How to install 7.6.1 on a 2400.

[Ivan Drucker]

Wow, that was a trip down memory lane. I just
installed 7.6.1 on my 2400, and it was...grey. And
fast. And the menus didn't stick, and the folders were
rectangles, and... it was strange, really.

Anyway, here's how to do it. Your options are:

Find a 7.6.1 installer CD. Your best bet is to find
the owner of a Power Macintosh 4400, 5500, 6500, 7300,
8600, or 9600 who bought their computer when the 7.6.1
installer was included, or participated in the
Up-To-Date program to get one. You can also buy one
for $50 from megamacs.com, or try your luck on eBay. I
haven't actually tried one of these discs, but I have
a 7.6.1 installer on a special Apple internal-use CD,
and I assume it's the same thing, and it worked ok.

OR

If you have a 7.6 installer CD, you can still install
it. You will need a copy of Wish I Were...
<http://www.jmac.org/~jah/ccvmod/Wish_I_Were.sea.hqx>.
You will also need a disk or a partition formatted as
HFS Standard (not HFS+ aka HFS Extended), and an an
installed bootable OS (i.e. 8.0 or later) on a
different disk or partition.

Boot up, and install Wish I Were (put the control
panel and the extension in their respective places).
Then, open the Wish I Were control panel, and choose
PowerBook 5300 (though any 68030-or-later model will
work). Restart.

Now you are able to run the 7.6 installer, because it
thinks you're on a PowerBook 5300. I didn't actually
try the regular installer; instead, I went straight to
the Software Installers folder, and ran the installer
inside Mac OS 7.6. I imagine the regular installer
(which installs other components in addition to the
System software) should work ok. Run the installer,
select your HFS disk, and choose "Custom Install". In
there, choose "Universal Install for any Macintosh"
(or something close to that). Then click Install.
Don't do the Easy Install, or you might wind up with
some missing components.

Now, go back to the Wish I Were control panel and
choose "True Value" (at the top of the list), and
close it. Open Startup Disk and make sure your 8.x or
9.x startup volume is still selected. Reboot.

When you'e back, you may then run the 7.6.1 updater,
which is at
<http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-North_American/Macintosh/System/Mac_OS_7.6.1_Update/Mac_OS_7.6.1_Update-NetInst.sea.bin>.
Just let it do its thing.

When it's done, you should be able to choose your
7.6.1 volume from Startup Disk, reboot, and wax
nostalgic.

Some notes:
According to various Apple docs that I read, if you
plan to install any Open Transport update, you should
do so BEFORE you install the 7.6.1 update.

Also, there is a special 7.6.1 updater for the 3400.
The 2400 is a *very* close cousin to the 3400, so I
wondered if that should be used instead. I tried both
(it ran on my 2400, insterestingly) and couldn't tell
if there was really any difference; they both worked.
If you want to try the special 3400 updater instead,
it's at
<http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-North_American/Macintosh/PowerBook/PB_3400/PB_3400_7.6.1_Update-NetIns.sea.bin>

Ivan.