[TriLUG] request for Mac rescue media

[Cristobal Palmer]

I'm trying to put either Debian or NetBSD on an Old World Mac that's
been sitting under my futon for quite some time.

After a bit of stumbling I managed to get to the OpenFirmware
interface, only to discover that I have OpenFirmware version 2.0f1,
and looking at:

http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/powerpc/ch03s06.html.en

in pertinent part:

------quote------
The OpenFirmware on OldWorld Beige G3 machines, OF versions 2.0f1 and
2.4, is broken. These machines will most likely not be able to boot
from the hard drive unless the firmware is patched. A firmware patch
is included in the System Disk 2.3.1 utility, available from Apple at
ftp://ftp.apple.com/developer/macosxserver/utilities/SystemDisk2.3.1.smi.bin.
After unpacking the utility in MacOS, and launching it, select the
Save button to have the firmware patches installed to nvram.
------end quote------

This wouldn't be much of a problem if it weren't for the fact that, of
the two hard drives that I have that fit that machine, neither has a
working copy of any version of the Mac OS. I get a lovely Floppy disk
and blinking '?'

Anybody have rescue media or Mac OS install media that works for the
beige G3 (Old World)?

Anybody have an alternative rescue method?

Anybody know of an eco-friendly way to dispose of some old hardware?

:P

Thanks in advance,
CMP
--

Cristobal M. Palmer
UNC-CH SILS Student
TriLUG Vice Chair
cristobalpalmer at gmail.com
cmpalmer at ils.unc.edu
ils.unc.edu/~cmpalmer
"Television-free since 2003"