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Architecture: 68k
System Picker
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Download system_picker.sit
(24.88 KB)
For System 6.x - System 7.0 - 7.6
For System 6.x - System 7.0 - 7.6
System Picker allows you to choose which System Folder to boot from, if you have 2 or more System Folders on the Macintosh startup disk
From lowendmac.com:
System Picker is a freeware utility that lets you pick which one of two or more System Folders on your hard drive will be active at the next startup. Kevin Aitken's little utility does this by "blessing" the system you select. (Blessing is Apple's name for selecting one System Folder as the active one.)
The trick you must master before using System Picker is installing two or more copies of the Mac OS on your hard drive. The first and most important thing to realize is that your System Folder doesn't have to be named "System Folder" - you could call one "System 6" and the other "Mac OS 7."
The second important thing to realize is that the Mac prefers to update an existing System Folder, so it will overwrite your other System if you're not careful. One way to work around this is to instruct the installer to perform a clean install, which renames the old folder Previous System Folder. This option is not readily accessible on older versions of the System, but if I recall correctly, you can access this option by holding down the option key while launching the installer.
Other ways to protect your old OS from the new installer are (1) to copy it to another drive or even a floppy disk, (2) rename the System Folder and compress it using StuffIt, and (3) rename the old System Folder and disable it by moving the System or Finder out of the old System Folder.
I have used System Picker successfully to choose among System 6.0.8, 7.5.5, and 7.0.x or 7.1 on my Mac II a few years back. Although it having multiple systems on a single hard drive is not recommended by Apple and can sometimes confuse the computer, I have never had any problems when using System Picker.
CompatibilityArchitecture: 68k
Comments
Doesn't work for me unfortunately. Just re-installed my Centris 650 and wanted to have one partition with Mac OS 7.1.1 and one with Mac OS 8.1. However, in Mac OS 7.1.1 I'm not able to change what partition it boots from. Thought this would help me.
Perhaps the System folders have to be on the same volume for this application to work.
It doesn't really matter as I will mostly be using Mac OS 8.1. If I want to change boot volume I just have to boot from a Mac OS 8.1 install CD and choose the Mac OS 8.1-partition from there.
Edit: Changed 'xxx 7' to 'Mac OS 7' - IIGS User
In fact, this are great news. So we now know this runs fine up to 8.1 (at least).
As for supported Mac OS versions, I'm using System Picker to switch between 7.1 and 8.1 without any trouble.
Please check the architecture of this application with the help of NativeChecker, NativeChecker reported, this application includes 68k code only.
Also, as the readme tells about System 6 and 7, I would recommend only to use System Picker with the Mac OS System versions mentioned.
Sorry about the broken download link, I'm not exactly sure how to fix it, but I have the file hosted on my Dropbox account @ http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5339497/Files%20for%20Macintosh%20Garden/systemp...