Mm 1,1-6,2 Mac OS X Server 10.4 on a Mac mini 1,1 (Early 2006)

[victor.muc]

Hey everyone,

I recently picked up a Mac mini 1,1 (Early 2006) and would like to use it as a retro server for my vintage Macs using AppleTalk / AFP with OS X Server 10.4.
I already have another 2006 Mac mini running Mac OS X Tiger, so the hardware itself should be fine?

I’ve tried multiple OS X Server 10.4.7 Universal install ISOs since those are the only versions I could find, but on this machine they all fail to boot and immediately show the prohibited symbol. Booting with verbose mode always ends with "Still waiting for root device", so the installer never actually loads.

I’ve already patched OSInstall.mpkg to bypass model checks, but since the failure happens before the installer starts, that obviously doesn’t help.

I came across a forum thread where someone successfully ran Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 on a Mac mini 2,1, stating they had a 10.4.11 Server install disc. However, all publicly available Server ISOs I can find seem to be 10.4.7 only, and I haven’t been able to locate any later Server install media.

So my questions are:

- Did Apple ever release a later Tiger Server install disc (10.4.10 / 10.4.11) that properly supports early Intel Mac minis?
- Has anyone here successfully installed Tiger Server on a Mac mini 1,1, and if so, which install media/build did you use? I´m not asking for any links since I dont want to break any rules.

I’m specifically trying to avoid Leopard, as this machine is intended to act as a classic AppleTalk/AFP server for older systems.

Any insight from people who’ve done this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[victor.muc]

I also enabled extended verbose logging and get errors like "IOUSBInterface: family specific matching fails", "IOResources: family specific matching fails" and "Still waiting for root device". So I guess it won't find the necessary kexts for my device which is weird since it came out with 10.4.5 (Client) and my Server discs are all 10.4.7.

 

[Bigwaff]

I don’t think 10.4 server became compatible with Intel Macs until 10.4.8. That was first Universal release.

 

[Intell]

Bigwaff is correct, the first Intell/Universal Tiger Server was 10.4.8. If you can find that (or any 10.4.8-10.4.11 ISO), it'll run on a 2006 Mac Mini without an issue.

 

[Slix]

Bigwaff is correct, the first Intell/Universal Tiger Server was 10.4.8. If you can find that (or any 10.4.8-10.4.11 ISO), it'll run on a 2006 Mac Mini without an issue.

Alternatively, if you have a PowerPC Mac you can use, you could set Tiger Server up on that, update it, and then clone the drive or migrate the system to the 2006 Mac Mini. Good luck! I have a 2006 Mac Mini running Snow Leopard Server and before that used a G4 running Leopard Server.