September 11th, 2001. A day we will never forget!: No words can describe how I feel about the attack on the US! I only hope that justice will prevail. My deepest sympathy goes out to friends and families of the injured and deceased. Some of you may not agree with this but I feel we should rebuild to show whoever did this that "you can try and knock us down but we will come back!"

OS 9.2.1 on a 6500 works with hacks used!: Tupring sent me a bunch of info how to install OS 9.2.1 on a 6500. He has it running right now and reports its stable. Thanks Tupring. He also sent some links to patches that change the installer .smi file and then the new 9.2.1 system file. More on these after his comments below.

[Just incase you care, I'm running OS 9.2.1 with no problems following the directions on the MacFixIt forums, I was keeping up with the forum from the beginning, they figured the hack out only four hours after 9.2.1 was available for d/l.

I used the gestalt hack and the ResEdit hacks before the patch was made. I'm running 9.2.1 system suitcase/system resources with the 9.2 finder. Everything is much faster than 9.1 and very stable. I haven't had my system this stable in a long time.

The 9.2 finder was installed with 9.2.1 and it's working because of the ResEdit hack, which is now available as a patch on a couple websites. I didn't use the patch as it wasn't made yet. Here's the patched resources. Just use machid to change your machine id to 510 and then the mac OS 9.2.1 update will run and install. Restart from a CD and use ResEdit to replace the resources in the system suitcase with the patched ones. That's it.

Two different people made similar patches that pretty much do the same thing.

http://homepage.mac.com/scottboone/FileSharing.html

http://homepage.mac.com/cywong/FileSharing.html

One of the patches is for the updater itself so that it will launch on unsupported Macs, but during the install process it still quits if you don't use machid and change the machine id to 510 so the patch is pretty much pointless and not needed. machid and the other patch worked fine for me.]

The original hack posted on MacFixIt was to either use tomeviewer to extract all the files from the 9.2.1 install file and drag them to your system folder and then leave the 9.1 system file in your system to make a new hybrid system that would boot. Then they found that using an app like MachID, that can change what the installer thinks your Mac model is, worked for the installation but you then still needed to replace the 9.2.1 system file with your older 9.1 system file for your Mac to boot.

Now they seem to have patcher apps that take care of all of this so there is no need to use MachID or replace the 9.2.1 system file anymore. Tupring suggests that the MachID app is still needed as it did not work in his case so your mileage may very with that patch. The 9.2.1 system file patch seems to be working fine for him though. I don't know how it was made but I suspect some smart Mac user figured out exactly which resources caused the issues with older Macs and made a patcher that replaces them with older resources from possibly the 9.1 system file. If this is so, you are still running a hybrid system but no as much as it would have been if you replaced the entire system file with an older version. I hope that was to wordy :)

The first link posted above has the installer patcher and the system file patcher. The second link has just the system file patcher but also has a system file patcher for NUBUS Macs! Very nice :)

I have posted all the needed patches, plus instructions on how to use them, to help make the update easier :) You will need Stuffit Expander version 5 or higher to extract them.

I won't be trying this update as my only 6400 is used as a file/web server and the server software won't work in anything newer then OS 9.0.4 :( So I will depend on my readers for 9.2.1 experiences on a 6400/6500. Please email me any experiences you have in trying OS 9.2.1 on your system. Thanks.

OS 9.2.1 on a 6400 with same hacks: Another reader who wishes to remain anonymous, said the hacks posted on the web worked very well for him. Thanks for the info. He has instructions on installation which are very similar to the ones I posted but have a few extra details so I left them in.

[Dear Tom:
I read carefully all the postings of the thread "9.2 Running on 6400" in your outstanding Forum and I have some comments to do.

At this very moment my 6400 is running 9.2.1 with no problems! Not the hybrid stuff that "Apple II Forever" described in the above mentioned thread, but true 9.2.1 with Kenny's "System 9.2.1 OldWorld patch v4" applied to the 9.2.1 System File.

My computer is a Performa 6400/180 with 136 MB of RAM, Sonnet L2 G3 400/1MB, internal IDE Seagate 40 GB HD, external SCSI 1 GB Micronet HD, Realtek Fast Ethernet (10/100) PCI Card, ADS USB Dual Port Card, Logitech USB Wheel Mouse, HP Deskjet 970 Cxi Printer and external Yamaha CRW6416SX CD-RW drive.

As you can see, my 6400 is pulled nearly to the maximum and I would like to try Mac OS X as soon as possible, even though I understand the post of Erik about trying to run OS X on a computer with only 136 MB RAM.

Notwithstanding the numerous issues reported on Macfixit Forum about 9.2.1, my 6400 is running 9.2.1 since Aug, 28 in a very stable manner and with an overall performance that is similar to 9.1. All the hardware behaves well, but I didn't yet try to burn a CD-ROM. I tried Microsoft Office (except Entourage), Eudora 5.1, Photoshop 4.0 LE, Fine Reader and other software with no glitches.

I am writing to you because your postings about 9.2.1 denote a pessimistic feeling about having OS X on 6400 (as far as I know, to run Classic on the new version of OS X will need 9.2.1).
If you want to try 9.2.1 on one of your 6400s it should be very easy for you, as probably your HDs have multiple partions. The procedure I used is the following:

1- Get "System 9.2.1 OldWorld patch v4" from http://homepage.mac.com/cywong/FileSharing.html.
2- Boot your computer from a 9.1 partition.
3- Perform a clean install of 9.1 in another partition
4- Use GestLab or MachIDWannabe to change the real MachID of your computer to the ID of a supported computer (510 should do the trick).
5- Run the 9.2.1 Updater to update the system installed in 3. Contrary to what you can read on Macfixit Forum or in http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/OS9/os_9_2_1_install_mods.html, there is no need to patch the installer. {patching the installer is supposed to make it work without needing MachID or some other similar app - Tom} If you are planning to use a CD-RW drive with 3rd party software (like Toast) perform a custom install of 9.2.1 and *do not* install Disk Burner.
6- Quit the installer without restarting the computer (as far as I can remember it is not necessary to perform a force quit)
7- Use Kenny's "System 9.2.1 OldWorld patch v4" to patch you updated System file.
8- Use Startup Disk Control Panel to choose the updated system.
9- Reboot.

As you can read in Mafixit Forum, 9.2.1 seems to be very reactive to old preferences files, those ones you are going to drag from other system folders to try you software ;-). If you have time enough, it is better to install your software using the installer programs.

And that's all. I hope you find some use for this e-mail, i.e., you can trash it or publish it in part or in all. Is this case, I only beg you one thing: do dot publish my real identity because I am very zealous of my privacy.
Greetings.]

Loss of Function key use after OS 9.1 update: There was a post in my forums from a 6400 user that lost use of the Function keys after updating to OS 9.1. This can be caused by a new feature in the Keyboard control panel. Previously, only USB keyboards could have custom settings of the function keys to launch applications or so other operations. Now even ADB keyboards can use this feature. The problem of loosing the use of your function keys for other Apps can happen if the selection named "Enable Hot Function Keys" is enabled in the keyboard control panel. To disable this visit your keyboard control panel and then click on the function key settings button and the next window has selections for turning those features off.

Web site that has links to many different Mac related sites!: Robin sent me a link to his site that hosts many links to other Mac related sites. Go and check it out. Thanks Robin.

[Dear Tom,
Was surfing the "Apple Discussions" for info on my new Mac, and thought I would do a quick surf through the older section. Saw your post on the 6400 using OS 9!

Well up until a year ago I was using a 6400/180, which is now living with my kid brother. The machine like all the other older Macs I've owned is a work horse.

Well enough rambling, I have a little humble piece of he web with a few links, and will be adding your site to my collection. Right now the site isn't up to par, I took a lighting strike and having problems with noise on the phone line. I'm only able to log on at 14.4 which allows me to surf a little and get e-mail, but not run my robot that checks for broken links. http://www.robinsfyi.com/computer/macstuff.htm
Nice site guy!!
Robin]

Sonnet brought back the 500Mhz card because of you guys!: Chris wrote to Sonnet, after reading my last post, to find out why the 500Mhz card is in production again? It turns out that Sonnet has received so many requests for this card that they decided to produce it again! You can all thank yourselves for this :)

[Dear Chris, Thank you for your recent e-mail and for your interest in Sonnet products. Due to requests from our customers we decided to start producing it again Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with. regards,
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._
Jose Jaramillo
Sonnet Technologies
Int'l Sales Executive
Canada and Latin America
949-587-3543
949-457-6350]

You must remove the internal modem to make the external modem port functional: Ron sent me a letter to let me know that I did not have this info posted on my site?: Sure enough, I could not find it anywhere? I must have forgotten this detail as so many people seem to know it already. So for future 6400/6500 owners that want to use the external modem port, you must remove the internal modem card for the external modem port to function. Thanks for the heads up Ron.

[Modem installation:
I removed the internal modem that came with the computer and uncovered the modem serial port - attached the Global Village Teleport 56k external modem and installed the software. It worked good except that Remote Access reported I was connected at an unknown speed. A trip to the Global Village web site and an updated modem script solved the problem. I had no idea that this would work. I found nothing to suggest that removing the modem would make the serial port work. Some sort of obvious mention should be made of this on your modem page for people considering this upgrade.]

HD formatting tips from Accelerate Your Mac: I found a link to Accelerate Your Macs web site with info on HD formatting tips. I thought some of you might be interested in this :)

USB/Firewire combo cards cause audio stuttering?: I have received a couple posts in my forums lately on audio stuttering issues that where resolved by removing the USB drivers if you have a combo card installed. Thanks for the info guys. This happened with both an OrangeMicro combo card and Sonnet Tango combo card.

[Tom,
I have completed the USB/ATI tests, the results of which 100% incriminated Apple's (both standard and developer versions) and the OrangeMicro USB drivers as the catalyst for the sound problems on my 6400 - I ran the ATI set on both the external and internal drives without the USB stuff and the audio quality was great every time - still not a satisfactory ending as I do use a lot of USB devices via the combo card (No FireWire as yet) - so what I may do is invest in a cheap USB only card if you guys reckon that will help - any recommendations? Also, I guess ones without Mac logos all over them should work too (ie Wintel PCI adaptor cards) - is that correct?

Finally, I'm pretty glad I got to the bottom of that one in the end - still going to need another card though...but if it means stopping the choppiness, that really would be a result! Well, it's either that or swapping the Orion for a Radeon maybe...
Best,
Alex]

[My present system is a Performa 6400/180 with the following upgrades 128Mb (2ea 64 MB modules) RAM TOT 136, Quantum Fireball Plus 10.2 GB UATA/66 7200RPM HDD, Crescendo G3 L2 750 300 MHz 512K Cache @ 2:1, SCSI SyQuest EZ 135 Storage Drive, SCSI EZ Flyer 230 Storage Drive, SCSI Epson Scanner ES-1000C, PCI> ATI Xclaim VR 4MB Card with Xclaim TV module tuner, PCI> Sonnet TANGO Firewire/USB Combo Card, USB #1 Epson Perfection 1640SU Photo Scanner W/Transparency Unit, USB #2 Microtech's CameraMate (Smart or CompactFlash digital photo media card reader, Firewall #1 Que!Fire CD-RW External Drive, COMM Slot II Apple Ethernet Card with SurfBoard Cable Modem, Printer Port Epson Stylus Color 740. All System Upgrades are GO!

Two problems encountered with this system, when playing mp3;s there is a skip in the audio sound, this can be corrected by making a mp3 play set in your extensions manager disabling USB Support extension for good sound, no skipping. Make up a second set for USB function, and a 3rd set to disable virus software when installing new software. 2nd problem: ITunes did not find CD-RW unit nor did it find the Firewire extensions that were installed. I installed the latest Toast Titanium 5.0.1 and everything was GO! There might be a problem with ITunes, requires more look see before I form an educated opinion.

Hope this will add to your 6400 updating data, thanks for having such a helpful Macintosh Performa system site, whenever there is a question I can always depend on the 6400 Zone for a helpful answer.

Thanks again for your indulgence in a worthwhile endeavor.
vespjr]

Vespjr said later that he had a Keyspan USB only card before and it had no audio issues. According to Alex, his system works great, even with an ATI Orion card which is Rage128 based as long as the USB drivers are removed. Can anyone else verify this? If you have a combo card, I would appreciate hearing your story. Thanks.

6400 rotating GIF at the top of this page: Craig took the QTVR image I have posted on my 6400 Upgrade Experiences page and turned it into a very cool rotating GIF. Thanks Craig. Please let me know If you think its too much for my home page. I can move it to another but I wanted to test it here first :)

Using dual power supplies to alleviate drain on main supply: Rick reminded me about his dual power supply setup his 6400 has which he built to help spread the power demands across 2 power supplies. He did this so the stock power supply would not spin its fan up to much. Thanks Rick. Click here for more info and some nice pictures of the setup.

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