Classic in reverse?

[nicco]

I've inherited a G5 running OSX 10.3.9.
Classic was not installed when the machine was setup. There are some pieces of older hardware and software I need to use which require the machine to run in classic mode. I have a couple of versions of OS 9 on disk, but have never done this in reverse...

Can anyone tell me how? ie. the easiest way ...er is there a way to do this without wiping/partitioning or losing the current setup of this machine? I'd just rather not start over with a machine that runs faultlessly to pick up items whose needs are relatively minor.

Thanks in advance!!

[Mikuro]

It's actually very easy. Just move any OS 9 "System Folder" onto your G5, and then select it in the Classic section of System Preferences. Done! It doesn't even need to be on the same volume as your OS X system.

For best results, update your OS 9 system to the latest version, 9.2.2. I think you can do this within Classic, but I'm not quite sure.

Edit: Oh, when you said you have a couple versions of OS 9 on disk, do you mean installation CDs, or older computers? If the former, my advice isn't quite accurate. To get the installer to work in OS X, I think you'll need to set the Classic environment to use the System Folder ON the OS 9 CD. Then launch the installer, and have it install OS 9 onto a local volume.

[nicco]

I tried that, but the harddrive only has one volume, and it doesn't seem to see the new OS9 system folder I've placed there. Do I need to start-up on the OS9 CD and do a proper install? And if I do this, will it wipe anything from OSX?

[bobw]

This may help

[sinclair_tm]

the main problem is a g5 will not boot os 9. and if you try to start classic from the cd, it most likely will not. this is because classic needs to put some files in the os 9 system folder to make classic work right w/os x, and you can't write to a cd. i know because i tryed this once. but lucky for me, my mac is an older g4, so i was able to install classic was by booting into os 9 from the cd to install. you may have luck making an writeable disk image of the cd and booting from that.

[Mikuro]

Originally Posted by sinclair_tm

this is because classic needs to put some files in the os 9 system folder to make classic work right w/os x, and you can't write to a cd.

Ahh, I should have thought of that. In that case, you might be able to copy the CD to your HD (or a writable disk image with a decent amount of free space) and start Classic from that.