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[Jubadub]

Hi guys, I hope y'all are doing well.

In preparation for some fascinating discoveries I have made recently regarding the Mac mini G4, which I plan to share within a week's time, I was doing some research regarding the origin of the famous Mac OS ROM version 10.2.1 with CPU Software 5.9 (as opposed to 5.8), and, for the life of me, I can't find it.

All I know is that the famous, ultra-helpful, Mac OS 9 Lives! Mac OS 9.2.2 "Universal" CD for all officially-supported PowerMacs contains it, and that both @DieHard and @MacTron found the latest components and put together this super helpful disc.

It is also famously dated "3 April 2003" for both the "Created" and "Modified" dates, which is around the time Apple was trying to completely discontinue the actual Mac OS.

Thing is, does anyone know what CD, or what updater, or installer, or disk image, or whatever, this particular Mac OS ROM file and version came from?

All I can find is mentions of it from as far back as April 2014 posts here on Mac OS 9 Lives!, but I don't see any open discussion about its exact origin.

I don't know if @DieHard and/or @MacTron will see this, but does anyone at all know where exactly it came from? Was it from some MDD-related disc? It couldn't have been from the "OS9General.dmg" file, could it?

[joevt]

The info at https://archive.org/details/MacOS9.2.2-Drag_and_install_Universal says:

This archive was created from the original apple software that was included with an MDD 1.25 GHZ. FW400 G4 2003, the last official G4 tower that could boot directly to Mac OS 9.  With the original Apple OS X and OS 9 Restore CDs that came with it (Updated for the 2003 Model), a Dual Boot G4

An Apple product number (as printed on all Apple CDs) would be useful.

I found this number in the Apple Support forums in relation to "MDD Dual 1.25 G4 (2003)":
691-4872-A

That disk image is on Macintosh Repository which has links to mirrors on the Internet Archive.

In the first restore DVD, in the invisible ".images" folder, is a file "OS9General.dmg". It's an Apple Single file, so add ".as" as a filename extension and open with "Unarchiver.app". This produces a file "018-1133-2.dmg" which can be mounted by Mac OS X 10.5.8. The volume name is "OS 9 Content". It has a system folder with a "Mac OS ROM" file version "10.2.1, Copyright Apple Computer, Inc. 1983-2003 Mac OS CPU Software 5.9". With dates "April 3, 2003 at 8:00 PM".

The only difference that I can see between Mac OS ROM 10.2.1 from CPU Software 5.8 and Mac OS ROM 10.2.1 from CPU Software 5.9 is the version resource (using "tbxi dump" to extract all the parts and resources).

[Jubadub]

Thank you, @joevt! I believe you solved the mystery.

The Garden also seems to contain it, and it's probably where the Repository Suppository mirrored it from. The name is mentioned a few times throughout the Garden, too.

The archive.org link you found is this one, I believe?

Phew. Thank you again. I'm glad this search can now be put to rest.

[joevt]

Yes, that's the one.

So, what is the difference between CPU Software 5.8 and 5.9?

[Jubadub]

Yes, that's the one.

So, what is the difference between CPU Software 5.8 and 5.9?

Much like you pointed out, I also would not be surprised that 5.9 and, specifically, Z-5.8 (which is the only "5.8" I know of) are identical, besides version-related strings:



On the left is the legendary ROM as we know it, which I pulled straight from the MDD 2003 disc as you discovered, which I indeed confirmed to be 100% identical to the one which the "Mac OS 9 Lives! Universal" disc installs.

On the right is the only "5.8" ROM I know of, which I obtained from your ROM archive on GitHub, @joevt, which is credited as "2003-04-03 - Mac OS ROM (New World 10.2.1) Mac OS 9.2.2 Retail International CD", which checks out, as the "Z-" prefix is an Apple-chosen prefix for "International" English (as opposed to US English or UK English etc.).

The two have identical Created and Modified dates, down to the exact time. The Z-5.8 one is bigger in file size by exactly mere 4 bytes, and is probably because the literal string "Z-5.8" is bigger than and thus takes that little bit more of data to store than just "5.9".

I like it better that we stuck with 5.9, though, simply because it makes it clear, by being a higher number, that it is the latest version we can get, so it's clear to any user, and also because of the absence of any region-specific verbiage such as "Z-", which can be either confusing and/or distracting.

That being said, it is probably only cosmetic, and, if so, it wouldn't matter which of these two is used (not sure about any other "different" 5.8s out there, some of which might be older, if they exist). But since it was better to pick just one anyway, well, I'm glad we took the one that made the most sense.

On a little side note, though, perhaps it might be worth pointing out that, despite seemingly identical files (in size, and both resource and data forks), the System Folder that boots our MO9L "Universal" disc is 4 hours behind the same ROM contained in the image that gets restored into the volume we install it to (11:00 AM vs. 3:00 PM). I also find it curious that, when you checked the MDD disc, its ROM reported to you "8:00 PM". Those small hourly differences might be related to the regions / zones of our respective machines?

Anyway, thanks again to @DieHard and @MacTron for the original effort of putting together all the best parts of Mac OS into one place! And thank you again for all the help, @joevt. This finally puts this investigation to rest.

[DieHard]

An Apple product number (as printed on all Apple CDs) would be useful.

I found this number in the Apple Support forums in relation to "MDD Dual 1.25 G4 (2003)":
691-4872-A

That disk image is on Macintosh Repository which has links to mirrors on the Internet Archive.

Yeah, but we had it first . Way before all those images circulated and I am guessing many of the disk images and ISOs out on the web were derived from my original images.

Back in the day I purchased about 19 MDD 2003 machines for myself and clients and that disk set was only present in the last 3 or 4 units shipped. They were purchased on Long Island, NY.  So... this disk set was indeed not only shipped with the 2003 model... but the last revision of the 2003 retail packaging disk set.

Yes... that was the source... it was originally extracted by using the last set of DVDs that apple shipped with the 2003 MDD (non-FW800, as a response to OS9 holdouts).

I had to do the complete restore of both OSX and OS9 together and then imaged the OS9 portion as it's own entity with the Setup assistant and all files virgin and never booted... thus creating a "self contained" install of all the latest files.

And just an FYI, the "OS9General.dmg" files were was much older and AFAIR were sourced from the "netboot" OS9 version for remote installs on a network.