After much testing by a frequent contributor to X Appeal, Eric Carr, it still has proven impossible to install OS X Server or the Developer's Preview of OS X Client on the new Powerbooks. While the recent MacInTouch article gave a glimmer of hope it has not worked. The analogy that is most suitable to this situation is with OS updates like 8.5.1 and 8.6. 8.5.1 allowed the Blue and White G3s to boot the MacOS. 8.6 allows the new Powerbooks to boot the MacOS. Try running a prior version of the MacOS on either of them and it won't work without some tweaking. This is the case with OS X, it is older than the new Powerbooks, so it doesn't have support for the hardware. There are so many variables in these installation processes it is very difficult to find the problem. Everything from the hard drive manufacturer, the gestalt ID, the kernel, the keyboard and more could be the broken link. Eric and others will continue working on this problem. Currently Eric is working on installing Mklinux on to the new Powerbook. This could shed a little light, as OS X and Mklinux both use the Mach kernel. Also, it's been said that the keyboard isn't supported. As strange as this sounds, there will also be attempts to see what happens when a USB keyboard is used. If you have any insight on the topic please email us at: <>

For the curious minded we'll try and lower down what you should try. So far trying to install from a desktop Mac to the Powerbook via SCSI Disk Mode hasn't worked. With OS X Client it gets as far as the diagnostic screen, which means it recognizes the keyboard. All Open Firmware tweaking so far has been unsuccessful, real world tests of the suppoed installation technique described on MacInTouch don't work. I hope this will save you some time, if anyone has made any progress or has any advice, please email us at: <>