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Garyed055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
158
51
Canton Georgia
Hey all

I just got an old G3 Walstreet up and running but need your guys help. There are only 2 floppy drives on this unit no CD-ROM. do any of you know of a source for OS8 or 9 on floppy?

thanks

Gary
 
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Raging Dufus

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2018
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Kansas USA
AFAIK the last operating system that Apple released on floppy disk was System 7. If it's of any use, they can be downloaded here.

I could be wrong, but given the number of floppies it would take to house a segmented install (if one even exists) of Mac OS 8+, the size of which is at least ~250 MB... well, I doubt there is such a thing. Anyway, I haven't heard of it.

What I would do instead is this:

Your Wallstreet supports PCMCIA/Cardbus via a PC Card slot (maybe even two slots? don't remember) in its side. I'd get a PCMCIA to CF (Compact Flash) adapter, and at least a 1 GB CF card. Then I'd download whichever install of OS 8/9 that you like from here. Use whatever means you can to get it on the CF card (maybe a USB to CF adapter), then plug the CF card into your Wallstreet's slot via the PCMCIA to CF adapter.

Your Wallstreet should be able to boot from that; you may need to select it by holding down the option key at startup.
 

647156

Cancelled
Dec 4, 2011
276
373
There was definitely no floppy version of OS 8.0 onwards and the Wallstreet cannot boot any System 7.x version. An external (SCSI) CD drive is useful when working with older Macs if you can get one (or a Wallstreet CD drive module, which it would have come with when new), alternatively temporarily moving the hard drive to a Mac with a CD drive or another means to get an OS onto it eg FireWire Target mode would be an option. Or if you have any working OS on it already then you should be able to copy over an already-installed OS 8.x/9.x System Folder via network to a second hard drive partition from the running one...
 

Raging Dufus

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2018
614
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Kansas USA
...or another means to get an OS onto it eg FireWire Target mode would be an option.

I don't think the Wallstreet came with FireWire. I believe that was first introduced into the PowerBook line with the Pismo, which was a couple revisions downstream from the Wallstreet.

FireWire capability can be added to a Wallstreet via the Cardbus slot, and you might be able to use Target Disk Mode that way...if the Wallstreet's firmware even supports Target Disk Mode, which I don't know.
 

647156

Cancelled
Dec 4, 2011
276
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Oh yes I meant if you had another Mac that supported Target mode (or that had a working CD drive) that you could temporarily drop the hard drive into - the Wallstreet won't have Target mode in its firmware even if using an upgrade card.
 

Garyed055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
158
51
Canton Georgia
AFAIK the last operating system that Apple released on floppy disk was System 7. If it's of any use, they can be downloaded here.

I could be wrong, but given the number of floppies it would take to house a segmented install (if one even exists) of Mac OS 8+, the size of which is at least ~250 MB... well, I doubt there is such a thing. Anyway, I haven't heard of it.

What I would do instead is this:

Your Wallstreet supports PCMCIA/Cardbus via a PC Card slot (maybe even two slots? don't remember) in its side. I'd get a PCMCIA to CF (Compact Flash) adapter, and at least a 1 GB CF card. Then I'd download whichever install of OS 8/9 that you like from here. Use whatever means you can to get it on the CF card (maybe a USB to CF adapter), then plug the CF card into your Wallstreet's slot via the PCMCIA to CF adapter.

Your Wallstreet should be able to boot from that; you may need to select it by holding down the option key at startup.


Sounds good. I already have a CF Card the rest should be easy. Thank you

Gary
 

Raging Dufus

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2018
614
1,126
Kansas USA
Oh yes I meant if you had another Mac that supported Target mode (or that had a working CD drive) that you could temporarily drop the hard drive into - the Wallstreet won't have Target mode in its firmware even if using an upgrade card.

Oh I see, you mean the other way round. Yes, that should work. You'd still need a FireWire card for the Wallstreet (as you pointed out); I think that's why it didn't occur to me at first. I forgot entirely about using another Mac's optical drive via TDM - nice work there :)
 

AphoticD

macrumors 68020
Feb 17, 2017
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The PCMCIA to CF Adapter Card is the way to go. They are typically very cheap. If I understand correctly, the adapter card simply re-routes the pins as the CF interface is based on PCMCIA, so there is are bridging ICs or Mac-specific firmware. With this in mind, any brand adapter should work.

This is where having another PowerBook G3 (Lombard or Pismo) or G4 (Ti or Al 15” or 17”) will aid in getting files across to the Wallstreet via the CF card.

My PDQs can also comfortably boot from the CF card, which makes it a handy restore / utilities drive.
 
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Garyed055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
158
51
Canton Georgia
Thanks everyone I checked and the PCMCIA to CF adapter and the USB to CF are both cheap to get ahold of so ill go that route ASAP. Its great to get this old warhorse up and running I had to do a complete system board replacement and I felt like that scene in Frankenstein wanting to shout IT'S ALIVE when I heard the boot Chime

thanks again

Gary
 

swamprock

macrumors 65816
Aug 2, 2015
1,198
1,752
Michigan
I had a similar issue, where I had a Wallstreet with a dead CDROM module. Rather than drop $30-$40 on another one, I waited for a parts machine to pop up on eBay and snagged it ($40 shipped). This helped twofold: I got a CDROM module, and spare parts in case my machine needed any repair. This came in handy when my display hinges eventually failed.
 

AphoticD

macrumors 68020
Feb 17, 2017
2,282
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Thanks everyone I checked and the PCMCIA to CF adapter and the USB to CF are both cheap to get ahold of so ill go that route ASAP. Its great to get this old warhorse up and running I had to do a complete system board replacement and I felt like that scene in Frankenstein wanting to shout IT'S ALIVE when I heard the boot Chime

thanks again

Gary

It's great to revive any old Mac, but an old tank like the Wallstreet, Well done! They are solid little Macs. I have a PDQ with dual batteries installed and boy is it a lead weight!
 
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weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
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Oh yes I meant if you had another Mac that supported Target mode (or that had a working CD drive) that you could temporarily drop the hard drive into - the Wallstreet won't have Target mode in its firmware even if using an upgrade card.

The Wallstreet does have Target Disk mode. Just that it is SCSI Disk mode. The only viable alternative to an internal optical drive would be an external SCSI drive: Either optical, Zip or Jaz or via Target Disk mode to another suitable Mac. You could install MacOS via any of these but the CF solution is cheaper, easier and quicker.
 
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AphoticD

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Feb 17, 2017
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The Wallstreet does have Target Disk mode. Just that it is SCSI Disk mode. The only viable alternative to an internal optical drive would be an external SCSI drive: Either optical, Zip or Jaz or via Target Disk mode to another suitable Mac. You could install MacOS via any of these but the CF solution is cheaper, easier and quicker.

Will the Wally/PDQ go into regular old 'T-key' Firewire TDM if there is a Firewire PC Card installed?
 
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weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
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Will the Wally/PDQ go into regular old 'T-key' Firewire TDM if there is a Firewire PC Card installed?

TDM is a function of the firmware of The Wallstreet coupled with the hardware that accompanies it. That would exclude USB, FW, APFS etc. As far as the PC slot is concerned, this has support for IDE baked in, which is why you can boot from it with CF cards. Anything else needs drivers.
 

Garyed055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
158
51
Canton Georgia
Thanks everyone I checked and the PCMCIA to CF adapter and the USB to CF are both cheap to get ahold of so ill go that route ASAP. Its great to get this old warhorse up and running I had to do a complete system board replacement and I felt like that scene in Frankenstein wanting to shout IT'S ALIVE when I heard the boot Chime

thanks again

Gary



Just bought the PCMCIA to CF card and the CF to USB adapter off Ebay so when they get here I should be ready.

Gary
 

Garyed055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
158
51
Canton Georgia
Ok

The USB CF card reader arrived today and I created the Boot disk on the CF card. Now when the CF adapter card for the walstreet arrives do i use the option key at booting?
 

AphoticD

macrumors 68020
Feb 17, 2017
2,282
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Ok

The USB CF card reader arrived today and I created the Boot disk on the CF card. Now when the CF adapter card for the walstreet arrives do i use the option key at booting?

The Wallstreet doesn’t have the option-key multi-boot feature, so you want to use the combo; command-option-shift-delete which instructs the Mac to ignore the internal hard drive at boot.,
 

Garyed055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
158
51
Canton Georgia
The Wallstreet doesn’t have the option-key multi-boot feature, so you want to use the combo; command-option-shift-delete which instructs the Mac to ignore the internal hard drive at boot.,

Thanks :)

I hope this works this laptop was a gift from a special friend. I was so surprised when the original system board failed, Luckily The walstreet is one I'm totally familiar with every part.

Gary
 
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Garyed055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
158
51
Canton Georgia
AFAIK the last operating system that Apple released on floppy disk was System 7. If it's of any use, they can be downloaded here.

I could be wrong, but given the number of floppies it would take to house a segmented install (if one even exists) of Mac OS 8+, the size of which is at least ~250 MB... well, I doubt there is such a thing. Anyway, I haven't heard of it.

What I would do instead is this:

Your Wallstreet supports PCMCIA/Cardbus via a PC Card slot (maybe even two slots? don't remember) in its side. I'd get a PCMCIA to CF (Compact Flash) adapter, and at least a 1 GB CF card. Then I'd download whichever install of OS 8/9 that you like from here. Use whatever means you can to get it on the CF card (maybe a USB to CF adapter), then plug the CF card into your Wallstreet's slot via the PCMCIA to CF adapter.

Your Wallstreet should be able to boot from that; you may need to select it by holding down the option key at startup.


Hi

I tried downloading the OS files but they end in TOAST how do i open these to a CF card?

Gary
 

Raging Dufus

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2018
614
1,126
Kansas USA
Hi

I tried downloading the OS files but they end in TOAST how do i open these to a CF card?

Gary

Well that's a good question. Sorry, I didn't see that they were .toast files, it seems that all of them are. I haven't had occasion to use something from the Macintosh Garden that came as a .toast file, so I'm afraid I have no experience to share.

There's some discussion of using .toast files in the comments section below the previously mentioned link with the OS downloads. There's more discussion here. However, it seems these solutions are going to require some mucking about in ImgBurn on Windows or Toast on a Mac. How you proceed depends on what hardware & OS you have available.

Another option you might try is MacOS9Lives. If you register an account there (it's free) you'll get access to their downloads, which might come in a friendlier format (I'm not sure, because I don't have an account there myself).
 
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Garyed055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
158
51
Canton Georgia
Well that's a good question. Sorry, I didn't see that they were .toast files, it seems that all of them are. I haven't had occasion to use something from the Macintosh Garden that came as a .toast file, so I'm afraid I have no experience to share.

There's some discussion of using .toast files in the comments section below the previously mentioned link with the OS downloads. There's more discussion here. However, it seems these solutions are going to require some mucking about in ImgBurn on Windows or Toast on a Mac. How you proceed depends on what hardware & OS you have available.

Another option you might try is MacOS9Lives. If you register an account there (it's free) you'll get access to their downloads, which might come in a friendlier format (I'm not sure, because I don't have an account there myself).


Well after going to two different macs I managed to make a bootable CF card but soon as the OS 9 logo appears am error box comes up saying

The system software on this disk only works on the original media. not if copied to another drive

Gary
 

Raging Dufus

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2018
614
1,126
Kansas USA
Well after going to two different macs I managed to make a bootable CF card but soon as the OS 9 logo appears am error box comes up saying

The system software on this disk only works on the original media. not if copied to another drive

Gary

Not sure which image you downloaded, but sounds like you may have got hold of an image from one of the "grey" machine-specific discs. There are some non-specific OS downloads on that page. There's one for 8.6 that's the 9th file down on the list; and one for the "Net Boot Install" of OS 9 which is the 16th file on the list. If those are in fact what they say they are, then you shouldn't encounter the same problem by copying them to other media.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that the problem may be that the OS install image requires a CD drive. If that's the case, and the other Macs you're using are capable of booting natively into OS 9 (not talking about Classic Mode in OS X), then you may have better luck using one of those Macs to install the OS from the image you downloaded onto the CF card (might require burning the image to CD first). Then, you'll have a working installation of OS 9 on the CF card for your Wallstreet to boot from.
 
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AphoticD

macrumors 68020
Feb 17, 2017
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I would also recommend a visit to macos9lives.com. Join the forums and you'll gain access to their "Mac OS 9.2.2 Universal Install.iso". Burn this to CD or copy to your CF card and you should be all set.
 

Garyed055

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2018
158
51
Canton Georgia
Not sure which image you downloaded, but sounds like you may have got hold of an image from one of the "grey" machine-specific discs. There are some non-specific OS downloads on that page. There's one for 8.6 that's the 9th file down on the list; and one for the "Net Boot Install" of OS 9 which is the 16th file on the list. If those are in fact what they say they are, then you shouldn't encounter the same problem by copying them to other media.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that the problem may be that the OS install image requires a CD drive. If that's the case, and the other Macs you're using are capable of booting natively into OS 9 (not talking about Classic Mode in OS X), then you may have better luck using one of those Macs to install the OS from the image you downloaded onto the CF card (might require burning the image to CD first). Then, you'll have a working installation of OS 9 on the CF card for your Wallstreet to boot from.


Well tried about 6 different image files and all say the same thing Will only work from Original CD. I registered at OS9 lives but haven't been approved yet

Gary
 
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