Q: I need System 7 for use on my Color Classic?
Hello Apple Community -
I've fired up my old Macintosh Color Classic and it has the hard drive but has been completely wiped down to the bones. I need to find the ENTIRE collection of System 7 image files to stick on floppies that my Color Classic can directly boot into.
I've seen a whole bunch, but the only issue is they have to be mounted while already inside the operating system. I need image files I can somehow put onto a floppy and make it so my Color Classic will directly boot into them.
Cheers,
~Nick
iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), No iSight camera, PowerPC G5 2.0GHz
Posted on Dec 7, 2013 7:43 PM
Hello Nick,
You need minimum System 7.1 and a special enabler for the computer in question.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA47341
System 7.5.3 (no enabler required in this case) is available for download from Apple.
http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html#system
(System_7.5.3_01of19.smi.bin ... System_7.5.3_19of19.part.bin)
However, as you apparently have noticed, this is not a conventional floppy-based system, although it is possible to transfer the individual files on 1.44 MB diskettes. The idea is to put all nineteen files on the hard disk, decode the .bin, mount the large disk image and launch the installer.
With a computer with an empty (but properly Mac-formatted) hard disk, you could use a Network Access Disk 7.5 as a startup floppy. If the system folder of the floppy then is drag-copied to the hard disk, you would have a temporary operating system (this would free the floppy drive for subsequent file transfers). The Network Access Disk 7.5 download contains a Disk Copy 4.2-style disk image, which can be handled by Disk Copy 4.2 (the Make A Copy button) or 6.3.3 (the Make a Floppy command under the Utilities menu) on another pre-1998 Mac. Methods for handling such a disk image on a Windows PC and on (at least certain) Mac OS X computers have been described as well.
http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html#util
Jan
Posted on Dec 7, 2013 9:11 PM