thanks for the replies ... I guess you're right, his OS should be on his HD. But I'm confused and here's why. I got a used LCIII on ebay (it had been part of a university computer room I think). I took the hard drive out of it and put his in it. It booted up, and there was a screen that said "Educational Edition". I don't think that's what his screen normally looked like when he booted up, so I thought the screen was an artifact of the computer being 'new' (except for the HD). I don't understand, to be honest. I must seem pretty dense here. I will learn fast though I promise! Anyway the computer never got past that "Educational Edition" screen, to the part with the user interface, where you move the mouse around and open folders and stuff (I know I sound so technically shrewd, don't I?), and I figured that was because we needed system disks. But maybe i was wrong. Please have mercy friendly Mac cousins, and enlighten me further!