Snow Leopard on Unsupported PowerPC Macs

[Larsvonhier]

No, booting off a FW disk is what I did on eMac, G5 dual, G5 quad and PowerBooks.
That should work with your machine as well. I suspect there is some issue with the script. Have you done it "manually"?
First step to speed things up doing the copies of the kexts by hand is to skip the sub-kext replacements in the end of the script. Just the full kexts, the BootX, and the OSInstall.mpkg - and then (very important) set the permissions right to root-wheel xxx x-x x-x and delete the extensions cache (re-located in 10A190 to subfolder /Cache/Startup).

 

[MarkSokolovsky]

Very much yes, just stumbled into the thread from an external tip-off.

I’ve got several PPC machines id like to test on, a DC G5, and older DP G5, and one of every generation of PM G4 from Yikes through to MDD, as well as one of every Alu PB in 12 and 15in.

A ready to clone DMG would be ace if possible, but if not I’ll try and put some time aside to build from ISO myself at some point, currently got 6 Mac Pro’s in bits on an aftermarket fan replacement project though so might not be for a week or two!

For those on standby: Is there still interest in a fresh installed ready-to-run image? I could create one for i.e. the 10A190 build that takes up where user credentials are entered. If languages are kept to English and only Gutenprint as printer drivers included, size could be kept down at around 5+ GB.
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I would be very interested in this DMG image. I'm currently stumped by a Kernel Panic trying to get it to work.

 

[NikolaPPC]

I think we need to apologize to rabidz7, he was right about SL on PPC the whole time 😂

 

[MarkSokolovsky]

No, booting off a FW disk is what I did on eMac, G5 dual, G5 quad and PowerBooks.
That should work with your machine as well. I suspect there is some issue with the script. Have you done it "manually"?
First step to speed things up doing the copies of the kexts by hand is to skip the sub-kext replacements in the end of the script. Just the full kexts, the BootX, and the OSInstall.mpkg - and then (very important) set the permissions right to root-wheel xxx x-x x-x and delete the extensions cache (re-located in 10A190 to subfolder /Cache/Startup).

I'm at the part where SL finished installing inside Leopard, I attempted some sort of kext rebuild in terminal via "Sudo Chmod".

I modified the scripts only to match the file paths I'm using, and the scripts has no issues running with the exception of not finding the extensions cache.

Looks like this is what I don't know what to do:"and then (very important) set the permissions right to root-wheel xxx x-x x-x and delete the extensions cache"

 

[Larsvonhier]

I'm at the part where SL finished installing inside Leopard, I attempted some sort of kext rebuild in terminal via "Sudo Chmod".

I modified the scripts only to match the file paths I'm using, and the scripts has no issues running with the exception of not finding the extensions cache.

Looks like this is what I don't know what to do:"and then (very important) set the permissions right to root-wheel xxx x-x x-x and delete the extensions cache"

To set the right permissions, I´d suggest to use BatChmod.

And make sure that you you set "ignore ownership" on this volume (-> show info, then unlock and tick/de-tick the checkmark on the bottom of the window).

Otherwise the settings for the permissions won´t stick. Drag & drop works in a convenient way so you can take the whole extensions folder, drop it on BatChmod and then apply the (presumably still correct) permissions of the folder itself to all subsequent files in it.
Also, have you found and deleted the cache, located for 10A190 under
/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext
?

 

[Project Alice]

I've just successfully installed 10A190 on my G5.
Has anyone gotten GPU acceleration working on anything but the 6600? I just installed all of the Geforce kexts from 10.5.8, but they aren't working.

Also, this is most likely a bug in this SL build, but I'm unable to access my file server. It's AFP, and it tells me that I "don't have permission" to access it even though the login is right. It was working fine in 10A96.

 

[Larsvonhier]

[QUOTE="Project Alice, post: 28427807, member: 204563"
Also, this is most likely a bug in this SL build, but I'm unable to access my file server. It's AFP, and it tells me that I "don't have permission" to access it even though the login is right. It was working fine in 10A96.
[/QUOTE]
There are several bugs that seemed to pop up since 10A96:
- If you copy (more than one) file, only the first is transferred correctly, the rest are chunks of bad or 0 byte data
- Volumes that should auto-mount (external drives etc.) only show up on the desktop after issueing "go to folder /Volumes/" command. And they do not disappear when ejected
- finder windows that re-open after a reboot have sometimes contents that you cannot modify, you´ll have to close that window and open it again
- changing between ascending or descending sorting in finder windows has strange effects when open folders are involved in combination with plain files -> close/open whole window helps

So, as long as 10A222 locks out PPC, we might have to combine components from A96 and A190 to get a better experience!

 

[Project Alice]

Also if anyone is wondering, this does not work on a Blue & White G4. At least not yet. It kernel panic'd at boot, same thing Leopard does if you try to boot it without the unsupported patch for PCI macs.
I was hoping it would just boot, it would be really cool to run SL on a B&W lol
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There are several bugs that seemed to pop up since 10A96:
- If you copy (more than one) file, only the first is transferred correctly, the rest are chunks of bad or 0 byte data
- Volumes that should auto-mount (external drives etc.) only show up on the desktop after issueing "go to folder /Volumes/" command. And they do not disappear when ejected
- finder windows that re-open after a reboot have sometimes contents that you cannot modify, you´ll have to close that window and open it again
- changing between ascending or descending sorting in finder windows has strange effects when open folders are involved in combination with plain files -> close/open whole window helps

So, as long as 10A222 locks out PPC, we might have to combine components from A96 and A190 to get a better experience!

I've just been force relaunching finder to plug in a USB flash drive. It's like Finder doesn't refresh when it should be.

 

[weckart]

I've just been force relaunching finder to plug in a USB flash drive. It's like Finder doesn't refresh when it should be.

I've found that too
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Looks like this is what I don't know what to do:"and then (very important) set the permissions right to root-wheel xxx x-x x-x and delete the extensions cache"

If you are doing this on a PPC Mac directly and BatChmod isn't an option, then the magic spell is:

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions

sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions

If you're tired/lazy replace root:wheel with 0:0. It does the same thing.


Don't forget to delete Extensions.mkext before rebooting, as I think this is probably the cause of the kps.

 

[swamprock]

Hi Lars,

We really need to get this or at least a reference ( visible all the time ) in
the PowerPC subforum I suspect that as @amedias a lot of PPC enthusiasts
have not seen this development and that it is "bursting" with promise.

Best regards,
voidRunner

There's a post there, but it really should be headlined with WORKING (with caveats). That would get everyone's attention.

 

[Edgecrusherr]

Hey everyone, I can't really contribute programming wise, so I thought I'd contribute art wise.

I made some custom icons and a wallpaper for this. It's based on the 10.6 beta art from the time, plus a few other sources. I shifted things a little purple to match the more purple wallpaper and box of 10.5, so it's a hybrid of both systems. I made a version of the PPC logo with it too. Also, the snow leopard has an eye patch, not because it's promoting piracy, but because it's a "patched" system (get it??).

Icons are in PSD, so feel free to edit and make your own. Quality is a little rough due to sources I could find online, but should me more than enough on older PPC Macs. All you have to do is copy/paste icons into the icon field under the Info panel of a disk image or files/folders.

Preview attached, but link included to the ZIP file uploaded to my Google drive.

Snow Leopard PPC Icons.zip

drive.google.com

Thanks again to everyone working on this!

 

[vddrnnr]

Hi guys and @Larsvonhier,

I've been taking a closer look comparing ioregistry from 10.5 and 10.6 for
Radeon 9700.
From what I could gather it's the OpenGL part that does not kick in when the Radeon kext
is loaded,
I'm posting the two ioreg outputs ( the radeon part ) for analysis.

And now I have really good news: I've found the Framework responsible for
the distorted images while trying to find out why no OpenGL

Inside the ApplicationServices framework there are a bunch of other sub framworks
one is called ImageIO ( go figure ) it called my attention and I replaced it with the Leopard
one and IT's FIXED.

So all you need tto do is replace it and you're set for "clean looking" graphics everywhere.

Best regards,
voidRunner

 

[MarkSokolovsky]

No, booting off a FW disk is what I did on eMac, G5 dual, G5 quad and PowerBooks.
That should work with your machine as well. I suspect there is some issue with the script. Have you done it "manually"?
First step to speed things up doing the copies of the kexts by hand is to skip the sub-kext replacements in the end of the script. Just the full kexts, the BootX, and the OSInstall.mpkg - and then (very important) set the permissions right to root-wheel xxx x-x x-x and delete the extensions cache (re-located in 10A190 to subfolder /Cache/Startup).

I attempted to fix permissions by using Get Info >

I've just successfully installed 10A190 on my G5.
Has anyone gotten GPU acceleration working on anything but the 6600? I just installed all of the Geforce kexts from 10.5.8, but they aren't working.

Also, this is most likely a bug in this SL build, but I'm unable to access my file server. It's AFP, and it tells me that I "don't have permission" to access it even though the login is right. It was working fine in 10A96.

What have you done differently that I haven't?

1: I downloaded the 10A190 ISO and copied it to a partition on an external HDD - External HDD is a 500GB HDD via FW400 on a Mac Pro 3,1 (not the one I have running Mojave, a different one)
2: Used the script to replace kext files, only modifying script to match directory.
3: Ext. drive config/partitioning: 25GB for the Snow Leopard installation image, and the 475GB for the installation. Am booted into Mojave on my Mac Pro 3,1 using BatCHmod to fix permissions in extensions folder on install drive prior to installing on desktop on DP 2.0.
4: Once the install finishes I patch the extensions using the post install script, modifying only to change the directory
5: plug the 3,1 back into the Mojave 3,1 to use batchmod once again to fix permissions, this time on the installed drive.
6: Plug the 3,1 external HDD into the DP 2.0 G5, reboot into the installed drive, and this happens.

Note: The cache kext that's supposed to be removed at the very end is missing from the folder. There is nothing to delete.

 

[vddrnnr]

Hi guys,

After doing some more tests with the new ImageIO framework in place
it feels non QE/CI graphics are a bit "smoother" and with lower cpu usage.
Can you "check it"?

Best regards,
voidRunner

 

[HubertPluskota]

I have a similar error. Maybe the best thing to do is to provide a ready-made pathed system image? Then you will just have to transfer it to a USB/ FIREWIRE disk and install it on old Mac. You won't have to use the patcher and it will eliminate the problem (more people will manage it). I'm sorry for language mistakes, but I'm from Poland and I don't quite understand English (I think you can understand everything).

 

[B S Magnet]

Hey everyone, I can't really contribute programming wise, so I thought I'd contribute art wise.

I made some custom icons and a wallpaper for this. It's based on the 10.6 beta art from the time, plus a few other sources. I shifted things a little purple to match the more purple wallpaper and box of 10.5, so it's a hybrid of both systems. I made a version of the PPC logo with it too. Also, the snow leopard has an eye patch, not because it's promoting piracy, but because it's a "patched" system (get it??).

Icons are in PSD, so feel free to edit and make your own. Quality is a little rough due to sources I could find online, but should me more than enough on older PPC Macs. All you have to do is copy/paste icons into the icon field under the Info panel of a disk image or files/folders.

Preview attached, but link included to the ZIP file uploaded to my Google drive.

Snow Leopard PPC Icons.zip

drive.google.com

Thanks again to everyone working on this!

View attachment 911574

That poor cat has no depth perception. 😭

 

[Project Alice]

Okay so -
After my failed attempt to patch 10A190 to boot on my B&W G4, it would no longer boot on my G5. It would load up the gray apple, but no wheel and it would sit there.
So I just reinstalled. After reinstalling, following the same steps I took before for a working installation I get the same KP as these two.
I wiped it and installed again, this time trying the new patcher instead of the other one/manually copying files.
After running @0403979 's new patcher, the volume no longer shows up as bootable at all on the G5. Not really sure why as everything looks like it is there.

 

[B S Magnet]

Hi guys and @Larsvonhier,

I've been taking a closer look comparing ioregistry from 10.5 and 10.6 for
Radeon 9700.
From what I could gather it's the OpenGL part that does not kick in when the Radeon kext
is loaded,
I'm posting the two ioreg outputs ( the radeon part ) for analysis.

And now I have really good news: I've found the Framework responsible for
the distorted images while trying to find out why no OpenGL

Inside the ApplicationServices framework there are a bunch of other sub framworks
one is called ImageIO ( go figure ) it called my attention and I replaced it with the Leopard
one and IT's FIXED.

So all you need tto do is replace it and you're set for "clean looking" graphics everywhere.

Best regards,
voidRunner

Interesting!

I was literally in the middle of following the trail of a verbose boot message which caught my attention — “com.apple.ATIRadeon9700 has immediate dependencies on com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi; use only one style” — when I decided to take a break and see if anything new had come up.

Following the sub-framework swap to Leopard, I now see QuartzGL is now supported, though QuartzExtreme is still not supported and CoreImage is still software-based. On the upside: user avatars on here are no longer blocky, though the default desktop background (the Leopard aurora) is still blocky.

Nice find! Thank you! Heading back into this to figure out the reason for the above message.

 

[Project Alice]

I'm back in buisness, after about 4 unsuccessful installs I got it to boot again. I imaged it this time so if I screw it up again it'll be faster.

Interesting!

I was literally in the middle of following the trail of a verbose boot message which caught my attention — “com.apple.ATIRadeon9700 has immediate dependencies on com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi; use only one style” — when I decided to take a break and see if anything new had come up.

Following the sub-framework swap to Leopard, I now see QuartzGL is now supported, though QuartzExtreme is still not supported and CoreImage is still software-based. On the upside: user avatars on here are no longer blocky, though the default desktop background (the Leopard aurora) is still blocky.

Nice find! Thank you! Heading back into this to figure out the reason for the above message.

I enabled QuartzGL with OSX86 but I can't tell a difference. I really hope we can get QE/CI to work, this OS is basically useless without it. I installed all of Geforce and ATI kexts from 10.5.8 but still no acceleration on the GF6800 or the Radeon 9700.
I changed the wallpaper to Snow Leopard's release Aurora and it isn't blocky. I feel like the default image in this build is just blocky lol

 

[B S Magnet]

I enabled QuartzGL with OSX86 but I can't tell a difference. I really hope we can get QE/CI to work, this OS is basically useless without it. I installed all of Geforce and ATI kexts from 10.5.8 but still no acceleration on the GF6800 or the Radeon 9700.
I changed the wallpaper to Snow Leopard's release Aurora and it isn't blocky. I feel like the default image in this build is just blocky lol

Check post #63 and the second image I added on there when using OSX86 to try to toggle QE/CI.

I’ll move the background images from my usual SL box over to the DLSD and continue to tinker for a bit. I’m still on 10A96 for now.

 

[Project Alice]

Doesn’t boot on a 1.5Ghz Mac Mini. It displays the “you need to restart” image before even showing the apple logo.
Verbose boots to here and hangs

This is the same working installation that I booted on two other systems.

 

[B S Magnet]

Doesn’t boot on a 1.5Ghz Mac Mini. It displays the “you need to restart” image before even showing the apple logo.
Verbose boots to here and hangs
View attachment 911655
This is the same working installation that I booted on two other systems.

This appears to be 10A190. Have you also tested 10A96 on this?

 

[weckart]

Retried on an external FW drive to my PB 5,9. Moved all kexts manually and set permissions accordingly. Checked for Extensions.mkext, which hadn't been generated and restarted with a Cmd+F to force a reload of all kexts. Still got the same KP. Might try 10A96 later.

 

[vddrnnr]

Hi B S M,

For the desktop you have to "re-select" a desktop wallpaper for some
reason SL caches the one you already have.
To me it happened the same and I thought it didn't make any sense because
everywhere where pictures were distorted it was fine but the desktop ( not on the login window )
it was stiill weird.
Just select another one and the one you are using right now and it should be fine

PS. The message you found while booting is "normal" it's just a warning.
I till think the problem liies on OpenGL.framework which depends on
the ApplicationServices.framework which then relies on the sub-framework
CoreGraphics.framework.

Best regards,
voidRunner
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Hi Project,

For the 6800 is the Geforce kext being loaded?
If not then the problem might be in the Info.plist product ids not recognizing the
ones from the 6800 or even inside the binary itself.
In many cases to install a "hackintosh" product ids had to be "injected" so the kexts
would recognize them properly. Maybe for Geforces that can be the case because
if the 6600 works than the code is there ( it's the same family ) so I think
it just need some tinkering.

PS. Can you post your 6880 PID and VID so I can take a look?

Best regards,
voidRunner

 

[Larsvonhier]

Here comes the Fresh Install (tm) dmg for 10A190.
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I like the cat, and the original Macintosh ´84 team would have also I´m sure. As long as it has no C19-mask nowadays ;-)
Thanks @Edgecrusherr !