Is it the iPhone 4 or 3Gs? 3Gs needs iTunes 9 or greater. Which eMac? It needs to be a 1 Ghz or greater to take 10.5.8, and it has to be one with USB 2, USB 1.1 has its problems with video and firmware updates. I read where you can use a powered USB 2 hub plugged directly into a USB 1.1 port.

Edit - 10.5.8 needed for 1Ghz machines was referring to the eMacs, since the path for them went from 800 Mhz to 1 Ghz. Like John posted 867 Mhz for 10.5.8.

Ah, that is correct. I was looking at iPhone 4 specs.

3Gs specs:
Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later
iTunes 9.2 or later

Supported machines
Leopard can run on the later flat panel iMac G4s, the first iMac G5, second iMac G5 (with the ambient light sensor), third iMac G5 (with iSight), iMac Intel Core Duo and (present day) iMac Intel Core 2 Duo, PowerBook G4, Power Mac G4, Power Mac G5, iBook G4, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Pro, Mac Mini, Xserve, Xserve G5, Xserve RAID, Macintosh Server G4, and later eMac models. Leopard can run on older hardware as long as they have a G4 upgrade installed running at the 867 MHz or faster, have at least 9 GB free of hard drive space, 512 MB RAM and have a DVD drive. Leopard however will not run on the 900 MHz iBook G3 models even though they exceed the minimum 867 MHz requirement. This is due to the lack of AltiVec in the G3 line of processors and the fact that most pre-G4 and early G4 systems do not have video hardware capable of supporting Core Image, two technologies Leopard relies upon heavily, among others. Leopard can be "hacked" (see below) to install on these G3 and pre-867 MHz G4 machines but the system may behave erratically and many of the programs, features, and functions may not work properly or at all. As of Mid 2010 some Apple computers have firmware factory installed which no longer allow installation of Mac OS X Leopard. These computers only allow installation and running of Mac OS X Snow Leopard

To both you and Reboot: Yes, the iPhone wants iTunes 10 - she has tried it, so it probably has iOS 4.3 installed. I'm going over Friday to upgrade her to 10.5.8 and iTunes 10. It's a 1.25 GHz eMac with USB 2.0. Her RAM is pretty minimal, though at 256 MB, but that upgrade would be cost inefficient since her vid circuit is probably dying. Oh, the phone is the 3GS.

And many thanks for your help - both of you.

Glad to help, but...

...that 256M of RAM will be a problem, it won't let you install, 512 minimum. And it does have a DVD player?

You would need to modify the install DVD and re-burn, or image the modified DVD to a hard drive, but according to this it usually fails near the end of the install. Or put hers into Target Disk mode and install from a qualified machine. I'm thinking that your mini might be okay even if it is an Intel, 10.5.8 was Universal.

The RAM used by 10.5 to just boot is more than 10.4, it will be really slow since even to run the Finder it will be constantly hitting virtual memory.

You can get a 256M chip for $10 new, I saw some 512s on ebay for $7 shipped. PC 2700 DIMM.

Thanks again. Looks like a RAM upgrade is going to be required. I knew Leopard was more of a memory hog.

Will this work?

512MB PC2700 DDR 184 Pin By KINGSTON # KTM8854/512

Can't check since I am not at home

What happens when her emac dies?

We'll cross that bridge then. Probably go with a refurbed Mini.

The eBay seller responded that it would work. I ordered one stick, so that will get her up to 768 MB (or 640 depending on whether it has a pair of 128s or just one 256 in it - I can't remember).