Some of the posts above indicate sources of Mac OS ROM 10.2.1 that I was unaware of, and wouldn't have been accessible when I was trying to get a useful installation of OS 9.2.2 going on an MDD. My subsequent experience is that:
Large drive support under OS 9 can be checked by looking in System Folder for the version numbers of Mac OS ROM (10.2.1) and the three Classic support modules Classic (9.5.0), Classic Support (2.2.1) and Classic Support UI (2.2.1). Without that ROM-in-RAM version the System knows nowt about 48-bit LBA and drives of more than 128GB (real), regardless of a PCI card. I've never used 10.1.x on my MDDs—only 10.4.x and 10.5.x—so I have no idea how it behaves with large ATA drives mediated by the on-board controllers. However, a drive of 190GB remains the limit for OS 9 to address (by other than FireWire), as also is 1.5GB of RAM a limit.
Mac OS ROM 10.2.1 (and the other bits of the Classic Compatibility Environment) also came on the G4 MDD (machine-specific, grey) Install CD, but it was otherwise hard to find. Nay, it was impossible to find it. Things may be different now, but I could never find 10.2.1 in the Apple basket when I was looking, so you may need to chum up with someone to get it. It may also be that the change from BootROM 4.4.8f in the earlier MDDs to 4.6.x in the FW800 and later MDDs torpedoed booting into OS 9.2.2.
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Large drive support under OS 9 can be checked by looking in System Folder for the version numbers of Mac OS ROM (10.2.1) and the three Classic support modules Classic (9.5.0), Classic Support (2.2.1) and Classic Support UI (2.2.1). Without that ROM-in-RAM version the System knows nowt about 48-bit LBA and drives of more than 128GB (real), regardless of a PCI card. I've never used 10.1.x on my MDDs—only 10.4.x and 10.5.x—so I have no idea how it behaves with large ATA drives mediated by the on-board controllers. However, a drive of 190GB remains the limit for OS 9 to address (by other than FireWire), as also is 1.5GB of RAM a limit.
Mac OS ROM 10.2.1 (and the other bits of the Classic Compatibility Environment) also came on the G4 MDD (machine-specific, grey) Install CD, but it was otherwise hard to find. Nay, it was impossible to find it. Things may be different now, but I could never find 10.2.1 in the Apple basket when I was looking, so you may need to chum up with someone to get it. It may also be that the change from BootROM 4.4.8f in the earlier MDDs to 4.6.x in the FW800 and later MDDs torpedoed booting into OS 9.2.2.
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