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There's a hardware-grid available on Apple's web site to show which computers will be able to run Mac OS X 10.4, Tiger.

It appears from the upgrade web page that although the Pismo G3 PowerBook meets the basic requirements, Tiger will not install on a Pismo.

We have yet to see whether this will be true in practice or is merely an oversight on Apple's part. Insiders report that the development versions of Tiger did install on Pismo PowerBooks, but that because Tiger's video acceleration would not be supported by the ancient video hardware in the Pismo, Apple simply chose not to list it. Even if the Tiger installer will not run on an older Mac, it is still very likely that XPostFacto or some other utility will enable many old Macs to run it.

Here are Apple's minimum specifications to run Tiger:
* PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor;
* Built-in FireWire;
* At least 256MB of physical RAM;
* A built-in display or a display connected to an Apple-supplied video card;
* At least 2.0 GB of available space on your hard drive; 3.5GB of disk space if you install XCode 2 developer tools.

This is kind of crude: Tiger comes on a DVD. If you own a compatible Mac, but don't own a compatible DVD reader then you won't be able to install Tiger even though your Mac otherwise meets the hardware requirements. Rather than offer purchasers a choice of media when they buy the product, Apple is offering a $9.95 courtesy copy of Tiger on CD. They ask that you download the order form [PDF] and send them a copy of the completed form along with payment (plus tax) and your original Tiger install DVD. To me, that makes it less of a courtesy copy and more of a way to squeeze extra money out of a few desparate customers.

**UPDATE: Apple has added the Pismo to their list of supported computers.

[ **Updated by Andrew on April 15, 2005, 10:15 PM ]

Good to know about the Pzizmos man!