Important Question! PLEASE Answer! =(

Question

Important Question! PLEASE Answer! =(

Hello there, I just really wanted to ask a question about OS 9, I need to know badly, this question has been bugging me ever since this happend...

So back in School long ago, one of our old Mac os 9 (iMac G3's) crashed on us, it seemed the HDD had gone bad (flashing disk icon at boot); i tried to see what I could do myself, and I think I pressed a few keys, (maybe even the 'interrupt' button on the side) + restarting a few times... And all of a sudden... WHAM!

Guess what? the iMac went to a gray-command-line screen!
And i mean kinda like the gray-ish background when normally booting a mac...

At this current point I scoff at myself and say: "Mac OS had a Command-line function!? I thought it was all GUI!!"

And I really wanted to know how I did this, can someone please tell me what I did/how to re-create this process?

Is it possible the old 'interrupt' key at boot can cause it to boot to a shell-like mode, possibly? Or is this a Debug kinda feature?

I know you can Boot any newer OS 10.* + Mac into Shell directly by holding down Command + Option + S, but I didn't think older machines like the G3 imac / Macintosh OS 9 even had a Command-line feature in it!

Can someone please tell me what this is?
Is this a conspiracy by Apple?
A hidden feature exposed by curiosity?

Please tell me, someone! I want answers....

Thanks. =)

PPC iMac G3, Bondi Blue, Slot-Loading, Mac OS 9.1.x, Bondi Blue iMac G3, Slot-loading, this thing was from 1998, dude!!!

Posted on Nov 12, 2010 6:28 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Community+ 2026

Level 10

743,477 points

Nov 12, 2010 6:36 PM in response to DanielMacindows

If you press the Option, Command, O, and F keys on most G3 and all G4/G5 Macs at startup, they'll boot to a command line regardless of installed OS. Under some circumstances, this may happen by itself.

(54827)

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Answer 2

Nov 12, 2010 6:58 PM in response to Niel

Yes, thanks for that information, unfortunately, only this happend:

[IMG] http://i56.tinypic.com/vmsm5h.png[/IMG]
😟

EDIT: Whoops, maybe I accidentally pressed the power button by accident, 'interrupting' the operating system... ah well. :P

Double Edit: Actually, i really don't know... After it failed to work, I hit the Power button (I may have still been holding down the cmd+option keys) and hit the power button on the keyboard... hmmm, but that doesn't seem right...

Any help?

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Answer 3

Niel

Community+ 2026

Level 10

743,477 points

Nov 12, 2010 7:00 PM in response to DanielMacindows

Yes, that's what will happen if the interrupt switch is pressed while the computer is booted into Mac OS 9 and MacsBug isn't installed. To get out of either when invoked manually, type g and press the return key.

(54828)

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Answer 4

Nov 12, 2010 7:29 PM in response to Niel

Yes, hello, I'd like to ask Where or how i can install this 'MacsBug' thing?
Thanks, Daniel.

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Answer 5

Nov 12, 2010 8:00 PM in response to DanielMacindows

Oh come on. :/

The download link doesn't even exist on Apple's page anymore...

No Comment

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Answer 6

Nov 13, 2010 5:59 AM in response to DanielMacindows

Download here http://developer.apple.com/tools/debuggers/MacsBug/
More info & link to manual http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacsBug

 Cheers, Tom 😉

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Answer 7

Nov 13, 2010 9:17 AM in response to Texas Mac Man

Hey man, I'm sorry, but that MacsBug link is broken, the Apple download link doesn't exist anymore...

Here's a Pic:
[IMG] http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/8498/screenshot12i.png[/IMG]

/Offtopic: (... Sorry, I know I use Linux.)

I wish; does anybody still have the MacsBug *.smi or hqx file on their HDD they can upload locally? The Apple download link is broken, like I said. 😟

Please help someone...?

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Answer 8

Nov 13, 2010 12:34 PM in response to DanielMacindows

Click on my TMM name at left & send me an email. I'll send you the MacsBug files.

Cheers, Tom 😉

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Answer 9

Nov 13, 2010 5:53 PM in response to DanielMacindows

At this current point I scoff at myself and say: "Mac OS had a Command-line function!? I thought it was all GUI!!"

Macsbug is not a command-line function in the same way Linux or MS-DOS is. It is a very nice debugger that uses impossibly little of the System Resource to dis-assemble, display blocks of memory and change them, set breakpoints, display processor registers, and similar functions.

The other feature Niel alluded to, Open Firmware, is also not a UNIX-like command line interface. It has a few more and a few different features than MacsBug, but is aimed at Hardware abstraction to facilitate configuration, debugging, and booting.

If you want a command line, run Mac OS X and use Terminal. It's UNIX.

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Answer 10

Nov 16, 2010 9:09 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

So technically you are saying mac os (pre/non OSX) Didn't have any command-line-based function?
So Mac OS never really was any command-line OS, or never had any type like that, right? Just a debugging panel for a few Power-PC assembly codes??

What was Mac OS assembled in, anyways? NeXtStep?
Because I know OSX was in BSD lol...

Just wanted to know thanks...

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Answer 11

Nov 17, 2010 10:39 PM in response to DanielMacindows

Hi, Daniel -

So technically you are saying mac os (pre/non OSX) Didn't have any command-line-based function?

That's correct.

The early versions of Windows were overlaid on top of MSDOS. The Mac OS (OS 1 through OS 9), on the other hand, was a direct read - no layers. There is no command line function with OS 9 and earlier.

From the earliest Mac OS the concept was intuitive interaction - you want to copy something to another volume, you do that directly (drag and drop) without having to tell the OS to do it for you. Everything was made visible intentionally - all available volumes, named however you want so you don't need to know their pathname designation; ditto folders; etc. In general, Mac users did not need to even know, much less understand, the concept of a pathname.

Setting up things (the OS, printers, programs) was simplified via control panels and preference functions. With a shallow learning curve most users found they could do a lot of tweaking by judicious enabling and disabling of extensions and control panels, without the need to install/uninstall stuff or to edit a setup file.

On the other hand, Applescript gave the user some control over happenings. Originally very simple, in later versions of the "classic" OS (and with more programs written Applescript-aware) Applescript became quite powerful. For certain things Applescript could be viewed as a command-line inteface, though it really is not.

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