Specific Mac OS Prebuilds

[GerrySch]

Good Afternoon all. I have a very specific need that this forum might be able to help with. I own a Mac SE/30 and recently I've had the room at home to unpack and use it. Originally, it had a SCSI2SD but I've replaced it with a BlueSCSI Desktop with WiFi. I originally had a network card in the PDS slot but I purchased a Booster accelerator card so now the network card doesn't fit. My solution is to enable WiFi through the BlueSCSI. Also, I have a BlueSCSI external DB25 with WiFi. Side note, if an image works through an internal BlueSCSI Desktop to access the internet, will this same image also work in an BlueSCSI External DB25 without changing anything in that image?

My present issue is that I don't understand Apple's way of getting this SE/30 online using WiFi. My solution is to download and use a pre-built disk image that supports accessing the internet through the BlueSCSI. I've downloaded a lot of Mac OS System 7 and 8 images but none of them support WiFi through BlueSCSI. That surprised me as I don't think I'm asking for an exotic version of the OS. Perhaps to BlueSCSI, the hoops I have to jump through to set up WiFi in OS 7 are small and simple but it's not for me. I thought for sure the pre-built System 8.1 image would be configured to get me on-line, but I just get errors when running Netscape.

I've spoken to BlueSCSI v2 support on Discord and I'm getting all types of question about my following the instructions online. I don't understand installing Open Transport and MacTCP since I don't know what is or isn't installed in the pre-built OS image in the first place as well as matching the correct versions with the right OS. It gives me a headache. The procedure appears to me to be written for people who already knows what they are talking about, but I really don't.

So, I've said all that to simply ask if a set of Mac OS System 7 pre-built images could be made and distributed that support WiFi access through BlueSCSIs as a way to test and troubleshoot any issues if a user like me have issues. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with my BlueSCSI emulators as the log file doesn't report any issues and it's logging into my home WiFi just fine. I've got five different OS7 and 8 images available and loaded into the SE/30 without issue. It's difficult to try and send screen pictures, and text grabs to Discord. I tried it for the first time but I don't know if my pictures and text were posted.

Anyway, I hope you consider this or if these images are already built, please send me a link to see if they work for me.

Thank you for your patience and time,
Gerry

 

[eric]

There are no prebuilt images for this - the install is quite well documented in the docs for each use case and you will need to make some decisions about how your computer is setup to make this work. Much of network setup was a manual process in the late 80's and early 90's when this existed.

Lets just work through this. You'll need to decide if you're using MacTCP or OpenTransport - one or the other. As noted in the docs:

Open Transport was included by default in System 7.5.2 and later. You can install Open Transport manually on System 7.1 on Macs with a Motorola 68030 CPU or better and 5 MB of RAM. Version 1.1.2 or 1.3 of Open Transport are strongly recommended for this guide.

So "it depends" on how much RAM you have and what version of System 7 you have.

You'll also need to gather the details of your wifi network - here's a bit of a guide on how to do this https://bluescsi.com/docs/Find-Network-Info

This image will have all the files you need on it, use it in conjunction with the image you are booting off of https://mega.nz/file/J8wykBxT#-QBYCwpgP8G8MNYxKW91RW3OhIbsGpavtZM04VxNNj8

Once you've got all those details we can move on to the next steps.

 

[GerrySch]

Okay, I'm willing to try your approach. If I have time this evening, I'll try building a System 7.5.3 OS from scratch set to SCSI ID 0 on a new SDcard. Thinking about it, I'll build a second drive to hold all the installation software separate from the OS drive. If I have time, I'll even try to install Open Transport (OT). But, I'd like to note here that when I've installed OT before, there is no Open Transport Desk Accessory listed, only TCP or MacTCP depending upon which OS version.

I have an SE/30 with an accelerated 030 and 128 MBs of RAM. I have the parameters to get on to my wireless home network as I set it up. The Motherboard has been recapped and I tore the SE30 apart two weeks ago to inspect the analog and picture tube circuit boards. They are clean with solid, shiny solder joints with no cracks and no swollen caps while replacing the internal power supply with a brand-new, modern one. Finally, I've removed the ROM-inator II and installed Garrett's Workshop GW4402B as it has more options.

I'll update this thread and you when I'm finished with this step and include the log file. Do you want a verbose error log as well?

Thank you for your time,
Gerry

 

[eric]

But, I'd like to note here that when I've installed OT before, there is no Open Transport Desk Accessory listed, only TCP or MacTCP

That is expected and documented when using OT to use the TCP/IP control panel https://bluescsi.com/docs/WiFi-DaynaPORT#using-open-transport - Make sure you skip the MacTCP section as that is not what you are using.

I'll update this thread and you when I'm finished with this step and include the log file. Do you want a verbose error log as well?

No log is required. Nothing we're doing has to do with BlueSCSI configuration - it's all MacOS networking setup.


The Open Transport section of the docs have only 4 steps, much simpler than MacTCP.

 

[GerrySch]

Eric, just giving you an update. The last couple of days I've been off so my wife has been keeping me busy with Honey Do's. It took 3 different SDcards but I found another one that works with the BlueSCSI card. After formatting it, I installed 7.5.3 rev 2 using Basilisk II on my M1 Mac. But the file type from Basilisk II is .img. I used Disk Jockey to change it over to .hda but when I tried booting it in my SE/30, it just hangs and the "Welcome to Macintosh" banner. I've tried writing it to the SDcard using my M1 Mac or Win 10 HP laptop but I get the same freeze. I did some searching around the internet and I keep getting pointed to using Disk Jockey to convert Basilisk II .img disk images to .hda files for use with BlueSCSI. I suppose I can build the new 7.5.3 image using the SE/30 but that will take much longer.

Do you have any suggestions using Disk Jockey or some other software to make .hda drive image files work with BlueSCSI? After I get over this hump, I can try using the Procedure to get on the internet using wireless. By the way, I've included the last log which shows everything appears to be right. My new image is SCSI 2.

-------------------------------------------

Platform: BlueSCSI
FW Version: 2024.12.08-rel Dec 8 2024 22:19:03
I2C Supported
Flash chip size: 2048 kB

=== SD Card Info ===
SD card detected, exFAT volume size: 60874 MB
SD Name: SL64G, MID: 0x03, OID: 0x53 0x44

=== Global Config ===
Reading configuration from bluescsi.ini
Active configuration:

=== Finding images in / ===
== Opening /HD00_512 OpenRetroSCSI_7.0.1.hda for ID: 0 LUN: 0
---- Image ready
== Opening /HD30_512 BlueSCSI Bootstrap.hda for ID: 3 LUN: 0
---- Image ready
== Opening /NE4.hda for ID: 4 LUN: 0
---- Configuring as network based on image name
---- Image ready
== Opening /HD10_512 OpenRetroSCSI_7.1.hda for ID: 1 LUN: 0
---- Image ready
== Opening /HD20_512 MacOS 753.hda for ID: 2 LUN: 0
---- WARNING: file /HD20_512 MacOS 753.hda is fragmented, see https://github.com/BlueSCSI/BlueSCSI-v2/wiki/Image-File-Fragmentation
---- Image ready

=== ROM Drive ===
Platform supports ROM drive up to 1692 kB
---- ROM drive image not detected

=== Configured SCSI Devices ===
* ID: 0, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 512000kB
* ID: 1, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 512000kB
* ID: 2, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 1433649kB
* ID: 3, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 524336kB
* ID: 4, Type: Network, Quirks: Apple

=== Network Initialization ===
Wi-Fi MAC: 00:80:19:C1:27:36
Connecting to Wi-Fi SSID "SpectrumSetup-F16A" with WPA/WPA2 PSK

Initialization complete!
INFO: Pico Voltage: 3.258V.
Successfully connected to Wi-Fi SSID "SpectrumSetup-F16A"

-------------------------------------------
Thank you for your help,
Gerry

 

[GerrySch]

Figured it out. I'm running a clean ROM in my SE/30. So when a new System 7 OS install is done, it needs to be patched as explained on BMOW.com. I also found a patch program on the bootable part of the new clean ROM but it didn't fix the problem. Now I'm good to start the network patching to get my SE/30 online.

Thank you,
Gerry

 

[eric]

Note that .img or .hda is meaningless really - bluescsi doesnt even check the file name extensions as there's no standards here. The difference is when you create a file in Basilisk II it creates a "raw" HFS partition, which is not what a SCSI devices is - you can drag it on top of Disk Jockey to add the SCSI driver and apple map partitions which can be used in BlueSCSI or any emulator. (Basilisk will just skip the scsi driver partition as it doesnt emulate scsi)

HTH, you're getting close now.