First, please note that I have never used a 68020 or 68040.

The Mac OS can really be divided into three main groups:

• System 6.0.x (1989-1991)
• System 7.0.x/7.1.x (1991-1994)
• System 7.5.x/7.6.x (1994-1997)
• Mac OS 8.0/8.1 (1997/1998)

Now, for which OS:

_________________________________________________

|                            | Speed | Modernity      |Compromise|

|68000 (with HDD)| 6.0.8   | 7.5.5/7.5.4     | 7.1/7.0.1      |

| 68020                 | 6.0.8   | 7.5.5/7.5.4     | 7.1.1            |

| 68030                 | 6.0.8   | 7.5.5/7.5.4/8.1| 7.1.1           |

| 68(LC)040           | 7.0.1  | 8.1                   | 7.5.5/7.5.4 |

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I recommend the "Compromise" option for most systems.

System 7.5.4 was released for anywhere between a few hours and a week, and was pulled by Apple due to the fact it causes (some?) PowerPC machines to crash.

It's just fine for 68k, and is my recommendation for all 68040 systems. An updater going from 7.5.3 to 7.5.4 may be found on Max1zzz's server (Google "max1zzz"), and 7.5.3 is free from Apple. Apple also released 6.0.8 and 7.0.1. 7.1 and 7.1.1 can be found on the Internet pretty easily.

If you have any practical experience, go ahead and reply.