OS 9 iMac HELP!

[eRondeau]

I've been a Mac owner for two years, and I've never used anything other than OS X. But now, I've been asked to work on a retro OS 9 "colored monitor" iMac. My friend has just upgraded from his old iMac (summer 2000 model) to a new iMac G5. And he's asked me to wipe his old iMac clean so he can give it to his retired parents, who have never owned any computer. He wants them to do basic email, web surfing, and word processing. HELP! What is the most recent version of OS 9? What is the best email/web/wordpro for OS 9? Are OS 9 mail programs any good, or should the just get a Gmail account? Any suggestions as to the best way to do this?

Thanks in advance -- MR forum members rule!

 

[aquajet]

9.2.2 was the last release. It's a free, downloadable update for any version of OS 9, although you must download and install 9.1 first if you're currently running a previous version.

The last release of Mozilla for OS 9 (official 1.2.1) would be your best bet for web surfing and email.

http://www.mozilla.org/download.html (scroll down to bottom of page)

Microsoft Word 98 or 2001 should work well for word processing, although you'll probably have to hunt for a copy. Both versions will open documents created with Word for Mac OS X and Windows. Appleworks 6 is another option, and is still available from Apple.

 

[Morn]

Or, put panther on it. It should run fine.