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Author Topic: MacOS 9.2.2 (from MacOS9Lives CD) runs, but display resolution is hosed  (Read 301 times)

alexshendi

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Hi folks,

So after much effort, I have given up on preserving my Mac OS X partition and after backing everything up, I initialized the disk and made 2 partitions (20 and 95 GB).

I installed Mac OS 9 on the first and so far everything works fine, except for the display resolution.
This seems to be fixed at 1024x768@256 colors. Also there is a "frame" around the portion of the screen that is actually used. See the attached picture.  The machine is a 14" iBook G4.

So how can I fix that? Thanks for any hints.



« Last Edit: June 20, 2025, 01:54:25 PM by alexshendi »
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joevt

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What GPU does the iBook G4 have?

Does Mac OS 9 have drivers for that GPU?

If there's no Mac OS 9 driver, then you can't change the resolution or color depth. You are stuck with whatever frame buffer Open Firmware provides.

Did you go into Open Firmware to see if the display node has an option to change the display mode?

What version of Open Firmware does your iBook G4 have?
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alexshendi

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I investigated further and found out the following:
* Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 9200
* The active screen resolution is 640x480, 1024x768 would be the native resolution. That explains  the unused border around the display area
* System Profiler doesn't seem  to know about the GPU
* Didn't investigate Open Firmware settings yet.

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joevt

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There's an extensive list of ATI drivers at https://gona.mactar.hu/ATI_Mac/

You'll want to click on the last two items and read what they have to say:
ATI RADEON 9200 Mac Edition July 2004      OS 9.2 - 9.2.2      ATI chips supports up to Radeon 9200
ATI OS 9 Mac Software Update January 2005      OS 9.2 - 9.2.2      ATI chips supports up to Radeon 9200

See if they match the items from Macintosh Repository:
 https://www.macintoshrepository.org/1357-ati-os-9-drivers-january-2005-
 https://www.macintoshrepository.org/1352-ati-os-9-drivers-for-radeon-9200-dvi-i-

Verify dates and version numbers of apps and extensions and control panels etc.
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alexshendi

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Hi,

I've investigated further:
* Resolution in OFW: 400x300. I'm assuming these are hex values, so 1024x768 decimal
* Booting:
   - Happy Mac in full resolution (1024x768)
   - "Welcome to MacOS 9" in full resolution
   - While initialising the desktop, resolution switches to 640x480
   - OFW also uses the full screen
* I tried several versions of the Radeon 9200 drivers, situation unchanged
* In the "Monitors" control panel 2 screen are shown: 1: 1024x768, 2: 640x480

Any hints are welcome. ATM I would be content, if I could use the full resolution without 2D or 3D acceleration.
Can I somehow disable the auxiliary output.

Many thanks in advance.



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