OS X Public Beta

NOTE: If this is considered "illegal," please close/remove if neccesary.

So a friend of mine asked me if I wanted his Public Beta OS X disk, since he was moving. I tried installing it on my G4 Powermac, but since it apparently xpired on May 15th 2001, it won't go past the login screen.

Now, I've read that if you have something newer than the Public Beta (in my case, 10.4 Tiger), you can boot into that, and change the clock back earlier than May 15th 2001, so that you can use this. However, I booted into 10.4.8 and changed the clock back to December 31st 1980, so that it would give me enough time to check out the Public Beta, and see what OS X was all about before it got released retail.

is there anyway I can tell my PowerMac to have the date set earlier than May 15th? I want to see this, as it is kind of nostalgic.

Again, if this is considered illegal, it can be closed/removed if neccesary.

Thanks!

punkr0x0r said:

I booted into 10.4.8 and changed the clock back to December 31st 1980 ...

is there anyway I can tell my PowerMac to have the date set earlier than May 15th

Click to expand...

You said you already did that. If it isn't working, maybe it is because you set the date to before the public beta was released.

As far as it being illegal, I can't think of any reason if it is an originally released disk from Apple. Perhaps the license is not transferable?

Keep in mind that if your G4 is newer than the beta, then this experiment might not work as certain software (drivers) may be missing for the G4.

It doesn't ask me for any license key or anything.. And when I set my Powermac back, it was to December 1st, 1980.. That way it'd give me enough time withouth worrying about having to reinstalling and worry about having to reset the time of the OS.

My G15 Logitech keyboard (using the mouse as a USB port) works... (I have my MS Starck Mouse plugged into the G15 keyboard, then into myG4 powermac).

As I said , It works up untiul the Login screen.. Maybe I should set the date to a different one than what I mentioned before?

Set it for something early in 2001.

BTW, the Public Beta was pretty much a POS, I hated it. I didn't switch over to OSX full time until 10.2 came along.

Like I had previouslly said: "This is for ?NOSTALGIC [purposes].. It'
s not for commercial use, or anything.. Just to see a piece of history.

I understand. I just wanted to warn you so when you boot it up and are thoroughly disgusted, as I was, you'll know why.

If I never see a Mac running the Public Beta, 10.0 or 10.1 again, it will be too soon.

Yep, you're headin' for Kernel Panic city.

After resetting the date in your current OS version, disconnect the box from the network. Why you ask? If it is like the current release, it can go to the Apple site to get the current date and time. You'll want to open Preferences and the Date/Time preference and disable that feature. This assumes you can now get past the login screen.

Ahh, that might work.. Because I remember when I first installed OS X a second time after putting the Beta on, it gave me a warning about the date not being properly set.. So I think it might have changed it by itself. I'm going to reinstall 10.4 and do the date thing, then try and reinstall the Beta..

I've read that it was buggy as sin and all the jazz to go with it.. I just think it'd be cool to check out.. Probably won't stay on the system long enough though heh.

Thanks for the help!