Run OS9 on my eMac?

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Level 1

17 points

Run OS9 on my eMac?

Hello,

I have an old game from back in 1999 that I want to run, but unfortunately my 27" iMac can't run it because it's an Intel one. I tried out an OS9 emulator, but later found out it's not possible to make it run as the emulator doesn't actually emulate the 3D video card.

Alright so I went to my old eMac and tried installing the game in Classic, but sadly it didn't work (by the way, if someone knows why this might be a solution too).

So now I am thinking of installing OS9 on my old eMac. I found a list and of all eMacs there's only two (the two latest ones) on which it seems you can't install OS9. Mine is the 1 Ghz one and it seems like it came with the choice of what you want to install, OS9 or OSX.

Sadly, I bought it used back then. I pressed ALT when booting, but I didn't see any Mac OS9 sign. So I suppose the former owner decided to install OSX as the default system, or he perhaps removed OS9 in case both were installed.

I was thinking of buying an OS9 install disc somewhere on eBay. But people told me that I will have to format the hard drive in order to install it, is that true? I have nowhere to put all these things and I still need them actually.

Thanks for all your answers.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Dec 20, 2012 5:11 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 20, 2012 6:39 AM in response to Anon M

I believe this is your eMac model.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/emac/specs/emac_1.0.html

The spec page says it came with OS 9.2.2 and OS X preinstalled. The OS 9.2.2 is a special version that only came on the discs that came with the eMac. You can't use an OS 9 install disc.

Another consideration. You must have the OS 9 drivers installed on your hard drive. To check, select About This Mac>More Info>Hardware/ATA and see if OS 9 Drivers shows Yes.

Most classic games do not work in classic mode. If booted into OS 9, the game software controls certain aspects of the Mac hardware. However, when booted into OS X and classic mode, the game software can't control the Mac hardware.

If OS 9 is installed on the eMac, it will be in a folder titled "System Software" You can do a search of your hard drive. Also, open your System Preferences window. Does it show a Classic/OS9 icon on the System line?

Your best bet may be to buy an older model iMac for a few $.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

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Answer 2

britny

Level 1

130 points

Dec 20, 2012 2:56 PM in response to Anon M

look on the side of your emac where the ports are and see if you have a modem port. if you do not have one then you have a 2004 education model that cannot run os 9. if it has a modem port then you have a 2003 model that should be able to run os 9. only 1.0ghz emacs were tricky like this.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 20, 2012 4:44 PM in response to britny

Interesting tip, I specifically bout the 1 GHz with the cD only drive just so it could dual boot, but I never could get OS 9 to boot. I'll have to check the Modem port.

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