Hypothetical scenario, looking for input

[SpockTod]

I apologize in advance for the newbie question. VirtualBox is currently my best hope for solving my problem, but it's a "brave new world" for me, so I'm hoping you can help. I can see from reading online tonight that it is possible to have an OS X guest on an OS X host, so I'm optimistic. Here's the deal:

- I use Adobe CS3 (purchased circa 2007) for freelance work. Upgrading is not an option, trust me.
- I had a MacBook Pro 2009 running 10.5 and then 10.6, where Adobe worked great.
- On my new MacBook Pro 2014 running 10.10 Yosemite, Adobe CS3 is highly unreliable (and not technically supported). This is a known problem according to online communities because the "generation gap" between CS3 and Yosemite is so large. I have awkward workarounds for some errors but it really doesn't work well at all. Ironically it's still better than CS6 was, which is why upgrading my Adobe software is not an option.

I do have the original 10.5 and 10.6 install discs from my old MBP. My hope is that I can run 10.5 or 10.6 in VirtualBox on my new MacBook Pro and still have a high-functioning computer running Yosemite for the other 90% of my life. Before I mess my computer up by mucking about with things beyond my skills, my question is this: Do you think this will work? Is this a viable solution?

If so, question #2 is: How much coding/under-the-hood geek knowledge I will need to pull it off? I am a lifelong Mac user and supergeek at heart, but I'm not a developer. I can easily install an OS from the install discs and answer most Mac troubleshooting questions on the user side, but I know almost nothing about commands in Terminal. I think I can scrounge up someone who could help with that on a one-time basis, but I'd like to know how far in over my head this project will get me. Learning experiences are good; rendering my computer unusable without a new college degree is not.

Thank you in advance for your patience with my newbieness and for your advice. If you have an alternate solution to suggest, I'm all ears! Thanks, everyone!

[loukingjr]

See this thread: Status of OSX on OSX

It is possible to get a working 10.6.8 guest running on an OSX host. There are a number of shortcomings however due to the lack of guest additions support. The main issue for you would be will Photoshop CS3 run well if at all on it. If someone happens to know I assume they will let you know.