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Have an old Mac? This is a set of older tutorials with information on how to use Mac OS 9 and earlier and Windows together. (Click here for Mac OS X.) Macs that run Mac OS 9 or earlier have a PowerPC processor or a 680x0 processor (for really old Macs). First is a brief summary of the Windows compatibility features in Macs:

MacWindows Basics: Windows compatibility features built into Macs

Next are more detailed articles with screen shots on how to use older Macs and Windows PCs together. There are four basic tasks people need to do when they integrate older Macs and Windows: using Mac and PC disks, using files, sharing networks, and running software. These four categories are similar to the integration tasks in modern computers, but were perhaps less plug-and-play than in modern Macs.

The tutorials are divided into these four major topic categories with subcategories:

For more advanced tips from and for power users, seed MacWindows Tips.

For information on the latest products that accomplish these tasks, see MacWindows Solutions.

MacWindows Basics: Windows Compatibility Features Built Into Macintosh (Mac OS 9 and earlier)

The older Macintosh hardware and Mac OS contain several Windows compatibility features for working with disks, files, and networks. By adding third-party products, you can extend the Mac's Windows compatibility or add Macintosh compatibility to Windows PCs (see MacWindows Solutions.)

The following is a summary of the Windows compatibility features built-into each Macintosh.

(Click on the icons for more information.)

Using PC Disks

	SuperDrive Floppy Disk The Mac floppy drive can read, write, and format PC floppy disks.

	Mounting PC Disks in the Finder: PC Exchange Control Panel With PC Exchange turned on, you can mount PC floppies, ZIP and Jaz cartridges, and Syquest cartridges on the Finder desktop and copy files to and from Macintosh disks. It also mounts DOS-formated storage PC Cards (PCMCIA) in PowerBooks.

Using Windows Files

	File Extension Mapping: PC Exchange Control Panel Enables Mac applications to launch when you double click Windows and DOS files in the Finder.

	Mac OS Easy Open Control Panel Enables you to select a Mac application or translation path when you double click Windows and DOS files in the Finder .

	MacLinkPlus control panel and translators Can translate between hundreds of Mac and Windows file formats.

Running Windows Software

	Run Windows (Some Mac Models) Some Mac models come bundled with an expansion card containing a Pentium or other Intel-compatible processor that lets you run DOS, Windows 3.1, or Windows 95 on a Macintosh. For other Macs there are add-on solutions available, some of which can run Windows NT on a Macintosh.

Networking

	Ethernet Port Enables you to connect a Mac to an Ethernet network of Windows machines. Macs can connect to PC servers running servers such as Windows NT, Netware servers, with the appropriate software installed and configured on either Mac or Windows clients or servers.

	TCP/IP Control Panel Low-level network protocol that connects Macs to the Internet or to LAN-based cross-platform Intranets.

	PPP Control Panel Enables Mac to connect to the Internet or Intranets via a modem connection.

	Personal Web Sharing Enables any computer with a Web browser to access Mac files and folders. Mac can either act as mini Web server as well as serve ordinary (non-HTML) files over TCP/IP. (Mac OS 8.0 and later.)

(Click on the icons for more information.)

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