How do I install disk image files for OS 9.1?

[Bill Kinghorn]

I've dug-out my iMac PPC G3, OS 9.1 for which I've downloaded Mathcad-6 written for the "Classic Mac". I used the Stuffit that came with the OS to unZip it and to Expand the .sit files. Now I have a bunch of Disk Image file, one of which is called "Installer". I see no ".dmg" anywhere and find no "Applications" folder. I've removed all Internet, Microsoft, Polaroid, etc. apps and 5 of the 6 GB on the HD are clean. The system seems to work as it should. What do I do with those disk image files? THANKS!

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

You should be able to run some form of installer from the Installer image and it will automatically "open/mount" the others as needed.

Can you upload a screenshot of what all the unarchived disk images look like - and are they located on the desktop?

C

 

[Bill Kinghorn]

Thanks! I'm not very computer savy in spite of having known the Univac 1218 down to the last NOR gate.

On the Desktop I have "Mathcad Plus 6 folder" which contains a folder "Mathcad Plus" which contains 8 logos depicting a blank sheet with the upper right-hand corner folded over. Labels beneath them read (exactly):
Install 680x0 Disk1 .image
Mathcad PLUS Disk1 .image
The remaining 6 other are like the last except the number advances thru 7.

The OS 9.1 does have an Applications Folder, a Disk Copy utility which does claim to mount disk images, and a Software Installer which doesn't seem to be something can invoke.

Thanks again.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Thanks for the additional information.

You should be able to double-click the file named Install 680x0 Disk 1.image and it should mount. In it should be the installer. The files with numbers 1-7 are simply parts of the installer, which it will read/mount automatically. It has to do with the size limitation of disk images in OS 9.

If my memory serves, they should have the old disk image icon instead of what looks like a piece of paper with the upper right corner folded. It looked like a square or diamond with a bluish-purple disk icon in it. The files you have may be for OS X, not OS 9.

Where did you download them from?

C

 

[Bill Kinghorn]

Thanks again. It does all come in a MACOSX folder, but I've been told it runs only in the "Classic Environment".

http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mathcad-plus-60

 

[Cory Cooper]

Thanks for the link.

This may not be worth the effort at this point. If you cannot run the Installer on the disk image named Install 680x0 Disk 1.image, then it may simply be incompatible with your G3 and/or OS 9.1 installation, or a corrupted download.

If I get some time, I will try and drag one of my old PPC machines out to see if I can work with it a little more. Is there a specific reason you want to install and run this particular app?

C

 

[Bill Kinghorn]

Admittedly, my interest in it is pretty frivolous. I'm a retired EE and I did a lot of math. For what I couldn't do by hand, I wrote small, dedicate FORTRAN programs. Its built-in exponentiation for complex variables, and indexed DO loops made it very handy and easy even for stuff like Fourier analysis. But I never had any subroutines for good presentation of the output. (I sometimes used fixed-point output files so I could quickly eyeball them to make a mental graph.) I had a desk VAX terminal but no computer.

I want to save the iMac Power PC because I admired the Motorola RISC processor, and because it has a CRT but isn't so big. It, with Mathcad, was really something back then. ...about $1000 for the computer and $1000 for the Mathcad. And I never got to try the latter.

Thanks,
Bill K.

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries. Sounds like you had an interesting career. Many young people that are really into technology these days have probably never even heard of FORTRAN, or realize that is is still used in the supercomputers of today. If you watch The Weather Channel, you are watching the results of calculations done using FORTRAN. Long gone are the days of those punched cards!

Like I said, I will let you know if I get some time to test this issue with one of my older PPC Macs.

Be well,

C

 

[Cory Cooper]

***UPDATE***

I had some time this morning, so I setup an old Power Mac 8600 running Mac OS 9.1. I burned the downloaded image files on a CD and copied them to the 8600's hard drive. I fooled around a little with it and found this to work to get it installed:

1. Copy the disk images 1-7 to the Mac's HD.
2. Select them all and double-click to mount them using Disk Copy.
3. When all 7 are mounted, double-click Mathcad PLUS Disk 1 to open it's Finder window.
4. Double-click Install and follow the prompts.
5. You don't need to mount and try installing the image labeled Install 680x0 Disk 1.image. It is an installer for Apple's Shared Library Manager, which your install of OS 9.1 should have a newer version already.

That should get you up and running.

C

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[Bill Kinghorn]

Thanks! I'll let you know what happens.

 

[Bill Kinghorn]

It installed as you promised and seems to run right, but I'll need to do some reading to learn how to use it.

Thank you very much! bk

 

[Cory Cooper]

Excellent! Thanks for the update.

Enjoy,

C

 

[Bill Kinghorn]

FYI Motorola is gone now but they were a fine company making good semiconductors. Apple, I think, payed to help them develop the RISC PowerPC. Here's a tribute:
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/what-kind-of-computer-does-the-mars-rover-use/

 

[Cory Cooper]

Yes, sad to see Motorola slowly be broken into pieces. The PowerPC RISC architecture was a joint venture by AIM (Apple-IBM-Motorola). An amazing step forward in its day.

C