Install Mac OS X from a USB drive on a PowerPC-based Mac

When nothing else worked when trying to install Mac OS X Leopard onto my PowerBook G4 1.67GHz without the original installation DVD, here's what eventually did.

What you'll need

• PowerPC-based Mac you want to install OS X on by using a USB drive
• ...USB drive (16GB or more in capacity; 8GB might work, but come on, it's 2020)
• Second old Mac that already boots Mac OS X Leopard (other versions may work, but are untested. All I know is that my macOS Catalina hackintosh did NOT work)

Part 1: Preparing the disk image for restore

1. Boot up your second old Mac running Mac OS X Leopard
   
2. Download #31 (Leopard_10_5_4.dmg_.zip) from here and extract the DMG
3. Scan the DMG for restore using Disk Utility ("Images" -> "Scan Image For Restore...")
4. Lock the DMG (right-click -> "Get Info" -> check "Locked")

Part 2: Restoring the disk image to the USB

1. Format your USB as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" using the "Apple Partition Map" using Disk Utility
   
2. Restore the DMG to your USB using Disk Utility, making sure you check "Erase destination" (open the Restore tab, drag and drop the DMG to the "Source" field, drop and drop the partition you formatted in Part2Step1 to the "Destination" field)
3. Eject your USB drive and plug it into the PowerPC-based Mac you want to install OS X on
   

Part 3: Installing Mac OS X (okay kids, this is where it gets complicated - mostly copy/pasted from here; follow that if this doesn't work for some reason)

1.  Boot your PowerPC-based Mac into OpenFirmware (power it down and hold Command + Option + O + F while powering it back up)
2. Run dev / ls and look for the entry with "/disk@1" at the end of it (in my case "usb@1b,1")
3. Run devalias and look for the entry with the text you found in Part3Step2 at the end of it (in my case "usb0")
4. Run dir text_from_Part3Step3/disk@1:3,\System\Library\CoreServices (a.k.a. dir usb0/disk@1:3...) and make sure the entry that contains "BootX" also contains "tbxi" (if it doesn't, panic!)
   
5. Run boot text_from_Part3Step3/disk@1:3,\System\Library\CoreServices\BootX (a.k.a. boot usb0/disk@1:3...)
   
6. You should see a little spinner, then some white-on-grey text, and finally the Apple logo. Congratulations, you've successfully booted your accursed PowerPC Mac from a USB drive! The installation process is the same from here on out as if you were booting from an official Mac OS X Install DVD.
   

`zmv` Is Awesome

    BEHOLD! I have awaken from my year-long slumber to grace ye feeble peasants with glorious and other such wondrous things.

    Today, I'd like to shed light on a rather interesting little program: `zmv`. Included with the Z shell, or "zsh", `zmv` allows the user to move files and folders neatly about by following simple-to-use patterns. For example, let's say I've just downloaded an album off of LimeWire with its files in the format of "Artist name - Album title - Track # Track name.flac". It would be rather time-consuming to individually rename each and every file to the desired format of "Artist/Album/# Track.flac", no?

    With `zmv`, I simply need to run `zmv '(*) - (*) - (*)' '$1/$2/$3'`, and shabam-a-lama! My files have moved to perfectly organized directories and subdirectories. How wonderful! How superb!

    And with that, I'm off again. See you all in 2021, I suppose.

Mac OS X Install DVD 10.6 [10A432] - Two Different ISOs?

I'm compiling a collection of all Mac OS X installers ever released. I recently hit a roadblock when I found that my Snow Leopard build 10A432 ISO matched some checksums online, but not others.
So, I downloaded a second ISO, which matched the checksums the original ISO did not. This was a bit concerning, so I recursively compared the files of each DVD with Meld. One, single file was different.

/Instructions.localized/Installation Instructions.app/Contents/Resources/French.lproj/Instructions d’installation.pdf

This is the French translation of the Mac OS X installation manual. It turns out, one DVD still had the 10.5 Leopard variation, while the other had the 10.6 Snow Leopard variation. I guess somebody at Apple was fired on Snow Leopard's launch day.

Checksums of ISO with 10.5 Leopard "Instructions d'installation.pdf":
MD5: 8bce5139afaaa5a8fcda213edf5202b1
SHA-1: 41eca20763eb74c3e23f0bebc36095520e187dc1

Checksums of ISO with 10.6 Snow Leopard "Instructions d'installation.pdf":
MD5: e26826cc68281aa581cc181483bd232d
SHA-1: 0b6435228ddd9f39955c6b3f196d65dec17c2dfd

Various Nokia RM-496 Firmwares

I've amassed some Nokia RM-496 / Nokia XpressMusic 5130 firmwares. I tried uploading them to cpkb.org to replace some broken links, but their account creation system is broken (and probably has been since 2016). Obviously, Blogger is the next best file sharing site. Here are the firmwares in question (plus some other stuff): https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WSLGXezgi9h21tC2_hQ2NSBwMfpEDm_r
They're on my Google Drive, which shouldn't ever go down - but if it does, I think we have bigger problems than a lack of very specific Nokia firmware from 2009.

List of files as of 2019-07-10:

• Nokia_5130_XpressMusic_RM-496_NDT_DP_18.00_MCU_07.95.rar
• Nokia_BB5_Easy_Service_Tool.zip
• Nokia_Connectivity_Cable_Driver_rel_7_1_69_0_eng.msi
• Nokia_Flashing_Cable_Driver_v8.23.0.0.msi
• NokiaCareSuiteForStore-2012_5_5_5.zip
• Phoenix_Service_Software_2011_8_5_45529.pdf
• phoenix_service_software_2012.50.001.49220.rar
• RM-496_06.68_AMER.exe (if your phone is from T-Mobile, this is the one you want!)
• RM-496_CareDP_11.0_sw06.65.exe
• rm496_CareDP_18.0_NDT_07.95.exe
• rm496_CareDP_18.1_OperatorDP.exe

I had to type that list out by hand (Google Drive won't let me select text), and manually hyperlink each file, and pay some shady file hosting website £2.00 for most of the files, and manually request for this webpage to be indexed by Google. So you better thank me!

EDIT: Well, well, well. I ran out of space on my Google Drive. The above files can now be found on Mega: https://mega.nz/folder/0oE3yCra#WDaIRvI_DGi7Tn-jqT-qcw

If you have any questions, leave a comment, and here's hoping Google sends me a notification for it.

Blogger's Mobile Application Sucks

All of my blogs posts are out of order. It's terribly annoying.

EDIT: It turns out there's an option to sort posts by "date created" instead of "date updated".

Tally, Tally, Hall, Tally, Hall, Hall, Tally

A good while ago, I bought an external HDD with two FireWire ports. It was a FireWire HDD.
Note that this HDD also had an external power jack. For what reason, I'm not sure; the FireWire cables were perfectly capable of powering it on their own. Anyway, I originally thought it was necessary to use this jack, and I left it plugged in to the wall overnight.
I woke up and the HDD did not work. I took the HDD out of the enclosure, and put it in a different computer (via SATA). It still did not work.
I tested the enclosure with a known-working second HDD. That HDD also did not work, so I took it out of the enclosure and tested it with my known-working SATA-to-miniUSB adapter. No dice.
So this enclosure fried my only two 2.5" HDDs. Lovely.

Anyway, I've been listening to a lot of Tally Hall recently. They're a very good band.

I Used to Call This Website "Bloggr"

Yeah. Guess I got it confused with the other website.