Mac OS 9 booting on: Previously Unspported G4 Models (Summary "Current state")

[MacOS9Lives.com]

Mac mini (PPC G4 - All 4 models: 1.25, 1.33, 1.42, 1.5 Ghz.)

Install custom ISO for Mac mini (Bootable ISO Image): http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4365.0.html



- USB: WORKS
- FireWire: WORKS
- Video Acceleration: WORKS (but Apple DVD player? To be confirmed.)
- Ethernet: WORKS
- Modem: Untested
- Bluetooth (Optional when Ordered): DOES NOT WORK (No OS 9 Support)
- AirPort Extreme WiFi (Optional when Ordered): DOES NOT WORK (No OS 9 Support)
- Audio: PARTIALLY WORKS (Line signal is there, allowing the use of some speakers & other audio devices with a non-digital volume controller of some sort, although not every such device will get volume high enough to desirable levels.)

KNOWN ISSUES:
- Audio, described above;
- POTENTIALLY CORRECTED OR MITIGATED: About 1/10 a chance the mouse cursor won't be able to be moved right after booting, with the only known solution being a reboot; (ELN guessed this may have been patched since this post, but I believe there were no confirmations yet. Before this, he mentioned here and here what is that which he believes is the cause.
- POTENTIALLY CORRECTED: Fan loudness. (I think ELN's latest ROM fixed that, though, by making the Apple CPU Plugins file, unmodified & stock, remain compatible, but I didn't yet test it myself.)
- MITIGATED: Deep sleeps (won't "wake up" after entering sleep, so the latest ROM disabled the ability to sleep altogether, until this is fixed)

SYSTEM/FILE MODIFICATIONS APPLIED:
- Modified Mac OS ROM (by ELN)
- Modified Video/Graphics/GPU Drivers (by DarthnVader)
- Multiprocessing folder removed

[MacOS9Lives.com]

Apple PowerBook G4 1.0 Ghz 17" Aluminum (Model M8793LL/A - PowerBook5,1 - A1013)

Install Mac OS 9.2.2 For Previously Unsupported G4s: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html



The PowerBook G4/1.0 17" (Al) features a 1.0 GHz PowerPC 7455 (G4) processor with the AltiVec "Velocity Engine" vector processing unit, 256k on chip level 2 cache, and 1.0 MB level 3 cache, NVIDIA GeForce4 440 graphics with 64 MB of DDR SDRAM in an attractive aluminum alloy case with a 17" widescreen TFT display (1440x900 resolution), System Bus Speed: 167 MHz, Cache Bus Speed: 1.0 GHz (Built-in) 256 L2, 1 MB L3, PC2700 DDR SDRAM (Min. RAM Speed: 333 MHz), 2 GB Max

- USB: WORKS
- FireWire 400: DOES NOT WORK
- FireWire 800: WORKS (but seen as a FW400 port)
- Video Acceleration: WORKS
- Ethernet: PARTIALLY WORKS, Only works at 10mbps / half duplex or not at all
- Modem: Untested
- Bluetooth: DOES NOT WORK (No OS 9 Support)
- AirPort Extreme WiFi: DOES NOT WORK (No OS 9 Support)
- Audio: PARTIALLY WORKS: Sound issue has been verified;  the internal speakers only work if you plug a 1/8" jack in the audio out port

KNOWN ISSUES:
- Error on initial boot, most likely Card bus, just click thru, not a real issue
- Audio: See above

SYSTEM/FILE MODIFICATIONS APPLIED:
- Modified Mac OS ROM (by iMic)

[MacOS9Lives.com]

eMac (G4 1.25 Ghz.)

1) Install Mac OS 9.2.2 For Previously Unsupported G4s: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html
2) Install DarthnVader's modified Video drivers: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4322.0;attach=5025



- USB: WORKS
- FireWire: WORKS
- Video Acceleration: WORKS (exception: Apple DVD player not working)
- Ethernet: WORKS
- Modem: Untested
- Bluetooth: DOES NOT WORK (No OS 9 Support)
- AirPort WiFi: DOES NOT WORK (No OS 9 Support)
- Audio:: WORKS

KNOWN ISSUES:

- POTENTIALLY CORRECTED OR MITIGATED: About 1/10 a chance the mouse cursor won't be able to be moved right after booting, with the only known solution being a reboot;

- MITIGATED: Deep sleeps (won't "wake up" after entering sleep), partially solved replacing the Energy Saver control panel by Sleeper.

SYSTEM/FILE MODIFICATIONS APPLIED:
- Modified Mac OS ROM (by iMic)
- Modified Video/Graphics/GPU Drivers (by DarthnVader)

Other Notes: The eMac (USB2) @ 1.42 Ghz. Video chip is based on a Radeon 9600 (no Mac Os 9 support at this moment).

[MacOS9Lives.com]

Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.25 DP (FW 800)

Install Mac OS 9.2.2 For Previously Unsupported G4s: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html



- USB: WORKS (No 2.0 Support)
- FireWire 400: DOES NOT WORK (Unrecognized)
- FireWire 800: WORKS (but seen as FW400 port)
- Video Acceleration: WORKS
- Ethernet: WORKS
- Modem: WORKS
- Audio:: WORKS

SYSTEM/FILE MODIFICATIONS APPLIED:
- Modified Mac OS ROM (by iMic)

[DieHard]

To all users, please use this format as a basic template (special thanks to Jubadub) and post your results for any models not listed here.

Also, post any corrections to info. that conflicts with your test results for models already mentioned

[mrhappy]

Great work guys!! Very clear and quite helpful!!

[FdB]

Great work!
Now let the Mini case mods begin!

Pictured Mini is an A1176
                *Not the A1103 G4

[IIO]

https://de.ifixit.com/Device/Mac_mini_%28PowerPC%29

[macStuff]

Great work guys!! Very clear and quite helpful!!

agreed - thank you for the effort
now i need a mac mini

[mrhappy]

now i need a mac mini

me too... probably a few of them!!!

[MacMan56]

Hi all,

I have successfully installed the OS9.2.2 for unsupported G4's on an iMac G4/1.0 GHz, flat panel, CPU PPC7450. I guess this was the first model in the iMac series to prevent the installation of OS9. I give a thousand thanks to all involved in this effort.

My experience in creating a dual boot system with OS X 10.4/10.5, though, is a bit mixed. It may be my experience level with this sort of thing, or just a dual boot system on the same physical hard drive is just not possible.

Short version, I was using a Western Digital 300 GB IDE hard drive and created two partitions: one for OS 9 (40 GB) and the remainder for OS 10.4/10.5. I could not get the two partitions to live together in peace.

I could get OS 9 working fine, then installed OS X (tried both 10.4 and 10.5) and it was working fine. Then rebooted to OS 9. I could see both partitions in the boot menu, but OS 9 failed to boot. Just the blinking question mark-floppy disk icon.

So I reformatted and installed OS X first (booted fine), then installed OS 9, (booted fine), then OS X failed to boot after having booted immediately after installation.

So I tried this again in various different ways, including target disk mode on an external hard drive via FW400. Basically same experience. Each individual OS seems to work fine initially, but when the second one is booted, the first one fails. I suspect there is something in the Apple Partition Map that is getting confused. Maybe they just can't play nice together?

So, I installed OS 9 on one hard drive and OS 10.4 on a second hard drive (had to remove the DVD to make room) and now both live together in peace and harmony.

So, thought I would share this experience. Even though I had to sacrifice the DVD, I still very much appreciate having this configuration.

If anyone reading this can offer any ideas about how to put both OS9 and OS10 on a single hard drive so I can reinstall the DVD, it would also be appreciated.

Thanks and blessings to all!

[alexfree]

I can confirm that the Mac Mini G4 fan issue is not present in the latest v8 ISO (the only one I have used).

[alexfree]

Hi all,

I have successfully installed the OS9.2.2 for unsupported G4's on an iMac G4/1.0 GHz, flat panel, CPU PPC7450. I guess this was the first model in the iMac series to prevent the installation of OS9. I give a thousand thanks to all involved in this effort.

My experience in creating a dual boot system with OS X 10.4/10.5, though, is a bit mixed. It may be my experience level with this sort of thing, or just a dual boot system on the same physical hard drive is just not possible.

Short version, I was using a Western Digital 300 GB IDE hard drive and created two partitions: one for OS 9 (40 GB) and the remainder for OS 10.4/10.5. I could not get the two partitions to live together in peace.

I could get OS 9 working fine, then installed OS X (tried both 10.4 and 10.5) and it was working fine. Then rebooted to OS 9. I could see both partitions in the boot menu, but OS 9 failed to boot. Just the blinking question mark-floppy disk icon.

So I reformatted and installed OS X first (booted fine), then installed OS 9, (booted fine), then OS X failed to boot after having booted immediately after installation.

So I tried this again in various different ways, including target disk mode on an external hard drive via FW400. Basically same experience. Each individual OS seems to work fine initially, but when the second one is booted, the first one fails. I suspect there is something in the Apple Partition Map that is getting confused. Maybe they just can't play nice together?

So, I installed OS 9 on one hard drive and OS 10.4 on a second hard drive (had to remove the DVD to make room) and now both live together in peace and harmony.

So, thought I would share this experience. Even though I had to sacrifice the DVD, I still very much appreciate having this configuration.

If anyone reading this can offer any ideas about how to put both OS9 and OS10 on a single hard drive so I can reinstall the DVD, it would also be appreciated.

Thanks and blessings to all!

Perhaps my tutorial may be useful to you?
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,5345.msg39057.html#msg39057

[FdB]

MacMan56:

Did ya try holding down the option key during boot, to then select either OS 9 or OS X
when those choices are presented? If not, give that a whirl with your dual-partitioned drive.

[MacMan56]

MacMan56:

Did ya try holding down the option key during boot, to then select either OS 9 or OS X
when those choices are presented? If not, give that a whirl with your dual-partitioned drive.

Yes, I did try that. Worked to start each OS the initial time, but then rebooting into the prior OS failed.

For example, I partitioned the hard drive using the utilities on the boot disk. Created two partitions.

Trial A: installed OS X first, booted. Fine. Installed OS 9 on the other partition. Booted fine. Then went back to reboot into OSX and it failed.

Trial B: vice-versa above. Same results.

So something at the root level is being overwritten by the second OS to cause the first OS not to boot any longer.

Will try the tutorial above to see if that solves this issue.

Appreciate the feedback....

[IIO]

for the mini, this would be a known limit, you need to use different partitions or disks.

for the ilamp i cant comment.

[Roman323]

Apple PowerBook G4 1.0 Ghz 17" Aluminum (Model M8793LL/A - PowerBook5,1 - A1013)

Install Mac OS 9.2.2 For Previously Unsupported G4s: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html



The PowerBook G4/1.0 17" (Al) features a 1.0 GHz PowerPC 7455 (G4) processor with the AltiVec "Velocity Engine" vector processing unit, 256k on chip level 2 cache, and 1.0 MB level 3 cache, NVIDIA GeForce4 440 graphics with 64 MB of DDR SDRAM in an attractive aluminum alloy case with a 17" widescreen TFT display (1440x900 resolution), System Bus Speed: 167 MHz, Cache Bus Speed: 1.0 GHz (Built-in) 256 L2, 1 MB L3, PC2700 DDR SDRAM (Min. RAM Speed: 333 MHz), 2 GB Max

- USB: WORKS
- FireWire 400: DOES NOT WORK
- FireWire 800: WORKS (but seen as a FW400 port)
- Video Acceleration: WORKS
- Ethernet: PARTIALLY WORKS, Only works at 10mbps / half duplex or not at all
- Modem: Untested
- Bluetooth: DOES NOT WORK (No OS 9 Support)
- AirPort Extreme WiFi: DOES NOT WORK (No OS 9 Support)
- Audio: PARTIALLY WORKS: Sound issue has been verified;  the internal speakers only work if you plug a 1/8" jack in the audio out port

KNOWN ISSUES:
- Error on initial boot, most likely Card bus, just click thru, not a real issue
- Audio: See above

SYSTEM/FILE MODIFICATIONS APPLIED:
- Modified Mac OS ROM (by iMic)

What about PowerBook G4 1.67 DLSD ?

[FBz]

What about PowerBook G4 1.67 DLSD ?

No Roman, NO.

Check this link and read the entire thread http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4336.0.html
/ March 31, 2018 - where you can view the entire chart instead of just this portion:



Both of these images are "clickable".

Then you can also try this search and read through the resulting posts and I still don’t think you’ll
find a “YES” among them. But I could be wrong. If you do find one let me know and I’ll do the
same to my 17” G4 PowerBook. Thanks.

[Roman323]

What about PowerBook G4 1.67 DLSD ?

No Roman, NO.

Check this link and read the entire thread http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4336.0.html
/ March 31, 2018 - where you can view the entire chart instead of just this portion:



Both of these images are "clickable".

Then you can also try this search and read through the resulting posts and I still don’t think you’ll
find a “YES” among them. But I could be wrong. If you do find one let me know and I’ll do the
same to my 17” G4 PowerBook. Thanks.

Ok, thank you.. but as far as emulating OS 9 - Would Qemu work and or Sheepshaver ? I do have a PowerBook Pismo G4(was 500 G3) - Would I gain anything out of the OS 9 on here that's been modified ? So, I guess none of the higher end PowerBooks will never support booting into OS 9 regardless of how many ways to get it to run.

[IIO]

we have yet to update this picture to reflect the difference between "unsupported" and "previosly unsupported".

i think i will start that using html the weekend.