loading fcp onto my g4 powerbook

[Debe]

First off, you don’t need Tiger (OS 10.4.x) to run FCP 4.5. OS 10.3.8 or 3.9 will suffice. If you don’t need Tiger, don’t buy it. Panther is enough, and probably a lot less expensive than Tiger at the moment.

However, if this is the same installation that you’re running on your G5, then the answer is yes, you have to buy a whole new seat for FCP. If you read the license, it says “may be installed on one computer at a time”. It doesn’t read “used on one computer at a time”, but “INSTALLED”. So you can’t legally install it on the PB unless you remove it from the tower.

If it is a legal second copy, then all you need are the serial numbers from the original full version and subsequent upgrades. You don’t need to actually install the old versions. The upgrade package is really a fully version, and putting in valid serial numbers as the installer asks for them is all you need to do to install the whole program.

Hope this helps,

debe

[David Herman]

Thanks debe. I couldn’t load my fcp 3 upgrade as it called for the original registered fcp to be loaded. Couldn’t load that as it required OS 9 and refused to open in Classic. I have now ordered Tiger (didn’t realise that Panther was still available) Are you telling me that if I have retired my old G4 533, I can’t load my registered copy of fcp onto my notebook? Or does that only hold for the OS? And if I have fcp 4.5 on my G5 I can’t load it onto my laptop? I imagine this has all been challenged legally, but nonetheless, no wonder the kids are hacking.

[Debe]

I don’t quite understand the questions, davidtoo.

FCP 3, if it’s the OS9 version, won’t run or load on an OSX machine. Final Cut Pro has never run in Classic mode. It takes up too much of the OS’s resources. Running in Classic just doesn’t work. FCP is too robust of a program. We all had to buy new software. It’s the price you pay for progress. If you don’t want or need the improvements a new operating system and new programs bring you, you don’t have to buy anything. If you want to reap the benefits of Apple’s R&D and all their hard work to improve FCP and the OS, then you should pay for it. Just like you pay for cars, food, movies, clothes. If you don’t need a fancy car, don’t buy one. If you don’t need designer clothes, no one is requiring you to buy them. We all need food to live, but one can certainly live a fruitful life without fancy restaurants and $100 dinners. If you don’t need the improvements of FCP 4.5, then you can use iMovie, which is much cheaper than FCP. If you need the horsepower of FCP, then you should buy the upgrade. Or stick with an older machine that runs in OS9. No one is requiring you to buy new hardware, either. You chose to upgrade your hardware.

That aside, if you have a legal copy that runs under the old operating system, and you have a legal serial number, just the serial number is all you need to install your upgrade on the new operating system. For FCP at least, an “upgrade” is merely a full version that is less expensive. To unlock it, you only need to enter your legal serial number from the earlier version. YOU DO NOT NEED TO EVER EVER EVER PUT THE FCP3 DISKS IN YOUR COMPUTER TO DO THIS!!! You don’t need to actually install the original version. REPEAT AFTER ME…”The upgrade IS a full version”. All you need is to type in the serial number of the original version when installing the upgrade as it asks for it. I know because I’ve installed FCP4.5 via an upgrade from FCP 2 on my G4 laptop.

As far as I know, FCP 4.5 will run on Tiger. You just have to revert QuickTime back to 6.5.2, because FCP 4.5 doesn’t play well with QT7.

There’s no legal issue here. If you want the software companies to continue to improve their wares, the consumers have to support them by buying the software and using it legally. Think of all the improvements we would have if all the pirated copies out there were legally purchased copies.

If you don’t like Apple’s licensing, you don’t have to buy their software. Try another software manufacturer. You legally cannot have one copy of FCP installed on more than computer at a time. If you have it installed on a tower, and you want to install it on a lpatop, you have to first remove (erase) it from the tower. Apple is allowed to set their licensing any way they choose. If you don’t like it, choose a different software manufacturer.

The kids are hacking because somewhere along the line integrity and honesty has been laid waste. They really don’t think they’re stealing. They are. Apple deserves to get paid for all the time, energy and money they put in to making hardware and software. I blame margarine for the serious lapse in judgment of today’s youth.

debe

[David Herman]

Debe, I didn’t mean to provoke you, nor do I mean to justify hacking. I buy the best I can afford and have been an fcp user since 1.2. I upgraded to 2 then 3 and then bought a FCPHD Production suite. (all apple store BOUGHT)
I had OS 9 on my G4, which I used for these FCPs.
I bought a G5 with OSX together with my FCP4.5 Production Suite.
THEN I bought a used G4 Powerbook with OSX 10.2.7
What I wanted to do was get FCP onto my powerbook. I don’t feel I should have to purchase a new copy of FCP in order to do this.
I couldn’t load my 1.2 because of the classic situation.
When I tried to load my fcp3 upgrade I got the notice: You need to have a registered copy of fcp on this machine in order to load this upgrade (my paraphrase)
So I was caught in a bind.
I have now ordered Tiger from apple which will go onto my powerbook. Are you telling me that if I load MY FCP 4.5 onto the powerbook, I will be breaking my apple contract? If so then I think my beef is valid. I am not copying it and selling it. I am not providing it to another user who then doesn’t purchase fcp, I am just giving myself the option of using it on my powerful APPLE G5 and my APPLE Powerbook. I think my recognition of Apple’s quality and products is demonstrated by the amount of money I invest in their products. Surely I should be able to use them in a matter I see fit without compromising their commercial activity?

[Debe]

If you have the original copy of FCP3 loaded anywhere else and you use the serial number from it to install the upgrade FCP3 to FCP 4.5, then, yes, you are illegally installing FCP.

If you remove FCP3 from whatever machine it lived on first and then install the FCP 4.5 upgrade using the FCP3 serial number to unlock the upgrade, then no, you are NOT using it illegally.

You can only have it installed on one computer and use it one computer. If you want to use it on another computer, you have to erase it from the first computer. You can do this as many times as you please, but you can only have it installed and running on one computer at a time. From what you describe, as long as you remove it from your tower/desktop, you certainly can legally install it on your laptop.

I still don’t get your error. You should’ve been able to install the FCP 4.5 upgrade if you had a valid FCP3 serial number. Unless the FCP3 was an upgrade, too, then you need the serial number from the original full install, whether that be FCP 1.2 or whatever it was you started with. You need to have a full install purchased at some point. Since it sounds like you have one, I don’t understand why you can’t install. You’ll have to put the serial numbers in in the correct order. I believe you start with the serial number from the newest, and FCP will ask for the original. When you put in serial number for the upgrade, it’s coded in such a way that the install utility knows to ask for the original serial number. I’m not sure if you even need the serial number from FCP3 if that also was an upgrade. You do not need all upgrade levels to make this work. You only have to prove to FCP that originally you did buy the full version. Perhaps there’s an error in the procedure here. If you start with the original serial number, that’s backwards. Counterintuitive, yes. I’m fairly certain that you have to start with the upgrade serial number so FCP knows it’s an upgrade first. Then it’ll ask for the original. I think I had the same problem as you are having when I tried to install my 4.5 via an upgrade from FCP2, and when I reversed the order of how I entered the serial numbers, all was well. I don’t remember exactly, because eventually I got it to work with no problems. Which is why this is so vexing for you!

I don’t think it’s an OS issue. You certainly don’t need Tiger to run FCP 4.5. I started with OS 10.3.somethin’ on my tower, and I’m currently running 10.3.9 on both my tower and my laptop. I run FCP 4.5 fine on both.

This almost sounds like you could use a trip to the Apple Store, if you have one near you. There’s no reason I can see that you shouldn’t be able to install.

Which leads me to my apology. Install issues, while not limited to, usually are a result of piracy and hacking. Since your issues sound like a textbook case of that, I jumped to the conclusion. I apologize.

The only thing I can think to do is to wipe the drive and start over with installing the OS and the FCP, if there’s no Apple Store near you. You also may be able to get technical help by calling Apple’s 800 number, but they do tend to be pretty strict about only supporting for exactly the number of days that you’ve owned the merchandise as laid out in the purchase agreement. If this upgrade purchase was less than 90 days ago, you shouldn’t have a problem getting them to support you over the phone. If it’s been longer than that, when you get a tech person on the line and explain that you’re migrating to a new computer, they may relax the rules a bit, since you did just recently make Apple purchases. I do find it’s touch and go with getting someone who really wants to help you on the line. I’ve asked for supervisors before, and gotten really great service. Other times, the flunky who answered the phone only really was interested in getting the credit for taking the call and “answering correctly”, not helping. Answering correctly can mean “Sorry, we don’t support purchases after 90 days”. They still get the credit for the call, but they don’t have to do any real work. That’s when I started asking for supervisors as soon as the original techie started sounding like I knew more than he/she did, or that he/she really didn’t give a rats pitoutie about my issue.

I apologize for going off. I am a one-editor shop, and I pay for all my own software. I know how much better and cheaper it would be for all of us if the pirates all paid their fair share. When I look at my expenditures for a year and see how much I spend on software, it makes me a little wiggy to think of all the illegal copies out there. When someone comes to the boards with a problem that sounds like piracy, I get tweaked. In your case, it sounds like what it sounded like wasn’t actually the case. I apologize.

debe

[David Herman]

Thanks debe for your reply. I too am a one editor shop. Because I am running 4.5 on my G5 – it is not an upgrade but an original from the HD Production Suite I bought, I was hoping to put my fcp 3 upgrade (off a now retired and sold G4) onto my powerbook. The fcp3 upgrade wouldn’t load (though the powerbook has OSX 10.2.7) – the message was: this is an upgrade, it requires a prior installation of a fully registered fcp. Hence I was trying to load my 1.2 but that wouldn’t load in OSX and won’t load in Classic. So either I “illegally” load my fcp4.5 onto my powerbook with the new Tiger OSX or I am stymied. I think.