Mac mini G4 running Mac OS 9.2

[pfuentes69]

Hi,
this section is a bit empty, so I will show off my new Mac mini G4 1.5Ghz that I got for cheap, mostly with the objective of having something small to run Mac OS 9.

I used the Mac OS 9 Lives! setup for unsupported Macs.
It works like a charm, with the only issue of not having internal sound. Only works with external speakers and the quality is bad, but in theory can be solved with an USB sound adapter. I ordered one and hopefully will do its job.

Definitely this is a great machine to play some games and try stuff made for PowerPC, while I still prefer my good older 64K machines...

 

[KingDingus]

Thank you for sharing. I've been picking these up cheaply from eBay because they are so easy to work on and don't take up much space in the office.

I've considered installing OS 9 to one of them to play Dues Ex.

 

[TheJ]

What fabulous timing !!
I'm doing the same thing! I recently eBayed two G4 Mac mini's and will setup one with OS 9.

One doesn't boot and the other is Password protected at the OpenFirmware level.
Anyone know how to unlock that?

J

 

[pfuentes69]

What fabulous timing !!
I'm doing the same thing! I recently eBayed two G4 Mac mini's and will setup one with OS 9.

One doesn't boot and the other is Password protected at the OpenFirmware level.
Anyone know how to unlock that?

J

No idea… I just checked on Google to learn about it and I saw comments about adding or removing RAM to make the Cmd+P+R boot keys to work and being able to wipe the PRAM.
It would be nice to know how you sorted it out.

 

[TheJ]

I opened up the Mini that wouldn't boot today. Surprise surprise... no RAM or HD.
I moved the RAM over from the other mini and installed a new 250GB SSD.
I prrtisioned the drive in 2 pieces; 100GB for OS 9
Booted up the modded OS 9 CD and the installation went flawlessly
Spent a couple hours picking the "freshest fruits" from the Macintosh Garden.

Happy MARCHintosh !!

J

 

[KingDingus]

 

[TheJ]

Your timing is ridiculously awesome !! (Clearly we are in the "Retro Matrix" together or something!)
...and congrats on achieving "Classic" ;-)
I'm currently taking out the HD from the troublesome Mini in the hopes that doing so will allow me to finally zap the Parameter Ram.
Trying to zap the PRAM with and withour the RAM installed did not work on this mini. It did for the other one! Weird.
Oh well... I'll finish swapping the HD with an unformatted SSD and try again.

 

[TheJ]

Hmmm.... No dice.
I still can't get past the Open firmware password /lock.

 

[KingDingus]

The process was surprisingly easy. However, I had to make a late night run to Walmart to pick up some blank CD-RWs. My goal has been to play Deus Ex on a system running the original program on a native OS. With the maxed out RAM and SSD this is blistering fast and satisfying project.

 

[pfuentes69]

The process was surprisingly easy. However, I had to make a late night run to Walmart to pick up some blank CD-RWs. My goal has been to play Deus Ex on a system running the original program on a native OS. With the maxed out RAM and SSD this is blistering fast and satisfying project.

How's your audio working?
I have very bad audio only via the external jack.

 

[pfuentes69]

Well, seems I found a solution for the audio.
I received this today: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001111644497.html

The device is not appearing in the sound control panel, and it has some limitations, but it's working fine. I tried several games and the sound quality is pretty good.

 

[KingDingus]

According to the build information, the internal speaker will not work after the install.