Introduction:

Powermac 9600 machines are the very last Macs to boot System 7 natively, with System 7 originally being programmed to run on 68k machines. The transition to PowerPC processors was made in 1991 with version 7.1.2. The 9600/200 originally shipped with 7.5.5. The latest version of System 7 is 7.6.1 which is the preferred version for a 9600. With the introduction of 7.6, it was there that the Macintosh operating system was first referred to as Mac OS instead of System 7. Regardless of that, I’ll be referring to the OS as System 7 from now on. You can read more about the evolution of System 7 here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_7

The 9600 supports up to OS9.1 officially, but it can be ‘helped’ along in installing 9.2.2, as well as OSX via additional software. It’s my advice to leave your 9600 as is and boot to 7.6.1, plus your choice of an OS8/OS9 version for safety reasons. I prefer a combo of 7.6.1 and OS8.6 myself.

I have CPU upgrade information below but it’s my advice to leave your 9600 as stock as possible for many compatibility reasons. If you plan on running VST instruments and VST FX, I’d recommend against using a 9600 altogether. Even if you upgrade the machine with the fastest upgrade ever made for it - the 1ghz Sonnet Crescendo - you will still suffer from the slow system bus speed (50mhz) among other things that slow it down.

9600s are more of specialty machines and they’re best left to do what they excel at:

1) Pro Tools & Sound Designer rigs
2) MIDI machines
3) ADAT & DTRS transfer machines

Basically, if you’re not taking advantage of Digidesign’s TDM power, you’re not going to get very far with one. Leave all VST stuff for G4 machines. If you’ve got hardware recording consoles, hardware synthesizers, and/or digital tape machines, the 9600 will be a good fit for you. Tracking, Editing, and MIDI editing is what these things are about.

One of the best things about a 9600 and running System 7 is the lack of bloat. Every time a new OS or a new version of your favorite software is released, it comes with a lot of new features that are of no use to you. This clutters menus. Worst of all, it usually comes with new, heavy graphics which can bog down your system. Newer operating systems and software make you spend more time menu diving than you do getting any work done.

You’re going to be surprised to see how much more organized your favorite programs were back in System 7 days. Small program file sizes, short menus, uncluttered GUI interfaces... ONLY what you need is provided. System 7 is mostly monochrome and the software that came out for it at the time was mostly monochrome as well. That equates to some really zippy browsing around. Sometimes a white background with black text is all you need to get stuff done. That’s how I prefer it.