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Breakthrough!

Posted by: CC_333 on 2014-11-29 11:45:52 This photo is real! It's one of my 12" PowerBook G4s running OS 9 for the first time! So far, everything seems operational except video and AirPort (now that OS 9 on unsupported machines is a real possibility, someone has to modify the AirPort drivers to include support for the newer cards). System profiler identifies everything correctly (except for the model, it just lists the identifier, PowerBook6,4). One caveat, however: I have to enter some commands at the OF prompt every time I boot it up, otherwise it just sits at a grey screen indefinitely. WOW! c

Posted by: TheWhiteFalcon on 2014-11-29 11:48:26 Which model is that?

Posted by: CC_333 on 2014-11-29 11:50:59 It's a 2004 PowerBook G4 12" running at 1.33 GHz with 1.25 GB of RAM. c

Posted by: galgot on 2014-11-29 12:03:31 Wow! So you have the fastest powerbook running OS9 ! Congrats 🙂 Do you think it could be doable on a 15" or 17" 1,67Ghz ?

Posted by: CC_333 on 2014-11-29 12:09:06 Don't know. I suppose I'll have to give it a try 🙂 c

Posted by: TheWhiteFalcon on 2014-11-29 12:30:36 This would make my 12" PBG4 more useful than it is with Tiger, lol.

Posted by: CC_333 on 2014-11-29 12:36:14 Well, the A1106 PowerBook G4 with 1.67 GHz processor works, sort of: Except that it keeps bombing out: It's probably something minor, because if it gets this far, it's obviously bootable. I have the full 2 GB of RAM in here, so I have a theory that maybe if I remove some, it'll work. I'll try it and see. c

Posted by: galgot on 2014-11-29 12:45:29 Cool !! Just finished cleaning one A1106 i got recently, with an empty drive. Was wondering watch to install ... Now if you manage to do it, i'll try 🙂

Posted by: CC_333 on 2014-11-29 12:50:31 Well, it's still bombing out, even with 1 GB RAM, so something else must be going on. It's beyond my abilities for the moment, so I'll let it be for now. It should still be possible eventually, though. Check out this thread for the full story (it's a continuation of the same thread here). c

Posted by: uniserver on 2014-11-29 12:52:13 super awesome!

Posted by: TheWhiteFalcon on 2014-11-29 13:09:20 Question is, will it work reliably on slower 15 and 17" models?

Posted by: CC_333 on 2014-11-29 15:18:16 Yes, I think it will: This is an A1052 PowerBook G4 17" with specs similar to the 12" I tested earlier. And something of interest to Hap: Unbeknownst to me, this machine is apparently a DVT prototype (how else can I explain the weird serial number with "DVT" at the end?) The logic board and much of the internals are original, and thus still DVT, but the outer casing has been completely replaced with production parts (which probably reduces it's value somewhat, but oh, well). That explains why it came with a DVT battery, anyway! c

Posted by: Elfen on 2014-11-29 17:23:19 Congrats.

Posted by: Brooklyn on 2014-11-29 19:57:32 What did you do in order to make it work??

Posted by: CC_333 on 2014-11-29 20:33:41 Not much, really. it was iMic over at TC that did most of the work of hacking the Mac OS ROM file and such, I'm simply testing it out on the various machines I have. But basically, I managed to get OS 9 working on an external FireWire drive, and I simply plug it into a given machine, adjust the OF if neccessary, and go to the disk selector to select the OS 9 disk. c

Posted by: CC_333 on 2014-12-01 19:46:25 I was informed that my link to the "main" thread was incorrect: https://www.thinkclassic.org/viewtopic.php?pid=3570#p3570 Sorry for any confusion! c

Posted by: NJRoadfan on 2014-12-03 15:35:20 Hmm, I have a 1.33Ghz 15" 2003 Albook here. I might just give this a shot. 😛

Posted by: SuperToaster on 2014-12-03 18:10:11 May be a fun project to try on my 1.42 GHz iBook G4 this weekend.

Posted by: commodorejohn on 2014-12-03 22:35:25 Now we just need WPA/WPA2 for OS9 wifi and we'd be set 😉

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