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imac G5 with no OS -- please help Dad and Son

DadAnd12-Year-OldSon said:
Thank you, one and all! He's going to be over the moon about all this. I love the 4.7GB option for the DVD. That might be even easier for him to get his mind around.
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Also be aware that with the smaller ('slipstream') ISO that will fit on a 4.7GB DVD, when you come to install you have to go into Options on the install window, and deselect Languages, Printers and Additional because these were the bits that were shaved off the full size install disc.

Cheers 🙂

Hugh
 
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I much appreciate everyone's comments. I try to be a good Dad. The older kid is 16 and more of a handful than the 12 yr old. 🙂 He knows a LOT more than we do, apparently. I'm glad we cultivated self-confidence, but it'd be great if we could dial it down sometimes 🙂 .

Update on the 12 yr old's predicament with the imac G5. Before I even half woke up, he'd already tried the reduced (4.7GB) version of the 10.5 OS, downloaded off macintosh garden (Hugh's suggestion). Unfortunately it didn't work. I haven't gotten the whole story yet, but it sounded like "it wasn't a true image file" (we downloaded the "www" version, assuming it was the same as the "mirrors"). Maybe the "mirror site" files might be different/better?

We found AShampoo, BTW, to burn the MacintoshGarden file onto a 5 GB DVD. First time he'd used that, I can't guarantee that he did it 100% right.

We haven't been able to find a USB-bootable 10.5 OS, either. The OS's that are online seem to be all designed for DVDs.

I think we might still have a couple options that you all mentioned yesterday -- like booting up off the 10.3.5 , partitioning, etc. Right now the kid's frustrated but (like another friend said) the struggle can be an important part of the learning (if we don't overdo it).

I'll keep you posted (pun intended).
 
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DadAnd12-Year-OldSon said:
BTW, the 12 yr old likes your "avatar" a lot. He recognized it, or thought he did.
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You can pass this thread along if you want 🙂

DadAnd12-Year-OldSon said:
I'll pass this along.
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I just checked: the download for the 4.7 GB version of Leopard has a .cdr extension. That means it can readily be burned to DVD as an image file. It's not necessary (or even possible) to decompress it so disregard what I said about decompressing (sorry!). If the software refuses to burn that file as an image, change the .cdr extension to .iso (this is the common extension for CD/DVD images; maybe the software requires that to accept the image) and try again.
 
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Thank you, Amethyst. BTW, the 12 yr old likes your "avatar" a lot. He recognized it, or thought he did. I'll pass this along. Won't have time to work on it with him til tomorrow, but will let you know. I really appreciate your help.
Amethyst1 said:
You can pass this thread along if you want 🙂


I just checked: the download for the 4.7 GB version of Leopard has a .cdr extension. That means it can readily be burned to DVD as an image file. It's not necessary (or even possible) to decompress it so disregard what I said about decompressing (sorry!). If the software refuses to burn that file as an image, change the .cdr extension to .iso (this is the common extension for CD/DVD images; maybe the software requires that to accept the image) and try again.
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It's phenomenal that you did this. I've been slammed but we will get to it. Thanks so much!
 
Hughmac said:
Also be aware that with the smaller ('slipstream') ISO that will fit on a 4.7GB DVD, when you come to install you have to go into Options on the install window, and deselect Languages, Printers and Additional because these were the bits that were shaved off the full size install disc.

Cheers 🙂

Hugh
Click to expand...
Thanks -- I missed this the first time somehow..... BTW, he's now decided to try to get 10.4 on a USB drive.....using Etcher. Apparently AShampoo (free DVD burning software) kinda forced his downloads back into a Windows 7 type appearance (?!), he didn't like that.
 
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Update: thanks to you all, we're still working on this. I've had limited time the past couple days, so we're really going to tear into it on Sunday. Here's the long and short of it.

--After burning the one DVD that didn't work, he's a bit reluctant to do it again. We very well might, though, on Sunday.

--He's been trying to use Etcher to create a bootable USB. He keeps getting error messages. He's not sure how to format it. I think the main error message is that the USB drive isn't partitioned, so it won't be bootable.

--So he Googled that and found that GParted (open source app) might be used to partition a flash drive. He went into GParted and couldn't figure out how that would work. With GParted, he says he'd have to boot live and he didn't want to do that because he would rather have "an app".

--Meanwhile, he's also been trying other of your fine suggestions. He DID get into Disk Utility on the borrowed disk which has OS 10.3.5 . (The one that's bundled and not usable as a boot disk). He tried to partition the drive into a 10 GB section and a larger one. But it looked like it was just hanging for about 20 minutes. Does this normally take a very long time (on a 2006 G5)? That said, it does kind of look like it worked, and it looks like the partitions are there now. Even though the progress bar never really progressed that we could see.

--At this point, we're not 100% sure the hard drive is partitioned, but it looks like it is. He's trying to "restore" what's on the USB into the small section. He does have the ISO of the 10.4 on flash drive, thanks to you (and Etcher).

-- We get into the restore process, then. He selects the 10.4 ISO on the flash drive. But nothing appears (no partitions) as the destination. So we're not getting it to work yet.

--So he decided to load the 10.5 disk (which isn't bootable because it's an upgrade disk)....to try to net boot and work around that way.

That's where we're at. It's all about the struggle, right? 😀

News flash! He decided to try the Disk Utility on the 10.5 upgrade disk to partition the hard drive. It's working much, much faster and better. Looks like the partitions weren't mounted. It's working much better now. We might be on our way. I hope this is as exciting for you as it is for us.

It's working! It's going onto the little hard drive. Holy moly. Stay tuned. Great great excitement. I'll check in later. 🙂
 
Well, we tried to boot up after the restore (of 10.4 on the small partition). We see two icons but it doesn't boot. He did hold ALT/OPTION. (Though I thought he should hold it from before he even pressed the power button, he's seen YouTube videos that say different re: timing of that key hold). It's not booting. He wonders if it's because that 10.4 didn't show up as bootable when he made the flash drive. We're stuck again. 🙂
 
DadAnd12-Year-OldSon said:
We see two icons but it doesn't boot.
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That means you see two icons after holding [Alt/Option], right? If so, what are their labels and happens when you select either of those?
What happens if you turn on the machine without holding [Alt/Option]?

In either case, you can try holding the [Command] and [V] keys immediately after selecting one of the icons to boot up verbosely, with lots of text scrolling down the screen. Can you take a picture of what it says on the screen when it stops progressing and attach it to a post?
 
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eyoungren said:
You need to click on the drive you want to boot from. Then there will be a right arrow. Click on the right arrow to boot from the selected drive.

CMD+V is paste. Has no relevance here.
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I'd thought that Amethyst (just a couple posts above this one) had suggested holding down Command and V at the same time.....after selecting one of the icons....to boot up "verbosely".... I wonder where the snafu is..... will try your suggestion, in any case -- thank you.
 
DadAnd12-Year-OldSon said:
I'd thought that Amethyst (just a couple posts above this one) had suggested holding down Command and V at the same time.....after selecting one of the icons....to boot up "verbosely".... I wonder where the snafu is..... will try your suggestion, in any case -- thank you.
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If you're in the boot picker, you have to choose the disk and boot from it first. Immediately afterwards you'd use CMD+V for Verbose Mode. But it does nothing before you actually pick a disk to boot from.

Generally though most people know which disk they are going to boot from. So, you'd just restart the Mac and then immediately press CMD+V without choosing. In that case, this is where it would apply.
 
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Good evening gentlemen, I'm having the exactly same problem with my G5, so I'm following along. I too only have access to a Windows PC, and no DVD burner, only USB sticks. Not working for me either, for now. Here's what I have tried (unsuccessfully) so far

* Burn Sorbet Leopard to USB stick with Balena Etcher, who complains the image is not bootable, and TransMac. This image does not show up as bootable in Open Firmware. Tried to convince OF with setenv boot-device ud:2,\\:tbxi followed by mac-boot. The USB light flickers for a couple seconds and I am back in the flashing "?" folder screen
* Burn the 10.5.8 Leopard .dmg to USB stick with both TransMac. This image _DOES_ show up as bootable within Open Firmware yay! typed mac-boot, USB light flickers a couple seconds, back to the flashing "?" screen. Oh well

I got both dmg files from Macintosh Garden. The 10.5.8 is download #34 which seemed to fit into a 8GB USB stick, whereas Sorbet Leopard went into a 32GB stick.

Would love to read any insights from such a confederacy of distinghished gentlemen (and ladies I reckon?)

Thanks! Luca from Italy

See specs below
specs.jpg
 
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lucacr said:
Good evening gentlemen, I'm having the exactly same problem with my G5, so I'm following along. I too only have access to a Windows PC, and no DVD burner, only USB sticks. Not working for me either, for now. Here's what I have tried (unsuccessfully) so far

* Burn Sorbet Leopard to USB stick with Balena Etcher, who complains the image is not bootable, and TransMac. This image does not show up as bootable in Open Firmware. Tried to convince OF with setenv boot-device ud:2,\\:tbxi followed by mac-boot. The USB light flickers for a couple seconds and I am back in the flashing "?" folder screen
* Burn the 10.5.8 Leopard .dmg to USB stick with both TransMac. This image _DOES_ show up as bootable within Open Firmware yay! typed mac-boot, USB light flickers a couple seconds, back to the flashing "?" screen. Oh well

I got both dmg files from Macintosh Garden. The 10.5.8 is download #34 which seemed to fit into a 8GB USB stick, whereas Sorbet Leopard went into a 32GB stick.

Would love to read any insights from such a confederacy of distinghished gentlemen (and ladies I reckon?)

Thanks! Luca from Italy

See specs below
View attachment 1917454
Click to expand...
Are your USB sticks partitioned as APM (Apple Partition Map). Most sticks tend to be partitioned (from the factory) as MBR (Master Boot Record) which is Windows only.
 
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eyoungren said:
Are your USB sticks partitioned as APM (Apple Partition Map). Most sticks tend to be partitioned (from the factory) as MBR (Master Boot Record) which is Windows only.
Click to expand...
Thanks, my understanding is that TransMac does that for you? Here's the product page...

It says

Features:
  • Apple File System (APFS) volume read support.
  • Open Mac APFS/HFS/HFS+ format disk drives, flash drives, CD/DVD/Blu-ray media, HD floppies, dmg, dmgpart, sparsebundle and sparseimage files.
  • Copy files to Mac HFS+ disks and dmg images.
  • Format as HFS+ for Mac .
  • Save and restore images of disks and flash drives.
  • Create, compress, expand and split dmg files.
  • Built in burner functionality to burn ISO and dmg files directly to CD/DVD/Blu-Ray.
  • Read Mac multisession and hybrid CDs.
  • View partition layout.
 
lucacr said:
Thanks, my understanding is that TransMac does that for you? Here's the product page...

It says

Features:
  • Apple File System (APFS) volume read support.
  • Open Mac APFS/HFS/HFS+ format disk drives, flash drives, CD/DVD/Blu-ray media, HD floppies, dmg, dmgpart, sparsebundle and sparseimage files.
  • Copy files to Mac HFS+ disks and dmg images.
  • Format as HFS+ for Mac .
  • Save and restore images of disks and flash drives.
  • Create, compress, expand and split dmg files.
  • Built in burner functionality to burn ISO and dmg files directly to CD/DVD/Blu-Ray.
  • Read Mac multisession and hybrid CDs.
  • View partition layout.
Click to expand...
OK. So did you put your USB stick into your computer and then using Transmac partion the stick as APM?

Note that APFS is NOT the same as APM. One is a partition scheme (APM) and the other is a storage format (APFS).

Or are you implying that by the act of using TransMac to 'burn' to USB, the software automatically partitions your stick as APM?

What does Windows Explorer say about how your USB stick is partitioned?
 
Hi everyone, an thank you for all of your insights. Here is where I am now.

  • I have burned Tiger to a USB stick using balena Etcher. I used a .dmg, available as download #31 from the Macintosh Garden OS X page. Balena Etcher complained that the image did not contain a bootable partition. However, I saw a post somewhere that somebody just ignored the warning and everything was fine, so I went and did it anyway.
Immagine 2021-11-25 173632.jpg

  • The reason I haven't used Leopard (DL #32) is because none of the .dmg files seem to work in Windows, they are all reported as corrupt/damaged (tried different mirrors). Ditto with WinRAR.
dl.png

  • I "kinda, sorta" know the USB stick has a valid Mac file system. I can read the contents with TransMac, ditto with Diskinternals Linux Reader (despite the name, it works on Windows and can read APFS)
APFS reader.jpg

partitions.jpg


Immagine 2021-11-26 094718.png

  • I cannot read the USB stick contents from Windows, it asks me to format it.
  • The volume is identified as "Mac OS X Install DVD" and contains the file BootX in folder System\Library\CoreServices
Here is how I went about it.
  • Started the Mac holding down Alt key, was presented with boot selection screen but NO IMAGES to choose from.
IMG_20211125_152511.jpg

  • Went into Open Firmware to see if I could force it to boot somehow
  • I could see the USB stick as ud:2
IMG_20211125_152826.jpg

  • However, when I typed DIR ud:2,\ I got
MAC-PARTS: specified partition is not valid can't OPEN the DIR device

Any insights would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Ciao from Italia!
 
Romain_H said:
Maybe stating the obvious - but is getting a dual layer DVD an option? Its not that expensive after all.
Click to expand...
This along with the simple instructions of:

  1. Right click on the file.
  2. Select "Burn disc image".
That's all that's needed to burn a standard disc image in Windows.
 
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Romain_H said:
Maybe stating the obvious - but is getting a dual layer DVD an option? Its not that expensive after all.
Click to expand...
@DadAnd12-Year-OldSon This was my first thought. I'd pickup a 5-8 stack of Dual Layer DVDs and burn the dmg to a bootable disk - make myself a Tiger install disc, Leopard install disc and another with all of the PowerPC updates for both OS because you know at some point Apple is going to break the update installer for these geriatric operating systems and then you'll be sol. Generally speaking I find flashmedia installers to be a PITA on PowerPC, preferring:

A.) Universal Optical media installers
B.) Target Disc Mode a bootable image from one mac to another via Fire Wire.

I agree that a DL DVD + dmg is the way to go here using something easy like Transmac (trialware) on windows to make the bootable dvd disc. Below is a video on the process where they are using a sony flashdrive.


Follow the steps but choose the DL DVD you inserted into your winbox instead of flash media to copy the installer to. The output should be a bootable DL DVD with your preferred OS dmg. Stick that into your imacg5, boot into the bootpicker, choose the disc and install.

From Tiger/Leopard, making bootable DVDs for whatever is an easy breezy affair via Disk Utility.

Best of luck to you both and your powerpc mac adventure.
 
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