Upgrading Photoshop CS version 8 to run with El Capitan OS on iMac

[joyh88609932]

I recently had to upgrade my old iMac running Snowleopard OS to El Capitan, but my Photoshop version 8 will not run. How do i get an upgrade to whatever version of Photoshop will run.  Cannot get ANY help from  Adobe website!!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

There was neither a Photoshop CS8 nor a Photoshop 8, so what exactly are you talking about?

Edit: Adobe Photoshop version history - Wikipedia

When one decides to stick with obsolete software one should make sure one is able to roll back any and all software and hardware updates in case they »break« the set-up.

[Terri Stevens]

Did your iMac run Photoshop CS in the past? The iMac uses Intel processors whereas Photoshop CS requires the old Motorola processor used years ago by Macs. These things are not interchangeable-you cannot run Photoshop CS with an Intel processor.

Terri

[joyh88609932]

Yes, I was running Photoshop CS version 8 on my 2008 iMac with OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) and 2.4GHz Intel Core2 duo processor.  I had added an extra memory board putting me up to3 GB.  After upgrading to El Capitan I cannot get Photoshop to fire up.

[c.pfaffenbichler · Accepted solution]

f you want to continue using Photoshop you would seem to have two options: Either roll back what you did or abandon the obsolete Photoshop version and subscribe to CC (after using the trial to make sure it actually works on your computer).

[Terri Stevens]

I'm sorry Joy but this is one of those occasions where there is no workaround we can offer. Photoshop CS was written for a Mac using a Motorola processor and for Windows machines using an Intel processor and so the microprocessor in your computer simply cannot understand what to do with the program. You could run the Mac Windows emulator and download Photoshop CS2 (Windows Version) , which you are entitled to do under your Photoshop CS licence and that should work, but it will be extremely slow and with only 3GB of memory I couldn't recommend that. The only other alternative is to take out a Creative Cloud subscription for the Photoshop Photographic plan. It will run with 2GB of memory but again will be quite slow if you work on large images.

Terri

[gener7]

joyh88609932  wrote

Yes, I was running Photoshop CS version 8 on my 2008 iMac with OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) and 2.4GHz Intel Core2 duo processor.  I had added an extra memory board putting me up to3 GB.  After upgrading to El Capitan I cannot get Photoshop to fire up.

10.6.8 had an emulator called "Rosetta" which basically "translated" PowerPC programs to run on Intel CPUs. It was a chore to maintain so Apple discontinued it in 10.7

[Test Screen Name]

Photoshop CC is the current version, but it won't run on such an old system. I don't think Adobe sell anything for you (in fact, Photoshop is subscription only now).

[Terri Stevens]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Test+Screen+Name  wrote

Photoshop CC is the current version, but it won't run on such an old system. I don't think Adobe sell anything for you (in fact, Photoshop is subscription only now).

Photoshop 2018 should run on Joy's machine according to the system requirements

Photoshop system requirements

But with so little memory will probably only be good for web graphics and very basic color corrections and cropping.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Ah, the others seem to have picked up the meaning better than me.

After Photoshop 7 there came Photoshop CS indeed …

Well, according to Adobe Photoshop CS should run with up to Mac OS 10.2.7, anything more would pretty much fall under: »happy coincidence«.

Older versions of Photoshop system requirements

[Test Screen Name]

Not the slightest chance with CS or CS2. Apple permanently blocked older software like this after Mac OS 10.7. They do this sort of thing often, it's part of the Joy of Mac ! They will do it again after 10.14, with much newer software. And again.