create Mac boot disk in Linux

[g***@yahoo.com]

I have gotten a old Mac PowerBook 1400cs from a friend of mine. The
hard disk is either corrupt or damaged. We get the floppy simbol with
question mark or x.

So we wanted to try booting it off the floppy and see if it possible to
see the hard disk, etc. He misplaced the Mac OS disks/disc. No CD-ROM
drive on the notebook either.

I downloaded System 7.5 Network Access boot image from Apple. Also
tried a System 6.0.8 boot image. But I don't have any DOS/Windows
machine with floppy drives to use rawrite with. The only computer I
have with a floppy drive attached is running Ubuntu Linux 5.1. So I
tried the following command on it:

dd if="Network Access.image" of=/dev/fd0

This command caused the floppy drive to chur away for a few minutes. It
seem to have written stuff to the floppy disk. But reported an
input/output error. And the final floppy does not boot on the Mac
PowerBook.

"mount /media/floppy0" also causes the Linux OS to report that it is
unable to determine the file system type.

Does anyone know how to write the boot image to a floppy in Linux? Is
there some arguments that I should have provided to "dd" to write the
raw file correctly? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Chieh
--
Camera Hacker - http://www.CameraHacker.com/

[Davorin Vlahovic]

Post by g***@yahoo.com
Does anyone know how to write the boot image to a floppy in Linux? Is
there some arguments that I should have provided to "dd" to write the
raw file correctly? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Use hfsutils (type "apt-get install hfsutils" as root). To mount hfs
volumes, you'll need hfs support compiled into kernel or as a loadable
module.

[Roger Johnstone]

Post by g***@yahoo.com
I have gotten a old Mac PowerBook 1400cs from a friend of mine. The
hard disk is either corrupt or damaged. We get the floppy simbol with
question mark or x.
So we wanted to try booting it off the floppy and see if it possible
to see the hard disk, etc. He misplaced the Mac OS disks/disc. No CD-
ROM drive on the notebook either.
I downloaded System 7.5 Network Access boot image from Apple. Also
tried a System 6.0.8 boot image. But I don't have any DOS/Windows
machine with floppy drives to use rawrite with. The only computer I
have with a floppy drive attached is running Ubuntu Linux 5.1. So I
dd if="Network Access.image" of=/dev/fd0
This command caused the floppy drive to chur away for a few minutes.
It seem to have written stuff to the floppy disk. But reported an
input/output error. And the final floppy does not boot on the Mac
PowerBook.

The disk image has an 84-byte long header at the start. The I/O error
was probably caused by dd trying to write past the last block on the
disk. This should work:

dd if="Network Access.image" of=/dev/fd0 bs=84 skip=1

[g***@yahoo.com]

Thanks! That did the trick. I was able to mount the HFS disk in Linux.
8-)

Only problem left . . . the diskette still won't boot on the 1400cs.
8-(

Chieh
--
Camera Hacker - http://www.CameraHacker.com/

[Robert Hull]

Post by g***@yahoo.com
Thanks! That did the trick. I was able to mount the HFS disk in Linux.
8-)
Only problem left . . . the diskette still won't boot on the 1400cs.
8-(

Now comes the "canned" speech about what's wrong with GG posting.
It's offered as a learning tool, to help you get more, and better
help, without upsetting old grouches, like me, in the process. Read
it in that spirit. If you detect a note of anger, or frustration,
it's not with you, but rather with GG, for their crappy implementation
of their interface.  ;-)


OK, let's start with the basics: Do you know what Usenet is? Do you
know what a News Group is? How about a news server? Click on this
link for the answers.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet

Google unfortunately decided not to use the standards of quoting on
Usenet. A quick fix can be read on the following page:

   http://www.safalra.com/special/googlegroupsreply/

If you want to get better help and learn more, please read on.

I sympathise with your problems, and am more than willing to help you
solve them. To do so you should follow the correct quoting principles
and good Netiquette explained in this FAQ available at;

   http://www.plainfaqs.org/linux/

While you are at it, read the whole document and the links provided
in it as well. Lots of good things there.

Due to the bad quoting habits and the amount of drivel coming from
postings done via Google Groups, numerous people have resorted in
kill filing (not reading or responding to) all postings done with
Google.

This means fewer knowledgeable people that are able, or willing, to
help you. Proper quoting, and good netiquette, will keep more from
doing the same.

It's not your fault you got sucked into GG's bad habits. It will be
your fault, if you don't act to remedy the situation. Remember this:
it's in your best interest to keep these knowledgeable people happy,
by following a few simple rules. If you don't, you will be the only
loser.

To get the best possible result from your postings, it is better to
use a newsreader or Usenet client. Linux has many dedicated news
readers, as well as browsers with built in news readers.

If you're running SUSE Linux, look on your menu, under Internet -->
News, and you'll see which news readers you have installed. If you're
running something else, look for a good newsreader. Don't use an
email program.

Find a Usenet server that you can post to. Your ISP probably has one.
There are also free ones out there, that Google will help you locate.
Type in "Usenet free servers". better yet, use this:

   http://tinyurl.com/c45wm

The one your provider has is most likely the better, faster and
easier choice. Set up the news reader of your choice, download the
groups list, type linux in the search box, then subscribe to
alt.os.linux. and alt.os.linux.<your distro> as well as any others
that interest you; comp.os.linux.<whatever> may also prove helpful.

When I see correct quoting from you, instead of what Google has been
forcing you to do, I'll be right there to greet you, and help get you
going. Until then:

I am out of here.

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

Post by g***@yahoo.com
I downloaded System 7.5 Network Access boot image from Apple. Also
tried a System 6.0.8 boot image.

6.0.8 won't work. The earliest MacOS version with PowerPC support in it
was 7.1.2 (which dates from the NuBus-based Power Macs).

[Steve Hix]

Post by Lawrence D'Oliveiro

Post by g***@yahoo.com
I downloaded System 7.5 Network Access boot image from Apple. Also
tried a System 6.0.8 boot image.

6.0.8 won't work. The earliest MacOS version with PowerPC support in it
was 7.1.2 (which dates from the NuBus-based Power Macs).

IIRC, the earliest version that will work with the 1400 is 7.5.3, which
shipped with the machine. And not any 7.5.3 will work; it has to have
the 1400 enabler.

[g***@yahoo.com]

Ahh . . . thanks. I look like neither disk images I download will work
. . . I got them from this page:
http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html

Anyone knows if any of the software on that page will help us boot the
PowerBook 1400cs so that we can gain access to the data on the hard
disk? Or even just to boot?

Chieh
--
Camera Hacker - http://www.CameraHacker.com/

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

Post by g***@yahoo.com
Anyone knows if any of the software on that page will help us boot the
PowerBook 1400cs so that we can gain access to the data on the hard
disk? Or even just to boot?

How about this
<http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates
/MultiCountry/Macintosh/System/System_7.5.3_Revision_2/>.

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

Post by g***@yahoo.com
Anyone knows if any of the software on that page will help us boot the
PowerBook 1400cs so that we can gain access to the data on the hard
disk? Or even just to boot?

Or this
<http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates
/English-International/Macintosh/System/Full_Installs/System_7.5_Version_
7.5.3/>

[Roger Johnstone]

Post by g***@yahoo.com
Ahh . . . thanks. I look like neither disk images I download will work
http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html
Anyone knows if any of the software on that page will help us boot the
PowerBook 1400cs so that we can gain access to the data on the hard
disk? Or even just to boot?

Since Apple writes the OS they have no need to make anything backwards
compatible, so you always need the OS that came with the particular
model or a later OS release. The PowerBook 1400 came out in late 1996,
so you'll need System 7.5.3 or later. Fortunately there's a bootable
floppy disk image for Mac OS 8.1 available:

http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/
English-North_American/Macintosh/System/Mac_OS_8.1_Update/Disk_Tools_PPC.
img.bin

Unfortunately unlike the System 7.5 Network Access Disk it's in a Disk
Copy compressed image, so you can't just use dd to write it to a disk.
There's a Windows shareware program called WinImage which can handle
Disk Copy images, but I can't remember if it can cope with compressed
images.

To make it easy for you I've used Apple's Disk Utility to convert the
Disk Tools image from an old-style NDIF disk image to the sort favoured
by Mac OS X: uncompressed and with no header :o)

A simple dd if="Disk Tools PPC.dmg" of=/dev/fd0 should work fine.

You can download it from here http://roger.geek.nz/DiskToolsPPC.dmg.zip

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

Post by Roger Johnstone
Since Apple writes the OS they have no need to make anything backwards
compatible, so you always need the OS that came with the particular
model or a later OS release

But that must mean the later OS release is backwards-compatible, mustn't
it?

[Roger Johnstone]

<***@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com>
<20060420001236655+***@News.Individual.NET>
<ldo-***@lust.ihug.co.nz>
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User-Agent: Halime (MacOSX)/1.0rc2b
Xref: number1.nntp.dca.giganews.com comp.sys.mac.system:631851 comp.os.linux.m68k:21380 alt.os.linux:368550 comp.os.linux.powerpc:67259

Post by Lawrence D'Oliveiro

Post by Roger Johnstone
Since Apple writes the OS they have no need to make anything backwards
compatible, so you always need the OS that came with the particular
model or a later OS release

But that must mean the later OS release is backwards-compatible,
mustn't it?

Yes. Read what I mean, not what I say!

I meant Apple has no need to make their computers compatible with older
versions of the OS, since they can just update the OS to handle the new
hardware.

[g***@yahoo.com]

Post by Roger Johnstone
To make it easy for you I've used Apple's Disk Utility to convert the
Disk Tools image from an old-style NDIF disk image to the sort favoured
by Mac OS X: uncompressed and with no header :o)
A simple dd if="Disk Tools PPC.dmg" of=/dev/fd0 should work fine.
You can download it from here http://roger.geek.nz/DiskToolsPPC.dmg.zip

Hi Roger!

Thanks a lot! That really helps. The PowerBook 1400cs boots now off the
floppy. 8-) I tested it with a old 4 GB hard drive and it works. So my
friend is going to bring the original HD with his precious data on it
to see if we can recover it. Thank you.

P.S. I tried to download some sea.bin files on Apple's old software
download page, such as Disk Copy or image mounter. I used Linux to
download. Wrote them to a HFS floppy disk. Copied them onto the
PowerBook. But they won't run. Do you have any idea why or how to get
them to run?

Chieh
--
Camera Hacker - http://www.CameraHacker.com/

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

Post by g***@yahoo.com
P.S. I tried to download some sea.bin files on Apple's old software
download page, such as Disk Copy or image mounter. I used Linux to
download. Wrote them to a HFS floppy disk. Copied them onto the
PowerBook. But they won't run.

.bin is probably MacBinary format.

[Roger Johnstone]

Post by g***@yahoo.com

Post by Roger Johnstone
To make it easy for you I've used Apple's Disk Utility to convert the
Disk Tools image from an old-style NDIF disk image to the sort
favoured by Mac OS X: uncompressed and with no header :o) A simple
dd if="Disk Tools PPC.dmg" of=/dev/fd0 should work fine. You can
download it from here http://roger.geek.nz/DiskToolsPPC.dmg.zip

Hi Roger!
Thanks a lot! That really helps. The PowerBook 1400cs boots now off
the floppy. 8-) I tested it with a old 4 GB hard drive and it works.
So my friend is going to bring the original HD with his precious data
on it to see if we can recover it. Thank you.
P.S. I tried to download some sea.bin files on Apple's old software
download page, such as Disk Copy or image mounter. I used Linux to
download. Wrote them to a HFS floppy disk. Copied them onto the
PowerBook. But they won't run. Do you have any idea why or how to get
them to run?

They're self-extracting archives (.sea) in a MacBinary wrapper (.bin).

Traditionally Mac applications have a resource fork and a data fork,
plus file metadata stored in the filesystem, all of which is very, very
important. The metadata and resource fork get stripped the file passes
through a non-Mac aware system so the MacBinary wrapper puts everything
into one flat file to protect it.

Now you need a program on the Mac to open the wrapped files, such as
StuffIt Expander. Unfortunately then it becomes a chicken-and-the-egg
situation if you need to download said program to open the wrapper,
since it will be in a wrapper too.

There have been programs written for MS-DOS and Windows which can open a
MacBinary file and write the contents to a Mac disk while retaining the
two forks and metadata (I think the shareware program TransMac can do it).
I don't know if there's anything like that available for Linux.

The other way is to get the utility you need on a floppy disk image.
This one has StuffIt Expander 4.5 and Disk Copy 6.2 on it.
http://roger.geek.nz/StuffItExpander.dmg.zip

[Wouter Verhelst]

Post by g***@yahoo.com
This command caused the floppy drive to chur away for a few minutes. It
seem to have written stuff to the floppy disk. But reported an
input/output error. And the final floppy does not boot on the Mac
PowerBook.

Correct, that's not what you want.

The Network Access Image is a certain mac-specific self-extracting
archive. You need to download it on a computer running MacOS with a
floppy disk drive, put a floppy in the drive, and have it run for a
few minutes.