ATI Radeon drivers - OS 9

Question

ATI Radeon drivers - OS 9

I have installed an ATI Radeon 7000 PCI, Mac Edition in my PM8500. The drivers that came with the card date to November, 2001. I have installed them, and RAVE acceleration and OpenGL seem to work (I used Tome Viewer to get myself the necessary version of OpenGL from OS 9.2.1). I am aware that there are newer driver releases for this card - one from July 2002, and one from October 2002, which appear to be the latest available.

Any input on whether these later drivers can work OK with OS 9.1 plus OpenGL from 9.2.1? ATI says OS 9.2 is necessary, but could this simply be the need for 9.2.1 OpenGL, which I have?

I have also located a site that has available all ATI drivers for OS 7, 8 and 9 from 1997 to 2005, along with all relevant release notes. AMD is no longer providing any help with anything prior to OS X.

Would it be good considered good form to post the URL here, or should I communicate to needy users in a less public form?

This is pretty much a repeat of an earlier post, for which I used a really cryptic subject line. If I could delete it, I would. I can't. Sorry.

Thank you

PowerMac 8500, Mac OS 9.1.x

Posted on Sep 1, 2009 6:05 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 1, 2009 1:08 PM in response to Gordon Henderson

Would it be good considered good form to post the URL here, or should I communicate to needy users in a less public form?

As long as you believe there is no fraud intended by the website, post any links you like.

Apple owns this site, and if they find something offensive (usually based on readers' complaints) they reserve the right to edit/remove what you have posted. The "Terms of Use" (one page and a half) spell it out:

http://discussions.apple.com/help.jspa#terms

Buying and selling stuff, or activities that compete with Apple's business, are best conducted off line, e.g., by email.

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Answer 2

Sep 2, 2009 12:11 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for the advice on posting the link.

Do you or anyone else no whether I can upgrade my Radeon 7000 drivers to
the July 2002 or October 2002 release without using OS9Helper to upgade the whole system to OS 9.2? I'd prefer not to, if possible.

Here is the link, as promised. I hope it can help someone. All drivers and release notes.

http://gona.atw.hu/ATI_Mac

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Answer 3

Sep 15, 2009 6:57 PM in response to Gordon Henderson

Gordon, here is the packing list from my ATI Drivers 4.5.7 update from 2004. It has compatibility for the Radeon 7000 and runs fine. (I've run this install on other macs with the Radeon 7000, and it's solid)
This was the list from an install on a G3.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 7:18 PM Beginning installation.
ATI Radeon 9200 - OS 9
Type of Install: Easy Install
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI 8500 3D Accelerator
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI Extension
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI Graphics Accelerator
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI Monitor
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI Radeon 3D Accelerator
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI Rage 128 3D Accelerator
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI Resource Manager
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI ROM Xtender
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI Video Accelerator
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:ATI Video Digitizer
Installed Zipporah:System Folder:Extensions:OpenGLRendererATI

Created the Folder: Zipporah:Applications (Mac OS 9):Utilities:ATI Utilities:
Installed ATI Utilities:Icon

Notice that the full install loads ONLY extensions. The created folder at the end of the list only installs an icon, so that's non-essential. You don't NEED to run the installer, just find someone that has this installation set and put them on a pen drive and copy them into your Extensions.

Put the old extensions into an Extensions(Disabled) folder in your System Folder. If there isn't one, make it.

Reboot and everything should work.

Have an OS9 disk you can boot off of if there's problems and that way you can put the original extensions back if you need to.

If you need the extensions, contact me directly and I'll finger out a way to send them to you.

Deb.

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Answer 4

Sep 16, 2009 7:34 AM in response to Deborah Terreson

Thank you for this information. Just for the sake of clarity: Does your reply mean these extensions are _OK under OS 9.1?_

If one tries to run the ATI installer, it SCREAMS that it requires OS 9.2.1.

I have these extensions, as I set up another hard drive and put OS 9.2.2 on it using OS 9 Helper, and pointed the ATI Installer in its direction.

But, I have been timid about trying them under OS 9.1. It would be my intent to simply drag them into my 9.1 system folder, after disabling the old ones.

Thanks again.

Gordon

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Answer 5

Sep 16, 2009 9:41 AM in response to Gordon Henderson

Here's a drag and drop of the ReadMe file that comes with the install..

IMPORTANT INFORMATION for the
ATI OS 9 Mac Software Update

January 2005

The latest updates for all ATI products are available on the ATI web site. Check the site regularly for new driver installations and documentation updates.

This document contains last-minute updates and important information that is not found in the User's Guide or in any addendum accompanying the ATI RADEON Software Installer.

Please finish reading this file before proceeding with the installation.
Contents

Hardware/Software Requirements

* Supported ATI Graphics Cards
* Minimum Requirements: Mac OS 9
* Recommended System Example

Installation Notes

* Component lists and general notes

Release Notes for Mac OS 9

* Fixed in this release

Hardware/Software Requirements
Supported ATI Graphics Cards

Mac OS 9

* RADEON 9200 Mac Edition
* RADEON 9000 Pro Mac Edition
* RADEON 8500 Mac Edition
* RADEON 7000 Mac Edition
* RADEON Mac Edition (AGP & PCI)
* Xclaim VR 128
* Rage Orion
* Nexus 128
* Xclaim VR (Rage II/Pro)
* Xclaim 3D Plus
* Nexus GA
* Xclaim 3D (Rage II/Pro)
* Xclaim GA

This software set also supports most ATI graphics built into many Macintosh models. It is safe to use both a retail product along with an existing built-in product with this single driver set. Please follow the recommended installation procedures to ensure that you do not lose any Apple-specific files.

Minimum Requirements: Mac OS 9

* Power Macintosh computer with AGP or PCI slot (depending on card model)
* Mac OS 9.2.2
* 128MB of System Memory (RAM)
* CD-ROM Drive for CD-based installation (DVD-ROM drive required for DVD playback)
* QuickTime 5

Recommended System Example:

* Power Macintosh G4 (450MHz+)
* 17" or larger Monitor or LCD Panel
* Mac OS 9.2.2
* 256MB or more System Memory (RAM)
* DVD-ROM Drive
* QuickTime 5 or 6 Pro

Installation Notes

The installer will run in Mac OS 9. Double-Click the installer icon and follow the on-screen instructions.

The ATI RADEON Installer contains the following items:

Mac OS 9:

ATI 3D Accelerator
ATI 8500 3D Accelerator
ATI Extension
ATI Graphics Accelerator
ATI Monitor
ATI RADEON 3D Accelerator
ATI Rage 128 3D Accelerator
ATI Resource Manager
ATI ROM Xtender
ATI Video Accelerator
ATI Video Digitizer
OpenGLRendererATI
ATI Displays Control Panel
ATI Help Folder and Files
CarbonLib

The installer will install the above components. Some of these components offer support for other ATI display devices. Not all components may be necessary for proper operation of any specific card. Extensions not being used by your card will not load and may safely be left in your extensions folder. For example, Mac OS 9 ship with extensions for various ATI cards pre-installed.

NOTE: If you already have an existing ATI retail product, do not remove your previously installed ATI files. This installer will overwrite any files that need to be updated. If you remove your existing ATI files, your older ATI product may no longer function as expected. ATI built-in graphics found in many Macintosh models also use a file named "ATI Driver Update" which is not included within this retail installer. Do not remove this file from your system.

You must restart your computer after installation is complete.

top | contents

Release Notes for Mac OS 9 ( 9.2.1 or later required for 3D support )
Fixed in this release
Fixed a bug where RADEON 9000 Pro Mac Edition (128MB VRAM only) would play audio but not show video on Apple DVD Player version 2.7

top | contents

ATI, XCLAIM, Nexus, ImpacTV, RAGE THEATER, RAGE PRO, RAGE 128, RADEON, RADEON 7000, RADEON 8500, and Mac2TV are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies, Inc. QuickTime, QuickDraw, Mac, Mac OS, Mac OS X and Macintosh are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
All other company and/or registered trademarks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers.

Copyright © ATI Technologies Inc., 1996-2002
www.ati.com

*******

One other thing is that this install wants you to have the last version of CarbonLib installed. You can get that from the apple downloads, it's ver.1.6 that you want, and it's fully compatible with 9.1 - I use it on my OS8.6 drive and it doesn't cause any problems.

Out of curiosity, if I may ask, is there any particular reason that you do not want to upgrade to 9.2? I do believe the updates are also available from apple for that.

Deb.

Edited to add: Here's the update page..
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1387?viewlocale=en_US

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Answer 6

K Shaffer

Level 7

34,960 points

Sep 16, 2009 12:24 PM in response to Gordon Henderson

On a nice PM 8500 computer I used to own, the OS9 Helper 9.2 software patch
allowed several other updates or upgrades in software and hardware to work.

With a complete backup of the previous system prior to the patch and upgrade
to OS 9.2.1 and 9.2.2, I ran mine for a few years and then after someone gave
me a lesser machine (in some ways, to my upgraded PowerMac 8500 tower)
in the form of an iMac 400DV, I called a Salvation Army store at the end of the
road and asked the manager if they had shelf space for a complete computer
system and told them what I had; color printer, zip drive, external 56k modem,
speakers, cheap digital camera, keyboard, mouse, software on CD & floppy...

It was sold before I got there with it. And I miss it still, since it did very much
with few resources, compared to some modern configurations.

So, the OS9 Helper from OS9Forever.com is an option; though it has been
awhile now since I had that computer and customized the OS via patch, a
few minor issues that I resolved were worth the effort at the time.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

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Answer 7

Sep 17, 2009 10:38 AM in response to Deborah Terreson

The reason is that OS 9.2 is "officially" not supported on a PowerMac 8500 - it refuses to install. There is, as noted in this thread, a "fooler" called OS 9 Helper, which gets 9.2 onto a PM 8500.

However, I've had a few issues with the 9.2 hack. It mostly works, but I've had to use FireWire extensions from 9.1 to retain Firewire functionality, and Apple System Profiler crashes with a "bomb" symbol every time I run it. Don't know why.

Those are the main reasons I would like to know if there is any chance those ATI extensions work under 9.1. It boots faster, and is "sanctioned".

I already have CarbonLib 1.6, so that's not a big deal. I also have the installers for 9.2.1 and 9.2.2, but would prefer not to go there.

I appreciate the information you've sent. I guess trying to use the newer ATI drivers under 9.1 is a hack too, but I'd be game to try it, if someone has had good luck doing so.

I'm probably asking a question that everybody knew the answer to in 2002!

Gordon

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