it will tell you which operating system version you are using

Also pretty sure no free upgrades available. You might have to email apple support to find out what the most direct upgrade path is, if you upgrade go to snow leopard (10.6) at least if your system is intel based. Lion requires a fairly new mac to run it.

click about this mac
Should tell you your OS

wikipedia suggests 10.4.11 is the final version of tiger

leopard (10.5) is the next release, followed by snow leopard and lion

your actual options might depend on your hardware:
click apple icon, then about this mac, then more info

don't get in a big hurry
eg not all hardware is supported by later releases
... Snow Leopard does not support PowerPC-based Macs ...

Why they don't specify Tiger when you click on that Apple icon is beyond me.

Do you know if a free upgrade to Leopard 10.5 is available?

you need to first figure out whether your hardware is supported for the release you want

Suppose, for example, you want to move up to Snow Leopard and it's compatible with your hardware. You may have several options:

(1) Buy a copy of Leopard. Buy a copy of Snow Leopard. Update Tiger to Leopard. Then update Leopard to Snow Leopard.
(2) Buy a copy of Snow Leopard. Try to update Tiger directly to Snow Leopard. Cross your fingers and hope it works.
(3) Make back up copies of everything you want. Do a clean install of Snow Leopard. Then reinstall your other software and move your old your files back onto the machine

(3) is probably preferable, in terms of reliability, but it's likely to be a hassle. (1) may be a more reliable option than (2) but it will also involve buying a copy of Leopard as well as a copy of Snow Leopard

Upgrades can bring unpleasant surprises, too. In Lion, Apple stopped supporting my Apple dialup modum

10.5.n was Leopard
10.6.n was Snow Leopard
10.7.n is Lion

You'll probably be okay to go to Snow Leopard, but Lion may be too much if yours is an older machine.

Do you know if there is a free upgrade available?

There is no free anything from Apple! The upgrades are pretty cheap though. I don't recall what Leopard cost, but Snow Leopard was $29 and Lion is (I **think**) $19 for up to 5 computers.

It's actually a big deal. People running 10.4.11 who get a new iPod or iPhone need to have iTunes 10 or higher on the computers to sync up. You cannot download iTunes 10 or higher unless you are running Leopard. People are pissed that they cannot use the new iTunes with computers that are not that old. Note below that you need the black retail disc to upgrade because the grey one is machine specific. There is one thread on the Apple discussion forums that is 22 pages long with people complaining about this issue.



Here is some info From Apple Forums:

You need the retail Leopard install disc (which is black, with an 'X' on it).
I understand they can still be obtained from Apple by calling customer services, but the price will be the same as when Leopard was first introduced - about $130.

There are usually a few available on Amazon Marketplace, but at inflated prices.

You cannot use a grey disc 'borrowed' from another Mac.

Leopard 10.5.8 is as far as a PPC Mac can be upgraded; Snow Leopard and later require Intel processors.


From Apple Forums:

Leopard requirements/10.5.x...


* Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor


minimum system requirements


* 512MB of memory (I say 1.5GB for PPC at least, 2-3GB minimum for IntelMacs)

* DVD drive for installation

* 9GB of available disk space (I say 30GB at least)

Trouble is Apple no longer sells it, check eBay & such for the Retail version, not the Gray Discs...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mac+os+x+leopard+retail+10.5


There are workarounds if the 867MHz is the only hangup...

http://sourceforge.net/projects/leopardassist/

For RAM, see which eMac you have...

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Models.cfm?Family=emac&sType=Memory

From Apple Forums:

10.5 will install on PowerPC.
-> http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3759
"Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard requires:

A Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or Power PC G4 (867 MHz or faster) processor
512 MB memory or more
A DVD drive for installation
9 GB of available disk space or more "

I wonder what the next iteration will be called.

OS X, LOLCAT: Top 10 Names For Apple's Next Operating System

Lively discussion Wednesday at MacDaily News about the ‘cat-astrophe’ (thanks SMC) at Apple orginally reported this morning on Forbes.

In short, while Apple’s business is going great, it’s running out of cat names for new itererations of its OS X operating system.

Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, and Show Leopard have all been done. The latest one is Lion.

How do you top that? MacDaily News readers have a few suggestions.

Here are the top 10:

* 10 a Vet - OS X Sphinx
* 9 DavyLow (and others) – OS X Chesire Cat
* 8 SirROm (and others) – OS X Sylvester
* 7 MrMcLargeHuge (and others) – OS X Liger
* 6 Jon (and others) – OS X Hobbes
* 5 Manny – OS X Lion-o
* 4 MrMcLargeHuge (and others) – OS X Tigon
* 3 dinjin201 – OS X LOLCAT
* 2 By popular acclaim, via the MacDaily News poll – ‘OS X Sabretooth’
* 1 Correctu — ‘Mac OS 11 will come after 10.9… it will be called Chilito‘

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briancaulfield/2011/11/30/os-x-lolcat-top-10-names-for-apples-next-operating-system/

'Hobbes' fits perfectly with your 'tigger.'

In the middle? Cuz, having an OS so gray and wrinkled means your hard drive is probably filled to the max by now.

The processor you're running will determine your maximum OS version.

If you're running a PowerPC Mac, Leopard 10.5.8 is the max OS you can run. If you're running an early Intel, Core Solo or Core Duo, I believe Snow Leopard 10.6.x will be the max OS for it. If I read the info correctly, you have to have a Core 2 Duo or faster to run Lion 10.7

Boot Camp, Quick Look, Spaces, Time Machine, so many great new features.

I don't think Apple sells Leopard anymore though, just Snow Leopard (10.6).