS. (The 68k emulator in the first generation of Power Macs was really bad, and Speed Doubler replaces it with a much better software emulator.)

In general, I use System 6 for my 68000 machines, 7.5.5 for my non-32-bit-clean machines, 7.6.1 for my 32-bit clean 68ks and NuBus PowerPCs; 8.6 for any PowerPC less than a G3, 9.2.2 for G3 or higher. OS X 10.2 on beige G3s, 10.4 on my other G3s and G4s. (Other than Leopard on my MacBook Pro, eMac, and PowerBook G4.)