My first MDD/QS had Jaguar. As best as I recall, it took a bit of patience to switch from OS 8.5 on my 8500 and work with Jaguar. The benefit of using Jaguar is the low memory usage since with each OS upgrade the memory requirements go up and up.

But, you are correct, the further back you step from Tiger the harder it is to find compatible software unless you have a very specific reason to go to Jaguar stay with Tiger. I recommend you "burn" copies of 3rd party installer CD/DVD's.

For example, I went back to OS 9 with my iMac G3 to use some of my many midi/audio programs and it is hard to locate 3rd party software. I use my collection of Mac Addict CD's because I have the full. But it is a tedious process and many are demo's only.

Good luck with your project of keeping your MDD cool.