Mac OS 9 Lives

Classic Mac OS Hardware => Mac OS 9 on Unsupported Hardware => Topic started by: MacTron on June 13, 2014, 08:12:21 AM

Title: Mac Os 9 boot on unsupported iBook G4.
Post by: MacTron on June 13, 2014, 08:12:21 AM
After the success on Mac Os 9 boot on the unsupported MDD FW800:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=762.msg4520#msg4520

This thead is open to discuss the Mac Os 9 boot on the unsupported iBook G4.
A good starting point may be from this post on 68kmla:

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/21515-os-9-on-ibook-g4-findings/
Title: Re: Mac Os 9 boot on unsupported iBook G4.
Post by: Protools5LEGuy on November 14, 2014, 10:19:53 PM
iMac600 from 68kmla is iMic from ThinkClassic and now a member of MacOS9Lives! as iMic. He had hacked the last Drag'n'drop install's AppleRom to unlock booting classic on almost all PowerMac, even trying on G5s, MacMinis and iBookG4! On iBooks he had good results. Follow original post since here http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=762.msg10131#msg10131 (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=762.msg10131#msg10131)

Title: Re: Mac Os 9 boot on unsupported iBook G4.
Post by: Protools5LEGuy on December 01, 2014, 05:55:22 PM
Long Live iMic King!
(http://s28.postimg.org/xzpizpe5p/IMG_7459.jpg)
Title: Re: Mac Os 9 boot on unsupported iBook G4.
Post by: iMic on December 01, 2014, 11:00:43 PM
Yes, we now have the ability to switch colour modes and resolutions on-the-fly with the Mobility Radeon 9200. However as I mentioned over at ThinkClassic (https://www.thinkclassic.org/viewtopic.php?pid=3574#p3574), there's still several caveats to this method.

Quote from: iMic
Some limited success with the Mobility Radeon 9200. Modifying the ATY,Bugsy entries in the resource and data forks of the ATI ROM Xtender extension to ATY,Via_A has allowed the internal display to successfully be identified by the system. As a result, the operating system now correctly detects the amount of VRAM (32MB) and the vendor ID (1002). It also correctly identifies the panel as an iBook display, allowing for mode switching between all available resolutions and colours.

(http://s28.postimg.org/is9jfcmb1/IMG_7462.jpg)


It's not all fantastic news though. The computer still thinks that a second display is connected, and occasionally it will set the phantom display as the default. I have temporarily resolved the issue using a series of Open Firmware commands that breaks the ATY,Via_B device for the second display, forcing the machine to always use the internal display.

The downside to this fix, other than having to rely on Open Firmware tweaks, is that the modification doesn't execute correctly when loaded automatically via nvstore / setenv use-nvramrc. It simply says it can't find the device, but if you manually enter the commands into Open Firmware it executes successfully. Presumably it attempts to execute the script and make modifications to the ATY,Via_B device early in the boot, before the ATI Radeon has activated and added its devices to the device tree, and so it fails to run.

With all of that said, this is a step forward in the project. I suspect that desktop machines that don't split their video data to separate internal and external devices, like the Mac mini's Radeon 9200 (ATY,RockHopper2), could be made to work quite easily with this method.

I still haven't looked at nVidia's drivers to see how they compare, but I'm hoping to see if the GeForce 4 MX in the unsupported iMac G4s can be made to work with the GeForce 4 MX drivers that were used for machines like the QuickSilver and MDD.
Title: Re: Mac Os 9 boot on unsupported iBook G4.
Post by: supernova777 on December 02, 2014, 02:04:23 AM
i had an ibook from 2002 in my hands yesterday at a computer shop i was going to buy it but it didnt turn on when plugged in..
perhaps a dead drive? but the monitor didnt even come on.. he was going to sell it to me for 20 bucks... ah well

hah i never played simcity 2000, but i do remember playing the original, but it was on windows 3.11 im pretty sure!!
or maybe windows 3.0