Powerbook 520 with no OS installed

Question

i recently acquired a powerbook 520 and judging by the fact that when i try to boot it and i only reach a screen with a floppy disk and a flashing question mark, i assume there is no OS installed. it is my belief that one can download system 7 from the apple website to install on an old machine such as this, however could someone walk me through how i would create the floppys ? preferably i'd like to create them on my relatively old pc lappy which has an inbuilt floppy drive, however if this is not possible i can search for my long lost USB floppy drive and create them on my ibook g4.
thanks for your time.

Answer 1

Yes, you can download a free System 7.5.3 from Apple, e.g. the international English version here. The individual files are small enough to fit onto 1.4 MB Mac-formatted floppies. Once decoded (by StuffIt Expander for Macintosh, preferably on the PowerBook 520), the twenty segments constitute one single disk image. You place the segments (one .smi and nineteen .part) in a common folder on the hard disk. Double-clicking on the first segment (.smi) will mount the total image. The installer can be found in the thus mounted image.
Since the aforementioned system download does not contain a bootable floppy, the first obstacle will be to make such a disk. You could try doing this in your USB floppy drive connected to the iBook (running in Classic?). However, it is necessary to use a disk-image utility that can create a sector-copied floppy directly from a Disk Copy 4.2 disk image (e.g. via the Make A Copy button in Disk Copy 4.2 or the Make a Floppy command in the Utilities menu of Disk Copy 6.3.3). The Network Access Disk 7.5 here contains a suitable disk image.
If you use a PC, things will be more complicated. The following is only to give you an idea of what to do:
Download the freeware utility Aladdin Expander 2.0 (try a Google search for the exact file name).
A disk-image utility for PC will also be needed. For example, the shareware utility WinImage 6.10 (winima61.exe here).
Install the programs on the PC.
Prepare an empty PC-formatted 1.44 MB (HD) diskette through the FORMAT A: command in DOS (or via the "Full" formatting command under Windows).
Download the Network Access Disk 7.5 .bin file (NetworkAccess_Disk7.5.sea.bin). The Windows operating system may truncate the file name. Drag this downloaded file (as it is) onto the Aladdin Expander 2.0 icon (on the Desktop). Aladdin Expander will decode the file into an archive (document) called Network Access Disk 7.5, and automatically decompress the latter into a Network Access folder.
Inside the Network Access folder you will find a Read Me document and a file called Network Access.image.
Insert the empty PC-formatted diskette into the PC's floppy drive.
If WinImage is used, drag the Network Access.image onto the program icon. In the WinImage application window, select Write disk (from the Disk menu) or click on the Write disk icon. When the operation is completed, immediately eject and lock the diskette.
You should now have a startup floppy for the PowerBook 520.
The procedure is a variant of a method described in the 68000 FAQ (here). This is an exeception to a general rule. Normally, do not decode or decompress MacBinary (.bin) or BinHex (.hqx) files until on a Mac.
Start the PowerBook from the Network Access floppy. Check whether the hard disk is visible. If yes, it is probably wise to erase it (if not already done). Use Erase Disk from the Special menu for this.
It is possible to drag-copy the system folder from a Network Access floppy to an empty hard disk. This will provide you with a temporary system in order to free the floppy drive for subsequent file transfers.
A ready-to-use version of StuffIt Expander for Macintosh (4.0.1) can be obtained through a PC like this: Download MACDISK.EXE here. Prepare an empty PC-formatted 1.44 MB diskette via FORMAT A: under DOS or the "Full" formatting command under Windows (this is important). Launch the MACDISK.EXE program on the PC. Follow the on-screen directions. The result will be a floppy, complete with a StuffIt Expander installer, that you can immediately use in the PowerBook.
Jan