Continuing on from my recent post about setting up a tiny rack with 3x Mac mini units from different eras, I have made progress with the Mac mini (Mid 2010) which now has all versions of Mac OS X, OS X, and macOS that it is capable of running installed, updated, and working well. The biggest challenge was Mac OS X Sierra - I tried a bunch of installer copies and versions I found, with different error messages, but eventually got there… I don’t think any of the problems I ran into were this known issue.

The next challenge was I wanted to take on was to install Mac OS 9 on the Mac mini G4, which technically it only ran through the Classic Environment, but some bright sparks figured out how to hack together the necessary ROM file to allow it to run natively! I tried multiple times burning this version into different media on different machines, but the furtherest I got with only one of the 5 or 6 discs was the flashing question mark and folder screen. Next I burnt this instead, which worked first time… Finally, victory :)

Then came burning the Mac OS X v10.3.7 recovery media, as the standard 10.3 Panther disc I have came out before the Mac mini did, so doesn’t contain the required drivers. I was a little nervous burning this, as I only have a very small number of Dual-Layer DVD+Rs, but thankfully I didn’t end up with a coaster at the end :)

Next up I just need to install 10.4 and 10.5 on the Mac mini G4, and a bunch of systems on the Mac mini (2018)…

Currently listening: Tommysnuts - “Drum & Bass/Neurofunk mix: History of The Prodigy”