Apple iMac G4/800 (Flat Panel) questions...

[XDelusion]

I have an Apple iMac G4/800 (Flat Panel), and spent a very long while trying to get OS 9 to install on it so I could access classic apps under Classic Mode.

I tried every single trouble shooting advice page I could find and nothing worked. Then I come to find that with this Mac, Apple killed support for OS 9, though the page that told me this also told me that I can access classic apps via emulation mode.

OK, so how do I access emulation mode? I really want to be able to run Rebirth.


My second problem is...

WHERE IS THE AUDIO IN JACK?

I see a head phone jack, and a strange plug beside that with a strange symbol above it, but no audio in port!

REALLY, did Apple cheap out a whole 5 Cents and not include an Audio In port?

And they say Musicians love Mac. Pffftt! :/

[commodorejohn]

The earliest model iMac G4 (700/800MHz) can run OS9, I think, but a lot of the later G4s require either a machine-specific version or 9.1+ to run, bleah. Classic mode in OSX is done by having an OS9 System folder on your hard drive and pointing OSX to it in the Classc control panel; set it to activate silently on boot and you can use a pretty good number of classic Mac OS programs transparently within OSX.

The strange plug is Apple's digital audio connector (is this S/PDIF? I don't know.) Anyway, yeah, no audio in, unless you can find a USB solution :/

[XDelusion]

So far it detects my USB sound card as a faulty keyboard

[Matt_H]

The later iBooks, PowerBooks, and PPC Mac Minis came with 2 install disks: one for OSX and another for support programs (iLife) and Classic support. There's probably something similar for that machine, albeit on CD rather than DVD.

If you can find the disk or an image, just pop it in and run the installer. Once Classic is installed, just run your program, OS9 will boot, and your program will start. Pretty impressive software engineering, I think.

[XDelusion]

I've looked high and low for such disks, no luck...

:/

[Theretrogamingroom]

When installing Mac OS 9 on an iMac G4, compatability depends on the model of iMac that you are trying to install on. Earlier models (2002) can run 9 while anything from 2003 can't (But I'm sure you already knew that). Make sure that your model is compatable before trying to install. As for the speed, it could be the drive, disk, or any number of things. Try installing from another mac, or an external Firewire drive to see if there is any difference. As for audio, the iMac should have a standard 3.5 mil. jack. The port that you are refering to was originally designed for a pair of Apple Pro Speakers (H/K) that shipped with some of the iMac G4s.

[XDelusion]

I lucked out, one of my USB Audio Cards actually detected, though without OS 9 I can not run Rebirth, which is a major bummer!!! :/

I even downloaded the OS X version of Rebirth and it tells me I need to go into classic mode. Go figure.