| Click here to select a new forum. |
| Has anyone been able to install MacOS 8.6 or 9.2.2 on a Mac II or Quadra with a PowerPC upgrade card? |
If so, just wondering what the process was.
I recently picked up a DayStar PowerPC 100Mhz card for Mac IIci.
I use a ZuluSCSI on that computer.
I was able to boot the Apple Legacy Recovery CD ISO via the ZuluSCSI and install Mac OS 7.6.1 and 8.1 on separate drive images on the ZuluSCSI.
I'm wondering how to install Mac OS 8.6 and 9.2.2.
I've seen a few "toast" and "img" files posted online that contain newer Apple OS Recovery CDs. I haven't been able to get those images working with my ZuluSCSI. There's a process of coverting toast files to ISO. The ZuluSCSI "sees" the drive image but thinks there is no partition. Same goes for the IMG version of the image that's available.
Would I have to use a physical CD drive to install these? Or is it a compatibility issue with the IIci?
Posted by: schmosef on 2025-04-27 22:04:57 |
I got Mac OS 8.1 installed & running on to my IIfx but that did involve editting files with ResEdit as well as using a Gestalt-masking utility.
You will have to fool the Mac OS installer that your IIci is a PPC from Apple.
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2025-04-27 23:01:42 |
8.1 is easy, since it still contains all the 68k code to run on a 68030 or 68040. The CPU restrictions are software-based and artificial.
9+ is another story. Fooling the installer is the least of your worries... I haven’t even been able to get 9.2.2 to run on a 1400cs/133 or 6300/120, which are both native “G2” PPC machines from Apple. You can fool the installer via various means, but it will crash during boot with a bus error or similar.
You might be able to get 8.5 or 8.6 to run on it, but it’d probably be too slow for your liking.
Posted by: nathall on 2025-04-27 23:23:52 |
I have 8.6 in a partition on my Quadra with a PowerPC card. Besides glacial boot times, it honestly doesn't run much worse than 8.1.
To get it on there you have to jump through a bunch of hoops with the Sonnet Presto enabler. Not sure that was ever supported for a Iici though.
I've read claims 9.1 works, but I'm not sure how they've done it because it certainly doesn't for me.
Posted by: eharmon on 2025-04-28 00:49:23 |
Thanks for the replies.
I was hoping 8.6 or 9.2.2 would detect the PowerPC card the way 8.1 did and "just work".
I'm not interested in hacking the installer so I'll just leave it at 7.6.1 and 8.1 and use 8.6 and 9.2.2 on my slightly newer PowerMacs.
Posted by: schmosef on 2025-04-28 02:04:32 |
I’d love to see a 601 upgraded IIci running OS 9.1. IIRC this is either tricky or impossible to do, for some reason.
Posted by: croissantking on 2025-04-28 11:38:46 |
I’d love to see a 601 upgraded IIci running OS 9.1. IIRC this is either tricky or impossible to do, for some reason. That would be one slow OS 9 machine.
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2025-04-28 13:35:14 |
My Quadra 950 with 100mhz PPC card runs 8.6 like a champ. I needed to use the "Wish I were" extension to trick the 8.6 installer by setting it to PM 6100.
Posted by: falecore on 2025-04-28 19:16:03 |
I needed to use the "Wish I were" extension to trick the 8.6 installer by setting it to PM 6100.
I'm going to try this at some point but I'm happy to run 7.6.1 and 8.1 on that machine.
Posted by: schmosef on 2025-04-29 02:59:21 |
If you're really wanting to try OS 9, aim for 9.0.4 -- the move from 9.0.4 to 9.1 stripped a bunch of hardware code, so you actually have to have the right hardware, not just CPU, for it to work. This was done again in 9.2, so there are some machines (and accelerators) that work with 9.1 that won't run 9.2+.
But 9.0.4 isn't all that different from 8.6, so if you can get something to run on 8.6, it should theoretically work on 9.0.4 too.
Posted by: adespoton on 2025-04-30 12:09:50 |
That would be one slow OS 9 machine. It would, but it would be interesting to see just for quirkiness.
Posted by: croissantking on 2025-04-30 14:39:47 |
I haven’t even been able to get 9.2.2 to run on a 1400cs/133 or 6300/120 1400 tops out at 9.1, I have that running nicely on my 1400c/G3. From what I've seen, all 603e machines have that same 9.1 ceiling?
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2025-04-30 19:40:33 |
It would, but it would be interesting to see just for quirkiness. Yes, it would be cool to see it work and take a snapshot, but any native OS 9 machines would blow it away and I am sure we all have at least one of those.
I remember stuffing 384MB of RAM into one of my Q950 machines (256MB of 16MB 30 pin SIMMs and 128MB on the Daystar 601-80 card) just to do it. After mucking around, I removed half the 30 pin RAM since I was never going to use it and kept it for other machines.
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2025-04-30 20:21:31 |
1400 tops out at 9.1, I have that running nicely on my 1400c/G3. From what I've seen, all 603e machines have that same 9.1 ceiling?
Is that what it is? I’ve kinda wondered what the hang up was, I guess that makes a lot of sense.
Posted by: nathall on 2025-04-30 20:59:47 |
1400 tops out at 9.1, I have that running nicely on my 1400c/G3. From what I've seen, all 603e machines have that same 9.1 ceiling? Is that what it is? I’ve kinda wondered what the hang up was, I guess that makes a lot of sense. AFAIK 9.2 truly removed pre-G3 support.
Posted by: eharmon on 2025-04-30 21:26:43 |
If you're really wanting to try OS 9, aim for 9.0.4 -- the move from 9.0.4 to 9.1 stripped a bunch of hardware code, so you actually have to have the right hardware, not just CPU, for it to work. This was done again in 9.2, so there are some machines (and accelerators) that work with 9.1 that won't run 9.2+.
But 9.0.4 isn't all that different from 8.6, so if you can get something to run on 8.6, it should theoretically work on 9.0.4 too.
Thanks for the tip. I'll keep it in mind.
Posted by: schmosef on 2025-04-30 21:50:03 |
AFAIK 9.2 truly removed pre-G3 support.
Well that can’t be right, I installed 9.2.2 on my 8500 when it still had the stock CPU.
Posted by: nathall on 2025-04-30 21:51:18 |
Well that can’t be right, I installed 9.2.2 on my 8500 when it still had the stock CPU. Huh, I'm aware of third party patches that add pre-G3 support for PCI Macs, but I think it always requires hacks.
Posted by: eharmon on 2025-04-30 22:08:56 |
It’s been so long now, you might be right. I don’t recall that, but it’s certainly possible.
Posted by: nathall on 2025-04-30 22:11:20 |
It’s been so long now, you might be right. I don’t recall that, but it’s certainly possible. I used OS 9 Helper to get 9.2.2 to boot on my Power Mac 8600.
https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/os9-helper-dead.25624/
Posted by: joevt on 2025-05-01 04:12:29 |