Mac Os 9 booting on: xServe G4 (Detailed Posts)

[macStuff]

So the big question is, was the FirmTek UltraTek/133 Promise-based and what brand were they sold under as a Mac product?

the ultratek/133 is exactly the same as the Sonnet Tempo ATA/133
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,5024.0.html
which is a PDC20269 chip from promise

i just ordered 1 of each, the 133 + 100 versions
from ebay

[vectrex]

.

[IIO]

you can get those for free if you search a bit - and they have a much better PSU compared to the MDD^^ - but the ata doesnt have hi cap support and there is only 2 PCI slots.

if the 2 mb backside cache alone are worth putting a 15 tons aluminium block in your rack?

and if you make music you really want a computer less noisy than a server.

[vectrex]

.

[IIO]

so you already gave up? then put the CPU in an MDD and be happy.

[ryebot]

Howdy All,

First time poster, long time lurker...

I have recently procured an XServe G4 1GHz DP and I'm curious to follow the procedure to boot 9.2.2.  I hope you will indulge me a few questions for the professionals here to assist, please!

The Open Firmware commands listed here:

" /pci@F2000000/AppleKiwi@15" find-package drop delete-node
" /pci@F2000000/AppleKiwi@1b" find-package drop delete-node
boot cd:,\\:tbxi

are they required for each boot?

I want to confirm the steps required please:

1- start machine with no drive trays loaded, enter Open Firmware- type commands (above)

2- boot from external FW CD (Unsupported G4s 9.2.2 bootable CD from this site)

3- use ASR and install on SSD or other firewire drive/media

4- boot from SSD from then on?

I noticed MacOS Plus installed an SSD in the optical bay with an adapter, is this still working?

Any other news or updates from the past two years? Or has everyone moved back to their happy G4 towers because they play more quietly?

Thanks for any help. This forum is stellar!

Cheers,

ryebot

[Jubadub]

It's a pity the ATA-133 of the Xserve never worked. Not even the ATA-100.

Still a cool pair of machines to have for OS 9 for things like the 66MHz PCI. My Voodoo 5 5500 Mac Edition would love that.

[calebarchie]

Howdy All,

First time poster, long time lurker...

I have recently procured an XServe G4 1GHz DP and I'm curious to follow the procedure to boot 9.2.2.  I hope you will indulge me a few questions for the professionals here to assist, please!

The Open Firmware commands listed here:

" /pci@F2000000/AppleKiwi@15" find-package drop delete-node
" /pci@F2000000/AppleKiwi@1b" find-package drop delete-node
boot cd:,\\:tbxi

are they required for each boot?

I want to confirm the steps required please:

1- start machine with no drive trays loaded, enter Open Firmware- type commands (above)

2- boot from external FW CD (Unsupported G4s 9.2.2 bootable CD from this site)

3- use ASR and install on SSD or other firewire drive/media

4- boot from SSD from then on?

I noticed MacOS Plus installed an SSD in the optical bay with an adapter, is this still working?

Any other news or updates from the past two years? Or has everyone moved back to their happy G4 towers because they play more quietly?

Thanks for any help. This forum is stellar!

Cheers,

ryebot

Did you have a crack at it? I am also hanging for an update, surprised it hasn't been revisited with all the COVID-related downtime as of late.

[Daniel]

The Open Firmware commands listed here:

" /pci@F2000000/AppleKiwi@15" find-package drop delete-node
" /pci@F2000000/AppleKiwi@1b" find-package drop delete-node
boot cd:,\\:tbxi

are they required for each boot?

I believe we now have custom "Mac OS ROM" files that run those Open Firmware commands inside themselves automatically. They should be packaged with a cd image for the XServe, or maybe downloadable seperately.