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[Fit]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I have an eMac G4 1.0 GHz SuperDrive model and I'd like to boot Mac OS 9 and migrate away from OS X Tiger 10.4.11. As far as I can tell, this Mac should boot OS 9 if it were the cheaper Combo drive model. Yet, I couldn't help but notice that the newer model 1.25 GHz model is able to boot OS 9, albeit unsupported by Apple. I was hoping to do more of the same with my own eMac 1.0 GHz model. I did some reading and heard about the custom ROM image but I'm a bit hesitant without any further research. The graphics card is an ATI Radeon 7500 which, as far as I remember, had native support for OS 9. Am I in good shape to proceed with the custom image? Would I even need the custom ROM? Since this Mac has Open Firmware, I figure I could just "burn" the iso to a USB flash drive and boot from it. I've been able to use Open Firmware to boot PPC-based Macs in the past and I'd prefer to save on DVDs. If anyone has any thoughts, comments or tips, I'd love to hear about them.

Respectfully,
Fit

[GaryN]

According to MacTracker, your eMac is the last model that will boot OS9 without issues.
I suggest you just download OS9 here:  http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2109.0.html
It's a CD image. Burn it and give it a try.

[Fit]

As far as I can tell, and MacTracker also backs this, is that only the Combo drive model can boot 9.2.2. The SuperDrive model will only run OS 9 in "Classic" environment under OS X. It cannot be booted. This eMac in my possession initially came with 10.5.8 Leopard, as this was the last OS that could boot natively. I've since downgraded it to an early version of Tiger 10.4, as this was all I had on hand. I'd really like to get it down to 9.2.2, as that's where most of my Mac OS expertise and preference is.

[ovalking]

everymac.com agrees with you Fit.
And in addition, it seems only pre-22/10/03 combo models could boot OS9 natively.
Sorry, I don't have an e-mac in my collection yet to offer any experiences...

[Fit]

I'm thinking I'm going to try to boot it from Open Firmware. Tried a few 9.2.2 discs I've had on hand and none of them wanted to play nice. Might as well give it a shot with USB in OF. I'll create a guide here if I get it working. If anyone has any comments or suggestions in the meantime please let me know!

[GaryN]

So let me see if I understand this: Apple produced an eMac model for one year. It originally was capable of booting OS9. Somewhere in the middle of that time they made a minor change, adding a Superdrive. No other changes… BUT suddenly it wouldn't boot OS9 anymore. So, clearly the ROM was altered to prevent that. So, now you're agonizing and going round and round trying to guess whether yours will or won't boot using the thin shreds of info still available to decide if you should even try.

Maybe what you should do is simply grab the "Unsupported G4" OS9 install here: http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html

…and see what happens.

I'm just sayin"…

[smilesdavis]

2003-2005, original and 3 revisions…

[cathrynmataga]

I'm going to give "Unsupported G4" a shot on my Superdrive 1Ghz eMac.  I formatted a partition from command line, and installed Leopard, like that guy suggested in the dual boot thread.  Now that I've been reading some more, it seems like the only issue with this mac is that the ROM has changed, but all the hardware should be identical to the Combo Drive version so if I can get it installed, like it should be good, I'd think (aside from maybe DVD writing.). We'll see how it goes. Would be more luxurious for retro gaming to have OS9.2.2 and Leopard dual boot.  I don't have the wifi card, I just use wired ethernet, so won't be able to tell if that works, however. We'll see....

[cathrynmataga]

It seems to have 'just worked'  -- the only magic I used was this.

"diskutil partitonDisk /dev/disk0 OS9Drivers HFS+ macos9 128G JHFS+ macosx 128G" to format from the cli.

I installed leopard from the disks that came with the Mac. 

I burned the unsupported mac os9.2.2 CD, and booted off of it and installed to the macos9 volume, not initializing because the diskutil already did it.

I restared, held option and it's now I'm in OS9.

I didn't bless or monkey with the nvram setting like the other guy.

[DieHard]

I restared, held option and it's now I'm in OS9.

I didn't bless or monkey with the nvram setting like the other guy.

Yes, makes sense, as Gary stated your hardware is almost 100% good for a native boot, al you needed was the "imic" ROM injection and voila

[cathrynmataga]

Yup, now I have MacOS9.2.2 with that 'CRT goodness.' Going to be out for a bit, but will come back here when I get to trying out some games.

Honest, hardest part was getting the SSD in here. This eMac guards its drive bays well. Also, just general confusion. I'm not clear at all what 'imic' ROM injection is, but I'm glad it works. Thanks to you guys and to whoever figured this all out and put the .iso together. 

[cathrynmataga]

I assume this is normal broken, but sleep mode does seem to act weird switching between Leopard and OS9.2.2.  Shutting the monitor off is fine in both (which is most important since I don't want a CRT running all day). But in OS9.2.2 now the PC doesn't recover from sleep, it sleeps, it comes back but with a solid grey screen.  On OSX now too, it's acting weird, it didn't come back.

I don't have a battery in this Mac. I assume that doesn't matter, it's only for the clock, but mention it in case it does.