November 17, 2003
A classic conundrum.
So here’s the deal. The Panther install discs do not contain the components needed for the Classic (OS 9) environment. I guess it is assumed that if you require Classic for running certain legacy applications, you more than likely installed Panther over an already existing Jaguar that had an OS 9 system already in place. However, what if you decided that it was a good idea to format your drive prior to installing Panther — just to be on the safe side? No worries, as long as you still have your original Software Restore discs handy, you can simply install the Classic system components and related software onto your freshly Panthered hard drive from those discs. Er, what if you just purchased a lightly-used PowerBook G4 that didn’t come with its original software discs, won’t boot into OS 9 in order to install the older system from scratch, and has no previous Classic environment left over from Jaguar? What do you do now? Well first of all, you snicker at the irony of the situation. Next, you try to figure out a way to help that poor schmuck who bought a used PowerBook without a full complement of software. And then you Google. In mid-Google you discover that you can pull a disc image containing the required OS 9 System Folder out of a hidden directory found on most Software Restore discs, regardless of their intended machine. You see, you can’t use a Software Restore disc from a cheese-grater G5 for a 12″ G4 PowerBook. The installer you need simply won’t run. But — and here’s the nifty part — you can use the ‘Go to folder…’ command to wheedle you way into the hush-hush ‘/.images’ directory on said Software Restore disc. Find the appropriate disk image, double-click to mount it. Then copy that elusive System Folder to your hard drive, pronto. Ah, Classic is no longer a conundrum. And yes, you’re welcome.
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