[G4] Panther upgrade
Perry The Cynic
perry at cynic.org
Sat Jan 3 22:56:01 PST 2004
Wow! That's a lot of fear you've got bottled up there. :-)
In general: lighten up. What you're planning to do is absolutely normal and
simple, and shouldn't cause you any heartburn. Basically you will
(*) Insert installation CD
(*) Reboot with "C" key held down
(*) Optionally, launch the disk tool and format/partition the disk
(*) Pick the right partition to install into
(*) Install
You can then switch between Jaguar and Panther using the startup
preferences/control panel, or by holding down the Option key while
rebooting to get the "pick disk" menu. Everything's going to be all right.
Now if you *must* know the answers to your fears, here are some:
You can install Panther and Jaguar versions on different partitions (on the
same or different disks) and boot them both without problems. They will not
mess up existing filesystems. This will not change your OF settings (unless
you perform certain arcane rituals involving installation over the network).
The only supported way to get a case sensitive filesystem is to use UFS. I
would strongly discourage you from doing this; UFS performs like a dog, and
has no fork support. If you absolutely must have case sensitivity for some
work, partition the disk, install the system into an HFS+ partition, and
format a separate work partition for UFS.
During OS installation, you boot off the installation CD. It doesn't matter
whether (or what type) of existing system(s) you have on other disks.
Nothing will be installed into partitions that are not the install target.
Just don't install into the wrong place. :-)
If you want to make it physically certain that your Mac can't write to a
disk, you have to either disconnect it (using the ATA or power cables), or
jumper the drive to write-protect mode. Neither is necessary for what you
say you're going to do, but I understand paranoia. :-) If you do this, make
sure your Mac is off when you do it, and ground yourself properly.
Both Jaguar and Panther support journaled HFS+. Enabling journaling during
install (well, formatting) is *not* a problem, and it helps stability
(though it slows things down *slightly*). A non-journal HFS+ system (say,
9.2) will be able to use a journaled filesystem just fine *if* it was shut
down cleanly, though of course it won't use journaling itself.
Some of the mechanisms of remote filesystem mounting have changed from
Jaguar to Panther, so you *may* need to re-work any custom hacks you did.
Most of the changes are in autoimmune functionality though, so if you
explicitly invoke mount_afp, you're probably okay (except for changes to
explicit mount point paths, of course).
Cheers
-- perry
--On Saturday, January 3, 2004 8:17 PM -0700 Doug McNutt
<douglist at macnauchtan.com> wrote:
> So you can understand my reply (below) to my girlfriend - er - wife Kit
> who was an MCI and Pansophic guru in the past..
>
> I run OS neXt version 10.2.8 on a G4 sawtooth. I appreciate it. It allows
> me to regress to my roots as a FORTRAN programmer with assembly language
> roots into a Control Data drum scope computer I used well before the
> mouse was invented. The machine is named Earth and it's disks are Luna,
> Mir, and Hubble. It is truly nice to be able to gcc a source file and
> have it work.
>
> I have asked Kit to install panther on the G4. I once used the G4 as a
> primary computer using Microbesoft Excel and Apple's MPW to control my
> finances and a productive consulting business.. When OS neXt was
> introduced I placed all of my important business on an older Mac 8500
> which was updated to OS 9.1. My G4 was relegated to experimentation with
> UNIX and the free software foundation. Actually, BBEdit worksheets and
> Telnet to an Intel box running Linux has been productive.
>
> I have backed up the entire contents of the disk "Luna" to CD-ROM's using
> an Mac 5500 which I trust;., The next step (without a pun) is to install
> Panther on Luna. I have asked that the disk be reinitialized with a
> case-sensitive format if possible. I pray that, after that, it will be
> possible to boot into Jaguar from the existing image on Mir. But it's
> not so clear. It's possible that the installation of Panther will muck
> with EEPROM in a manner that will make it impossible to reboot into
> Jaguar.
>
> I'm not sure if I need to physically disconnect the ATA cable to the Mir
> disk to prevent unanticipated changes. I'm thinking about that and would
> appreciate any advice.
>
> Kit points out that installation of Panther may cause a reboot into
> Jaguar to fail. I have spent a lot of time persuading Jaguar to use my
> SE/30 running Mac OS 7.5.3 as a file server. Connecting to the server has
> required that I learn about system calls mount_afp and the like and I
> fully expect that my startup shell scripts will require modification.
>
> I doubt that I can execute ControlPanels:StartupDisk to choose a new boot
> partition but I'm pretty sure I can physically disconnect Luna and
> reboot. Where are the instructions? How does one choose a startup disk
> in Panther? Do I have to install it to find out?
>
> Read on to understand where we are.
>
> At 17:22 -0700 1/3/04, Kit Harass wrote:
> > Looks like the only concern with a dual boot. (is the prospect that
> > journaling will cause Jauguar to fail.)
> >
> > http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031025023359826
> > 10.3: Possible kernel panics on dual-boot machines
>
> My reply to Kit. She's also my wife, but she's also an experienced
> software manager: She has installed Panther on a Pismo powerbook but
> that's just a start.
>
> Luna should be reformatted. Everything has been backed up. I really don't
> know if it makes sense to crate a partition for virtual RAM imaging.
> Apple doesn't provide any guidance.
>
> I'll bet there are more problems. What I really worry about is my 3
> PCI-driven black and white monitors powered by older ATI cards.
>
> If asked, do not enable journalling on Mir or Hubble.
>
> If asked only for all or none, do not enable journalling at all.
>
> If not asked. Go and look for a way to disable journalling on Mir and
> Hubble. Otherwise figure out a way to disable journalling everywhere.
>
> If that's a problem pull the power plug, and ask. I will physically
> disconnect Hubble and Mir.
>
> Otherwise just do something. There is NOTHING of serious importance in OS
> neXt. I have made it a point to keep it that way.
>
> And. . . I intend to keep it that way. OSA 9.1 has everything important
> to our well being. The 8500 will remain live and well and we have two of
> them. We can toss the G4 into the river if necessary, and I would enjoy
> inviting the press to observe the procedure.
>
> Steve is NOT to be trusted. The G4 is truly for play only. If it doesn't
> work for a year it's OK. The IRS won't even know about it..
>
> What I really hope is that the PRAM or BOOT ROM are not being mucked with
> by Panther. There is no way to tell. The final test is to physically
> disconnect Luna and boot from Hubble.. If that fails we are going 100% to
> Linux with no - NONE - not at all - no way - looking back.
>
> Perhaps we can get YellowDog to run on the G4, If not, I swear we will
> drown it in Fountain Creek with the Gazette reporters invited.
>
> Remember that ALL important financial information is safely stored in
> MacOS 9.1 format on the 8500.
>
> Doug
>
>
> --
> --> There are 10 kinds of people: those who understand binary, and
> those who don't <--
>
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Perry The Cynic perry at cynic.org
To a blind optimist, an optimistic realist must seem like an Accursed Cynic.
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