Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Rumor · Mar 20, 2006, 08:12 PM

It's telling me I cannot write to the system file because it is read only. I'm trying to install 9.2.1 so I can use classic for a couple of apps that require it. Am I doing something wrong?

Rumor · Mar 21, 2006, 04:00 PM

This happens while trying to install off the OS 9 cd and I click the install OS 9 icon.

Chuckit · Mar 21, 2006, 08:04 PM

Are you booted off the OS 9 CD or trying to run from within OS X?

__^^__ · Mar 21, 2006, 09:19 PM

Don't you have to mark the disk for OS9?

msuper69 · Mar 21, 2006, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by __^^__

Don't you have to mark the disk for OS9?

You're thinking about installing OS9 drivers for the disk. Not necessary for Classic.

Rumor · Mar 22, 2006, 11:47 AM

I'm trying to install within OSX.

anthology123 · Mar 22, 2006, 12:34 PM

If you are installing classic on a Sawtooth G4, then you should startup with the CD and install it that way since you can do an OS9 boot on a Sawtooth.

Rumor · Mar 22, 2006, 01:00 PM

That's not going to alter OSX is it? After it's installed, will it be able to switch to Classic from OSX?

anthology123 · Mar 22, 2006, 01:06 PM

Not a problem, both OS9's Control Panels and OSXs System Preferences have the function - Startup Disk - this will allow you to switch between both systems. Make sure you do software update in OS9.2.1 and upgrade to 9.2.2 - that has improved funtionality with OSX.

Rumor · Mar 22, 2006, 03:17 PM

Excellent. I'll do it tonight when I get home.

Rumor · Mar 23, 2006, 12:01 AM

Booting from the cd works a little. It doesn't recognize my hard drive when I do it.

Tryng to install from the cd tries to install to the cd.

Right now I'm trying to make a copy of the OS 9 cd so I can change the system folder on it to REad and Write.

Rumor · Mar 23, 2006, 12:10 AM

That didn't work either, this is what I get.

Rumor · Mar 23, 2006, 12:13 AM

Here is the original problem I get when clicking on the install icon from the OS 9 cd.

Rumor · Mar 24, 2006, 12:29 PM

Bump.

Anyone?

CharlesS · Mar 24, 2006, 02:02 PM

Hmm, maybe you could use Disk Utility to image the CD to a .dmg file, and make the .dmg read/write. Then, you could mount the .dmg and try to use it to start Classic from so that you could install the OS.

Rumor · Mar 24, 2006, 04:15 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Hmm, maybe you could use Disk Utility to image the CD to a .dmg file, and make the .dmg read/write. Then, you could mount the .dmg and try to use it to start Classic from so that you could install the OS.

Tried that and got the message the first image is.

CharlesS · Mar 24, 2006, 05:37 PM

Okay, you say the hard drive isn't recognized when you boot from the OS 9 CD. Do you have the hard drive's jumpers set to Cable Select, by any chance? If you did, that would cause it not to be recognized in OS 9. Setting it to Master would fix the problem (and then you'd have to set the other device on the bus, if there is one, to slave).

Rumor · Mar 24, 2006, 05:38 PM

Hard drive is set at the default it came from the factory as. It's never been touched.

CharlesS · Mar 24, 2006, 06:44 PM

Okay, I suppose that the OS 9 drivers might not be on your internal hard drive, then. That's a bummer, because it means we won't be able to see the hard disk when booted from the OS 9 CD.

Do you have an iPod or some other type of external hard drive around? You could boot from the OS 9 CD, install OS 9 onto the external drive, then boot into OS X and copy the OS 9 System Folder over to your internal hard disk and use it for Classic. You don't need the OS 9 drivers for Classic to work, only to work with the hard disk when booted into OS 9.

Rumor · Mar 24, 2006, 06:48 PM

My roommate has an iPod. How much space do I need?

CharlesS · Mar 24, 2006, 07:12 PM

My Classic System Folder is 273 MB, but it was copied over from my old OS 9 installation that used to be my primary system waaaaaay back in the day, so it has a lot of extra crap in it. You should be able to get by with a lot less than that. The system folder in the "Install OS 9 System Support" metapackage on my iMac install discs is only about 150 MB. Make sure you do the Custom Install, leave out the crap you don't need, including most of the applications and junk - you can install that stuff later from the Classic environment. All you need right now is the System Folder, and it doesn't need to have a lot of the crap extensions and such that are in a default OS 9 install.

The thing, though, if the iPod isn't yours, you need to make sure that it's Mac formatted and has the OS 9 drivers. If it doesn't have the OS 9 drivers, you'll have the same problem as with your hard disk, and if it's PC formatted, I don't know if the resource forks would get screwed up or not, but I'd guess that they probably would.

Rumor · Mar 24, 2006, 11:34 PM

My roommate has an eMac, so it's Mac formatted.

Detrius · Mar 26, 2006, 03:25 AM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

My Classic System Folder is 273 MB, but it was copied over from my old OS 9 installation that used to be my primary system waaaaaay back in the day, so it has a lot of extra crap in it. You should be able to get by with a lot less than that. The system folder in the "Install OS 9 System Support" metapackage on my iMac install discs is only about 150 MB. Make sure you do the Custom Install, leave out the crap you don't need, including most of the applications and junk - you can install that stuff later from the Classic environment. All you need right now is the System Folder, and it doesn't need to have a lot of the crap extensions and such that are in a default OS 9 install.

The thing, though, if the iPod isn't yours, you need to make sure that it's Mac formatted and has the OS 9 drivers. If it doesn't have the OS 9 drivers, you'll have the same problem as with your hard disk, and if it's PC formatted, I don't know if the resource forks would get screwed up or not, but I'd guess that they probably would.

Last I checked, I think OS 9 and OS X handle resource forks differently with respect to PC formatted disks. I recall having clients that had issues with this.

One possible solution in this case is to make a writeable disk image in OS 9, and install the OS on that. The disk image could be housed on the PC volume without corrupting the resource forks.