(Part 1...Due to Size) Ivan Drucker provided photos of his disassembled 2400 to mac2400 back in the early years. The attached reflects his latest exploits in getting OSX to run on the 2400...a 603e at that.
I'll try and get this on mac2400 over the weekend, and Ivan has even suggested he might do a step-by-step, but in the meantime he agreed that I could post this to the DuoList. He isn't currently a subscriber....but we're working on it. ;-) >Subject: X on a 2400 -- it's true >Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 09:32:57 -0400 >From: Ivan Drucker >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Hi Ash and Ralph, > >I know there's not much news on the venerable Mac2400 site, but I wanted >to share with you some exciting news! I have succesfully turned my 2400 >into a Mac OS X machine. Unfortunately, its G3/320 card died (on >September 11 in downtown Manhattan, mysteriously enough), so I'm on the >603ev/180, which is, I'm finding, too slow for everyday use. However, it >makes an excellent server! > >I had three goals. The first was installing OS X; the second was finding >some kind of networking that would work for me; the third was figuring >out external storage support, since I wanted a large file server. > >First, phase one: installation. Being able to run OS X is provided by >free software called XPostFacto, which is available from Other World >Computing and which can be found at >http://eshop.macsales.com/osxcenter/xpostfacto. However, I paid the $10 >support fee, which has been more than worth it, as the author has been >very helpful and I think the project should be supported. XPF (as it is >abbreviated to) will allow you to run the Mac OS X software and installer >on PowerSurge-family machines and their descendants, meaning 7300-9600 >desktops and the 2400, 3400 and original PowerBook G3. It's very >impressive. > >First, I partitioned my 20GB drive with Drive Setup to have an X >partition (which, like the beige G3 desktop and Wall Street, must reside >in the first 8GB of the drive), a 9 partition, and a large empty >partition. I then installed 9 as usual, added my wireless (and wired) >networking extensions, and downloaded XPF. I then just ran XPF, put my OS >X CD in the CD-ROM drive, and watched my 2400 begin to boot into X! > >However, I didn't get very far. While I was able to start the OS X >installer CD, the CD was in an older SCSI CD-ROM drive which was >unrecognized by the Mac OS X driver (even though it had been patched to >support more drives as part of XPF). So it would boot the installer CD up >to a certain point, and then hang. I tried other methods, such as >dittoing (see http://www.bombich.com) the CD to my hard drive and >installing from that, but the 2400 would have none of it. I also tried to >make an XPF boot CD, but that didn't work either. > >Finally I took the drive out of my 2400 (never a fun process) and put it >in a FireWire enclosure, and did a vanilla OS X install onto it from my >iBook. Then I put it back in my 2400, and booted from the 9 partition, >and ran XPF, which fortunately will install its extensions onto an OS X >installation even after it's been installed. Success! I can't tell you >how exciting it was to see the deep blue startup screen with the strobing >progress bar and lovely drop shadows. I almost couldn't grasp it. It >matched my blue Yu-Plan keyboard! > >I set up my computer to boot into Open Firmware by default (XPF makes >this easy, it's just a menu item to select), and that effectively gave me >a boot-switcher: "boot" for X, "bye" for 9. > >Now it was time for Phase II. In this day and age, a computer that isn't >on the net isn't a computer at all. Practically every Mac ever produced >has an Ethernet port, which Mac OS X supports...but not the 2400, of >course. And because practically every Mac ever produced has Ethernet, it >means that almost no manufacturer that I have found has OS X drivers >available for their Ethernet PC cards; at any rate, Farallon/Proxim >certainly don't for their EtherMac 10Base-T card, which is what I have. I >was prepared to buy another if I could find one that was supported, but >from who? > >I thought I'd try to end run around the problem by using 802.11b with my >Farallon/Proxim SkyLine 11Mbps card. I knew that there was an open-source >driver available for a lot of wireless cards >(http://wirelessdriver.sourceforge.net) and that I had seen it used >successfully with my very card on a Pismo. Unfortunately, it caused a >kernel panic at startup, which was confirmed by another 2400 user on the >XPF forum. I looked around for other manufacturers with OS X support for >their wireless cards, but the couple that I've found use drivers that are >based on the same source, so I felt sure I'd get the same result. > >Oh well, back to Ethernet, which is what I really wanted to use anyway. >Supposedly X has built-in support for cards which use the DEC Tulip >chipset. Unfortunately, even though it's a common chipset, it's not >always obvious or easy to figure out what chipset is being used in a >given card without buying it first (and sometimes not even then). The >strongest candidate that I found was the MPC200 from MacSense, which >apparently works in X without installing drivers, according to the >manufacturer's web site. There were two problems with this. One was that >the card was Cardbus (32-bit), and I hadn't Cardbus-enabled my machine; >the other was that it was $100, which I didn't want to spend, and more >importantly it wasn't at my local CompUSA, and I wanted to get it working >that day! (In retrospect, I might have been able to find the MacSense >card if I had called the Mac shops around town...but who knows.) > >I also realized that I'd have to Cardbus-enable my 2400, if not for >Ethernet, then certainly for FireWire, as their ain't no such thing as a >16-bit FireWire card. I would have had MCE do it, but I didn't want to >wait! And thanks to the info and links on Mac2400, I learned which >resistors needed to be broken off...I took a deep breath and did it. I >figured a lot could go wrong here. I had no idea if I was doing the right >thing, the right way. And I had no idea if XPF and/or OS X could support >a hacked 2400! > >A long time ago, I bought a PCAlly USB card which never worked for me; I >was hoping it work on my unmodified 2400, as another Mac2400 reader found >it did for his. I dug it out, and inserted it... and presto, I was using >an Apple Pro Mouse with OS X! No drivers, no muss, no fuss, it just >worked. I was amazed. > >But, again, which Ethernet card? I did some research and it appeared to >me that the MPC200 was identical to the PCMPC200 sold by Linksys. It was >$60, which was more palatable, and they had it at CompUSA. I bou and >excitedly put it in...nothing. I don't know whether it is a problem with >X, with XPF, with the 2400, or in fact whether the cards are in fact >identical at all. I just know that it didn't work and that I was bummed. See Part 2.... Ralph Mawyer, Jr. San Antonio, Texas Associate Editor mac2400 ... http://www.sineware.com/mac2400 Your PowerBook 2400 Reference Site "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin, 1759. ---------- Duo/2400 List, The friendliest place on the Net! A listserv for users and fans of Mac subportables. FAQ at <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/DuoListFAQ.shtml> Be sure to visit Mac2400! <http://www.sineware.com/mac2400> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Need help from a real person? Try. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ---------- Dr. Bott | 10/100 Ethernet for your 2400 is finally here! MPC-100 | <http://www.drbott.com/prod/mpc100.html> RoadTools $30 PodiumPad available at Apple retail stores, $20 Traveler CoolPad at Staples. Both in white for iBooks at <http://roadtools.com> Midwest Mac Parts ][ <http://www.midwestmac.com> After-market parts for Macs. ][ 888-356-1104 ][ MacResQ Specials: LaCie SCSI CDR From $99! PowerBook 3400/200 Only $879! Norton AntiVirus 6 Only $19! We Stock PARTS! <http://www.macresq.com>
