Where can I get Mac OS X & 9 Install Discs 1&2 for 2006 PB G4 (5,8)?

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Level 1

16 points

Where can I get Mac OS X & 9 Install Discs 1&2 for 2006 PB G4 (5,8)?

Trying to resurrect my old 2006 Powerbook G4 5,8 15 in DoubleLayer SD. It boots up on Leopard OS X 10.5.8 but does not have OS 9 Classic installed. I would like to re-install OS 9 Classic. Need the orginal Mac Install discs 1 & 2 for this PB G4 to do it. It came with Mac OS X 10.4.2 (8E45).

Does anyone still have them? I would be willing to pay a reasonable amount to get them.

Note: This was the last Powerbook G4 made. It has all of the I/O ports that one could ask for. These are no longer available even on the iMac or Mac Pros:

Bluetooth: Built-in Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

USB: 2 - 480 MBit/s

FireWire: 1 - 400 MBit/s, 1 - 800 MBit/s (14W total power)

Display: dual-link DVI and S-video (VGA and Composite with adapter)

Audio In: 1 - 3.5-mm analog/optical combo jack, Built-in microphone

Audio Out: 1 - 3.5-mm analog/optical combo jack, Built-in speakers

Slots: Single Type I or II (CardBus compliant)

CD/DVD: 8x SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

Trackpad: Solid-state trackpad supports tap, double-tap, drag and scrolling

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8), last PB G4(5,8) 2006, ALL I/O ports

Posted on Jul 29, 2018 10:22 AM

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Answer 1

macnicol Author

Level 1

16 points

Jul 29, 2018 12:31 PM in response to MacOS9

Thank you for your reply. I don't want to boot into OS 9, just run OS 9 Classic.

According to the User Manual for this Powerbook it does support OS 9 Classic:

Installing Mac OS 9

Your PowerBook does not come with Mac OS 9 installed. To use Mac OS 9 applications

with your computer, you must install Mac OS 9 support for running the Classic

environment using the Mac OS X Install Disc 2.

Follow these steps to install Mac OS 9:

1 Back up your essential files.

2 Make sure your power adapter is plugged in.

3 Insert the Mac OS X Install Disc 2 that came with your computer.

4 Double-click Install Mac OS 9 System Support.

5 Follow the onscreen instructions.

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Answer 2

K Shaffer

Level 8

36,070 points

Jul 29, 2018 3:29 PM in response to macnicol

In a previous life, I was able to use a drag-dropped older Mac OS9.2.2 & earlier 'classic'

system (from another mac I have, but misplaced original installer) and was able to use

the copy to run Classic under an OS X single-boot in later hardware PPC Mac.

Several original OS9 applications if present, don't really do much most of the time.

So a working dual-boot Mac or one with a Classic OS9 system folder present, is

a likely candidate for this kind of experiment.

There are some less practical side effects in the use of 'Classic under OS X' instead

of the fuller Mac OS 9.2.2 ~ where it can be actually installed and run free w/o OS X.

Older hardware, with spare parts (ATA/IDE HDDs, memory chips, graphic cards, etc)

plus full installation media (and spare or 'work duplicate' software) as those wear

or age-fail in storage; are good ideas if you need to reliably use official OS 9.2.x.

My mid-2005 iBook G4 12-in 1.33GHz last model shipped with Tiger 10.4.3 on DVD

and was able to restore its original OS X w/discs ~ from Leopard 10.5.8 back to Tiger.

These discs had not seen use or wear, but the media itself seemed to partially fail.

Luckily I had other duplicate applications and also had success with Pacifist utility.

Helps to have a full bootable system clone in external FW enclosure for PPC mac.

Other older 'orphaned install-disc media' from that generation can be used to retain

the otherwise missing original function in most the hardware out there. I used eMac

G4 install discs to upgrade G3 first-edition iBook (May 2001) ultimately to Tiger 10.4.

The eMac disc kit included OS 9, and Panther 10.3.x

Some vintage users may still be associated with a local Apple User Group in your region.

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Answer 3

Jul 31, 2018 7:08 PM in response to macnicol

I had a similar situation with my old G4 MDD, although the computer could boot into OS 9, there was not a bootable OS 9 System installation media provided with the computer. The computer shipped with 10.2 OS X media, and you had to install OS X 10.2 first. Then when you were booted from that system you could run the OS X System Restore.app that would install the OS 9 System Folder, and OS 9 apps, while you were running 10.2. This System Restore.app would not run under later versions of OS X, 10.3, 10.4, or 10.5.

You have to use System Preferences: Classic to tell OS X where the OS 9 System Folder is located for Classic to use.

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Answer 4

MacOS9

Level 2

416 points

Jul 29, 2018 11:16 AM in response to macnicol

Are you sure you can install OS 9 on a 2006 Powerbook? Because it shipped with OS X, it did not come with reinstall discs for OS 9 (or at least your specific model). For that reason it is not possible to reset it to OS 9. You may be able to dual boot OS 9 and OS X though, but I'm not sure how that works.

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Answer 5

MacOS9

Level 2

416 points

Jul 29, 2018 1:55 PM in response to macnicol

Sorry about that it appears I was wrong.

I'm sure somebody on eBay would be selling the discs you are looking for.

Maybe this link will help you: Apple MAC 0S X 10.4.4 Tiger & OS 9 Install Software CDs for G5 2006—3 CDs | eBay

I'm not sure if those are the proper discs for you computer though. You can always search around, I'm sure someone is selling them.

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Answer 6

macnicol Author

Level 1

16 points

Jul 29, 2018 12:43 PM in response to macnicol

Alternatively,cananyone can provide a disc image file, dmg, for the Mac OS Disk 2?

I have a copy of the System and Applications folders from the oneof the last backups of the PB, but copying it onto the hard drive does not activate the Classic interface. What do I need to do to activate it?

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Where can I get Mac OS X & 9 Install Discs 1&2 for 2006 PB G4 (5,8)?

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