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| Author | System 7 natively boots on the Mac mini G4! (Read 5448 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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cballero
1024 MB  Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever 
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Reply #15 on: December 01, 2025, 18:50
Here's the MG mirror with Rairii's "Super" ROMs (thanks Jatoba!) plus an IA link to just the ROM sets and source code for any of us using older web browsers to access them 
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Last Edit: December 01, 2025, 18:52 by cballero
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023
Reply #16 on: December 02, 2025, 16:29
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Man, why is it that every time I'm getting super busy and hardly have the time to check in here and elsewhere some new and exciting development happens? :-D Quote from: Jatoba Step 4. There is no step 4 I got the reference. Made me chuckle. Thanks :-) Same for your very detailed and highly interesting post! I'm hesitating to wipe + install it onto my Mac Mini G4 1.25 Ghz though. I cross fingers that some of the shortcomings can be fixed. If this will turn New World ROM Macs into 7.6.1 machine, it'll be a dream come true! We need an easy installer to get folks to install it much like the OS 9 on Mac Mini one. I need to check out the other threads and see what people are posting ...
Last Edit: December 02, 2025, 16:40 by Bolkonskij
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Jatoba
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256 MB Posts: 270 System 9 Newcomer!
Reply #17 on: December 02, 2025, 19:25
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Quote from: Bolkonskij We need an easy installer to get folks to install it much like the OS 9 on Mac Mini one. I really would like to see this done, as well. With more time, I'd definitely try it myself. But to even begin that process, I wonder what is the very latest of every Extension and Control Panel that each Mac OS version can take. We have an idea for the likes of Mac OS 8.6 ~ 9.2.2 as per MacTron's screenshot I put in the first post, but what about the other OS versions? Do we have a nice list like that for Mac OS 7.6.1? Then we would have to do the same for the rest so we have a complete list like that, from System 7.5 to Mac OS 9.2.2. I hope Rairii will eventually work more on this project, but anyone can take a peek at the ROMs and compare them to the stock ROMs by using ELN's "tbxi" tool, which separates the ROMs in directories and files, each representing the various resources and their contents, then do a "diff" (comparison of file differences) between the ROMs. This would reveal much of what Rairii has patched, and how, which could also cue us in on what to do next, e.g. to fix sound etc.. Regardless though, I'd like to see those System 7 CD images out there ASAP. As the name suggests, I think "System 7 Today" would be the best hotspot for looking into this particularly.
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #18 on: December 02, 2025, 21:14
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I was wondering about an installer myself since I have no hardware I can use to create an installed System 7.6 system to modify. I was looking at the System7Today home page, from which one finds the ultimate updates list for all the various System7s. I do not think I have looked at a System7 installer set in years, but was thinking that might be the place to start should I ever get the motivation, and confidence to think I could make an installer.
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #19 on: December 02, 2025, 22:31
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Here's a reported 7.6.x install on a Powerbook G3 original, the famous Kanga aka PB3500 on an old S7T forum post (reply #80) so maybe it might offer a few potential clues as to how to make some of these things work a little better? at least on the first G3 PowerBook ever made. that is! 
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #20 on: December 03, 2025, 12:23
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Thanks @wove, you've beat me to it. The update list was originally created by Dan Palka and @knezzen and I revised + updated it with the latest findings when we revived S7T. It covers the last versions for each respective System 7 version. However, if looking for a complete list of Extensions and Control Panels, it's too limited because it has a different focus. Might be a good starting point though.
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #21 on: December 03, 2025, 13:47
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While the main System7Tday page has a link to "Jump to forum", the forum page lacks a "Jump to Main/Home Page. I do not think it ever has, but a link to take you to the Home Page of System7Today would be a nice addition. There is a lot of very excellent information available there, that I think is easily missed, especially if you land in the forums from an external link.
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lauland
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512 MB Posts: 674 Symtes 7 Mewconer!
Reply #22 on: December 03, 2025, 15:53
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If you don't have any machines that can run older os installers, I'd think a good idea would be to take one of the disk images on MG for emulators like SheepShaver (or Basilisk, if the install is FAT). I've got personal 7.5.3 through 8.1 images I regularly use for Basilisk and SheepShaver, so I know they work well...when/if I get around to trying to get 7.x/8.x to boot on one of my "New World" machines, I'll be using one of those, rather than a clean install. (I "daily drive" HotStuff for HotLine on System 7.6 in Basilisk this way) If you needed to pull Control Panels and Extensions out of an installer (like one you need that a particular image didn't have), you could use Tome Viewer: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/tomeviewer These look like a good starting place: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/macos-753-emulators http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/emulator-harddrive-images (esp Download #3 above, as it, I think has 7.5.3 through 9.0.4. You should test the images in SheepShaver to make sure they are PowerPC. Alternately, run the 7.x/8.x installer in SheepShaver on your own machine and you can thus get a clean install. ---- You can mount the disk image in the finder and then modify it (Enabler, MacOS ROM file, etc) that way, on your target machine. A good idea would be to have a separate partition for the hacked 7.x/8.x. The only trick would be making sure the System Folder was "blessed" if you were doing this in MacOS X... If you didn't have a separate partition you could play fast and loose and disable your current System Folder (move the System file into a folder and rename System Folder to System Folder.macos9 etc). This would, of course, depend on what os your target machine was running, etc. If your hack didn't work, you just reboot your machine off a bootable cd (or external drive) and try again until you get it right. ---- I think once more and more people get this running on their Mini's and G4's, they should share and upload a disk image to MG, to save everyone time! (Like: "This System 7.5.3 image runs on such-and-such G4 Mini") Now that I think about it...using QEMU to build the image on a target machine would be a good idea also...if you were running MacOS X.
Last Edit: December 03, 2025, 16:03 by lauland
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Jatoba
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256 MB Posts: 270 System 9 Newcomer!
Reply #23 on: December 03, 2025, 16:23
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On the topic of a System 7 Mac mini G4 CD, it seems "RossDarker" at "Mac OS 9 Lives!" is looking into it. For those who can't wait, @lauland's advice is also really good. I will just emphasize one thing, just to be safe: Remember to back up your files first. While there are no reports of data disaster anywhere, there's always a chance when covering brand-new territory like this. And on my mini, Mac OS 8.1 and earlier keep wanting to "Initialize" one of my main partitions full of important stuff, so all it takes for me to lose that part of my data is a single misclick. Just make sure your ship is ready to sail first! Load in the cargo! Arr! In my case, what I did was to use my DLSD PB G4 over FireWire 400, kicked out some crappy OS X files off an existing partition, reformatted it as HFS Standard on Mac OS 9.2.2 on the mini, then used Mac OS Anthology to install all these various systems. Most installers will complain about your machine not being recognized or compatible and thus try to block you from proceeding (load of bull), but you can bypass it all by holding down "Option" ("Alt") before reaching the screen to pick what OS components to install. For Mac OS 8.5 and 8.5.1, though, I had to use "Wish I were..." or similar. This is also why I ended up with a British version of System 7.5, as Apple did not include the US counterpart for it in the Anthology discs. They were very lazy with earlier OSes, and I think some optional install media images were also missing.
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ShinobiKenobi
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256 MB Posts: 362 System 7 fan
Reply #24 on: December 03, 2025, 20:04
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Let's maintain an updated list of Macs that have been verified to work with System 7, and a list of models that don't work yet. System 7 works on these Macs **************************** Mac Mini G4 - Yes Kanga G3 - Yes System 7 does NOT work on these Macs yet **************************************** Slot-loading iMac G3 - No
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RossDarker
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1 MB Posts: 1 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #25 on: December 04, 2025, 01:07
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Hello, new to the System 7 Today Forums here! As discussed at Mac OS 9 Lives, I've been looking into creating a System 7 Installer CD for the Mac mini. Today I've put together a Mac OS 7.6.1 Restore CD. The disc makes use of Apple Software Restore. The system that is restored is the same as the system installed by the retail 7.6.1 CD, with the addition of the custom Mac OS ROM and patched System Enabler 356. Nothing else is changed, and thus it's rather experimental for now. I've called it "Test Version 0.1". Here's a link to the iso: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u936FucCak17UsFCR_CYd-CQonXUyRcI This can be burned to a blank disc, and booted by holding the C key on start-up. Note that the Startup Disk Control Panel does not appear to work. After installing, I would recommend holding the mouse button after restarting to eject the disc. A disc present in the drive might have caused issues at startup on some occasions. I would also recommend having Mac OS 9 installed on a separate partition. I liked Jatoba's 'Final Remarks' section from the first post of this thread, and have included this in the credits in the Read Me file on the CD. Thanks to everyone again who has made this possible. Looking forward to more people experimenting with System 7!
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #26 on: December 04, 2025, 02:26
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Welcome to System7today. Come often, stay late:) I am excited to give your 7.6.1 image a try. I have only access to System7.6 via Basilisk and it will be nice to see it running on real hardware. It has moved to the top of my todo list for tomorrow. Thanks for working on putting this together and making it available for everyone to use.
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ShinobiKenobi
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256 MB Posts: 362 System 7 fan
Reply #27 on: December 04, 2025, 04:30
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Welcome, RossDarker. I just burned it to a CD-RW, and I'm going to try it on my Bondi Blue iMac G3 now Update: It worked!!! However, I had to hold down the shift key because Applescript caused a system error when it tried to boot from the CD normally. I had to format the partition as Mac OS Standard under my other Mac OS. Then it installed perfectly. However, when I booted into it the first time, I couldn't do anything, and I'm guessing it's because the keyboard and mouse are USB. Update: I copied Mac OS 9.2.1's USB extensions into the 7.6.1 drive, but it didn't help. Update: Now the mouse is behaving erratically in Mac OS 9.2.1. It moves a slight bit, then stops. Then after a while, it moves a slight bit then stops. I found out if I move the mouse very slowly, it keeps moving. Update: After formatting 7.6.1 and removing all the weird ROMs and stuff, my mouse WILL NOT WORK AT ALL. I have tried unplugging it from the keyboard and plugging it into the iMac directly, and it still doesn't work. I took it to another computer, and plugged it in, and it worked absolutely just fine. Took it back to the iMac, still didn't work. So I tried booting from the 9.2.1 genuine CD that I have, and the mouse still doesn't work. I reset the PRAM, turned the computer off. NOTHING. The only incidents I witnessed first hand that were more freakish were, in order of most freakish to least freakish: 1. A plane crash. 2. (early 2000s) A friend's computer got nuked after asking for a certain hacker in IRC who he said disappeared or was possibly killed. Capacitors were popping and we could smell the smoke. 3. I upgraded an old computer from Windows 95 to Windows 98, and somehow that fried the video card. Because when I restarted, it gave the BIOS beep for bad video card. 4. This.
Last Edit: December 04, 2025, 07:01 by ShinobiKenobi
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Jatoba
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256 MB Posts: 270 System 9 Newcomer!
Reply #28 on: December 04, 2025, 15:01
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@ShinobiKenobi Might be better to see if other people can also test System 7 with a "Blue iMac G3" to see if they have your issues. Other than that, it seems your issues are unrelated to the project if they are present even with your retail Mac OS 9.2.1 disc? You might also want to consider other mice, as not all mice work fully on Mac OS in general, even if they may work on e.g. Windows. Some mice also start to misbehave if the likes of USB Overdrive are installed, while others play nice. (For the record, I use a wired Microsoft mouse, which always works perfectly, on all my USB-based Macs.) I'd also not rule out the possibility your iMac G3 might, perhaps, have damaged USB hardware that needs to be looked into? Your results are odd, but I think it's nothing too crazy. Since you used @RossDarker's Test CD, which is intended for the Mac mini G4 specifically instead, make sure to take out the included Mac OS ROM file and add one of Rairii's own ROMs to your install / CD image.
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fergycool
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1 MB Posts: 1 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #29 on: December 04, 2025, 15:04
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@RossDarker - Excellent work! I installed on a G4 Mac Mini "silent upgrade". When booted from the CD I did not see any of my Firewire partitions so I booted from Mac OS9 (installed a few years ago from your v9 installer!) instead and used System Restore to put your image on one of the Firewire partitions. Worked fine and I'm now booted into 7.6.1! For some reason I get a very corrupted display if my monitor is connected via DVI. From a VGA adaptor it is a nice and crisp 640x480. I'm guessing it needs the ATI9200 drivers to drive the 1900x1200 LCD at its default resolution but when booted from VGA it just uses 640x480. I also saw this with a 7.5.5 (install with the hacked 10.2.1 rom and System Enabler) I put on a different partition earlier in the week. How cool is all this! (First post here too!). EDIT - When connected via a VGA cable the MONITORS control panel gives me a range of resolutions and I can choose 1600x1200. That's the maximum I can get under Mac OS9 too. When connected via a DVI cable there are no other resolutions available.
Last Edit: December 04, 2025, 16:10 by fergycool
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