[cpd2009]

Here are the Geekbench results for the iMac. https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/15446442

Windows XP installation was a rather... interesting experience. I haven't used the macOS disk utility in recent years, and realized that after you create a FAT32 partition, you cannot resize it. I made a 160GB partition, intending on splitting it in two. After finding out you can't do that in disk utility, I tried doing so in XP setup. XP setup won't let me since the Mac booted it in legacy BIOS mode and setup complained that there were too many partitions for the disk type. It did let me install it to the 160gb partition after I formatted it to FAT32, and formatting that again to NTFS.

XP is now installed and running, and the Boot Camp drivers are all set up. I made a GParted live CD and I'll see if that will help shrink the existing XP partition and create the new Vista partition.

[cpd2009]

Well, that didn't last very long. Any time I attempted to create a second NTFS partition, it would break the XP install. It would boot into "Error loading operating system". Tried recovery console to rebuilt the bootloader, and that didn't work.

Now, I'm unable to re-expand the main HFS+ partition back to the full disk size, and the hidden recovery partition is automounting for some reason. I'm also unable to boot into recovery now. It just goes straight into the macOS installer.

I think I may have to reinstall the whole OS to get things back to normal. I have an external drive connected for backing up the files I already put on the Mac, so no data was lost.

[huckleberrypie]

Well, that didn't last very long. Any time I attempted to create a second NTFS partition, it would break the XP install. It would boot into "Error loading operating system". Tried recovery console to rebuilt the bootloader, and that didn't work.

Now, I'm unable to re-expand the main HFS+ partition back to the full disk size, and the hidden recovery partition is automounting for some reason. I'm also unable to boot into recovery now. It just goes straight into the macOS installer.

I think I may have to reinstall the whole OS to get things back to normal. I have an external drive connected for backing up the files I already put on the Mac, so no data was lost.

That's quite a bummer. And yet you did try to use Boot Camp as intended, yes?

Anyway, in other news, it looks like Queen Anna of Arendelle tried to have her DeskJet 420 fixed to no avail:

[cpd2009]

I tried a manual partition and install, since El Capitan won't let you install XP or Vista. It wasn't a good idea in the long run since my attempts at fixing it just messed up the partition table. I'm reinstalling El Capitan now off a USB I made. 

Boot Camp only can use Windows 7 or 8 in El Capitan, but I did read of a disc swap trick I found on a StackExchange discussion. The trick requires a Windows 7 or 8 disc. What you do is let Boot Camp start the install process like normal, but once the Mac restarts, you need to bring up the boot menu (hold Option/Alt as the Mac chimes) and after the boot selection menu appears, eject the Windows 7/8 disc and insert the XP or Vista disc. From there, you should be able to install XP/Vista. You just need to have compatible drivers on hand, like on the original iMac setup discs. The set I ordered on eBay arrived in the mail today, and they look unused. They even came in the cardboard sleeve with documentation and Apple stickers.

The downside is that I will have to use just one version of Windows, in this case, my other copy of XP. If I want to use Movie Maker 6.0, I could just run Windows Vista under VMWare or VirtualBox. Rusty might be able to pull it off if the VM allows hardware acceleration with Vista guests.

[huckleberrypie]

I tried a manual partition and install, since El Capitan won't let you install XP or Vista. It wasn't a good idea in the long run since my attempts at fixing it just messed up the partition table. I'm reinstalling El Capitan now off a USB I made. 

Boot Camp only can use Windows 7 or 8 in El Capitan, but I did read of a disc swap trick I found on a StackExchange discussion. The trick requires a Windows 7 or 8 disc. What you do is let Boot Camp start the install process like normal, but once the Mac restarts, you need to bring up the boot menu (hold Option/Alt as the Mac chimes) and after the boot selection menu appears, eject the Windows 7/8 disc and insert the XP or Vista disc. From there, you should be able to install XP/Vista. You just need to have compatible drivers on hand, like on the original iMac setup discs. The set I ordered on eBay arrived in the mail today, and they look unused. They even came in the cardboard sleeve with documentation and Apple stickers.

The downside is that I will have to use just one version of Windows, in this case, my other copy of XP. If I want to use Movie Maker 6.0, I could just run Windows Vista under VMWare or VirtualBox. Rusty might be able to pull it off if the VM allows hardware acceleration with Vista guests.

Seems like Boot Camp isn't as easy-peasy as Apple would like its users to think.

[cpd2009]

I tried a manual partition and install, since El Capitan won't let you install XP or Vista. It wasn't a good idea in the long run since my attempts at fixing it just messed up the partition table. I'm reinstalling El Capitan now off a USB I made. 

Boot Camp only can use Windows 7 or 8 in El Capitan, but I did read of a disc swap trick I found on a StackExchange discussion. The trick requires a Windows 7 or 8 disc. What you do is let Boot Camp start the install process like normal, but once the Mac restarts, you need to bring up the boot menu (hold Option/Alt as the Mac chimes) and after the boot selection menu appears, eject the Windows 7/8 disc and insert the XP or Vista disc. From there, you should be able to install XP/Vista. You just need to have compatible drivers on hand, like on the original iMac setup discs. The set I ordered on eBay arrived in the mail today, and they look unused. They even came in the cardboard sleeve with documentation and Apple stickers.

The downside is that I will have to use just one version of Windows, in this case, my other copy of XP. If I want to use Movie Maker 6.0, I could just run Windows Vista under VMWare or VirtualBox. Rusty might be able to pull it off if the VM allows hardware acceleration with Vista guests.

Seems like Boot Camp isn't as easy-peasy as Apple would like its users to think.

True, unfortunately. It only works if you have the right Windows version. My 2008 iMac, along with many other vintage Macs, meet MS hardware requirements for Windows 8 and 10, but Apple limits what Windows you can install on older hardware. And depending on what macOS you have installed, you can end up losing the ability to use Boot Camp to install XP or Vista.

In my case, I found out that I can only run Windows 7. The disc swap trick only works if I have a Win7 disc, which I don't. And I'm not buying a copy off eBay just to use that disc swapping trick. There is another way to get newer versions of Windows running on these old machines, which involves installing Windows 7 or 8 (whatever maximum OS Apple has capped it at) and doing an in-place upgrade to a newer "unsupported" Windows. This can work for some users, but others have reported driver issues after upgrading.

So, unfortunately, the dual boot macOS/XP/Vista setup won't work after all. It's good that I managed to find that Dell Dimension tower to run XP on since the original iMac plan wouldn't have worked out so well.

The real problem here is Apple doesn't understand that it's not just the tech illiterate that use macOS or iOS. Power users like me also want to use macOS, and there was once a time where the OS appealed to both. Apple really needs to cut the BS with the artificial Windows version caps and just let people install what version of Windows they need, as long as it meets MS' hardware requirements. I remember I had a C2D Dell Vostro tower a couple years ago that was able to run Windows 10 just fine. It could also run XP or Vista without any artificial blocks. I'm sure my 2008 iMac could do the same, but alas, Apple says no.

I have a love/hate relationship with Apple, just like I do with Nintendo.

---

On a lighter note, my iMac's slot loading SuperDrive is working good. Discs load and eject without problems so far. Given how this particular iMac is in excellent condition, it wouldn't surprise me if it had just one owner who took real good care of it, or if it's a former computer lab or office unit.

I'm also testing a different browser... Vivaldi. It's created by the former CEO of Opera Software, and has a lot of the customizability features that current Opera versions have taken out like themes and having a status bar by default. As with most browsers, it's based on Chromium.

[huckleberrypie]

The real problem here is Apple doesn't understand that it's not just the tech illiterate that use macOS or iOS. Power users like me also want to use macOS, and there was once a time where the OS appealed to both.

It's like as if they didn't come from the days when the Woz did his thing and their wares were far more modular than the locked-down walled gardens corporate!Apple is into.


Oh and did you see the scambait video I linked to earlier? "Queen Anna" sure gave those scammers hell xD

[cpd2009]

Thank god for DVD-R backups. I accidentally nuked a copy of my digital photos collection when I reinstalled macOS. I thought I copied it to my external disk, but it was late night and I was tired.

I have since found my backups, dating back to December 2019. I doubt I have lost recent photos as all of those are either on memory cards or in Rusty's Camera Roll folder.

[huckleberrypie]

Thank god for DVD-R backups. I accidentally nuked a copy of my digital photos collection when I reinstalled macOS. I thought I copied it to my external disk, but it was late night and I was tired.

I have since found my backups, dating back to December 2019. I doubt I have lost recent photos as all of those are either on memory cards or in Rusty's Camera Roll folder.

Imagine the pain of having to pay a data recovery specialist for that. That or retrieve files from a dying hard drive.

[cpd2009]

I went and saw that video you posted. I think I found my next favorite YouTube channel because of it. It was really fun seeing the tech support scammers reaction to all those incoming troll calls lead by Queen Anna and someone looking for the fastest route to New Delhi.

Most data recovery software is also expensive. I took a quick look at various Mac offerings before remembering the backup discs I made. Every one of those utilities cost between $79 to $99 USD. Trial versions were limited to just finding deleted files and you can't perform recovery unless you pay. The only free utility I know of is Recuva, but it's Windows only.

My Windows Vista Home Basic disc arrived today. It's genuine, and appears to be brand new. The red seals on top and bottom of the case were intact. I have installed it in VirtualBox on Rusty, and it's currently running updates. I won't activate it unless I know for sure Windows Movie Maker will work fine. That particular WMM version requires proper GPU drivers to function, and the VirtualBox drivers are experimental, and have been that way for years. Another option is VMWare Player if need be.