Mac Os 9 booting on: G4 Tower MDD FW800 (Detailed Posts)

[TekHunter]

Cool Video... although you talk too much...lol

lol, Gf was sleeping a few feet away
I woke to find a few questions in my youtube inbox asking how I did this. That was somewhat unexpected its not like I have a lot of subscribers.
I added the info in the description giving credit where it is due, thanks again you guys rock !
I set up Hermes II bbs and logged into it over telnet from my PC it worked mint and for a minute I thought it was the 80's again and I was on a BBS !

[supernova777]

i used spiftire + remoteaccess + roboboard;)
 

[Protools5LEGuy]

I woke to find a few questions in my youtube inbox asking how I did this. That was somewhat unexpected its not like I have a lot of subscribers.

I linked your video on a MacRumors PowerPC post. I am tired of listening

PM G4 MDD cannot boot OS9

Some people still think we are in 2013.   

[supernova777]

who said that? "PM G4 MDD cannot boot OS9"?

[Protools5LEGuy]

who said that? "PM G4 MDD cannot boot OS9"?

A old school user in MacRumors Ppc forum.

[MacTron]

A old school user in MacRumors Ppc forum.

I'm tired of most of those "old school" users that now a day think that a PC with Next Step is a Macintosh ... LOL x 2

[Protools5LEGuy]

I'm tired of most of those "old school" users that now a day think that a PC with Next Step is a Macintosh ... LOL x 2

My last session I took my PM G4 DA to an attic to record and a musician told me:

WOW I never saw an iPhone tower!

[supernova777]

crazy this thread is at almost 15000 views

[IIO]

WOW I never saw an iPhone tower!

one should add that this happened in the very very north of andalucia, where people still think that the goat is the biggest animal on earth.

[mrhappy]

one should add that this happened in the very very north of andalucia, where people still think that the goat is the biggest animal on earth.

Haha... That's funny IIO!!!

[supernova777]

has anyone tested to see if the airport extreme card works in a fw800 g4 mdd running mac os 9?

[chokobo]

Hello!

This is my first post to 9Lives. Big thanks for all of the effort you cats have put into the Classic Nine action. I found this site while looking for some vintage gear to in order to bring some life back to my StudioVision machine.

I had intented on getting an MDD G4, however I thought maybe someone figured out how to get the FW800 machines to boot OS9, and sure enough someone had done it.

I'm happy to say that I found a 1.46 FW machine on the local Craig's. Cleaned it up, ran through the listed process here on 9Lives, and I'm now posting with Classilla in OS9 on a FW machine.

There's still lots of work to do to make it a productive computer. It has the Airport card, and I hope to get it working. Currently the card isn't showing up in the AppleTalk control panel. The card is functional under 10.5.8.

Again thanks for all the effort!

[supernova777]

airport extreme probably wont work under mac os 9..unfortunately..  best to plug in via ethernet on mac os 9 and use that gigabit ethernet port

[torvan]

Airport Extreme does not work in OS 9, at least not that I have been able to get going. It is ethernet or nothing. But that is okay--there are always drawbacks when you try to force newer hardware to do your bidding in an older OS.

[supernova777]

http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=762.msg3962#msg3962
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/10773/apple-g4-firmware-updater-x/download

just thought i would archive the firmware update referred to by blitter, in a post so that if macupdate changes the url or removes the update it still accessible by those who need

***this firmware is only for MDD's remember!!!

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1175?locale=en_US

this link has the same firmware in different languages.. English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Norsk, Svensk, Finnish,  Dansk, Portugues Brasileiro, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese....not sure why u would need a language specific version of the firmware installer?? unless it actually holds some type of alert msgs in the firmware?

The Power Mac G4 Firmware Update 4.4.8 improves fan control behavior and reduces high speed fan cycling when running in Mac OS 9.

so there u go, u should install this even if u arent trying to downgrade a fw800!!! to quiet your MDD!!!

[chokobo]

I've been checking into Airports to the Extreme.

The OS9 approved MDD's came with 802.11b Airport cards. The 2003 revamp education edition, on which the FW800 9Lives OS9 hack relies also employs the 802.11b card.

The FW800 machines employ the newer Airport Extreme 802.11b/g card, which is physically smaller than the Airport card. Since the firmware from the 2003 never had the Extreme, and since the non-extreme Airport card doesn't fit this isn't likely to work. Wifi could be obtained with a PCI, or USB device, but not the Apple Airport way.

The other thing that this portends as bad news is the 2003 also didn't include FW800, so I expect that to be ineffective under OS9.

[supernova777]

os9 doesnt support fw800 or usb2.0 no matter what. devices will be available but these will downgrade to usb1.1/fw400

its the same thing with the airport extreme, these are the factors that made them specify some mdds as X only.. they obviously either couldnt or wouldnt make them work under mac os 9.. jobs probably declared it a waste of time if they were running into snags making the drivers for os9...  as far as i know no mac os 9 booting mac ever came with any airport extreme, they are only supported on mac os x.

question is, does macos9 support the pci wireless adapters?

this article http://lowendmac.com/2009/wifi-for-desktop-macs-running-mac-os-9/ discusses using wifi pcmcia adapters meant for laptops in a desktop via a pci card pmcia adapter to convert them into normal pci cards

it links to this fabulous chart (Thanks to some googling + wayback machining - a very nice find indeed + usefull resource)

Mac OS Wireless Adapter Compatibility List
(Last updated November 30, 2007)
http://web.archive.org/web/20090323083515/http://www.stateofyo.net/metaphyzx/Wireless.htm

this is confusing because it mentions all these g type adapters. im pretty sure they dont work under 9 tho? unless im mistaken? ive only ever seen mac os x show "new device available in pci slot x" but yet in this chart there is a column depicting os support in 9!!!

but i think if u take time to go thru the chart it shoudl become apparent 9 support is only for B devices

we already established tht the best solution was to use a wireless to ethernet bridge such as this little guy right here the dlink DWL g810

the only solution to have your cake and eat it too, compatible in both X+9 and providing wireless G speed to your mac os 9 desktop.
its perfect because it doesnt take up a valuable pci slot spot aswell.

looks like this article breaks it down for os 9 PCMCIA devices
http://lowendmac.com/2009/wifi-pc-cards-for-powerbooks-running-mac-os-9/

if u highlight all the pci devices in the chart they are alost all for mac os x only..... seems like 9 only likes to support pcmcia devices so if u really want a pci card solution for 9. u need a pcmcia to pci adapter! (if u dont have an airport slot) original airport cards can be bought on ebay for $5 + ship if u have an original airport slot

whats funy is i just looked up the one pci device that suports 9.. and it literally is a pcmcia card on a pci card "cisco Aironet pci"

but it can even support 8.6 so maybe its a good buy for a b&w g3 classic user

[chokobo]

Chris I've met some people with the G-Foo, but damn you outclass them to the Extreme.  Great finds.

I was mostly interested in this because you asked about it, and well I have the gear here to test it for you. I have all the machines in the same room (HOT ROOM!!!), and connected via ether net (okay my Lappy is doing teh WiFi). Personally I like having them connected via a physical connection--less likely to get dropped.

[supernova777]

i also have this netgear device next to me now, WN2000RPTv2
check that out.. its a wireless extender.. so it picks up a wireles signal + rebroadcasts it..
but it also provides 4 network ports on the back .. none of which needs to be plugged in via ehternet to provide the source of the connection

http://support.netgear.com/product/wn2000rptv2

[chokobo]

Yeah that's some cool tech.

Chris I finally figured out that you are not some crazy bastard night owl like me. You are in France--now I understand why it seemed like you never slept!  =8<>

Right now I have a bit of free time, and a bit of gear--so let me know if you cats want stuff tested. If I can get to it I'm glad to help.

Plus it's amazing how inexpensive gear pops up here in the Bay Area (SF).

Oh and speaking to the conversation about power supplies. I wonder if we could get a schematic for them. They are probably switching, so a little more completed than a basic supply, but probably not that difficult to wrench on. Sure would be a nice do it yourself kind of repair. I had something like this happen to my Gigabit. I didn't have time to do much about it so I yanked one from a G3, and used a power book supply to get the 24volts it needed for the start up key. This was years ago so I don't remember the specifies.