Download: Restore Image for Titanium PowerBooks
By request, I have created a custom restore disc for Titanium PowerBooks. Though this image is built with PowerBooks in mind, it should also work with any Mac older than the FW800 MDD Power Mac G4 and newer than the original PowerBook G3.
Current version: 1.1, 18 March 2012.
Installation instructions (from the readme):
To install these files, you have two options: the preferred method is burning this image to a disc. To do this, you MUST use Toast (included) inside OS 9 to burn a bootable image. If using the included Toast 5 Titanium, click and hold on the Other tab at the main menu until a menu pops up. Select ‘Mac Volume’ from the list. With this disc mounted, click the select button and select Titanium Restore Disc. Uncheck all options except ‘Bootable’ and click on Record. Insert a CD or DVD (CDs are faster) and click on Record. Note that this image is already optimized. There is no need for Toast to do it for you.
When the image is done burning, put it into your computer’s CD drive and turn it on. Press and hold C until you see a Happy Mac, then wait for it to boot. When it does, copy all files to your hard disk. Before you reboot again, check your new System Folder’s icon. If it doesn’t have a Happy Mac on top of the folder, open it, drag the file labeled “Finder” to the desktop, put it back and close it. If another folder has a Happy Mac instead of this one, open the offending item and drag the file labeled “Finder” to the desktop. Open and close the new folder again until the icon appears, then put the file back in the old folder. Use Apple Menu->Control Panels->Startup Disk to select your new folder and reboot (it may seem unresponsive for a few seconds at first. This is normal.)
The second way to install is to copy all folders except perhaps the “Read Us” folder (your choice) to the top level of your hard disk. In a copy of Mac OS X running on the same machine, open Terminal from /Applications/Utilities/ and type (or copy-paste) “sudo bless --folder9 /System\ Folder/”, press return, type your password when asked and press return again. Note that it will appear as if you aren’t typing your password, but it will still accept it. Reboot.
If any of this fails, create a bootable disc if you haven’t already, boot from it and use :Applications (Mac OS 9):Utilities:Drive Setup ƒ:Drive Setup to update the disc driver. If this fails for any reason, try backing up your hard drive and reformatting using either Drive Setup on this disc or using Mac OS X’s Disk Utility with the “Install Mac OS 9 disk drivers” option checked.
(You can also clone this image to a USB drive >600 MB in size if you must. PowerPC Macs can boot OS 9 from USB, but not OS X.)
About this disc:
This disc is based off of the MDD Mac OS 9 image available
available on Macintosh Garden based on the
instructions on my blog. This disc is not factory: I have updated a few outdated components, removed Netscape Communicator 4, Internet Explorer 5, the FaxSTF installer and the Earthlink installer, installed
A-Dock 3.0.1 (disableable by unchecking the “A-Dock Control” control panel and the “A-Dock” extension in Extensions Manager),
Classilla 9.2.2 (web browser), ResEdit,
Acuity (RSS reader),
ClassicStumbler, Disenfectant,
Tex-Edit Plus, AppleWorks 6, MacLink Plus 11, Toast 5 Titanium, the Virtual DVD-ROM/CD Utility, Disk Copy 6.5b13 (reads uncompressed .dmg files).
Known issues:
1. When booting off a read only copy of this image, some applications may default to standard settings. They will behave normally if the disc is writable. [Should be fixed with v1.1]
2. MacLink Plus reports that it has not been registered even though it should have been. The registration number is 5089376-9057. The License key is Q0A8-4D00C8549500. This will be fixed in the next version. These codes are available in an archive here. [MacLinkPlus removed in v1.1]
3. The disc image inside the Stuffit archive is read only under OS 9 but read-write under OS X. I will attempt to make it read only under OS X in the next version. In the mean time, selecting the disk in the Finder, choosing File->Get Info and checking the "Locked" checkbox before mounting it will make it read only. Note that you only need to do this if you intend to burn it to a disc.
4. Burning with ANY application besides Toast natively under Mac OS 9 will result in a non-bootable image. This cannot be corrected. Please read the third paragraph under Installation Instructions above to install using OS X and Terminal instead if you cannot burn an image in OS 9.
Version history:
1.1: Released on 18 March 2012. Updated Classilla, removed A-Dock and MacLink Plus in addition to several minor tweaks.
1.0: Initial release on 2 April 2011
Disclamer:
Some of these files are considered Abandonware, meaning that the application is no longer sold and the only way to obtain it is through certain websites such as
Macintosh Garden. Though I have used my discretion to avoid illegal distribution of these old apps, if you own the rights for any of these apps or act on behalf of somebody who does, you may feel free to contact me and ask me to remove the offending item(s).
Download here or here
297 MB download, 600 MB uncompressed. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a comment and I will do what I can to help.
Posted from a Titanium PowerBook G4: 1 GHz PowerPC G4, 1 GB of RAM, 250 GB HDD, TenFourFox 7450 4.0s, Mac OS 10.5.8. Alternate bootable partitions: Mac OS 10.4.11, Mac OS 9.2.2, Linux MintPPC 9.2.
Labels: apple, cd images, computers, mac os 9, titanium powerbooks
How To: Getting Mac OS 9 to work on rare computers made after 2001
EDIT 2 (2 April 2011): I have made a custom image that has most of the below preinstalled
here. Though this image is intended to be used with Titanium PowerBooks, it should work with other Macs as well.
EDIT (16 December 2010): I found a much easier way to accomplish the same thing on a computer released within a few weeks of the MDD G4: download "Mac OS 9 MDD DMG"
here, use Disk Utility in OS X (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app) to convert it to a read only, uncompressed image. Move it to OS 9 and use
Disk Copy 6.5b13 to mount it. Grab
Toast 5 and burn a bootable, non-optimized Mac OS CD (you may need to read the manual if you can't figure it out). Pop in a CD and burn. Alternately, you can copy the System Folder to a hard disk in OS X and bless it (Startup Disk Control Panel/System Preference. Failing this, type the following into Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app): "sudo bless --folder9 /Path/To/System Folder/" and type your password, editing as necessary. It IS case sensitive. If the folder is on a separate disk, prefix the path with "/Volumes/<name of disk>/". I will leave the rest intact for any eMac users who need it. Bear in mind that the above feels slightly faster on my American hardware than the International version (I guess localized hardware optimizations).
If you have read this blog much, you will know that I am the owner of a 1 GHz Titanium PowerBook, the most powerful portable Mac to ever boot into Mac OS 9. Before sometime last week, I had spent one month less than two years looking for a suitable install CD with no luck. Then I found a
preconfgiured system disk built for an eMac. I broke out Toast (included with the image) on a Combo drive equipped iBook and burned it (you MUST use Toast to make a bootable disk). One coaster later, I had a working boot image. There are only a few minor issues that need correcting.
First, this is loaded with a bunch of utilities, making it a viable maintenance disk. Second, this version of OS 9 is an International English version of 9.2.2 with the obscure Mac OS 9 ROM 10.2.1 modified to accomodate Russian users. As for the language, the only difference I can see between International and US English is a PAL video output extension that I recommend that you disable on American Macs (it makes my display flicker a bit due to refresh rates; YMMV). The ROM version means that it is theoretically sufficient to boot any 9.2.2 capable Mac.
To install, boot from the CD and copy the System Folder to the root level of your hard drive. Make sure that your boot disc is less than 200 GB in size or else bad things might happen. Take a look at your new Folder's icon. If it is a plain folder, open the folder and close it again and it should change into a "blessed" System Folder. Open Apple menu->Conrol Panels->Startup Disk and change your startup disk and folder to the newly installed copy. Reboot.
Assuming everything went well, you should have a working copy of Z1-9.2.2 (the Z1 indicates International English). You should now be able to eject the CD and adjust settings to your liking. If you intend to go online, I recommend that you change the settings in the Internet control panel to your setup and/or run the Internet Setup Assistant. If you need a browser or email client,
Classilla is about the only choice there is these days. Otherwise, AppleWorks 6, iTunes 2.0.4, Tex-Edit Plus, QuickTime 6 and Acrobat Reader 5.0 are all recommended. For RSS feeds, use
Acuity. If you like the dock, install
A-Dock. Option drag the control strip when it is closed to move it to the bottom of your screen if you'd like. For that matter, option drag the modules if you want to rearrange them.
I will assume that you have a basic knowledge of how Mac OS 9 works for the remainder of this guide. If you need help with any of the following procedures, drop me a comment and I will do my best to help. As always, make certain that you know what you are doing before you mess with any files in the System Folder.
To remove the custom startup image, grab
ResEdit and a fresh copy of Mac OS 9.2.x. Open the System files of both copies in ResEdit. Open PICT resource -16506 on the new fresh version and copy it to the clipboard. Open PICT -16506 on the bootable copy and paste it in. Repeat for resources -16505 and 16504 to get rid of the Russification tagline. Save and reboot. Go ahead and toss the non-bootable copy of OS 9.
Go ahead and play around with the extensions manager and turn off anything you don't need. If you use a Radeon equipped Mac, disable the Nvidia drivers and grab ATI's most recent drivers
here. Disable the "ATI Extension" extension. It doesn't do anything useful and adds 15 seconds onto your computer's boot time.
I highly recommend you use
MacsBug. If that link ever dies, let me know and I will post my backup copy somewhere. If you ever crash, press Command-Power. This brings up a command line if you weren't already dumped at one. Type 'es' (no quotes) to force the application to crash. If that fails (try it again and wait a few seconds if it doesn't work the first time), type 'rs' to unmount all volumes and force your computer to reboot. This is considered to be a graceful crash because there is nearly zero percent chance of lost data unlike the standard Cmd-ctrl-power. Macsbug also works as a calculator and hexidecimal converter. Type '#19+#26' and it will display "$0000002D #45 #45 '•••-'", the important part being '#45.' If you type in $a2f, you get "$00000A2F #2607 #2607 '•••/' (between #2K and #3K)". If you do a bit of hunting, you can even recover the contents of RAM after a crash. This especially useful if you are using any Microsoft product to type a long email or essay as it will inevitably crash just before you save your document (mostly sarcasm). If you want to exit MacsBug without killing something, either press command-G or press 'g' followed by a return. Oh, and if you press escape while MB is open, it will display what is on your screen at the moment.
If you have obscene amounts of RAM, go into the Memory control panel and set the disk cache to 32736k. This will minimize the usage of your disk and allow it to spin down more often. If you have a PowerBook and set the energy saver to reduced processor speed (you probably won't notice), increase idle time and allow processor cycling, the fans almost never come on. This will allow you to do basic tasks such as reading and typing in total silence.
To change the keyboard layout in Macsbug, open the included Debugger Prefs file or whatever they call it (it is renamed as Debugger Prefs) and your chosen keyboard layout file from the System suitcase in ResEdit. Copy the KCHR resource out of your keyboard layout into the prefs file. Delete KCHR 0 and change the ID of your layout to ID 0. Install. REBOOT BEFORE YOU USE MACSBUG AGAIN. Removing the prefs file reverts Macsbug to the Qwerty layout.
After this, you will have a fully tuned OS 9 install, provided I didn't forget anything. I will see if I can convert this image into a ready-made installer disc. I found out more or less how to do so. If I do it, I will post a link. I hope this helps somebody. I just have a feeling that there is one other person somewhere on the internet in nearly the same situation as I was.
Posted from a Titanium PowerBook G4: 1 GHz PowerPC G4, 1 GB of RAM, 250 GB HDD, Classilla 9.2.1, Mac OS 9.2.2. Alternate bootable partitions: Mac OS 10.5.8, Mac OS 10.4.11, Ubuntu 10.04. (I have yet to use more than 300 MB of RAM without Final Cut or Photoshop helping out)
Labels: apple, computers, how to, install reports, mac os 9, macsbug, resedit
