• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Advice on restoring a Dual G4

Well so I guess the question here is did bundled macs come with anything interesting pre-loaded the way PCs of the era did? Like the restore CD from my eTower 433i is more than just a base windows install + drivers. I think its really interesting to experience what these classic machines are like "out of the box".
 
By the time of the G4, Apple had largely gotten away from shovelware being included on their machines.

It wasn't like the mid 90s where they literally released a dozen different model numbers of the same machine that only differentiated between included software bundles, and which retailer was selling them. It was a scam so that the retailers could say "we're selling this machine at the lowest price anywhere" - because it was a damned retailer specific machine, and only that retailer had that specific model.

What you got was a machine specific restore disc, and it restored just Mac OS X. If you bought any additional software, you installed it with different media.
 
Well I finally got back to work on this project.

First off - OSX does NOT by any measure include an OS 9 "classic" install as part of the default installation routine. I just did a full wipe and reload using a Power PC disk from Archive.org, and no I still don't have Classic installed.

According to the "help" system(Apple help is notably better than windows, props), I need to either boot from the OS 9 CD or insert the "Additional Software & Apple Hardware Test" disc that came with my computer. Since I bought mine in a thrift store it obviously did not come with one of these.

Any suggestions on where this ISO can be found?
 
First off - OSX does NOT by any measure include an OS 9 "classic" install as part of the default installation routine. I just did a full wipe and reload using a Power PC disk from Archive.org, and no I still don't have Classic installed.
Click to expand...

Let me be slightly pedantic here just in case what I wrote in https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/advice-on-restoring-a-dual-g4.1246767/post-1366392 wasn't clear enough, but the distinction is important: the Classic Environment is the part of OS X that can boot OS 9 in virtualization. That definitely comes with 10.4 (but not any later version, and only on PowerPC Macintoshes). Since you installed Tiger on a G4, then I guarantee you you have Classic.

What you don't have is an OS 9 system folder it can boot. The one Unknown_K gave you should have that, or you can get it from the NetBoot link I provided you in that previous post.
 
I think the only thing unique to the system install disc versus retail is that after it installs MacOS 9 or X, it will set a custom color profile and desktop picture to match the computer.

For example, if you had a Tangerine iMac, it'd set a tangerine colored desktop picture and use a tangerine color scheme for the windows and menus. For the G4 towers, it's a silvery bluish desktop picture and bluish window & menus.

There were a handful of post-Performa Macs that came with small bundles. Usually "Educational" bundles for schools, but I believe the iMacs and PowerBook G4s could come bundled with games and software. Nanosaur, Cro-Mag Rally, 3D Marble Blast, etc. A few came bundled with Omni software like Omniweb or OmniPlanner. I know that at least one model of the iBook G4 came bundled with Comics Creator, but it may have been education only.
 
Last edited:
ClassicHasClass said:
Let me be slightly pedantic here just in case what I wrote in https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/advice-on-restoring-a-dual-g4.1246767/post-1366392 wasn't clear enough, but the distinction is important: the Classic Environment is the part of OS X that can boot OS 9 in virtualization. That definitely comes with 10.4 (but not any later version, and only on PowerPC Macintoshes). Since you installed Tiger on a G4, then I guarantee you you have Classic.

What you don't have is an OS 9 system folder it can boot. The one Unknown_K gave you should have that, or you can get it from the NetBoot link I provided you in that previous post.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the pedantism. I more or less understood this on some level since thats what the mac was telling me, but the clarity helps.

Again: total mac newb over here, I appreciate the patience.
 
Dumb question but why can't I install it off of my OS 9.2 CD? I see I can download a readymade folder but I have the 9.2.2 disk burned.
 
You should be able to install off a MacOS 9 CD. It's been so long, though, I'm trying to remember the process. Problem is that I don't recall if there's an extra step to install MacOS 9 compatibility when installing OS X before installing MacOS 9. In the past, I had found it easiest to install MacOS 9 first, then install OS X. I also partitioned the drive into two partitions with separate installs so I can easily swap between OSes just by holding down the Option key.
 
My dumb question: Did you try booting off the CD and installing MacOS 9 directly to the hard drive where OS X is installed?
 
olePigeon said:
My dumb question: Did you try booting off the CD and installing MacOS 9 directly to the hard drive where OS X is installed?
Click to expand...
I in fact did! I managed to make it work once and it gave me some kind of an error. Every time I tried after I couldn't get it to boot. I think its not playing well with my keyboard. Either that or you have to be holding down C at the time you touch the power button, which means I need a second person.
 
I generally Just stick another HD into my G4's and install OS9.2 onto it and keep OSX on its own drive. You should have plenty of room for another HD.
 
Unknown_K said:
I generally Just stick another HD into my G4's and install OS9.2 onto it and keep OSX on its own drive. You should have plenty of room for another HD.
Click to expand...
There is space.

The machine is also so sluggish that I suspect the HDD that's in there is not in great shape. Tell me, will the G4 benefit from having the hard disk replaced by a CF card, or is it anything like XP where it just needs a faster interface than CF can manage?
 
ATA/66 is fine for IDE drives, just use a newer drive that saturates the 66MBs interface. Anything you connect to the ATA/66 is going to be 66MBs or slower and older CF might not even do 20MBs.

Early Apple IDE drives are just slow.

You can get a ATA/100 PCI card with Apple ROM or the harder to find Sonnet SATA PCI cards but you are still stuck going over the PCI bus so it will be 100MBs tops unless you have other cards on the shared bus.
 
I guess it can't hurt to give it a whirl. I'll start untying the earthquake straps.

I like the notion of making it dual-boot if for no other reason than because I'm bored :p
 
I have tons of software from the classic mac era and OS 9 flies on a G4 machine that natively boots it.

Converted both of my Sawtooth G4's to dual G4-500's so I can use OSX (seems to run better with dual CPU) and OS9.
 
Unknown_K said:
I have tons of software from the classic mac era and OS 9 flies on a G4 machine that natively boots it.

Converted both of my Sawtooth G4's to dual G4-500's so I can use OSX (seems to run better with dual CPU) and OS9.
Click to expand...
Can you just convert any G4 to DP, or does it have to start off with a dual CPU motherboard?
 
It depends.

On the sawtooth you needed a specific revision board to take dual CPU (all dual G4's are on a single card that interfaces with the same single connector). The following models had single and dual CPU options I think, plus after market upgrades (except for the MDD).

The Original G4 tower was just a G3 with firmware to take a G4 ZIFF, you were stuck with just PCI video on that one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top