iBook (Dual USB) Mac OS version restriction: a follow-up

iBook too new for "older" 9.1 CD Chuck Douglas writes: "I also live in Japan and am the proud owner of a new iBook. When I bought it from the Apple Store, Japan, I also ordered the English version of Mac OS 9.1 with it in hopes of re-installing the iBook when it came. However, 9.1 was backordered, so I ended up contacting a person from the store. She told me that it was impossible to use the currently available English Mac OS 9.1 disk on the iBook because it was released before the iBook and therefore does not contain all the necessary software."

Retail vs. preinstalled John Konopka writes: "Until now you could only install a 'store-bought' version of the Mac OS on hardware released before the OS was released. Mac OS 9.1 was released in January and the iBook several months later. iBook and QuickSilver owners will have to wait for OS 9.2 to be released before they can change languages."

Mac OS 9.2 English and Mac OS X work fine A reader writes: "I also live in Japan and have purchased a Japanese iBook. Mac OS 9.1 English will not install on it, However Mac OS 9.2 English installs without any problems, the DVD player works fine too. I was surprised at the lack of what have become the traditional problems with the keyboard such as the kana or kanji keys crashing the system. Other than the inconvenience to having the apostrophe key mapped to Shift-7 there are no real problems. The OS X disk which comes with the iBook will also install an English system." In addition, Jesper Frydenlund writes: "I have a Danish iBook but prefer to use an English version of the Mac OS. I had to obtain a copy of Mac OS 9.2 in order to install an English OS."

Not a new problem Francisco Hirsch writes: "This usually happens whenever Apple brings out a new model. Since Americans are usually satisfied with the American system they don't usually run into this problem. Since I live in Argentina where systems are either Spanish or International English, I see it most every time."