Mac OS 9 Lives

Classic Mac OS Hardware => Mac OS 9 on Unsupported Hardware => Topic started by: MacTron on April 10, 2018, 08:15:22 AM

Title: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: MacTron on April 10, 2018, 08:15:22 AM
The eMac 1.25 and 1.42 can't officially boot into Mac Os 9. Unless an unofficial custom ROM is used:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2408.0;attach=5090
Furthermore, to allow full video support and video acceleration we need a mod video drivers:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4322.0;attach=5025

This was only tested in the 1.25 model but probably all of this works in to the 1.42 one too. Except video acceleration. The eMac 1.25 video is based on a Radeon 9200, but 1.42 is based on a Radeon 9600 wich havent Mac Os 9 support at this moment.

(http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4361.0;attach=5099)

Everything works OK, but Apple DVD player and System deep sleep.

The display and system sleeps works, but when the System (the CPU) goes to sleep the computer can't wake up. To avoid this, the upper bar in Energy Saver should set to never:

(http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4361.0;attach=5103)

But when you select "Sleep" from the Special menu, the issue persist, the CPU is forced to sleep and the computer can't wake up.
If we replace the Energy Saver control panel by Sleeper, this issue disappear:

(http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4361.0;attach=5105)

Another issue is the startup freezing mouse, It occurs on 1/10 startups, the only solution know by now is to restart the eMac pressing the On/Off button.

The eMac 1.25 performs surprisingly well compared to a single 1.25 MDD:

(http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4361.0;attach=5101)


Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: widdly on May 13, 2018, 04:49:47 PM
nvm
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: matthewcabor252 on August 06, 2018, 05:58:49 PM
How do I install the ROM?
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Daniel on August 06, 2018, 07:13:29 PM
Stick it in the system folder you want to use. It replaces the Mac OS ROM file already there.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: matthewcabor252 on August 07, 2018, 04:42:04 PM
Ok, I put it into the "System Folder" but its not showing up when I  hold option at power up. I put "tbxi-enabler" in the Mac OS 9 System Folder. I have 1 partition with Mac OS Tiger installed.

-eMac USB 2.0 1.25GHz 1.5GB DDR SDRAM
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Daniel on August 08, 2018, 08:33:59 AM
Does the system folder have the special icon indicating that it's a system folder? It's possible that it isn't "blessed" properly. Reblessing it could be as simple following these directions, or it could be a nightmare to do.

By "1 partition with Mac OS Tiger", do you mean that you have Mac OS 9 on one partition and Tiger on the other? If you have that configuration, it should work. If you are trying to do this with only one partition, you are going to have a lot of trouble because OSX doesn't let you set the startup disk to a Mac OS 9 system folder if the machine isn't "supposed" to handle 9.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: macarone on August 08, 2018, 01:30:28 PM
If you are able to boot the computer into OS X, running DiscWarrior on the partition containing OS 9 will "bless" the OS 9 System Folder, even when other methods failed.

I have never been able to figure out what makes a partition show up in Startup Manager (booting with Option held down).... Some show up and some do not, even when they DO show up in System Preferences/Startup Disk.

And, some partitions show up in Startup Manager but NOT Startup Disk.

I'd be grateful if someone explained it all.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Astroman on August 08, 2018, 03:35:34 PM
can't explain it in depth, but aside from disk partitioning/driver it's the content (!) of the MacRom which is checked during boot. If the requested resources are missing, the whole disk will be excluded from the list of bootable drives.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: darthnVader on August 11, 2018, 09:14:20 AM
Does the system folder have the special icon indicating that it's a system folder? It's possible that it isn't "blessed" properly. Reblessing it could be as simple following these directions, or it could be a nightmare to do.
  • Select the "System", "Finder", and "tbxi-enabler" files
  • Drag them to the hard disk icon of the partition the system folder is in.
  • Drag them to the system folder. If its icon changes, success!

By "1 partition with Mac OS Tiger", do you mean that you have Mac OS 9 on one partition and Tiger on the other? If you have that configuration, it should work. If you are trying to do this with only one partition, you are going to have a lot of trouble because OSX doesn't let you set the startup disk to a Mac OS 9 system folder if the machine isn't "supposed" to handle 9.

Code: [Select]
sudo bless --folder /path/to/the/OS9/System Folder
?????????????????
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Daniel on August 11, 2018, 09:24:28 AM
Does the system folder have the special icon indicating that it's a system folder? It's possible that it isn't "blessed" properly. Reblessing it could be as simple following these directions, or it could be a nightmare to do.
  • Select the "System", "Finder", and "tbxi-enabler" files
  • Drag them to the hard disk icon of the partition the system folder is in.
  • Drag them to the system folder. If its icon changes, success!

By "1 partition with Mac OS Tiger", do you mean that you have Mac OS 9 on one partition and Tiger on the other? If you have that configuration, it should work. If you are trying to do this with only one partition, you are going to have a lot of trouble because OSX doesn't let you set the startup disk to a Mac OS 9 system folder if the machine isn't "supposed" to handle 9.

Code: [Select]
sudo bless --folder /path/to/the/OS9/System Folder
?????????????????
That works too. I just have never done this stuff from OSX.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: torvan on September 22, 2018, 05:14:01 PM
Well, despite hours of trying, four CDRs, and even attempting just "Drag and Drop", in no way can I get OS9 to boot at all. I even tried the "boot an OS9 machine and use Firewire Disk mode" trick. Yes, I used the drivers and the tbxi-enabler. Terminal blessed the drive too. But noting appears in an Option boot and neither in Tiger's Startup Disk preferences.

Perhaps it is because mine is the 1.42Ghz 7447a with the Radeon 9600 (which has no OS9 drivers).

Sigh.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Protools5LEGuy on September 22, 2018, 05:50:02 PM
Torvan. That eMac is better with leopard (Full Core Image) than with 9....
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: eMacg4125 on September 23, 2018, 03:29:29 PM
Hi all,

First up, I'm a newb to all things Mac ... I rescued an eMac and wanted to have a play with MacOS, had a muck about with OSX so now want to try 9

I've downloaded the specially created 9.2.2 ISO for the eMac but cannot get it to boot?  I've even completed formatted the HDD to MacOS format (not journalled), after clicking on the disc from the boot > option key menu the screen goes grey and nothing happens after that

Completely assuming I've missed something?

Cheers
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: KiritoSwordArtONLINEfan on October 03, 2018, 11:30:53 AM
this works great now! one question though, is there a way to get the machine to boot into OS 9 by default? I always have to hold down the option key and wait to select OS 9 which is kind of annoying. even when I go into the startup disk settings, choose OS 9 and click restart it just goes into OS X...
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: torvan on October 03, 2018, 05:18:01 PM
Torvan. That eMac is better with leopard (Full Core Image) than with 9....

Granted it is, but I still wanted to give this a try given it might have worked. Too much fun to tinker around with and it is not something mission critical or anything.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: superlions16 on October 31, 2018, 02:59:31 PM
The eMac 1.25 and 1.42 can't officially boot into Mac Os 9. Unless an unofficial custom ROM is used:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2408.0;attach=5090
Furthermore, to allow full video support and video acceleration we need a mod video drivers:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4322.0;attach=5025

This was only tested in the 1.25 model but probably all of this works in to the 1.42 one too. Except video acceleration. The eMac 1.25 video is based on a Radeon 9200, but 1.42 is based on a Radeon 9600 wich havent Mac Os 9 support at this moment.

(http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4361.0;attach=5099)

Everything works OK, but Apple DVD player and System deep sleep.

The display and system sleeps works, but when the System (the CPU) goes to sleep the computer can't wake up. To avoid this, the upper bar in Energy Saver should set to never:

(http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4361.0;attach=5103)

But when you select "Sleep" from the Special menu, the issue persist, the CPU is forced to sleep and the computer can't wake up.
If we replace the Energy Saver control panel by Sleeper, this issue disappear:

(http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4361.0;attach=5105)

Another issue is the startup freezing mouse, It occurs on 1/10 startups, the only solution know by now is to restart the eMac pressing the On/Off button.

The eMac 1.25 performs surprisingly well compared to a single 1.25 MDD:

(http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4361.0;attach=5101)

Okay, how did you even install this? and how in the world are you supposed to get the Mac OS ROM replaced without having to use the bless command??  :-\
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: superlions16 on February 02, 2019, 12:28:41 PM
Can someone PLEASE help me out here? I'm getting a frozen cursor after restoring the unsupported G4s image to my eMac.
UPDATE: Got it working. Please delete my post from 10/31/18. In order to do so, fake out the CPU as a 7445 in OF and install the Unsupported G4s ISO, then delete the multiprocessing folder, THEN install tbxi-enabler and the video drivers.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: kgllewellyn on May 04, 2019, 01:59:44 PM
Okay, so seeing that it took me a good deal of time to get this working on my eMac 1.25 piecing together various instructions on here and ThinkClassic, here's a step by step to get a working install of OS 9 on the eMac that I did.

1. Download and burn the Mac OS 9.2.2 for Unsupported G4s from here: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html
2. Insert the burned CD into your eMac and boot holding down Cmd+Opt+O+F. This enters Open Firmware.
3. In Open Firmware enter the following - (this spoofs your eMac's CPU into one recognized by OS 9) - Hit return at the end of each line.

" /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0" find-package if drop " /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0" find-device 80010201 encode-int " cpu-version" property then
device-end \ PLX-OS9-PATCH
boot cd:,\\:tbxi

4. Your eMac should now proceed to boot up from the Mac OS 9 CD.
5. Before doing anything. Partition your drive using Drive Setup.
6. Click on Initialize and then 'Options'
7. Create a 1GB Partition for OS 9, a 8GB Partition for Tiger and the remaining for Leopard. Or if you just want one version of OS X, then 1GB for OS 9 and the remainder for Leopard/Tiger.
8. Now run the Apple Software Restore and target the 1GB Partition, this carries out your OS 9 install.
9. Now go ahead and install Tiger and/or Leopard on the remaining partitions. Make sure not to erase/change your partitions from the OS X installer.
10. Once you have OS X set up, download tbxi-enabler and the ATI,Merlin patches that MacTron uploaded at the top of this Thread on your eMac.
11. Copy all the ATI/OpenGL extensions to the Extensions Folder, overwriting the older versions.
12. Copy tbxi-enabler to the System Folder. *do not rename it*.
13. Remove Mac OS ROM.
14. You should now be able to boot up with OS 9 holding Option during boot.

P.S. The logic I do with the partitions is that I create the smallest partitions for the Older OS's and then have the newest OS on the largest partition. All the applications are then located on the largest partition. 1GB for OS 9 should leave about 575MB free for Control Panels, Extensions and so forth you want to install, which should be plenty, but feel free to make a larger OS 9 partition if you wish. 

Please let me know how you get on.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: kgllewellyn on May 05, 2019, 11:39:51 PM
So. One issue I've noticed is that on the eMac 1.25Ghz is that audio appears to only come out of one speaker either with internal speakers and headphones. Not sure if anyone has a fix for that?

Also, if you want OS 9 to be available via the Startup Disk PrefPane in OS X run the following script with Terminal. This was adapted from Blemk's script on ThinkClassic.

Code: [Select]
#!/bin/sh
echo Enabling OS 9 booting...
echo "You may have to enter your password"
# Use nvram command to setup nvramrc with script to make open firmware changes
sudo nvram nvramrc='" /" select-dev
" PowerMac4,4" encode-string " model" property
" PowerMac4,4" encode-string " MacRISC" encode-string encode+ " MacRISC2" encode-string encode+ " MacRISC3" encode-string encode+ " Power Macintosh" encode-string encode+ " compatible" property
unselect
'
# Enable use of nvramrc on boot. Change to "false" if you want to disable again. Or just clear/reset nvram.
sudo nvram "use-nvramrc?"=true
echo done.

Ensure you have a good PRAM battery, otherwise you'll have to re-run this every time you pull the power.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Halian on October 22, 2019, 04:56:13 PM
Please let me know how you get on.

The install stick boots, but once Drive Setup and SimpleText have loaded (they're apparently set to open on startup), I can no longer move the mouse cursor. My mouse is a Logitech MX Master 1st gen. It works fine when booting with extensions off; the culprit appears to be one or more of the USB Overdrive control panel and the USB extension.

When booting with extensions off, attempting to partition my 180 GB hard drive in Drive Setup results in a crash with Drive Setup error type 10.

When booting with extensions on, partitioning works fine, but restoring the image fails at the very end with a checksum error followed by a crash with Apple Software Restore error type 41.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: IIO on October 22, 2019, 06:19:43 PM
not sure if it releated, but the core team recently has fixed the videodriver vs. USB bug for the mac mini OS - by patching the ROM - so you should just wait for a new ROM for the emac to appear.

mneanwhile see if you can another mouse - or deinstall usb overdrive and the mouse controlpanel. (with my very fiurst non-apple mouse i also just removed the mouse control panel totally to enable proper speed settings from the decives controlpanel)
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: jdaviddean on December 10, 2019, 09:22:33 AM
Any time I try this method the os 9 install goes fine, the os x install appears to go fine, but when I reboot the machine, even if I specifically *pick* the OS X partition to boot in, I get the circle with a slash through it even though it's 10.4....
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: SnakeCoils on February 09, 2020, 03:14:32 PM
After reading various posts here and other threads I have purchased an eMac 1.25 (promptly overclocked to 1.50 GHz) but I disagree about the working audio under OS9: the problem is not the output coming from a single speaker (the same happens thru earphone socket and from what I have seen is a mainly matter of lacking the left-right balance setting in the control panel) but the persistence of the audio output itself.
Let's try the Bernie To The Rescue emulator and you will see that audio stops working quite quickly, even after closing the emulator. Maybe the emulator do some bad low level access to the hardware but this means that audio handling is far from being reliable under OS9. It is not a criticism, I really appriciate the hard work from the team in making those machines fully usable under OS9 but in the main page of eMac profile the status of AUDIO should be changed from WORKING to PARTIALLY WORKING, just to let other users to be aware that more works is still needed to have a perfectly working machine. I know that USB audio cards are a workaround for this issue but from what I read in the summary it seems that embedded audio would work out-of-the-box and this is not entirely correct IMHO.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: MacTron on February 10, 2020, 08:14:33 AM
Do you have any other audio issues with other apps?
If not, this is probably a "Bernie II The Rescue" issue.
Emulators (and Games) aren't the more reliable apps out there.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: SnakeCoils on February 11, 2020, 11:33:45 AM
At present I have not deeply tested other apps because my interest is mainly in emulators, however I made some progress.
Today I received my Sabrent AU-MMSA USB audio adapter (I ordered it from Amazon after reading in another thread it was fully supported under OS9) and I am totally amazed how well it works!
First, in Sound panel it takes entirely place (without additional settings) of the internal speakers and it show itself as "internal" with no other devices listed.
Second, the "Speakers" tab is no more ghosted and I can tune the Left-Right level correctly and yes, also the Volume setting works as expected.
Third, the Sabrent device physical dimensions are absolutely compatible with the eMac side vane so no need to put an extension cable to plug it, it fits well and firmly in the USB port.
Until a patched device extension will be found to use again the internal speakers the main issue (for me) is happily solved.
For reference I choose to not use the MacOS9lives install because I like to have the System in my language so I have restored the OS9General.dmg from my MDD2003 install disks, added the tbxi-enabler and 9200 Merlin drivers, deleted the Multiprocessing folder, bleessed the partition and I was ready to go. The mouse freeze sometimes occour but now I am really happy about the performances of this little white devil :-)
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: SnakeCoils on February 19, 2020, 08:12:58 AM
I noticed that the link to tbxi-enabler is for a modded 9.6.1 MacROM, do also exist one for the 10.2.1 Universal?
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: alexfree on February 19, 2020, 11:31:26 AM
So. One issue I've noticed is that on the eMac 1.25Ghz is that audio appears to only come out of one speaker either with internal speakers and headphones. Not sure if anyone has a fix for that?

Also, if you want OS 9 to be available via the Startup Disk PrefPane in OS X run the following script with Terminal. This was adapted from Blemk's script on ThinkClassic.

Code: [Select]
#!/bin/sh
echo Enabling OS 9 booting...
echo "You may have to enter your password"
# Use nvram command to setup nvramrc with script to make open firmware changes
sudo nvram nvramrc='" /" select-dev
" PowerMac4,4" encode-string " model" property
" PowerMac4,4" encode-string " MacRISC" encode-string encode+ " MacRISC2" encode-string encode+ " MacRISC3" encode-string encode+ " Power Macintosh" encode-string encode+ " compatible" property
unselect
'
# Enable use of nvramrc on boot. Change to "false" if you want to disable again. Or just clear/reset nvram.
sudo nvram "use-nvramrc?"=true
echo done.

Ensure you have a good PRAM battery, otherwise you'll have to re-run this every time you pull the power.

Thanks this is perfect for my Mac Mini.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Messij on March 22, 2020, 02:17:59 PM
Okay, so seeing that it took me a good deal of time to get this working on my eMac 1.25 piecing together various instructions on here and ThinkClassic, here's a step by step to get a working install of OS 9 on the eMac that I did.

1. Download and burn the Mac OS 9.2.2 for Unsupported G4s from here: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html
2. Insert the burned CD into your eMac and boot holding down Cmd+Opt+O+F. This enters Open Firmware.
3. In Open Firmware enter the following - (this spoofs your eMac's CPU into one recognized by OS 9) - Hit return at the end of each line.

" /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0" find-package if drop " /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0" find-device 80010201 encode-int " cpu-version" property then
device-end \ PLX-OS9-PATCH
boot cd:,\\:tbxi

4. Your eMac should now proceed to boot up from the Mac OS 9 CD.
5. Before doing anything. Partition your drive using Drive Setup.
6. Click on Initialize and then 'Options'
7. Create a 1GB Partition for OS 9, a 8GB Partition for Tiger and the remaining for Leopard. Or if you just want one version of OS X, then 1GB for OS 9 and the remainder for Leopard/Tiger.
8. Now run the Apple Software Restore and target the 1GB Partition, this carries out your OS 9 install.
9. Now go ahead and install Tiger and/or Leopard on the remaining partitions. Make sure not to erase/change your partitions from the OS X installer.
10. Once you have OS X set up, download tbxi-enabler and the ATI,Merlin patches that MacTron uploaded at the top of this Thread on your eMac.
11. Copy all the ATI/OpenGL extensions to the Extensions Folder, overwriting the older versions.
12. Copy tbxi-enabler to the System Folder. *do not rename it*.
13. Remove Mac OS ROM.
14. You should now be able to boot up with OS 9 holding Option during boot.

P.S. The logic I do with the partitions is that I create the smallest partitions for the Older OS's and then have the newest OS on the largest partition. All the applications are then located on the largest partition. 1GB for OS 9 should leave about 575MB free for Control Panels, Extensions and so forth you want to install, which should be plenty, but feel free to make a larger OS 9 partition if you wish. 

Please let me know how you get on.

Thank for your but I don't understand step 3 ?
Is :
" /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0" find-package if drop " /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0" find-device 80010201 encode-int " cpu-version" property then
one line to write ? Because when I type /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0 my eMAc 1.25 send me unknown word
Thanks
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: spicybeef on November 01, 2020, 08:03:15 PM
Hey everyone! I've managed to get MacOS 9.2.2 for unsupported G4s installed and running on my 1.25 GHz eMac using the wonderful instructions in this thread with one exception: no graphics acceleration. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong - I took the extensions from the ATI,Merlin.sit archive and replaced the ones in the extensions folder with no luck. Does anyone know what I might be missing?
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: MacTron on November 02, 2020, 09:31:24 AM
...I took the extensions from the ATI,Merlin.sit archive and replaced the ones in the extensions folder with no luck. Does anyone know what I might be missing?
You should keep all the original ATI extensions, and add the "ATI Merlin" to them.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: spicybeef on November 03, 2020, 01:25:47 PM
Figured it out! I needed to unstuff the .sit archive locally. I had unstuffed the files directly on my NAS was transferring over the extensions instead of the .sit archive; I believe this removed the resource fork of the extension files. What tipped me off was the missing icons from the extensions.

Thanks for the help regardless :)
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: ltpitt on April 01, 2021, 04:16:20 PM
Hi all,

Thanks for the amazing information available in this thread.

I downloaded os9lives CD and burnt it.
I already had a os x install that I didnt want to lose so I started emac in target mode and installed os9lives using a g3 imac from os 9 on that machine.

All went smooth so, to double check, I booted the iMac from that new installed partition via firewire.
The fact that it booted just fine should confirm (at least i hope) that the disk has is 9 drivers and partitioning is just fine.
So far so good!

So I get ready to boot the emac from it and download and copy the extensions and put the tbxi-enabler (I didn't rename it) in the system folder and delete mac rom as suggested.

If I press alt at boot I get the possibility to click on os9lives but then I get a floppy with question mark.

If I try once again to put the eMac in target mode and start the iMac using the os9lives partition it won't boot anymore.
I think this is related to the now missing mac rom.
In fact, if I restore it then the iMac boots again without issues.

My partition is hfs+ journal end was created and formatted with ipartition.
If I look at the system folder in os9lives partition (if I boot OS X from from the eMac the folder has a 9 on it and should be correctly blessed).

What am I doing wrong?
I'd be very happy to boot the eMac with OS 9 :)

Thanks!
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: ltpitt on April 12, 2021, 05:17:57 AM
Hi all!

I just wanted to say that even if my iMac g3 was able to boot from the OS 9 installed on my eMac via firewire still...
The drivers for os 9 were not installed on that drive!

I backed useful osx partition with carbon copy cloner, initialized disk again this time with OS 9 drivers and...
Now it works like a champ :D

Deeply thanks for this amazing result :)
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Angelgreat on November 07, 2021, 08:29:30 PM
Anyone made custom drives for the Radeon 9600?
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: zulc22 on December 22, 2021, 06:32:23 AM
(snip)

i tried this, and it did mostly work, but after restoring OS 9 and patching it, my system completely refuses to boot, with or without extensions.
it gets to the end of the 'starting up' progress bar and just hardlocks :(
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Lark456 on January 08, 2022, 04:39:13 PM
Okay, so seeing that it took me a good deal of time to get this working on my eMac 1.25 piecing together various instructions on here and ThinkClassic, here's a step by step to get a working install of OS 9 on the eMac that I did.

1. Download and burn the Mac OS 9.2.2 for Unsupported G4s from here: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html
2. Insert the burned CD into your eMac and boot holding down Cmd+Opt+O+F. This enters Open Firmware.
3. In Open Firmware enter the following - (this spoofs your eMac's CPU into one recognized by OS 9) - Hit return at the end of each line.

" /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0" find-package if drop " /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0" find-device 80010201 encode-int " cpu-version" property then
device-end \ PLX-OS9-PATCH
boot cd:,\\:tbxi

4. Your eMac should now proceed to boot up from the Mac OS 9 CD.
5. Before doing anything. Partition your drive using Drive Setup.
6. Click on Initialize and then 'Options'
7. Create a 1GB Partition for OS 9, a 8GB Partition for Tiger and the remaining for Leopard. Or if you just want one version of OS X, then 1GB for OS 9 and the remainder for Leopard/Tiger.
8. Now run the Apple Software Restore and target the 1GB Partition, this carries out your OS 9 install.
9. Now go ahead and install Tiger and/or Leopard on the remaining partitions. Make sure not to erase/change your partitions from the OS X installer.
10. Once you have OS X set up, download tbxi-enabler and the ATI,Merlin patches that MacTron uploaded at the top of this Thread on your eMac.
11. Copy all the ATI/OpenGL extensions to the Extensions Folder, overwriting the older versions.
12. Copy tbxi-enabler to the System Folder. *do not rename it*.
13. Remove Mac OS ROM.
14. You should now be able to boot up with OS 9 holding Option during boot.

P.S. The logic I do with the partitions is that I create the smallest partitions for the Older OS's and then have the newest OS on the largest partition. All the applications are then located on the largest partition. 1GB for OS 9 should leave about 575MB free for Control Panels, Extensions and so forth you want to install, which should be plenty, but feel free to make a larger OS 9 partition if you wish. 

Please let me know how you get on.

Tried this and I get :
“, checksum error
Loading ELF

DO-QUIESCE finished”
If anyone can help I rly wanna get this working
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Cashed on January 08, 2022, 05:04:44 PM
Hi Lark456 and welcome.

Please have a seat until a technician replies. If you would like something to read while waiting then,
there are two mentions of this found here:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=762.150 (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=762.150)
Search that post but without the " "

Did you hit return at the end of each line?
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Lark456 on January 13, 2022, 05:30:34 AM
Yeah I did, cd drive seems to work fine, and the disc I burned works fine in a b&w g3. Any ideas?
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Lark456 on January 13, 2022, 05:05:28 PM
ended up figuring it out, MAKE SURE THE BURNED COPY YOU USE WORKS. I ended up using one i burned in my emac to be extra safe and that worked fine!
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: ltpitt on January 31, 2022, 08:30:35 AM
Hi all,

I wanted to report after some time off use that this just rocks, I am the happiest running os 9 and sorbet leopard on my 1.25.
Ssd, maxed ram...
It is a rocket :D

My audio, strangely, is mono.
Does anyone have the same? Is it fixable?

Thanks :)
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: UltimaN3rd on April 21, 2022, 07:51:38 AM
(snip)

i tried this, and it did mostly work, but after restoring OS 9 and patching it, my system completely refuses to boot, with or without extensions.
it gets to the end of the 'starting up' progress bar and just hardlocks :(

I have the same issue. I was able to install OS9 from a burned disc using the instructions here, but booting to the installed partition gets stuck near the end of the "startup up" progress bar.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: joeykork on August 25, 2022, 08:55:44 PM
@UltimaN3rd, I had the same problem with the lockup @ 99%

missing from the growing list of tweaks:

- after restoring the OS9 image to your permanent volume with ASR: remove the "\System Folder\Extensions\Multiprocessing" directory

You can fixup your current install by booting the MacOS9lives CD or OSX to do this.

I also had to tweak USB Overdrive (Apple Menu -> Control Panels -> USB Overdrive).
Set mouse sensitivity to 80%. If left at the default of "System", I'd get locked-up cursors.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: zulc22 on August 30, 2022, 12:37:34 AM
If you're having issues with hardlocking before the end, you need to delete the /System Folder/Extensions/Multiprocessing folder.

Here's my personal most painless method of installing OS 9 on this machine; no Open Firmware fiddling required. (unless my guide doesn't work)
Please tell me if this doesn't work for you, and how, so I can update this post. (for context this was done for a X 10.3 and OS 9 dual boot setup.)

0. Have an extra partition on your drive for 9.
1. Burn the Unsupported G4s CD (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html).
2. Boot up X and download the two links at the top of the first post in this thread. (tbxi-enabler (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2408.0;attach=5090) and ATI,Merlin (http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4322.0;attach=5025))
3. Restore the .img file from the Unsupported G4s CD to your partition with Disk Utility.
4. Delete /System Folder/Mac OS ROM.
5. Copy tbxi-enabler into /System Folder.
6. Copy the contents of ATI,Merlin into /System Folder/Extensions, overwriting the existing files. (that's the point)
Mac OS 9 will not boot yet. Open Firmware will be able to boot to the new Mac OS ROM, but will not detect your hard drive, just showing a blinking ? floppy.
7. Make sure the Unsupported G4s CD is still inserted. Reboot and hold Option to go into the boot menu, and boot to the (probably unlabelled) hard drive w/ Finder icon. (Your OS 9 partition.)
After about 1 or 2 minutes, Mac OS ROM will give up on booting to your drive and boot to the Unsupported G4s disc. (this saves a step in Open Firmware, and if you type at my slightly above average speed that's still faster.)
8. Close the Read Me and select your main drive (should be ATA, not ATAPI... probably the second one in the list), do NOT Initialize it.
9. Click the "Functions" drop down menu on the menu bar and click "Update Drivers".
10. Allow your machine to boot into X as normal.
11. Go to the Startup Disk settings under System Preferences, select "Mac OS 9.2.2 on (your OS 9 partition)", and restart. Your machine should now directly boot into OS 9.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: joeykork on September 03, 2022, 02:56:10 PM
I used ELN's tbxi-patcher repo to rebuild a new Mac OS ROM based off the 1st Gen emac's 9.2.1 install CD (691-3482-A)

mods are here: https://github.com/kfix/tbxi-patches/tree/emac
mainly an issue of search-and-replace of macmini model names and numbers with those of the later eMac.

This didn't fix the problem with the CPU Plugins crashing on my 2004/1.25 machine, but _did_ fix the onboard sound and speakers!
it seems any attempt to override 'prim-info' property thus far breaks the sound driver, but that property seems to be what need modification to fix the CPU Plugins.
I preferred to have working sound...

Unfortunately I think I fried this logic board when doing some (rushed  >:() modding to get a 50% reduced fan speed!
the fan's tach signal (yellow wire) needs to be faked to keep the PMU from throttling/stalling the computer but I think I fed it a 12V pulse instead of the 5V its probably used to!
Now there's no sound and the throttling is happening full time, OSX wont even boot. Replacement is on the way...

I've attached the last sound-enabling ROM build I used. It doesn't have a resource-fork (so no smiling Mac icon) but still worked.

Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Steph on September 17, 2022, 01:32:52 AM
I can't make it work, I see the drive, I even the the MacOS9 icon when I click option after a restart but the only think I got when I try to boot is a grey screen. I removed the multiprocessor folder. If I remove the rom as advised by zulc22 the partition don't show at all, time to brick my machine using open firmware I guess.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: cyberluke on October 12, 2022, 06:51:06 AM
The second last post with concrete steps helped a little bit, but I have same issue here with Powerbook G4: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,6554.0.html

Now after deleting Multiprocessor extension, it does boot. But resolution is low even after applying and overwriting ATI,Merlin.sit archive.

Messing up with Mac Boot ROM was not a good idea because it is not compatible with Powerbook G4.

Why there are scattered instructions across the forum and original unsupported G4 ISO is not being updated? Imagine me, even a software developer with Linux experience, but still a newcomer in Mac world comes here and now it is 4th day trying to battle with Mac OS. Not good experience. I think I will try something like 10.2 Jaguar, where double buffering issue does not exist. But I have read that it might not install and I might need to install it in emulator, update to 10.2.8 and then transfer that drive image. G4 is slow for OS X and current work, but also not good enough to run older apps. I should buy G3.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Steph on October 14, 2022, 09:09:22 AM
It's working now, thanks! But I have privileges problems, my OS9 games are on the OS X partition, I can't move or delete them from OS9.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: cyberluke on October 27, 2022, 07:08:05 AM
For me this 10.2.7 Jaguar from eMac G4 DVD works on Powerbook G4 as well. Only Classic environment will not install due to installation popup about compatibility check. But I solved it by getting VintageJaguar.dmg from the forums and use that as a Classic environment. Now everything works. But it will be never fast as native PowerMac G3 or older machine (just bought one and 3d games with software renderer are even faster)
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: clvulsion on January 18, 2023, 05:59:55 AM
Hello! I'm getting the file "2018-04-08 normal mini with happymactron.hqx" while trying to download the custom Rom on the top of this page, is this correct?
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Steph on February 25, 2023, 03:40:46 AM
It seems that sound works when I start OS9 from OS X, I should investigate more, I just need to buy a Mini Jack to USB adapter, simpler and hassle free.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: wired on January 31, 2024, 05:22:18 PM
I used ELN's tbxi-patcher repo to rebuild a new Mac OS ROM based off the 1st Gen emac's 9.2.1 install CD (691-3482-A)

mods are here: https://github.com/kfix/tbxi-patches/tree/emac
mainly an issue of search-and-replace of macmini model names and numbers with those of the later eMac.

This didn't fix the problem with the CPU Plugins crashing on my 2004/1.25 machine, but _did_ fix the onboard sound and speakers!
it seems any attempt to override 'prim-info' property thus far breaks the sound driver, but that property seems to be what need modification to fix the CPU Plugins.
I preferred to have working sound...

Unfortunately I think I fried this logic board when doing some (rushed  >:() modding to get a 50% reduced fan speed!
the fan's tach signal (yellow wire) needs to be faked to keep the PMU from throttling/stalling the computer but I think I fed it a 12V pulse instead of the 5V its probably used to!
Now there's no sound and the throttling is happening full time, OSX wont even boot. Replacement is on the way...

I've attached the last sound-enabling ROM build I used. It doesn't have a resource-fork (so no smiling Mac icon) but still worked.

I rebuilt this with the 10.2.1 ROM from the Rescue & Install CD, and also used ataboot.py to install the ATA driver (can boot from partitions without the OS 9 Drivers installed, or where they were somehow not working right...fixed my ? folder). Video acceleraton doesn't seem to work OOB like it does on minis, looking at that more...

To use this, replace Mac OS ROM in the desired system folder from OS X (You can restore Mac OS 9 disk image from the unsupported CD to get one, for instance). Option boot should work immediately without OF hacking.

Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: wired on January 31, 2024, 06:41:22 PM
I figured out part of the video issue. Changing the RockHopper2 compatible doesn't work, it black screened. This one has a ATY,Merlin pef installed, with the script modified to patch and install it instead of the original. The good news is that video works at millions of colors and full resolution. The bad news is that ATI Video Accelerator needs to be force quit right after the finder loads, and some resolutions appear available but result in problems (gray screen with cursor).

I'll keep digging in the mini threads to see if they already dealt with this.

EDIT: They did, I was using the 9.2.2 default drivers, I think. Installing January 2005 drivers causes a crash with graphics buffer corruption when the extension loads. Still digging.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: wired on January 31, 2024, 08:12:57 PM
Ok, here is a pretty good eMac ROM using the State of The Art approaches from the mini thread. Credit to those who discovered those techniques, including ELN, Darthnvader, Mactron, joeykork etc.

This ROM should replace Mac OS ROM in the system folder. Remove tbxi-enabler, and remove the ATI extensions and reinstall the January 2005 ATI Update. Acceleration works (2d tested so far), audio works, ATA boot with missing drivers should work. Sleep does not work but I haven't investigated it much.

I deleted the beta versions I had pasted earlier, this one should be preferred for emacs compared  to all other available sources. I'm happy to post a diff of joeykork's git too, building ROMs on linux requires Python 3.9 (hqx support  was cut from binascii in 2020) and the input and output files must be .hqx to preserve resource forks.

Cheers.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: wired on February 01, 2024, 05:32:58 PM
I got this working with Multiprocessing/CPU plugin by synthesizing a reasonable prim-info from other machines. Sound still works, but sleep does not. I will keep hacking at it.

I used `000000ff 0000002c 00030d40 00016705 00001400 00000000 0000260d 46000278 783c00` as prim-info, using mini, emac 2004, and g4 agp as "sources".

Patch (git diff) and other interesting parts for joeykork's repo is also attached. I deleted obsolete attachments on previous posts.

Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: joeykork on February 11, 2024, 12:33:14 AM
I tried wired's ROM on my eMac, and while the Multiprocessor/CPU plugin was able to be enabled and booting completed (progress bar finishes!), 3D acceleration stopped working.

3D does work with my 2022 ROM using the patched RockHopper2 ndrv (which is also checked into tbxi-patches, from the original commits by ELN)

I tested with TuxRacer from: https://macintoshgarden.org/games/tux-racer

I'll try to integrate the patched prim-info with my fork and maybe make its builds reproducible with Docker or GitHub actions.

thanks for the hint about Python 3.9, it happened to be what's on my MacBook.

edit:
integration is here: https://github.com/kfix/tbxi-patches/tree/emac_fix_cpu_plugins

resulting ROM build is attached. it supports CPU plugins, stereo-sound, and 2d+3d acceleration on the emac

the new prim-info also seems to have cured the flickering of the speakers info-graphic within the Sound pref-panel!
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Steph on February 13, 2024, 03:34:25 PM
Grey screen on my machine with Wired Rom. Joeykok's Rom worked great, sound worked, stable and snappy but I've lost lower resolution, 1024x768 is now the minimum, makes PoP unusable for example.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: joeykork on February 16, 2024, 07:49:05 PM
hey Steph, so now you made me go look at my Monitor control panel and I do see only the 1024 & 1280 modelines in the picker and no more eMac infographic, just a generic CRT and it says "iMac" in the window title >:(. not like the custom dialog from the screenshot in the original post.

not sure how I avoided this for so many boots on the new rom, but I had been using the Control Strip and OtherMenu for choosing lower resolutions & colors (which still worked!) and not the control panel. But this regression does seem to explain why my eMac was always booting into 1024x768 even when I had left it in 800x600 when shutting down....

edit: the reason it "worked on my machine!" is because I had a copy of my 2022 rom in the System folder with an alternate name! I had just deleted it, and now I'm stuck in hi-res. What a nutty OS....

ok, here's another rom build that is fatter, seemingly having the missing "System Enabler" resources to get all the video modes back. checked sound, checked 3D. Make sure you only have the one ROM in System folder, I guess!?

really need a reproducible install image for this stuff, there's so many ways to break it.
Title: Re: Mac OS 9 booting on: eMac G4 1.25 Ghz. (Detailed Posts)
Post by: Steph on February 18, 2024, 03:51:36 AM
Hi, low resolutions are back, thanks! Still hang up once in a while on start and 1024x768 still appears as the default resolution in SwitchRes but it's usable.