The Arctic Mac

Creating your Install CD

First, insert your Tiger DVD in a computer with a DVD drive. Use Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities) or Disk Copy (for those with 10.2 or older) to make a read/write disk image of the DVD.

After your image is ready and mounted, navigate to System/Installation/Packages/. You should now delete (move to trash, empty trash) all the install packages in this folder except BaseSystem.pkg, BSD.pkg, Essentials.pkg, OSInstall.mpkg, and MigrationAssistant.pkg. There are a couple other non-installer files in the Packages folder. I don't know if you can delete them, but you shouldn't need to, so don't.

Now, in disk copy (or disk utility) select the "New Image from folder" option. It's location will vary depending on your version. In the dialog, select the MOUNTED image for the modified install DVD - that is, the one that shows up in the sidebar, not the .dmg file. For the format, select CD/DVD master, and then click image, and wait for it to finish.

When you've done, you should have an image file that can fit on a CD (the size of the .cdr file should be less than the capacity of your CD. most CDs are 700MB, but I've seen a few at 650). You can now burn this to a CD, and move on to the next part. if it doesn't quite fit, you can go to Applications/Utilites/ on the read/write disk image, and delete a couple programs there. Leave as many as possible, and DO NOT DELETE Terminal.app, Installer.app or Disk Utility.app from your image. You will need them. If you do not have a network, you may wish to use a CD-RW for the burn because the rest of the install (other than the base system) takes several additional CDs, and it might be nice to save disks... up to you.

Installing

I recommend backing up all personal data in your home folder and erasing the HD before installing 10.4. If you do not have 10.2 or newer, you MUST backup your data and erase the disk, however for those with 10.2 and newer it is optional. Do the backup before you continue. We'll take care of the erase later if you decide to do so. Please check your backups before erasing the disk to make sure that the files actually got backed up. I helped a friend (remotely) to backup their files to disk images (burned to CDs) and we discovered afterward that some of the images had somehow been created with no files... quirks of using OS 9's disk copy in classic mode in OS X.1. Anyhow, you've been warned...

1. First insert the install disk you burned above into the mac you wish to install on. Restart your computer. Push and hold the c key on your keyboard when you hear the boot chime (or at about that time if you've muted the mac's audio). When you see the apple, you can release the C key.
2. Wait for it to boot up, select English as the language. (Or, I suppose, your preferred other language, although I've not tried the procedure in another language).
3. You'll be dropped into the Installer. If you want to erase your disk, go to Utilities -> Disk Utility and do so. Otherwise (and after), go to Utilities -> Terminal.
4. In Terminal, type /Applications/Utilities/Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Installer and hit return. This will launch the installer again, this time giving you the choice to select a package. /System/Installation/Packages/BaseSystem.pkg
5. Proceed through installation. When you it says Checking Install CD, you are welcome to click "skip" to save time. (I always do). When it finishes, it will want to restart. Stop it from doing so by going to the terminal again and hitting control-c. If you let it restart, you'll need to boot off the cd again, just like you did the first time, and get to the terminal, and proceed from there.
6. Then repeat the last two steps to install BSD.pkg, Essentials.pkg and MigrationAssistant.pkg in that order. Note that of the packages you left on the CD, you will not install OSInstall.mpkg. After MigrationAssistant.pkg is done, let the computer restart
7. You'll be dropped into the Setup Assistant after you boot up. You'll need to fill it out to setup a user account. No way around it. I've tried not installing it and things just don't go well. Sorry.
8. Now, you're pretty much done... you'll want to find a way to install other packages from the DVD. I usually burn them to CD, but it's really up to you. You can network or whatever as well. There are a couple packages that you really should install, (like Java and MediaFiles and Shared Dictionaries) but mostly it's up to you.
9. Restore your backups, and run system updates, and you're done.

I've used this procedure to install OS X.4 on my 300MHz iBook. I can't promise that it'll work for you, but it should. BTW, do you have any idea how much I had to prune down the install on the iBook to get it to fit comfortably on a 3GB HD?? let's just say it was a lot, OK?