[Pc_Support] Need a MAC hardware garu!

[patrick]

Homer Whittaker wrote:
> One of my sons is as rabid a Mac person as some our people are about 
> Linux.  He wants to   give me one of his machines so that I can 
> attempt to install Debian on the Mac machine (I understand that the 
> Mac has a program that will allow them to use Windows XX.  If it can 
> be made to work this would be the most of the utmost to me.
>
> The main problem at hand is the his Mac will not read his SCSI hard 
> drive, and it will not read the Western Digital IDE drives I have put 
> on it either.  So:
>
> 1.  Can anyone make suggestions/recommendations as to fixing the Mac 
> hardware ( I replaced cables and attempted all the possible PC repairs 
> I know of).
> 2.  If it can be repaired, then how do I go about installing Debian on 
> the Mac.  Do not recall any discussions or methodology on this  topic.
>
> It seem to me that a Mac, with Debian and Windows XX all on one 
> machine would be the most of the utmost!
>
> ___________________________________________
> Pc_support mailing list
> Pc_support at matrixlist.com
> http://lists.matrixlist.com/mailman/listinfo/pc_support
>
The "official" reading:   Due to the restrictions of ELILO in the Mac, 
only two OSes can be supported on the hard drive system, in a bootable 
array.  So, you could only run two systems on a Mac.

If you wanted to run any Microsoft OSes, you are restricted to the Intel 
processor, less than a year old.
The MacPro sells starting at $2400.  An Intel duo core 1.83Ghz mini, 
with 512 Mb of RAM is $599.

You can go get a ton of Dell warranteed refurbs at CheaptronicsDepot.com 
and the CheapTronicsDepot store (Red Bug and Semoran) for a whole lot 
less, as they start at $69 for a full, licensed, system, and the 
monitors are only $34 extra. 

So, let me reiterate.  Macs that run Microsoft OSes are ONLY the ones 
built since Intel started making the Mac CPUs.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * Drives * * * * * * * * * * *

In Macs, the IDE drive can be plugged in to the cables, and many of the 
Macs want the IDE drive to be set up with the jumper as Master.   NO, 
IDE drives won't show up in the hardware list, upon boot, with the 
jumper set on the Cable Select pins.

In Macs that run SCSI, the drive is usually set to SCSI address 0, and 
any other device, such as a SCSI CDrom, is scsi address 1. 

We can boot from the CDrom, using a System CD, up until OS 9.2.2,  when 
the factory switched to DVDs (so that most Macs after 1999 have a built 
in DVD), but, we have to use an earlier CD to boot the iMAC Tray 
loaders, and all the first generation of Blue White G3 towers.  After 
2000, DVD was built into all products.  Problem is that if you are 
getting earlier Macs,  you need to boot with the earlier CD factory discs.

* * * * * * * *
  It is OK to boot and run Ubuntu, that was written for the MAC 601/603 
Power PC units.  Just don't try to use the ones made for Intel/AMD X86!  
But, even here, there are two different downloads, depending upon the 
exact machines you are powering up.

Tried out the other OSes that were supposed to run on Macs, and they 
didn't work.  They got some of my macs up to a shell, but, no Xwindow 
environment.