this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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Is there a legal way to download old installation discs for free? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/apple_enthusiast
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A few years ago I bought an old Mac, PowerPC I think, but it doesn't work properly. If I boot normally only one of the two CPU cores works, but both work in safe mode.

I imagine that there are ways to repair it, but as it's second hand, I would probably be better off with a clean installation. I've never owned a Mac before, so although it's outdated, I'd rather get it back to a default state than install Linux, and it also means that once I've finished with it I can pass it on to someone else who would appreciate it.

Is there a way to get the installation media? From what I remember from the last time I tried to get it running, it can use either Snow Leopard or Mountain Lion (10. something?)

Thanks in advance :)

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[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

First figure out the exact model machine you have. 10.5.8 is the last version that will run on a PPC machine, and you need an OS that came out after your machine came out (minor version at least) or else it won't boot.

https://macintoshgarden.org/ has all you'll need to download. Check everymac for supported OS versions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

That's very helpful, thank you :)

[–] Alien_Mortice 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You may be able to find a downloadable disc image from here that may work for you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

That's brilliant, thank you :)

[–] TeckFire 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Not sure if downloading OS install discs is legal, but if Apple will not supply the software any longer… shouldn’t it be?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

It should be, but whether a company does soemthing that's right is another story. I remember struggling to find an answer the last time I tried.

[–] Alien_Mortice 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

By the way, I think Mac OS Leopard is the most up to date OS that’ll install and run on the old Power PC Macs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Should be OSX 10.5.8 if anyone is curious. Which can be used all the way back to the 2002 quicksilver G4’s that ran 867 MHz processors. Which is dumb, the dual cpu 800 MHz were limited to 10.4.11 and couldn’t upgrade. But at that point they were quite dated anyways so it doesn’t matter that much.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Thank you :)

I may have been remembering Mountain Lion because it was the first that didn't work then. I've got limited space to set it up, so I'm trying to get everything ready beforehand, and my memory isn't great :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I can't look now but check out the Internet archive. People usually upload things like that there

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Thanks :)

[–] spiffy_spaceman 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If you do find a disc image, to burn it, you will need to make sure your burning software has an option that makes the disc bootable. Toast used to do this, not sure what exists out there these days.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Thanks for the reminder :)

I've got Windows and Linux running on my other computers, so I should have something, but checking that they can make a Mac boot disc is a good idea :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Hi, just to clear up some things. You say only some cores work. Yeah that’s not possible. This isn’t a car where some pistons can fire while others do not. A processor works or it doesn’t. There is no “oh only 3 out of the 8 cores work.”

Two, no amount of reinstalling or software will fix a hardware fault.

As for macOS:

The last OS capable of running on PPC is Leopard (10.5). People have hacked SL tho: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/snow-leopard-on-unsupported-powerpc-macs.2232031/

Apple provides ISOs of every macOS release all the way back to Lion: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683. Won’t help you, but may help others.

As for Leopard, you can grab a copy from: https://archive.org/details/OsxLeopardInstall

Lastly, legally speaking you’re fine. Apple won’t sue you for downloading an old installer for an obsolete product.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Hi, just to clear up some things. You say only some cores work. Yeah that’s not possible. This isn’t a car where some pistons can fire while others do not. A processor works or it doesn’t. There is no “oh only 3 out of the 8 cores work.”

Two, no amount of reinstalling or software will fix a hardware fault.

Possible or not, that's the error message it was giving me. I don't remember the exact wording, but it was something along the lines of one core was disabled or not functioning. I opened whatever the equivalent of Task Manager is called (it's been a while), and the CPU was only showing one working core. In safe mode, it was showing two.

Obviously nothing's going to fix a hardware error, but seeing as the second core was apparently working in safe mode, it's clearly a software error, hence the need for installation discs to wipe and reinstall the software. There's a chance that the whole thing is screwed, and the CPU is dying, but I'm not going to know unless I test it.

I've got some free time coming up, so I'm hoping to get everything ready beforehand and try to get this system working again :)