68kMLA Classic Interface
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| Mac OS 7.6.1 on a Beige G3 | |
Posted by: joshc on 2024-12-19 00:04:50I’m sure I’ve read before that the original Beige G3 was _officially_ 7.6.1 compatible. Maybe it needs a Rev A ROM?I don't think so, I just checked EveryMac and the beige G3s were all released with 8.0. | |
| Posted by: aladds on 2024-12-23 12:42:28 Yes they were all released with 8.0 but I’m sure I read somewhere that 7.6.1 was supported. I will need to keep checking. Anyway, as I said I would try to, I have attempted to boot a fresh install of 7.6.1 (admittedly a 7.6+7.6.1 update) plus Enabler 770 (which Beige G3 8.0 needs) and it does not boot. So more digging required. Or I’m remembering incorrectly! | |
| Posted by: aladds on 2024-12-23 17:10:47 I think perhaps I’m just wrong. Or I read an article which had incorrect information. I’ve found this, which could be interesting but I also realise that the 3400/Kanga are quite similar: | |
| Posted by: croissantking on 2024-12-24 08:39:40 Given that the Gossamer board was in development since early 1997 – the DVT schematics that can be found on @3lectr1cPPC's MacDat website are dated May '97 and that's already revision 5 – prototypes of this board must have run some flavour of Mac OS 7.6. Mac OS 8 was released in July. Equally the Starmax 6000 prototype ran 7.6.1 (according to @Snial - where did you see this mentioned?) and this was architecturally similar to the Gossamer. The Kanga is probably not that useful as a point of comparison as it must have used the older PSX chipset, rather than the Grackle. Did it need an enabler with Mac OS 8? | |
Posted by: Snial on 2024-12-24 12:46:16Equally the Starmax 6000 prototype ran 7.6.1 (according to @Snial - where did you see this mentioned?) and this was architecturally similar to the Gossamer.MacUser UK, 1997-09-19, page 60: “We came across a couple of software incompatibilities which may have been due to CHRP's departure from standard Mac designs. We couldn't boot the machine using the Norton Utilities 3.5 CD, although it did boot from a standard Mac OS 8 CD. We were also unable to run either Connectix's Virtual PC or Insignia's SoftWindows 95. The review unit did come with System 7.6.1 and Mac OS 8 already installed and working, however.” Merry Christmas in the meantime! | |
| Posted by: croissantking on 2024-12-24 15:39:44 Done some digging, and looks like some clone prototypes came with this special CHRP version of Mac OS 7.6:  Maybe it would boot a Beige G3? Not archived sadly. | |
Posted by: Daniël on 2025-01-02 01:40:54Done some digging, and looks like some clone prototypes came with this special CHRP version of Mac OS 7.6: That was from the Motorola StarMax 6000, I believe, which I think did use the Grackle PCI controller. There is a chance it could be made to work on a Beige G3 (I wouldn't be surprised if Gossamer is a direct descendant of whatever they designed for the SM6000), but obtaining that version of Mac OS would be the major issue, of course. | |
| Posted by: finkmac on 2025-01-02 07:27:28 technically the two known CHRP copies of MacOS were from motorola viper dev units. i believe that board was adapted for the starmax 6000 but i can't remember for sure. digging in some old magazine scans on vintageapple.org or archive.org should turn up the truth. | |
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