It seems that whether I try to do an HD install or install from floppy, I'm equally screwed. Let me outline my two scenarios of screwage, after which I will throw myself upon the mercy of the forum:
1) Floppy install: Well, this one is pretty simple, really. The HFS boot floppy works jim-dandy, but the ramdisk image on root.bin refuses to read and causes an oops. That's because it's currently corrupted, right? I admit I haven't tried the potato version of the floppy images, largely because of Ethan's insistence that we'd all rather die lingering, painful deaths than deal with the potato boot floppies at this late date. 2) HD install: a) Download BootX, the kernel, and the compressed ramdisk image. b) Use BootX to load up the kernel (either at next reboot or after MacOS loading finishes, doesn't affect the outcome). c) Read the, uh, skeletal release notes for woody. d) Ignore the keyboard configuration step because it causes the installer to eat flaming death. e) Enter mac-fdisk, and here's where the fun begins. If I do an 'i' to reinitialize the partition table and then immediately do a 'w' to write the new partition table, everything's cool. As soon as I try to create any partitions, though, any attempts to write the changed partition table thereafter cause an exception that reads "Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer at virtual address". At this point both woody and potato chunder. I've been attempting to install this particular system several times over the last couple months as I've had time, and I'm getting really frustrated. Does anything obvious suggest itself to you? Obviously, since it's an Oldworld Mac, I can't boot from CD, and unless someone sorts out the woody root.bin for FD images, I can't do an install with those either. Is there some sort of hardware nastiness that could be causing this? yours, Forrest -- . . . the self-reflecting image of a narcotized mind . . . ozymandias G desiderata [EMAIL PROTECTED] desperate, deathless (415)558-9064 http://www.aoaioxxysz.com/ ::AOAIOXXYSZ::