System 7 Poll

It's difficult to have a favourite version of Seven, because it is often a matter of horses for courses rather than preferences. 68000 machines, with little RAM and no taste for 32-bit operation, have to stay at the bottom of the pond, even with a retro-fitted 7.1.3. A RAM-starved CC can run 7.6.1, but not with any speed. The Beige 60x towers can run 7.5.2 and up, with exceptions, but why? unless it is necessary for certain software. In a purely abstract sense, 7.6.1 is an elegant start to the line of OSes rather than Systems, but it's not for every Mac. 7.5.5 seems to be Apple's choice, in that they have made it into a virtual Reference Release (an Upgrade), rather than a mere Update, for the use of us antiquarians.

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In order:

1) 7.1

2) 7.5

3) 7.0.1 (in third because it can be unstable with older apps)

These are the only ones I've used, since I only have the disks for them.

What is your favorite version of system 7?

Click to expand...

System 6.0.8 ;-)

I'd have to say all of them, but mostly either 7.6.1 or 7.1.

Welcome to the forums btw

Definitely System 7.1. Later versions seemed to be the compilation of more and more features that were useful to fewer and fewer people, with no real breakthroughs like preemtive multitasking or memory protection to ensure that software worked better. System 7.1 also worked with a huge range of software, and on a large number of models.

System 6.0.8 is a definite runner-up. The memory efficiency and relative speed of the system software is a refreshing change from more modern systems. There is also a lot of excellent software that runs under System 6, and most of that software reflects that philosophy.

7.1.2, then 7.6.1, then 7.0

I've only tried 7.0 and 7.0.1 so I chose 7.0.

I voted 7.1 (mainly because it was the first Mac OS I used).

7.5.3 was a pain (7.5.5 was better).

Haven't played with 7.6.x much yet (have installed it on a PowerBook 540C).

7.1 mainly - used on my old macs and it's lightweight.

7.6.1 next as well - especially with the Mac OS 8 look addons.

7.5.5 lastly - handy as a boot volume on an external disk (and its free too!)

7.6.1 - fast and stable

7.1 - nice on the 68000 macs that can run with it.

hey it runs MacWeb! which is the only reason not to run sys6 mind you.

..hmmm

7.6.1 - fast and stable, and I was very surprised to see, when I'd disabled unnecessary stuff, that it runs in less than 3MB RAM on my Color Classic.

M

It was a tough call between 7.0 and 7.1. I went with 7.1 because of the fonts folder, which I find superior to storing fonts in the system file.

My only objection to 7.1 is that Apple has not released it for free. I own two copies of it and therefore only have it running on my LC and (soon to be) my SE. I'm stuck with 7.0.1 on my PowerBook 170 (which I don't want to use with a newer version because of its limited RAM).

System 7 :?:

Too slow.

My pick is System 6.0.8!

Not much of a choice, only 7.1 and 7.6.1 are decent

I only live on 7.5.3 on my Performa 6400/180 @ 16MB of ram. I would go with that, it ran everything we put on it. Even Tonka Construction.

7.6.1 - it's the most stable and complete of them all. If you haven't got enough RAM for it, well, that's your problem.

My first Mac had 7.1 but I quite enjoyed the 7.5 upgrade, which I got for free from Apple using the old "my new system didn't come with install disks" trick.