Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
Supported hardware
Installation on unsupported G4 hardware
1. Leopard Assist
For easy installation of Leopard on some unsupported G4s (<867Mhz), try Leopard Assist.
2. Manual method
Leopard can run on any older Macs that have a G4 processor and AGP-based graphics, so the "Sawtooth" Power Mac G4 onwards, simply by circumventing the 867 MHz processor speed check. This can be done either by modifying the OSinstall.mpkg file on the Leopard DVD to make a DVD that will install on any suitable Mac as it if were supported (when burning the DVD, if using a singe-layer disc delete the Xcode Tools package from the Optional Installs folder on the root of the image, as well as the packages in /System/Installation/Packages for all of the printer drivers and all of the foreign languages packs (do not delete AsianLanguageSupport.pkg though, this is not a language pack and will cause the installation to fail if it is not present), or by using an unmodified DVD and running one of the following commands in Open Firmware to temporarily (until next reboot) fake a supported CPU speed:
(1) Hold the Command, Option, O and F keys together when starting the Mac and only release them once the Open Firmware command line has appeared.
(2) Insert the unmodified Leopard DVD into the Mac’s DVD drive.
(3) Run the following script exactly as below (including capitals), press Enter after each line and check that Open Firmware displays "ok" :
For single-CPU Macs:
For dual-CPU Macs:
Installation on G4 Yikes! and upgraded Beige & Blue & White G3s
Leopard can also be made to run on older non-AGP Macs that have a G4 processor (the "Yikes!" Power Mac G4) or that have been upgraded to a G4 (Power Mac G3 "beige" and "blue and white", older Power Macs, etc) but this also requires the addition of further kexts and installation using another Mac as the Leopard DVD will not be bootable.
Leopard cannot run on a G3 processor (not even the 900 MHz iBook G3 models even though they exceed the minimum 867 MHz requirement) as Apple only compiled Leopard for AltiVec, which the G3 line of processors does not include.
As of Mid 2010, some Apple computers have firmware factory installed which will no longer allow installation of Mac OS X Leopard. These computers only allow installation of Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
ATI Rage 128 and ATI Rage Pro graphics cards/chips:
Apple removed the drivers for these from Leopard so it will run on them but with no graphics acceleration. The Tiger kexts for them can be added back - download link in thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/tip-ati-rage-128-in-leopard.1691634, after placing in the /System/Library/Extensions folder apply permissions as follows (easiest way is using the utility BatChmod) before rebooting: owner root RWX, group wheel R-X, everyone R-X.
Minimum RAM
512 MB; additional RAM is strongly recommended
Minimum Hard Drive Space / Partition Size
9 GB
Release Date
October 26, 2007
Apple Software Updates
Audio Production
Audio Utilities & Music Players
Graphic Design & Photography
Office & Productivity
Web Browsers
Web Development
Network Tools
Syncing with your phone
Software Development
Video Playback & Encoding
Video Production
Disk & Maintenance Utilities
Benchmarking Utilities
Graphics Utilities
General Utilities
Theming and Customization
Open Source Package Managers & Tools
Emulators & Virtualization
Games
Third-party 802.11n/802.11ac Wifi Adapters and Drivers
(Add links if you got 'em!)
Leopard tweaks:
Designable.nib removal
After installing Leopard and all applicable updates, run the following in Terminal to save disk space by removing the designable.nib debug files that Apple seemingly mistakenly left in Leopard (they were not in previous or subsequent versions) - I have always done this with no problems, but this is at your own risk if it breaks anything, read more at https://appleinsider.com/articles/08/06/27/solving_the_mystery_of_snow_leopards_shrinking_apps
2D Dock
Restore 3D Dock
Monolingual 1.4.5 can shed several hundred megabytes by removing unneeded language localization and multi-architecture features.
Additional Leopard speed and performance improvements are covered on this post.
Supported hardware
- eMac
- iBook G4
- iMac G4
- iMac G5
- iMac Core Duo
- iMac Core 2 Duo (excluding "Late 2009" and "Mid 2010" models)
- PowerBook G4
- Power Mac G4
- Power Mac G5
- MacBook (pre-2010)
- MacBook Pro (pre-2010)
- MacBook Air (pre-2010)
- Mac Pro (pre-2010)
- Mac Mini (pre-2010)
- Macintosh Server G4
- Xserve G4
- Xserve G5
- Xserve Xeon
Installation on unsupported G4 hardware
1. Leopard Assist
For easy installation of Leopard on some unsupported G4s (<867Mhz), try Leopard Assist.
2. Manual method
Leopard can run on any older Macs that have a G4 processor and AGP-based graphics, so the "Sawtooth" Power Mac G4 onwards, simply by circumventing the 867 MHz processor speed check. This can be done either by modifying the OSinstall.mpkg file on the Leopard DVD to make a DVD that will install on any suitable Mac as it if were supported (when burning the DVD, if using a singe-layer disc delete the Xcode Tools package from the Optional Installs folder on the root of the image, as well as the packages in /System/Installation/Packages for all of the printer drivers and all of the foreign languages packs (do not delete AsianLanguageSupport.pkg though, this is not a language pack and will cause the installation to fail if it is not present), or by using an unmodified DVD and running one of the following commands in Open Firmware to temporarily (until next reboot) fake a supported CPU speed:
(1) Hold the Command, Option, O and F keys together when starting the Mac and only release them once the Open Firmware command line has appeared.
(2) Insert the unmodified Leopard DVD into the Mac’s DVD drive.
(3) Run the following script exactly as below (including capitals), press Enter after each line and check that Open Firmware displays "ok" :
For single-CPU Macs:
Code:
dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0
d# 867000000 encode-int " clock-frequency" property
boot cd:,\\:tbxiFor dual-CPU Macs:
Code:
dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0
d# 867000000 encode-int " clock-frequency" property
dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@1
d# 867000000 encode-int " clock-frequency" property
boot cd:,\\:tbxiInstallation on G4 Yikes! and upgraded Beige & Blue & White G3s
Leopard can also be made to run on older non-AGP Macs that have a G4 processor (the "Yikes!" Power Mac G4) or that have been upgraded to a G4 (Power Mac G3 "beige" and "blue and white", older Power Macs, etc) but this also requires the addition of further kexts and installation using another Mac as the Leopard DVD will not be bootable.
Leopard cannot run on a G3 processor (not even the 900 MHz iBook G3 models even though they exceed the minimum 867 MHz requirement) as Apple only compiled Leopard for AltiVec, which the G3 line of processors does not include.
As of Mid 2010, some Apple computers have firmware factory installed which will no longer allow installation of Mac OS X Leopard. These computers only allow installation of Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
ATI Rage 128 and ATI Rage Pro graphics cards/chips:
Apple removed the drivers for these from Leopard so it will run on them but with no graphics acceleration. The Tiger kexts for them can be added back - download link in thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/tip-ati-rage-128-in-leopard.1691634, after placing in the /System/Library/Extensions folder apply permissions as follows (easiest way is using the utility BatChmod) before rebooting: owner root RWX, group wheel R-X, everyone R-X.
Minimum RAM
512 MB; additional RAM is strongly recommended
Minimum Hard Drive Space / Partition Size
9 GB
Release Date
October 26, 2007
Apple Software Updates
- Mac OS X 10.5.8 Combo Update (Client)
- Mac OS X 10.5.8 Combo Update (Server)
- Security Update 2011-004 for Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Client)
- Security Update 2011-004 for Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Server)
- QuickTime 7.7.0
- iTunes 10.6.3
- Safari 5.0.6
- Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 10
- Migration Assistant update
- AirPort Utility 5.6.1
- Front Row 2.1.7
Audio Production
- Ableton Live 8.4.2
- Algoriddim djay 3.1.4 [PPC + Intel]
- Audacity 2.0.6 [PPC + Intel]
- Audacity 2.1.1 [Intel]
- Digidesign Pro Tools LE 8.0.1 (PPC) 8.0.5 (Intel)
(Pro Tools LE 7.4.2cs4 is both Leopard & Tiger compatible) - Fission 1.6.10
- Felt Tip Sound Studio 3.5.7
- GarageBand '09 5.1 (iLife '09)
- Logic Studio (2007)
- Logic Pro 8.0
- MainStage 1.0
- Soundtrack Pro 2
- Logic Studio 2 (2009)
- Compressor 3.5
- Logic Pro 9.0
- MainStage 2.0
- Soundtrack Pro 3
- WaveBurner 1.6
- Native Instruments (Standalone and AU/VST/RTAS Plugins):
- Absynth 3.0.2
- GuitarRig 2.0.0
- Massive 1.1.4
- Reaktor 5.1.5
- Spektral Delay 1.6.0
- Traktor DJStudio 3.2.1
- Vokator 1.2.0
- Propellerhead Reason 4.0
- Renoise 2.7.2
- Sibelius 6
- Soundtrack Pro 2.0.2
- Steinberg Cubase 5.5.3
Audio Utilities & Music Players
- Audio Hijack 2.2.6
- Audio Hijack Pro 2.9.9
- Audion 3.0.2
- Airfoil 3.5.7
- Airfoil Speakers 3.5.7
- AirServer 3.1.2
- Cog 0.07
- GimmeSomeTune 3.7.5
- iTunes 10.6.3
- LineIn 2.0.3
- MakeiPhoneRingtone 1.3.3
- MidiKeys 1.8
- MPEG Streamclip 1.9.2
- Nicecast 1.9.12
- SIDPLAY 4.1.3
- SoundJam MP
- SoundSource 2.5.0
- WireTap Studio 1.3.1
- Vox 0.2.7.1
Graphic Design & Photography
- Acorn 1.5.5
- Adobe Creative Suite 4
- Acrobat 9.5.5
- Camera Raw 5.7
- Contribute 5.0.2
- Drive 1.0.1
- Fireworks 10.0.4
- Flash 10.0.3
- InDesign 6.0.5
- Output Module 2.1
- Photoshop 11.0.2
- Version Cue 4.0.1
- Adobe Lightroom 2.7
- Adobe Reader 9.5.5
- Aperture 2.1.4
- Art Directors Toolkit 4.0
- Blender 2.63a
- Brush Pilot 2.0
- Color Schemer Studio 2.0.1
- GIFfun 4.2
- GIMP 2.6.11
- GraphicConverter 7.6.2
- iMaginator 5.0
- iPhoto 8.1.2 (iLife '09)
- Little Snapper 1.0.2
- Maya 8
- Paintbrush 2.1.2
- Picturesque 2.1.5
- Pixelmator 1.5.1
- Photopresenter 2.6
- PhotoToWeb 3.5
- Seashore 0.5.1
- Slice & Dice 4.3.4
- Sketchbook Pro 2.0
- Suitcase Fusion 12.1.1
- The Print Shop Pro 2.0.3 U
- RawTherapee 4.5
- VueScan 9.0.96
Office & Productivity
- 1Password 2.12.1
- AbiWord 2.4.5
- AppleWorks 6.2.4
- Bean 3.1.1
- Bento 4.0.2 (possibly 4.0.7?)
- Calibre 0.7.28
- Combine PDFs 3.0 (freeware; later versions are shareware)
- Create 14.4.1
- Delicious Library 2.8.5
- DEVONagent 2.3.1
- DEVONagent Pro 3.2
- DEVONnote 2.3.5
- DEVONthink Personal 2.3.5
- DEVONthink Pro 2.3.5
- DEVONthink Pro Office 2.3.5
- Evernote 2.2.3
- FileMaker Pro 11.0.4.401
- iWork '09 (with 9.0.5 update)
- Keynote 5.0
- Numbers 2.0
- Pages 4.0
- LibreOffice 5.1.0
- Mariner Write
- Microsoft Office 2008 v12.3.6
- Microsoft Office 2011 [Intel]
- myTexts 5.5
- Nisus Writer Express 3.4.1
- Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.1
- Notational Velocity 2.0b5
- NoteBook 3.1
- OmniGraffle 5.3.5
- OmniGraffle Pro 5.3.5
- OmniGraph Sketcher 1.2.3
- PStill 5.7.5
- Readiris Pro 11
- StampInStone 3.5.3
- StoryMill 3.2.3
- The Hit List 1.0.4
- TimeEqualsMoney 3.4.4
- Ulysses 1.6f
- WriteRoom 2.5
Web Browsers
- Amaya 11.3.1
- Arctic Fox 27.9.15
- Camino 2.1.2
- Demeter 1.0.9 or 1.5 beta 3
- IceWeaselPPC
- InterWebPPC (FPR32 SPR1)
- Leopard WebKit 604.4.6
- Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.6
- NetSurf 2.7
- OmniWeb 5.11.2
- OneWindowBrowser 1.1
- Opera 10.63 (PowerPC)
- Opera Mini 8.0 (J2ME version; requires MicroEmulator 2.0.4)
- Roccat 8.0
- SeaMonkey 2.26
- Shiira 2.2
- Stainless
- Sunrise 1.0.6
- TenFourBird 38.9.0
- TenFourFox FPR32.5 (final version, no longer updated)
- PowerPC [Specific per CPU revision: G3, G4 7400, G4 7450, G5]
- Note: Majority of PowerPC "G4" Macs will be compatible with the "7450" build, except for older G4s (pre-2001 or thereabouts). Use "machine" command in Terminal to confirm your CPU type.
- Intel 32-bit (Was not officially supported. This is the most up to date browser for Intel Leopard)
- PowerPC [Specific per CPU revision: G3, G4 7400, G4 7450, G5]
- Tor Browser 3.5.4
Web Development
- Coda 1.7.5
- CSSEdit 2.6
- Espresso 1.1
- iWeb 3.0
- MAMP 1.9.6.1
- RapidWeaver 4.3.0
- Taco HTML Edit 1.7.2
Network Tools
- Adium 1.3.10
- Apple Remote Desktop Admin 3.4
- Chicken [of the VNC] 2.2b2
- Colloquy 2.2.2
- Dropbox (not working anymore)
- Fetch 5.6 [PowerPC]
- FileZilla 3.7.3
- Forklift 1.7.8
- Little Snitch 2.5.4
- Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection 2.0.1
- NetNewsWire 3.1.7
- SiteCrawler 1.1.3
- SSHTunnel v1.6
- Transmit 4.2
- Transmission 2.22
- Unison 2.1.10
Syncing with your phone
- DropCopy
- PhotoSync
Software Development
- TextWrangler 3.5.3
- Xcode 3.1.4
Video Playback & Encoding
- CorePlayer 1.3.6
- Elgato EyeTV 3.0
- Handbrake 0.9.4
- MacTheRipper 2.6.6
- Perian 1.2.3
- RipIt 1.5.3
- Vidi 0.4.5
- VisualHub 1.34.1
- VLC 2.0.10
Video Production
- Final Cut Express 4
- Final Cut Studio 2 [PPC + Intel]
- Final Cut Studio 3 [Intel]
- iDVD 7.0.4 (iLife '09)
- iMovie '09 8.0.6 (iLife '09)
- iMovie HD 6.0.4
- Screenflow 2.1.11
- Videator 5.0
Disk & Maintenance Utilities
- AppCleaner 1.2.2
- AppZapper 1.8.0
- Burn 2.5.1
- Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.7ƒ
- Disco 1.0.3
- DiskWarrior 4.2
- Intech SpeedTools 3.9.1
- OmniDiskSweeper 1.7
- OnyX 2.0.6
- SuperDuper! 2.7.1
- Temperature Monitor 4.98
- Toast Titanium 9.0.7 or 10.0.9
Benchmarking Utilities
- Geekbench 2.2.7
- GioFX OpenMark 1.60
- OpenGL Extensions Viewer 3.15
- Xbench 1.3
Graphics Utilities
- ATI Displays 4.5.7
- ATIccelerator 1.0.6b
- DisplayLink Drivers 1.7 (Intel)
- Flux 1.1 (Universal Binary)
- Matrox PowerDesk 1.02.01.008 (for DualHead2Go & TripleHead2Go)
General Utilities
- Esperance DV (RAM Disk) 2.3
- GeekTool 2.1.2
- Global Warmth 2.3.3
- GLTerminal 0.9.2
- iTerm2 2.0-legacy
- Leopard Ports (updated system utilities and software)
- Mactracker 7.4.1
- MenuMeters 1.8.1
- PackUpAndGo 3.2.2
- Pacifist 3.0.10
- PPCAppStore V2.1
- PPC Media Center
- PreferenceCommander 2.3.4
- RightZoom 1.8.1
- Scroll Reverser 1.5.1
- SizeUp 1.2.1
- SmcFanControl 2.4
- StarMores
- StuffIt Expander/Deluxe 2011 (15.0.4)
- The Unarchiver 3.2
- TenFiveTube (v3 & v5)
- TrueBlue 3.4
- Tuxera NTFS for Mac (2005-RC)
- UnrarX 2.2
- Windowshade 4.3
- XaoS
Theming and Customization
- Aqua Extreme
- CandyBar 3.3.4
- Iconverter 0.9
- Img2icns 1.2.2
- LeopardRebirth 1.2
- LeopardRebirth Remover 1.0
- Mountain Leopard
- Nocturne 2.0.0
- Secrets 1.0.6
- Transbar
Open Source Package Managers & Tools
Emulators & Virtualization
- DOSBox 0.74
- QEMU 2.2.1
- Parallels Desktop 7.0.15107 [Intel]
- SheepShaver 2.4 (20140201)
- Virtual PC 7.0.3 [PowerPC] max. 512MB allocated RAM
- VirtualBox 4.1.44 [Intel]
- VMware Fusion 3.1.4.683826 [Intel]
Games
- 4x4 EVO 2
- Call of Duty 2
- Civilization III
- Doom 3 v1.3.1
- Halo v2.0.3
- Lemonade Tycoon
- Machinarium v10.0.32.18
- Max Payne
- Minecraft PPC Edition (1.2.5, 1.5.1, 1.8.9)
- Oni
- Prey v1.2 b116
- Sims 2
- Spider-Man 2
- Unreal Tournament 2004 v3369.2
- World Of Goo 1.3.0
- XIII
Third-party 802.11n/802.11ac Wifi Adapters and Drivers
- Edimax EW-7811Un N150 USB Nano 802.11n [driver: v1.7.9 10.5]
- Edimax EW-7728In 802.11n PCI card 2.4GHZ (Power Mac G4/G5) [driver: v3.0.0 PPC 10.3–10.5]
(Add links if you got 'em!)
Leopard tweaks:
Designable.nib removal
After installing Leopard and all applicable updates, run the following in Terminal to save disk space by removing the designable.nib debug files that Apple seemingly mistakenly left in Leopard (they were not in previous or subsequent versions) - I have always done this with no problems, but this is at your own risk if it breaks anything, read more at https://appleinsider.com/articles/08/06/27/solving_the_mystery_of_snow_leopards_shrinking_apps
Code:
sudo find / -type f -name designable.nib | awk -F '\t' '{print "\""$1"\""}' | xargs rm -v2D Dock
Code:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall DockRestore 3D Dock
Code:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO; killall DockMonolingual 1.4.5 can shed several hundred megabytes by removing unneeded language localization and multi-architecture features.
Additional Leopard speed and performance improvements are covered on this post.
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