Resolved Reconnect unsupported Leopard/Snow Leopard Macs to Dropbox

[bunnspecial]

I hadn't tried to sync a PPC computer in a couple of days, primarily due to the fact that I was out of town and the only PPC I had with me was a TiBook. As I brought it along for gaming, I primarily booted it into OS 9.

In any case, on returning home earlier this evening, I fired up my Quicksilver. When the desktop loaded, Dropbox popped up prompting me to log on. I attempted to(knowing it likely wouldn't work) and saw the below screen.

I'll try the above work-around tomorrow, but ultimately I think that using my Mini will be the ideal solution at least as long as SL support continues.

 

[eyoungren]

BINGO!

I can confirm this workaround!

Indexing on my iMac G5 right now which had everything left alone!

Looks like I will be copying stuff back from that Mac once it finishes syncing.

If there are no further issues I'm going to see about an Applescript.

 

[eyoungren]

Cool!

Got an Applescript going that calls a shell script to change the SystemVersion.plist file.

Just need to pair it with some statements to open Dropbox after the change is made, wait until Dropbox has fully opened/syced and then change the system version back.

Once I can wrap all that up then I can save it as an app and drop that into my login items.

Boom! Dropbox on login again.

At least until they cut off Snow Leopard or make an API change that causes the app to fail.

 

[NathanJHill]

Cool!

Got an Applescript going that calls a shell script to change the SystemVersion.plist file.

Just need to pair it with some statements to open Dropbox after the change is made, wait until Dropbox has fully opened/syced and then change the system version back.

Once I can wrap all that up then I can save it as an app and drop that into my login items.

Boom! Dropbox on login again.

At least until they cut off Snow Leopard or make an API change that causes the app to fail.

BTW, after launching Dropbox and it has loaded, I change the system version back immediately. I don't think you have to wait for the sync to finish, just as long as the app has logged in. Apparently, it does nothing more than check the OS version, which is fascinating. If it checks the machine type at some point, we are probably officially out of luck.

Glad I felt frisky enough to try this today. I am tempted to post it on the Dropbox forums, but that would potentially hasten its demise as a workaround. The cool thing is that there is no way to update PPC machines further with Dropbox, so until our version is completely incompatible with their servers, we could be in business.

 

[eyoungren]

BTW, after launching Dropbox and it has loaded, I change the system version back immediately. I don't think you have to wait for the sync to finish, just as long as the app has logged in. Apparently, it does nothing more than check the OS version, which is fascinating. If it checks the machine type at some point, we are probably officially out of luck.

Glad I felt frisky enough to try this today. I am tempted to post it on the Dropbox forums, but that would potentially hasten its demise as a workaround. The cool thing is that there is no way to update PPC machines further with Dropbox, so until our version is completely incompatible with their servers, we could be in business.

Well, I posted it there for about five minutes. But given your concerns, I just deleted it.

Hopefully, people can find their way here.

This was an excellent workaround on your part and I'm really grateful for it.

----------

Files copied from iMac G5 to USB stick and then from USB stick to Quicksilver.

Quicksilver is reconnected and syncing.

On to the PowerBook!

 

[eyoungren]

WOOHOO!!!

PowerBook G4 reconnected and syncing!

Back in business!

 

[Dronecatcher]

Do you all really want a solution?

Good work

"where there's a will - there's a way" - never more true than in the PPC community!

 

[tevion5]

Good work

"where there's a will - there's a way" - never more true than in the PPC community!

PPC community in a nutshell.

 

[eyoungren]

Hmmmm!!!

This get's interesting!

So, I have not quit Dropbox on my PowerBook since last night. Been noticing high CPU and I also wanted to experiment. So…I quit Dropbox.

Then. I restarted Dropbox…without changing the system version.

Guess what?

Dropbox loaded exactly as it always has before this whole support issue. I have the old interface and I'm logged in.

So. I am guessing that it only detects the very first time if there has been a logout but not if you restart the app after having been connected. That's good news because it means not having to change the system version each time you want to quit/restart Dropbox.

My next check is seeing what happens after a restart.

But, this is big. At least to me. It means I can quit Dropbox if I want to and restart it without having to change the system version!

 

[bse5150]

ppc community in a nutshell.

image

lmfao!!!

 

[Cox Orange]

Hmmmm!!!

This get's interesting!

So, I have not quit Dropbox on my PowerBook since last night. Been noticing high CPU and I also wanted to experiment. So…I quit Dropbox.

... It means I can quit Dropbox if I want to and restart it without having to change the system version!

Just a stupid question: is Dropbox taxing my CPU /Wifi-network even, while not syncing, just having the "icon" loaded in the menubar during the time I am working on my Mac?

 

[eyoungren]

Just a stupid question: is Dropbox taxing my CPU /Wifi-network even, while not syncing, just having the "icon" loaded in the menubar during the time I am working on my Mac?

Well, it's a program that idles in the background and monitors the Dropbox folder. It uses slightly more memory than your average menubar item but the CPU impact is equivalent if not less.

I just needed to restart the app is all. Once I did that my CPU usage returned to normal at idle.

Now, if it's syncing or downloading/uploading that's a different story. It can peg the CPU then.

 

[eyoungren]

I am happy to report that Dropbox survived a restart and loaded at login as normal.

So it looks at if the only check for system version is if you are logged out and need to reconnect.

I am going to mark this thread as resolved.

NathanJHill thank you VERY much for your excellent workaround!

We may all now proceed to thumb our noses as Dropbox while our Macs sync their Dropbox folders!

 

[NathanJHill]

I am happy to report that Dropbox survived a restart and loaded at login as normal.

So it looks at if the only check for system version is if you are logged out and need to reconnect.

I am going to mark this thread as resolved.

NathanJHill thank you VERY much for your excellent workaround!

We may all now proceed to thumb our noses as Dropbox while our Macs sync their Dropbox folders!

I'll try it tomorrow. So relieved to hear this.

This little "hack" is pretty old school. I remember hearing about certain trial software working beyond 30 days by changing the date & time on your computer to the future when installing it. Similarly, making your G4's processor show up at a higher speed to trick the Leopard installer to work is in the same vein. I was pretty amazed that this worked, since I wondered if Dropbox might be flagging the accounts and linked computers or checking for processor type.

BTW, did you keep the description of the computer listed as a Power Mac? I certainly did for mine, just to stick it to them a little bit.

 

[bdwhiti2]

Hi, long time lurker, first time poster.

I have been following the Dropbox/PPC issue ever since i found out about it a few weeks ago on this forum, and was excited to discover that a workaround has already been found and posted in this thread! However, upon following the steps outlined by NathanJHill on my Pismo running 10.4.11, I hit a snag early in the process: if I exit Dropbox, change the OS version number to 10.6.8, and then restart the program, I get a dialog box stating that I need to enter my username and password to allow Dropbox to save changes onto the computer. Upon entering my password, the system hangs for a few seconds and then displays an error stating that Dropbox cannot be opened and that permissions are the likely culprit. I changed Dropbox's permissions in the terminal to allow unlimited access to all users and still get this error message. Alternatively, opening Dropbox while the OS version number reads 10.4.11 and THEN changing it to 10.6.8 prior to logging in will produce the dreaded error message that my machine is no longer supported.

My question, then: does this workaround only work in Leopard? Has anyone else tried these steps in Tiger yet (better yet, in Tiger on a G3)? Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Just to clarify, the version of the Dropbox client on my machine is 3.2.9, which I believe was the last to be released for PowerPC Macs.

 

[Nabetse]

I have exactly the same problem on 10.4.11. Using Dropbox 3.2.9 and 2.something

 

[eyoungren]

Hi, long time lurker, first time poster.

I have been following the Dropbox/PPC issue ever since i found out about it a few weeks ago on this forum, and was excited to discover that a workaround has already been found and posted in this thread! However, upon following the steps outlined by NathanJHill on my Pismo running 10.4.11, I hit a snag early in the process: if I exit Dropbox, change the OS version number to 10.6.8, and then restart the program, I get a dialog box stating that I need to enter my username and password to allow Dropbox to save changes onto the computer. Upon entering my password, the system hangs for a few seconds and then displays an error stating that Dropbox cannot be opened and that permissions are the likely culprit. I changed Dropbox's permissions in the terminal to allow unlimited access to all users and still get this error message. Alternatively, opening Dropbox while the OS version number reads 10.4.11 and THEN changing it to 10.6.8 prior to logging in will produce the dreaded error message that my machine is no longer supported.

My question, then: does this workaround only work in Leopard? Has anyone else tried these steps in Tiger yet (better yet, in Tiger on a G3)? Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Just to clarify, the version of the Dropbox client on my machine is 3.2.9, which I believe was the last to be released for PowerPC Macs.

Hmmm…sorry guys. I don't know. I don't have a Tiger Mac.

Is this a case of Dropbox having logged you out and then you guys trying this hack without changing any files related to Dropbox?

Or has anything been moved or altered?

I ask because this is what I did on my PowerBook G4 when I first tried this and all I got from the app was a beachball. After copying files from my iMac G5 to the same file locatons I was able to login.

That said, there is a hidden Dropbox folder in your home folder. That may be what this 'permissions' issue is referring to.

That folder would be .dropbox

You can't see it because OS X hides folders and files with a period in front of them. You'll want to enable Finder to show hidden files and then check the permissions on that folder.

That's my only guesses here.

 

[bunnspecial]

Thanks to NathanJHill, my QS is now working perfectly with the old DB Client!

Thank you again!

I'll try with Tiger tomorrow-it's too late here now.

 

[bdwhiti2]

I just tried chmod 777 .dropbox and still no dice. It appears as if it *isn't* a permissions issue and has more to do with Dropbox needing to make use of some process available in Leopard but not in Tiger. Oh, well, thanks for all the help!

 

[NathanJHill]

I just tried chmod 777 .dropbox and still no dice. It appears as if it *isn't* a permissions issue and has more to do with Dropbox needing to make use of some process available in Leopard but not in Tiger. Oh, well, thanks for all the help!

I don't have a Tiger machine either. Off the top of my head, it could be one of two things:

1 - Is it using Python 2.7? You can find out through terminal by going to /Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Frameworks/Python. (That path is probably wrong, but it is something like that. Then run "python -v", I believe. Dropbox does require 2.7, and they bundle their own version within the app. If it is an older Python, it may be that the updated servers require Python 2.7.

2 - It could be a security type issue. Leopard is pretty outdated as is, so Tiger is likely even worse. It may be trying to use a certain kind of encryption that is simply not available on Tiger. I don't know if there is a workaround.

Did anything show up in Console in your logs when you tried to login?

 

[Czo]

I made a more elegant workaround for this.

I wrote a small dynamic library (dylib), that replace osx internal file open system call (fopen) with a faked version, that redirect any read from systemversion.plist to another file. Then replaced Dropbox launcher, with a prepared launcher because we need to inject the modified fopen to dropbox.

Source code, and modified .app, available here: http://homokozo.czo.hu/dropboxfixppc/

 

[Beavix]

Nice work Czo! Thanks!

 

[bunnspecial]

Like someone else, I'm also seeing high CPU usage even when not actively syncing.

This is a dual 1.8 G4.

 

[eyoungren]

Like someone else, I'm also seeing high CPU usage even when not actively syncing.

This is a dual 1.8 G4.

Quit Dropbox. Restart it. It will survive quitting/restarting and a reboot where it loads at login.

My high CPU use went away after I restarted the app the day after reconnecting.

 

[Dronecatcher]

I made a more elegant workaround for this.

I wrote a small dynamic library (dylib), that replace osx internal file open system call (fopen) with a faked version, that redirect any read from systemversion.plist to another file. Then replaced Dropbox launcher, with a prepared launcher because we need to inject the modified fopen to dropbox.

Source code, and modified .app, available here: http://homokozo.czo.hu/dropboxfixppc/

Thanks Czo, worked great as a fresh install.

I think you should put this in a separate thread as it might get overlooked and it's an ideal solution for users who don't already have dropbox installed or a saved PPC dmg.

Is there a way to access the app preferences that are disabled in the context menu - editing a prefs file maybe?