Onno Benschop wrote:
Reg Whitely wrote:
Presumably, correct me if I'm wrong, Mac Start is looking for some
form of system software from OS 8 that is not in OS 7. I've got an OS
8.1 disk which I could load onto the 580s but there is not enough hard
drive space on them to do so. I'm loath to delete the ed software on
them to make room for unnecessary system stuff and certainly don't
want to upgrade any hardware. Is there a workaround? Is it possible to
install the components of OS 8 needed to run the CDROMs without
totally updating to 8.1? If so, what would I need to install? It would
be nice for the kids to have these extra learning resources in their
classroom at NO cost.
Fundamentally, OS 7 and OS 8 are different beasts. There are some
extensions that will travel well between the two, but if your
application needs OS 8, your missing resource is only a red herring and
it is likely telling you in a non-intuitive way that it won't actually
work.
So, over to the idea of installing OS 8.
The first thing you might like to check is if the drive is actually big
enough if it were completely empty.
If that is not the case, you're out of luck, but more likely you can in
fact just install the new OS on the drive if it were empty.
First thing to try is to boot off the 8.1 CD,
[cmd]+[option]+[shift]+[delete], or set the Start up Disk in the Control
Panel. You will be able to choose a clean install.
Another trick is to install the boot image from the disk tools disk onto
the HDD, then change the Startup System Folder - look up blessing the
system - and boot with that - warning, this may fail, so make sure you
have a bootable CD, otherwise the exercise becomes making bootable
floppies, pretty painful.
Formatting the HDD on an older system is not a bad idea, just backup all
the gumpf you think you need.
Also, if the machines have enough RAM, you can make a RAM disk, install
the OS8.1 Disk Tools image onto that, set the start-up disk to the RAM
disk and reboot. You can then format the HDD.
Many other tricks exist.
Disclaimer: This is all from memory, I've not looked to see which OS is
supported by which machine and if your Mac might actually run under OS
8.1 - likely it will.
The idea of installing one extension to magically make it work is doomed
to fail - the only exceptions I've seen to that is the installation of
CarbonLib and QuickTime.
So, there is lots to play with.
I would try looking for a way to test if the existing apps the kids are
using will work under OS 8.x.
If they do then I would ditch 7 for 8 and try for the latest version of
8 it will run comfortably after a fresh install. I still have fond
memories of the rock-solid (compared to 9.x) nature of 8.6.
I'm sure someone on the list must have some circa 500 MB SCSI drives
gathering dust. Except for me of course;)
Has there not been whole older systems being offered as donations
recently, have they all been spoken for?
Good Luck
Paul
