How to install app in Classic?

Question

I am attempting to install an application from an installer CD in the Classic environment on an iBook G4. The installer utility opens in Classic all right, but then it says it can't find the Install CD -- not surprising I suppose since the CD is mounted on the desktop in OS X, where an OS 9 app wouldn't know where to look. I tried putting an alias of the CD in the main hard disk window, but that didn't help. I installed the app on an iBook G3 in OS 9, then tried to copy it to the G4, but it didn't work; it has some sort of complicated protection scheme, so just copying the app wasn't sufficient (I found an invisible "auth" file, made it visible and copied it as well, but that still wasn't enough). It's a music/midi app called Mosaic Composer, of which there is no OS X version. Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?

Answer 1

I am guessing that you cannot boot in OS9?
Correct; iBook G4 does not boot in OS 9.
You could install the program on an older Mac that
does boot OS9. Find all the installed files and copy
them to your Classic folder.
Tried that (on an iBook G3), as I wrote, but due to the app's arcane copy-protection scheme, copying all the visible files wasn't enough. I even found an invisible "auth" (i.e. authorization) file and copied that, but it still wasn't enough. It's possible the installer actually did something to the boot blocks of the volume on which it was installed (this would be very bad manners, but I recall some installers did such things back in the early Mac days), as the message was that the app was "not authorized to run on this disk" (i.e. the disk I copied it to).
If you have a FW Hard Drive: You can boot OS9 from
another system, install the program then Select that
system as your OS9 folder for classic.
Possible, yes, but the client (for whom I was attempting this installation) doesn't have such an external disk, and I was hoping for a simpler solution.
Another possibility would be to (1) erase the HD on the iBook G3, install OS 9, then install the app; (2) install OS X on the iBook G3, and restart it in OS X; (3) erase the HD on the iBook G4; (4) connect the iBook G4 to the iBook G3 in FireWire Disk Mode; (5) clone the drive (using Carbon Copy Cloner) from the iBook G3 to the iBook G4; (6) shut down the iBook G4 and disconnect it from the G3; (7) Since the OS X installation from the G3, now copied to the G4, might not include exactly the resources to properly run the G4 (though it would probably start it up), insert the OS X Install disc in the G4 and do a fresh OS X installation on the G4. This might work (assuming the cloning operation does indeed copy every bit from the G3 to the G4), but it would be a lot of work. However, if the app's copy protection does something other than installing invisible file(s), this procedure might not work.
I suggested that the client get a newer music app (Sibelius) which does run in OS X.