BlueSCSI v2 multi boot?

[billbucks]

I'm very pleased with my BlueSCSI v2. As a feature enhancement for BlueSCSI team, would it be possible & feasible to support a multi boot like Linux GRUB so a user can choose to boot with alternative HD0 partitions e.g. to switch between Mac OS 6, 7... ?

 

[bakkus]

The possibility of installing multiple operating systems is already enabled by BlueSCSI.
However, the Macintosh has no boot loader in the way that GRUB or LILO or UEFI works.
You can set which OS to load on next boot from the Startup Disk control panel, or use System Switcher which does the same.

 

[eric]

There are a few things that MacOS needs to know if a drive is bootable, all those things are at a much higher level than a disk drive emulator like BlueSCSI. But that doesnt mean you cant do it. As @bakkus mentions you can already do this by just installing multiple operating systems on one, or many, disk images and using a utility to switch. I usually Install system 6, 7.0.1, and 7.1 on the same drive and then use System Picker to move between them.

 

[billbucks]

Thanks for the information. I will try the System Picker. Should I install the 3 OSes on the same disk image e.g. HD0 using VMac, or use separate disk images (all named HDO....hda ?)

 

[eric]

Either ways is 100% fine - I do provide hda's with all 3 installed already - you can simply copy all the system folders on to one drive and use them.

Note vMac does not support "real" hard drives - it only deals with raw HFS partitions (which don't work in real computers as they are missing a partition map and scsi driver). BUT - if you create the disk in Disk Jockey and use my patched vMac - then you can.

 

[reukiodo]

You could achieve something similar with separate hda images for each MacOS version, and use the CMD+OPT+SHIFT+DELETE+# while powering on:

For instance, something like:
CMD+OPT+SHIFT+DELETE+0 HD0 MacOS 6.hda
CMD+OPT+SHIFT+DELETE+1 HD1 MacOS 7.1.hda
CMD+OPT+SHIFT+DELETE+2 HD2 MacOS 7.5.hda
CMD+OPT+SHIFT+DELETE+3 HD3 MacOS 7.6.hda
CMD+OPT+SHIFT+DELETE+4 HD4 MacOS 8.0.hda
CMD+OPT+SHIFT+DELETE+5 HD5 MacOS 8.1.hda

 

[V.Yakob]

I didn't know such keyboard shortcuts, I'll have to try.

 

[billbucks]

I installed System Picker and I use a single partition HD0 on which I copied the System Folder from 7.0.1 and 6.0.5 partitions using VMac.
Running System Picker, it scans all System folders and let me reboot with a different Mac OS. It works well except 2 issues:
1. The desktop content from HD0 or HD1 created with 7.5 is not available when I boot in 7.0.1 or 6.0.5. I assume each OS has its own management of the desktop. I also get a Rebuild Desktop message when going back to 7.5. Is there a good practice to have a common definition of the desktop ?
2. Sometimes I get an unrecognised partition of 400Mo to eject or initialise upon booting ; I haven't identified the reason yet

Note: I didn't manage to get the keyboard shortcuts to work

 

[reukiodo]

The keyboard shortcuts won't work if you only have everythign on HD0. The whole point is that the keyboard shortcuts tell the Mac to boot from a different SCSI ID, not a different system. The suggestion was to put different System versions on different 'drives' with different SCSI IDs so that the keyboard shortcuts could be used to select different systems.

 

[Patrick]

You will also want to drop desktop mgr on the system 6 folder. otherwise every-time you switch to or from system 6 you will trigger the desktop file to be rebuilt.

 

[billbucks]

The keyboard shortcuts won't work if you only have everythign on HD0. The whole point is that the keyboard shortcuts tell the Mac to boot from a different SCSI ID, not a different system. The suggestion was to put different System versions on different 'drives' with different SCSI IDs so that the keyboard shortcuts could be used to select different systems.

When I tried the shortcuts, I did use separate SCSI IDs.

 

[billbucks]

You will also want to drop desktop mgr on the system 6 folder. otherwise every-time you switch to or from system 6 you will trigger the desktop file to be rebuilt.

Thanks, I will try it !