Mac OS 8.6 findings and ramblings

[Macbookprodude]

So, I tried the sawtooth 8.6 restore disc on my Titanium 1Ghz and Pismo - couldn’t get it to work.

 

[Bruninho]

Today in Apple history: Mac OS 7 gets its final update

On April 7, 1997, Apple's System 7 operating system got its final update when Mac OS 7.6.1 shipped. It fixed bugs and ended the Clone Mac era.

www.cultofmac.com

 

[forzamyro]

I don't know the exact values of those "limitations" for Mac OS 8 or 9.
I couldn't find the right article for them.
But I think they're probably okay.
My concern is why the power goes down.

 

[Jubadub]

So, I know this thread is about 8.6, but I felt like asking this here quickly rather than make a new thread (for now):

Any luck booting 8.5.1 on a G4, @LightBulbFun? Anyone? One thing to note is that from 8.5.1 to 8.6, we had the transition from nanokernel v1 to nanokernel v2 in Mac OS. As such, 8.5.1 on G4s would make me absolutely flip my *h*t in celebration.

 

[Macbookprodude]

I don’t think 8.5.1 is possible.

 

[Amethyst1]

Any luck booting 8.5.1 on a G4,

Given that you can run 7.6.1 on a supported machine with an aftermarket G4 upgrade and watch it go faster than greased lightning, I wouldn't rule it out.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Yeah, but the video extension of that G4 isn’t included with 8.5.1 or 7.6.1 - how is it even possible ?

 

[Amethyst1]

Yeah, but the video extension of that G4 isn’t included with 8.5.1 or 7.6.1 - how is it even possible ?

The Radeon 7000 does work in 7.6.1. There are drivers for it.

 

[Jubadub]

Booting from a SATA PCI card, thanks to SCSI emulation, thus avoiding incompatible IDE interface issues...

Getting an early PCI ATI card, avoiding incompatible GPU issues...

I need to try this. This is insane. System7Today would flip their **** (and so would I, alongside them) if the likes of an MDD can boot System 7. Attempts for this deserve a different thread... so I'll stop hijacking this one.

 

[forzamyro]

"Mac OS 8.6 on Pismo" power-off issue.
I tested with and without the power adapter, the battery, and the PRAM battery.
But the results were mixed, such as A, B, C, D.
A: Power off (no icon on the menu bar)
B: Power off (only a battery icon)
C: Power off (with a battery icon and some others)
D: Finder opened but with error message
E: Finder opened successfully (March 22)
There are many events (e.g. display the menu bar, mount volumes, open assistant windows) to open the desktop fully.
So it seems to be influenced by the load, not the power supply.

CPU is protected by temperature control?
Where is that threshold controlled?

 

[forzamyro]

Further investigation.
The menu bar display at the moment power goes down.

AC adapter powered (with/without battery)
Battery icon is crossed out even with a normal battery installed.

Battery powered (without AC adapter)
Normal battery icon and "Finder" icon

hmm..............
So what?

 

[msxpocky]

Sorry for the bump, but any idea how viable something like this would be on the PowerMac G4 Cube? Always drove me mad that it's so similar to the Sawtooth in terms of specs but can't run 8.6 from that Sawtooth install disc ahaha

 

[DeltaMac]

The Cube never shipped with OS 8, but first shipped with OS 9.

 

[Amethyst1]

The Cube never shipped with OS 8, but first shipped with OS 9.

And the TiBook first shipped with OS 9.1 — yet…

 

[LightBulbFun]

Sorry for the bump, but any idea how viable something like this would be on the PowerMac G4 Cube? Always drove me mad that it's so similar to the Sawtooth in terms of specs but can't run 8.6 from that Sawtooth install disc ahaha

if you use my modified ROM which you will find earlier in this thread, I think theres a good chance it will work (since the G4 cube is as you say very similar to Sawtooth in terms of architecture)

just make sure to use a compatible GPU, the 8.6 ROM is *quite* picky about which GPU's it will load with, I find ATI cards with full ROM's work best

(I was able to boot MacOS 8.6 with my FireGL-X3-X850 XT, I still need/want to try that with the Dual Link DVI port and the AT-DP400 mind but not an NVIDIA FX 5200 for example )


and if you have an upgraded (newer than 7400/7410) CPU then make sure to spoof the CPU PVR accordingly also

 

[msxpocky]

if you use my modified ROM which you will find earlier in this thread, I think theres a good chance it will work (since the G4 cube is as you say very similar to Sawtooth in terms of architecture)

just make sure to use a compatible GPU, the 8.6 ROM is *quite* picky about which GPU's it will load with, I find ATI cards with full ROM's work best

(I was able to boot MacOS 8.6 with my FireGL-X3-X850 XT, I still need/want to try that with the Dual Link DVI port and the AT-DP400 mind but not an NVIDIA FX 5200 for example )


and if you have an upgraded (newer than 7400/7410) CPU then make sure to spoof the CPU PVR accordingly also

I've got a ATI Radeon 7000 currently installed in the Cube but also have the original ATI Rage card the computer came with. Is the 7000 likely to cause issues? Debating digging that card out, though I'm also worried about the machine ID for the Cube being PowerMac5,1 in the System profiler, will the modified ROM still be able to cover that machine ID? I did look through the ROM with a text editor just to check and I didn't see PowerMac5,1 listed, though editing and recompiling that ROM is something I'm not sure how to do

 

[Amethyst1]

[…] I'm also worried about the machine ID for the Cube being PowerMac5,1 in the System profiler, will the modified ROM still be able to cover that machine ID?

The modified ROM doesn’t care about the ID anymore.

 

[macvox]

hello
is this the best thread to ask about running 8.6 on unsupported macs?

i have a fw400 MDD with Geforce2 MX running OS9, and i havent tried the method in this thread yet.

my questions are:

is it correct that i need an HDD on the ATA66 port and no other kind of storage will work for installing and booting? will an IDE-to-SATA adapter work stably?

and

since i will need to tweak openfirmware to use OS 8.6, is it impossible to have a dual-boot system setup (OSs 8.6 and 9)? are there any extra measures to take to make switching between them easier? can they share an HDD or will i need different HDDs or different partitions?

finally if there are any threads or webpages specific to FW400 MDDs and this process could you please post those links?

thank you

 

[DearthnVader]

brew install python pip2
pip install tbxi
tbxi dump /path/to/Mac OS ROM

Give us a dump of the Mac OS ROM used for OS 8.6 on the Sawtooth and we'll see if we can make it work for the Cube.

 

[MacMiniMan]

Hey All,

So I have a 2002 QuickSilver 933MHz, been hitting brick wall after brick wall trying to get 8.6 to work on it, my latest hurdle, I can restore the Sawtooth 8.6 on to the drive, but then it doesn't even show in the startup menu when you hold down command. Any reason this may be? If I select it from 9.2.2 to boot on then do the OF commands, it just goes right back in to 9.2.2.

Any advice is welcomed

 

[DeltaMac]

Quicksilver G4 does not support Mac OS 8.6. The 933 MHz shipped originally with 9.2.2

 

[Amethyst1]

So I have a 2002 QuickSilver 933MHz, been hitting brick wall after brick wall trying to get 8.6 to work on it, my latest hurdle, I can restore the Sawtooth 8.6 on to the drive, but then it doesn't even show in the startup menu when you hold down command. Any reason this may be? If I select it from 9.2.2 to boot on then do the OF commands, it just goes right back in to 9.2.2.

Assuming the image itself is fine and restoring went OK too: Did you try the patched Mac OS ROM? And try connecting the HDD to a different ATA bus (necessary on an MDD so worth giving a try).

Quicksilver G4 does not support Mac OS 8.6. The 933 MHz shipped originally with 9.2.2

Mac OS 8.6 has been booted unofficially on an MDD and that's newer than a QS.