Snow Leopard on Unsupported PowerPC Macs

[barracuda156]

I tried taking the BT components listed in the main page from the 10.5.8 Combo into 10A190 without success

In principle, one thing to try would be different combinations of 10.5.8, 10A96 and 10A190 files. It could be the case that not all BT-relevant components are broken in 10A190 and partial replacement may work.

Also, some components retain ppc slices all through 10.6.8, for example, look:

 

[tensixturtle]

In principle, one thing to try would be different combinations of 10.5.8, 10A96 and 10A190 files. It could be the case that not all BT-relevant components are broken in 10A190 and partial replacement may work.

Also, some components retain ppc slices all through 10.6.8, for example, look:

View attachment 1989029

Good idea. I remember that the 10A190 Bluetooth prefernece pane opened up, just no BT hardware was found. Maybe I'll replace that and see if it works. Interesting that they never 100% removed the PPC components by 10.6.8.

 

[B S Magnet]

In principle, one thing to try would be different combinations of 10.5.8, 10A96 and 10A190 files. It could be the case that not all BT-relevant components are broken in 10A190 and partial replacement may work.

Also, some components retain ppc slices all through 10.6.8, for example, look:

View attachment 1989029

Nope, nope… hang on a sec!

Guess what I decided to do today (even with, like, two other active tasks related to this project on queue… the joys of an ADHD brain):

I yanked out the third-party Bluetooth USB dongle which was stuffed inside my Power Mac G5 (on an internal USB port of a third-party PCI-X card), because I wanted to test and make sure that the .pkg/package component I’m preparing for the Clouded Leopard patch has all the parts it needed for getting Bluetooth working in 10A96. In short, I’m trying to check my work for mistakes.

The trouble with this is my 10A96 test Mac has been an A1138 PowerBook with a fatal inability to use the built-in AirPort/BT card (it has a janky, temperamental logic board). This means I’ve been unable to test either, so it’s been up to other folks on this thread reporting how they got each of these services to work

tl;dr:

There were two 10.5.8 Bluetooth kexts — IOBluetoothFamily.kext and IOBluetoothHIDDriver.kext — I failed to include in Table 4 (along with /usr/sbin/blued and /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Bluetooth.menu). Once I added these to my test Mac, using the third-party BT dongle, I got Bluetooth to work definitively:

I will need to do the same checking of my work with AirPort, even though I’m unable to test it. In the meantime, I’ll be updating the WikiPost tonight to account for the missing BT components omitted from Table 4. The above four components, along with 10.5.8 components already listed in Table 4 (see pic below from PackageMaker), should get you up and running.

I apologize for not figuring this out sooner!

 

[tensixturtle]

@B S Magnet, that is excellent news, thank you for finding this out!

I tried it and it has brought me closer in many ways. (the iMac is actually discoverable!) However, I am still stuck with the pref pane issue and BT Setup Assistant and others fail to open. I wonder why. I have tried the pref panes from 10.5.8 as well as 10A096 and 10A190 with no luck...

 

[B S Magnet]

@B S Magnet, that is excellent news, thank you for finding this out!

I tried it and it has brought me closer in many ways. (the imac is actually discoverable!) However, I am still stuck with the pref pane issue and BT Setup Assistant and others fail to open. I wonder why. I have tried the pref panes from 10.5.8 as well as 10A096 and 10A190 with no luck...

View attachment 1989117

I’d do a double-check that every last component here is in place:

…and then, check to make sure ownership/group and RWX permissions for them are all set correctly, before getting rid of/flushing Extensions.mkext and doing a reboot.

 

[tensixturtle]

So sudo chmod -R 0:0 path as well as sudo chmod -R a+rwx path? Or just the latter, as I've been doing?

 

[barracuda156]

In the meantime, I’ll be updating the WikiPost tonight to account for the missing BT components omitted from Table 4. The above four components, along with 10.5.8 components already listed in Table 4 (see pic below from PackageMaker), should get you up and running.

Thank you for the update!

Just to be sure, do you pull components from installed 10.5.8 OS or from 10.5.8 DVD? (Perhaps should not make a difference, but who knows.)

 

[barracuda156]

So sudo chmod -R 0:0 path as well as sudo chmod -R a+rwx path? Or just the latter, as I've been doing?

sudo chmod 755?

 

[B S Magnet]

WikiPost Update for Build 10A190 folks:

At long last, Table 4 now has most of the version numbers added to the 10A190 column. A couple still need to be added in, but for the most part it’s on par with details in the Build 10A96 column.

 

[ChrisCharman]

In principle, one thing to try would be different combinations of 10.5.8, 10A96 and 10A190 files. It could be the case that not all BT-relevant components are broken in 10A190 and partial replacement may work.

Also, some components retain ppc slices all through 10.6.8, for example, look:

View attachment 1989029

I would suggest this as well on 10A190. Replace one file at a time, starting with blued binary and leave the 10A190 other files in place. Test. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes only one or two files will need replacement, other times all of them. It’s also worth pointing out that not every fix for 10A096 directly translates over to 10A190, so you will need to problem solve and be willing to experiment. @vddrnnr managed to get Bluetooth working earlier in the thread and @B S Magnet has provided a link for you in his post regarding the further Bluetooth components that may be necessary to replace.

Good idea. I remember that the 10A190 Bluetooth prefernece pane opened up, just no BT hardware was found. Maybe I'll replace that and see if it works. Interesting that they never 100% removed the PPC components by 10.6.8.

Some PowerPC components were likely left for Rosetta compatibility. Doesn’t mean that they can be copied directly across from later builds in all cases, as they have dependencies that either don’t exist or do but require later versions to include the missing symbols. Things like IOKit and LibSystem for example need to be updated i many cases which is a TODO.

 

[ChrisCharman]

sudo chmod 755?

@tensixturtle

All files that we’re replacing require specific ownership and permissions on a case by case basis. The use of ‘chown’ and ‘chmod’ as super user, if not already familiar to people following along, is fundamental and there are plenty of sources online to explain how and when to use which. Batchmod is a useful tool, as was shared early on in this thread, or you can do so manually on the command line.

I suggest all who new testers wanting to join the project read through at least the first dozen pages of this thread (I know it seems daunting given the volume of posts to date) to get an idea of what has been tried already and how to go about the basics.

The word limit on the Wiki really makes it impossible to include all of the instructions and FAQs that would be needed to cover everything, though @B S Magnet has gone to great lengths to structure it as a springboard to confirmed fixes and findings from contributors.

 

[ChrisCharman]

Thank you for the update!

Just to be sure, do you pull components from installed 10.5.8 OS or from 10.5.8 DVD? (Perhaps should not make a difference, but who knows.)

It makes no difference as long as the components are complete (not delta updates) and permissions and ownership are set correctly.

 

[ChrisCharman]

I can tell you where to obtaining a copy if you want, for Alpine 1A420 & Alpine 4A57. I can't share them for obvs reason. Them are NonUI build though so have SwitchBoard instead of SpringBoard. Actually, SwitchBoard wasn't even a thing and SkankPhone was the user interface but yeah, details, I'm sure you're more interested in all the rest

Perhaps start a new thread with this? It sounds very interesting. If you come across or have access to any additional builds of Snow Leopard please do share here.

 

[ChrisCharman]

If we manage to fix darwinbuild, that could make our life much easier.

We will still need to modify the source code as DarwinBuild will just build the projects as intended, for 10A432_Release.

 

[ChrisCharman]

By the way, the Libsystem here is the one we need rebuild or smth else?

Mac OS X 10.6.8 - Source

You would be better looking at the source code for 10.6.0 not 10.6.8.

 

[barracuda156]

All files that we’re replacing require specific ownership and permissions on a case by case basis. The use of ‘chown’ and ‘chmod’ as super user, if not already familiar to people following along, is fundamental and there are plenty of sources online to explain how and when to use which. Batchmod is a useful tool, as was shared early on in this thread, or you can do so manually on the command line.

Which version do you use on 10A190 btw? I think the last PPC one didn’t work for me, though earlier did.

 

[barracuda156]

You would be better looking at the source code for 10.6.0 not 10.6.8.

I just vaguely recall someone saying there is no source for libSystemB (here or elsewhere).

 

[ChrisCharman]

Which version do you use on 10A190 btw? I think the last PPC one didn’t work for me, though earlier did.

I don’t use Batchmod anymore, i just use the command line, but the version that worked for me under 10A190 is 1.6.3.

I’m unsure who told you that there is no source for LibSystem, but there is. It’s available in the same place as the rest of the AOSP.

Libsystem-123 Source

 

[tensixturtle]

I am still struggling with the Bluetooth. Here's what I tried today:

The second combination (which I did after a clean install) brought things fairly close to working. I used BT Setup Assistant to try to connect to my 2007 MacBook, and it worked up to the point of "Gathering information...", where it got stuck. It showed on the MacBook and iMac that there was a connection in BT, but BT was frozen on the iMac. When I rebooted, I initiated it from the MacBook and it paired (with a code) but did not connect. The iMac froze. After that, anything to do with Bluetooth on the iMac is frozen, even after trying combo 2 and 3. The things I have left as 10A190 include the apps, which all seemed to crash when I pulled them from 10.5.8, and the preference pane which stopped working when I used the 10.5.8 or 10A096 one. I've used chown and chmod for all files. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Also, I'm sorry for holding others up with my questions. I will make sure to review the earlier pages. Thanks for letting me be part of this project; hopefully I will be a bit more useful over time.

 

[ChrisCharman]

I am still struggling with the Bluetooth. Here's what I tried today:

View attachment 1989516

The second combination (which I did after a clean install) brought things fairly close to working. I used BT Setup Assistant to try to connect to my 2007 MacBook, and it worked up to the point of "Gathering information...", where it got stuck. It showed on the MacBook and iMac that there was a connection in BT, but BT was frozen on the iMac. When I rebooted, I initiated it from the MacBook and it paired (with a code) but did not connect. The iMac froze. After that, anything to do with Bluetooth on the iMac is frozen, even after trying combo 2 and 3. The things I have left as 10A190 include the apps, which all seemed to crash when I pulled them from 10.5.8, and the preference pane which stopped working when I used the 10.5.8 or 10A096 one. I've used chown and chmod for all files. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Also, I'm sorry for holding others up with my questions. I will make sure to review the earlier pages. Thanks for letting me be part of this project; hopefully I will be a bit more useful over time.

You don’t owe anyone an apology and your testing is a valuable contribution to the project. It is just as important to know what doesn’t work, as what does and your detailed reporting of your exploration and investigations are exactly what this thread is for.

Can you pull up the console app and review the system logs and crash reporter logs? They are usually very illuminating.

 

[tensixturtle]

This time it doesn't seem too illuminating unfortunately, for me at least. The main event is around 6:39 and 6:40 which is a my major crash event with Bluetooth File Exchange. If I remember correctly, this is my 2nd combination when I tried to connect to the MacBook with BT Setup Assistant and it got stuck. I force-quit it and then opened up BT File Exchange twice to see what would happen; both times it got stuck and crashed. Those are the only two crash reports I can find, and are attached. The crash error seems to relate to memory? but that can mean many things in this case I suppose.

Thanks

 

[tensixturtle]

Oops, I created this extra message. Please ignore. Sorry

 

[ChrisCharman]

This time it doesn't seem too illuminating unfortunately, for me at least. The main event is around 6:39 and 6:40 which is a my major crash event with Bluetooth File Exchange. If I remember correctly, this is my 2nd combination when I tried to connect to the MacBook with BT Setup Assistant and it got stuck. I force-quit it and then opened up BT File Exchange twice to see what would happen; both times it got stuck and crashed. Those are the only two crash reports I can find, and are attached. The crash error seems to relate to memory? but that can mean many things in this case I suppose.

View attachment 1989542
Thanks

Have you tried the IOBluetoothFamily version that came with 10A190 and 10A096?

You need to replace the cupsd and ntpd related binaries, as you have yet to do this.

There is an issue with Appkit in your logs that may be related to your Bluetooth issues - have you tried the 10.5.8 Appkit with the 10.5.8 components you’ve copied over to 10A190?

I’d also suggest removing all cache files and replacing the launchdaemon and launchservices plists with the ones corresponding to the versions you’re testing.

It is also a good idea to update the dyld shared cache after replacing system components, in addition to removing the caches and extensions.mkext.

 

[barracuda156]

It is also a good idea to update the dyld shared cache after replacing system components, in addition to removing the caches and extensions.mkext.

Does that even work in 10A190? I recall we were discussing above dyld processes errors on 10A190, and I don’t think there was any solution.

 

[ChrisCharman]

Does that even work in 10A190? I recall we were discussing above dyld processes errors on 10A190, and I don’t think there was any solution.

Works for me. Perhaps i’ve replaced something and forgotten? I’ll have to check. Can anyone else verify that update_dyld_shared_cache fails to run on vanilla 10A190?