Dead Mac, Performa 460

General Questions
#1

So, I was recently given a Performa 460. Great old box, monitor and all. Even has the seven-color Mac emblem. I miss those.

Anyhow, it’s a bit dead: It tells me, on boot, happy-chime, happy-mac, then…

"This startup disk will not work on this Macintosh model. Use the latest installer to update this disk for this model. (System 7.1 does not work on this model; you need a newer version that does.)

Normally, burn a CD, boot, ok. Problem: No CD-ROM on the Performa. Floppy drive, and that’s it. I’ve found you can download the OS on the Apple website… 7.6, I think.

The problem is: I have an IBM PC, running Win98/2k/Mandrake 8.1. How the heck do I turn those .bin files I have not yet downloaded to mac-readable disks to boot the sucker off of?

I kind of want to get the old girl going. My Mac skills are incredibly rusty, the last time I used one, it was a top of the line Quadra running 7.1. Most of the ones I knew were 512s.

I still have, technically, a 512, but it’s… exceptionally dead, as it is now a fishbowl.

#2

First off those .bin files are encoded (binhex) disk images. While there are Linux utilies to read and write Mac disk I don’t know if you can handle the disk image format Apple uses. There is a Mac Emulater that works well, BasiliskII, but to get that to work you need to be able to boot a Mac you own and get a ROM dump.
Probably your only legal way of going about this would to be find a friend with a Mac and use his box to download and write the disk images

#3

That’s what I thought they were, Fyre. Which means I need a mac to get me mac working. Damn.

#4

Yeah, but I betcha you could get a used Mac with a much more powerful CPU than what you got for under $30.

By the way, the free 7.6 upgrade may require in intermediate upgrade if I recall, maybe 7.5.5, that isn’t free. But you can find 8.1’s out there for a few bucks.

If you want to spend any money. . .

#5

how about a mac emulator to run on your windows pc? I did that with a mac program I had, the program I used was called executor, but I don’t think it’d work for you because it’s too basic. SoftMac is another popular one, and I think it would work. They have a free download for windows 98.
http://www.emulators.com/

#6

I don’t mind spending the money, but finding 8.1 on floppy may be interesting in and of itself.

Hm. The emulator’s not a bad thought. Wonder if it’ll access the floppy drives the same.

#7

I have an old Performa 475, and you’ve just inspired me to try to boot it up…but I’ll probably need to find a battery for it.

#8

Your problem sounds like a missing system enabler. Most of the Performas that shipped with System 7.1 required a hardware-specific enabler to boot.
The easiest way to get this working is probably the following:
[ul]
[li]Download WinImage. This program allows you to make and write images of floppy disks.[/li][li]Download this disk image. It contains a bootable Mac disk image with the necessary enabler on it.[/li][li]Open WinImage, choose Open from the File menu, and choose the disk image you downloaded in the previous step.[/li][li]Insert a good 1.44 MB floppy and choose “Write Image” from the Disk menu.[/li][li]Insert the floppy in the Mac and boot it.[/li][li]Drag the enabler file (System Enabler 308) from the System Folder on the floppy disk into the System Folder on the hard disk. If the system asks to replace an existing file of the same name, choose Yes. Run Disk First Aid on the hard disk, too.[/li][li]Restart the Mac. You should be able to boot from the hard disk.[/li][/ul]

You can expand .bin files on the PC with Stuffit Expander, availible at http://www.stuffit.com/expander/index.html.

You can also use WinImage to write most Mac disk images, such as the ones for System 7.5.3 and the 7.5.5 upgrade, to floppy disks.

Drop me an email if you have any other questions.

#9

Cleophus, you have redeemed my faith in this board. I’m going to try that this weekend. Should be fun!

#10

Well, I made the image, booted just fine. Dragged the enabler file over okay. And ran Disk First Aid. Nope, same error. Going to try to make that OS install now, unless anyone has a better idea.

#11

Hm. On investigating the hard drive, I find a folder, bland icon, named System Folder. It seems to have all the System Folder stuff in it. There is another folder, shaped like a briefcase, with the emblem of a Mac on it, named System. The System Folder has no Mac emblem on it.

#12

Your “real” system folder needs to be “blessed”

See here

#13

Shoot, can’t read the entire article. I’m guessing the briefcase has to go back in the System Folder?
Trying it…

Up and running! I now have a functional Performa 460.

…

yeaaaah, kaaaay.

What do I do with it? Let’s see if I can get a printer on it…