It dismays me that System 7.x (or heaven forbid 8.x) is mentioned in the same post as a IIci.

God intended that a IIci be run under 6.x. Booting a IIci into 7 or later is like putting a sweater on your cat. Yeah, you may think it's cute, but your cat hates you for it. Trust me, your IIci hates you for making it boot into 7. System 8? It's trying its best to cut its own motherboard traces.