HOLD THE PHONE EVERYBODY.
Once again a lesson learned about using old files without thoroughly vetting them. JDW, I too have all of the resources that you are using. In particular, I have the little application called SysVersion which tells me the current system version. When I run it, it reports "System 2.0 08-Apr-85". About the Finder under the Apple Menu also reports 4.1.
HOWEVER, upon JDWs failures with my discovery, I chose Get Info from the file menu for both the System and the Finder. The Finder reports a creation date of May 2, 1984 which is far too early for Finder 4.1 which was released almost a year later. This date corresponds with Finder 1.1g. The System reports a creation date of June 2, 1986! Over a year later than System 2.0 was created. However, it does correspond with the release of System 3.2.
I am at a loss to explain why both the Finder and SysVersion report completely different creation dates from the respective versions. Obviously the system and Finder both have been modified. Hopefully you won't hold it against me given my efforts to confirm the software I was using.
Now, I have one idea what may have happened here. I believe this disk was the result of an original System 1.1/Finder 1.1g being upgraded to System 2.0/Finder 4.1 to add AppleTalk to the system and then further upgraded with the System 3.2/Finder 5.2 "System Installation v1.0" disk and a custom install of AppleTalk, External Drive, or Printer Installation. That at least matches all the reported creation dates. Not knowing how those old installers worked I would have thought any upgrades would have just swapped out the System and Finder files completely. Evidently, sometimes they were, other times they were modified. Point is, this was not a clean copy of 2.0/4.1, but it's also not something weird either, since it was created using Apple's install disks. FYI, AppleTalk was installed as part of the AT printer installation package, not an AT workstation client install.
At this point, I would say System 3.2/Finder 4.1 is the ticket to make my tutorial work. Having said that, the installation of AppleTalk is the likely missing ingredient here. JDW indicated that Finder 4.1 still didn't work with System 3.0 to format MFS, but perhaps it will work with System 3.2 without the installation of AppleTalk, though I somehow doubt it ...
At this point, until I figure out how this altered system came to be, please TEST AT YOUR OWN RISK. I realize this kind of thing can be time consuming so I apologize to anyone who has been trying to make my seemingly "straight forward" method work. I've been there and it can most frustrating.
Nevertheless, what I say does in fact work. At this point it is a matter of retracing the steps used to create this obviously unique system combination. As JDW pointed out, System 3.0 would only create HFS 800K disks using Finder 4.1 and verified them using an HFS startup disk. I certainly did no less with my 800K MFS formatted disks in checking them under an HFS startup disk. The disk windows clearly show the extra pixels on the HFS Startup Disk and no extra pixels on the 800K MFS formatted disk, or other known MFS 400K disks, though known HFS disk show up with the extra pixels. (one side not here, the HD20 INIT should work with System 3.0 as it was originally release with System 2.1 and yes I would expect HFS from System 2.1 forward using the HD20 INIT)
Clearly what has happened is that some resource has been added to the MFS only System 2.0/Finder 4.1 that enables it to understand HFS & 800K disks without giving it the ability to write HFS. My understanding about AppleTalk in trying to understand why AppleShare clients won't work on a 128K goes back to the extra memory required to load the HFS instructions (Inside Macintosh actually explains why AppleShare on a 128K is an impossibility). AppleShare by definition requires HFS in order to read and write HFS AppleShare Server volumes. However, AppleTalk was originally available on the 128K for printer sharing. Indeed Infosphere's MacServe and Suns TOPS were making good use of disk & file sharing networks via AppleTalk long before Apple made the move to HFS and using their own drivers, not Apple's. So the operating theory here is that the Addition of AppleTalk alone to drive a printer network on these MFS systems imparted some critical information that enables these older systems to make use of the HD20 INIT without actually adding HFS.
I will get to the bottom of this eventually,in the meantime, anyone else who wants to help me deconstruct this mess, is greatly appreciated.
Once again a lesson learned about using old files without thoroughly vetting them. JDW, I too have all of the resources that you are using. In particular, I have the little application called SysVersion which tells me the current system version. When I run it, it reports "System 2.0 08-Apr-85". About the Finder under the Apple Menu also reports 4.1.
HOWEVER, upon JDWs failures with my discovery, I chose Get Info from the file menu for both the System and the Finder. The Finder reports a creation date of May 2, 1984 which is far too early for Finder 4.1 which was released almost a year later. This date corresponds with Finder 1.1g. The System reports a creation date of June 2, 1986! Over a year later than System 2.0 was created. However, it does correspond with the release of System 3.2.
I am at a loss to explain why both the Finder and SysVersion report completely different creation dates from the respective versions. Obviously the system and Finder both have been modified. Hopefully you won't hold it against me given my efforts to confirm the software I was using.
Now, I have one idea what may have happened here. I believe this disk was the result of an original System 1.1/Finder 1.1g being upgraded to System 2.0/Finder 4.1 to add AppleTalk to the system and then further upgraded with the System 3.2/Finder 5.2 "System Installation v1.0" disk and a custom install of AppleTalk, External Drive, or Printer Installation. That at least matches all the reported creation dates. Not knowing how those old installers worked I would have thought any upgrades would have just swapped out the System and Finder files completely. Evidently, sometimes they were, other times they were modified. Point is, this was not a clean copy of 2.0/4.1, but it's also not something weird either, since it was created using Apple's install disks. FYI, AppleTalk was installed as part of the AT printer installation package, not an AT workstation client install.
At this point, I would say System 3.2/Finder 4.1 is the ticket to make my tutorial work. Having said that, the installation of AppleTalk is the likely missing ingredient here. JDW indicated that Finder 4.1 still didn't work with System 3.0 to format MFS, but perhaps it will work with System 3.2 without the installation of AppleTalk, though I somehow doubt it ...
At this point, until I figure out how this altered system came to be, please TEST AT YOUR OWN RISK. I realize this kind of thing can be time consuming so I apologize to anyone who has been trying to make my seemingly "straight forward" method work. I've been there and it can most frustrating.
Nevertheless, what I say does in fact work. At this point it is a matter of retracing the steps used to create this obviously unique system combination. As JDW pointed out, System 3.0 would only create HFS 800K disks using Finder 4.1 and verified them using an HFS startup disk. I certainly did no less with my 800K MFS formatted disks in checking them under an HFS startup disk. The disk windows clearly show the extra pixels on the HFS Startup Disk and no extra pixels on the 800K MFS formatted disk, or other known MFS 400K disks, though known HFS disk show up with the extra pixels. (one side not here, the HD20 INIT should work with System 3.0 as it was originally release with System 2.1 and yes I would expect HFS from System 2.1 forward using the HD20 INIT)
Clearly what has happened is that some resource has been added to the MFS only System 2.0/Finder 4.1 that enables it to understand HFS & 800K disks without giving it the ability to write HFS. My understanding about AppleTalk in trying to understand why AppleShare clients won't work on a 128K goes back to the extra memory required to load the HFS instructions (Inside Macintosh actually explains why AppleShare on a 128K is an impossibility). AppleShare by definition requires HFS in order to read and write HFS AppleShare Server volumes. However, AppleTalk was originally available on the 128K for printer sharing. Indeed Infosphere's MacServe and Suns TOPS were making good use of disk & file sharing networks via AppleTalk long before Apple made the move to HFS and using their own drivers, not Apple's. So the operating theory here is that the Addition of AppleTalk alone to drive a printer network on these MFS systems imparted some critical information that enables these older systems to make use of the HD20 INIT without actually adding HFS.
I will get to the bottom of this eventually,in the meantime, anyone else who wants to help me deconstruct this mess, is greatly appreciated.