os 9 on eMac

[the_New_guy]

hi,
i want to install mac os 9 or mac os 8 on my eMac.
is it possible?
if yes how?

hardware:-
eMac
G4 1 GHz
640 mb ram
Super drive

thanks in advance
the_New_guy

 

[Avalon]

You need OS 9.2.2 OS8 or 9.1 will not work.
But I'm not sure if you can boot an eMac with OS9, maybe it'll work only for Classic.

 

[Badger]

Avalon is right, you will need 9.2.2 installed as classic. Nothing earlier will work. And The 1 ghz and newer eMacs will run classic only and will not boot in OS 9. Your eMac should have come configured with 9.2.2 classic installed.

 

[the_New_guy]

i there no crack etc to make it boot,
my g3 ibook runs it

 

[VastDeathmaster]

It looks like Apple is giving up on Backwards compatibility.
Or is it a hardware thing?

Running Classic is fine for some Apps, but some run horribly in it.
Take Diablo 2. It was made for OS9, it has an OSX 'front end' but it runs poorly in classic and in OSX. Boot the computer into OS9 and the game runs smoothly.

 

[Avalon]

Classic is sort of an emulator, in which OS9 runs, but OS X still controls the hardware.
If you boot in OS9 (which the newer Macs don't do anymore) it's OS9 that controls the hardware, thus it needs driver to do so. As Apple stopped the OS9 development, there's little chance that OS9 would be bootable on those newer Macs that aren't OS9 bootable.
It's not a crack you need to do so, but the necessary hardware driver for the newer hardware, which Apple won't supply.
Badger has a very good knowledge about the different Macs, so if he tells you it won't boot in OS9, it won't.

 

[VastDeathmaster]

That's fine. It just means that I get to Freecycle the rest of my Diablo CDs.

What a way to kick the Diablo Habit, replace your computer system with one that doesn't support it.

 

[Matt]

Someone metioned here a CD that can "trick" the OS into thinking your machine was another. So maybe if you trick it into being an iMac (cause iMacs are the most alike machine to eMacs) you could possibly boot into OS 9.

 

[VastDeathmaster]

Hacks are like a complicated machine. The more parts, the greater the chance of something failing. No, if this system wasn't designed to boot into OS9 then I will live with it. Besides, NeverWinter Nights is almost as fun.

 

[D3v1L80Y]

Avalon is right, you will need 9.2.2 installed as classic. Nothing earlier will work. And The 1 ghz and newer eMacs will run classic only and will not boot in OS 9. Your eMac should have come configured with 9.2.2 classic installed.

I have a 1Ghz eMac and it does boot into OS9. I do this quite frequently as most of my games are older and run better under OS9 natively, opposed to running under Classic.

 

[Badger]

The 1 ghz eMacs (ATI graghics) with the combo or CD drives will boot in OS 9 but the DVD/Superdrive models won't. Since the original question related one of those I didn't clarify it. Sorry if anyone was misled.
To quote the tech note:
"These Macintosh computers only start up in Mac OS X:
eMac (ATI Graphics) most models (see Note)
eMac (USB 2.0)
Note: eMac (ATI Graphics) models with CD-ROM or Combo drives can boot into Mac OS 9."

 

[witeshark]

I have a 1Ghz eMac and it does boot into OS9. I do this quite frequently as most of my games are older and run better under OS9 natively, opposed to running under Classic.

I would like to see the games that run this way listed. Interesting

 

[VastDeathmaster]

I would like to see the games that run this way listed. Interesting

I can name one series: Diablo 1, 2 and 2+LOD
All three run better in OS9 native rather than classic.

 

[D3v1L80Y]

I can name one series: Diablo 1, 2 and 2+LOD
All three run better in OS9 native rather than classic.

I have those games as well as:
Vampire: The Masquerade
Quake
Deus Ex
Unreal Tournament

All of them run much better under OS9 native.