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Set up a new PowerPC Mac

Use the generic release image when you want one download that works on any supported PowerPC Mac. Use Set Up a New Mac when you want the host to make a personalized image with its address and port already filled in. Both paths preserve classic file forks and require Disk Copy 6.3.3; direct download on the classic Mac additionally requires a web browser.

Current verification boundary

The host flow is tested locally, and its image mounts in a Mac OS 9.1 QEMU guest. Downloading it through a classic browser and reaching the first physical-hardware connection have not yet been verified end to end.

1. Choose the generic or personalized image

Every release publishes new-old-world-classic-VERSION.img.bin. You can download it directly on the classic Mac or move it there with any MacBinary-preserving transfer. It contains the PowerPC application, the optional NOW Extension, and the approved Apple CarbonLib installer package, but no machine-specific preferences. After mounting it, enter the modern Mac's address on the guest Connection page.

For a preconfigured image, open Connections on the modern Mac and choose Set Up a New Mac…. The host builds from the assets embedded in its own app, so those packages remain available after the host is copied to Applications.

2. Start personalized setup on the modern Mac

Open Connections, choose Set Up a New Mac…, and confirm the address and port shown in the sheet. Both Macs must be on the same trusted local network.

Set Up a New Mac showing the reachable address and selected packages

3. Choose the setup contents

The New Old World application and generated preferences are required in a personalized image. The bundled NOW Extension is optional: select it only if you want the deeper Mirror features in Core features and can recover by starting with Extensions disabled. Select any dependency only when the setup sheet identifies it and accepts the available package.

Build or rebuild the image after changing a selection. Check the displayed contents and size before offering it to the other Mac.

CodeKitten is not part of the release bundle. A locally supplied copy may still appear in a personalized development setup, but the normal product does not require it.

MPW, the classic build toolchain, is optional in the same way CarbonLib is. Press Get beside it and the host downloads one checksum-pinned image into its Dependencies folder; select it and the setup image carries it to the PowerPC Mac. On that Mac, open the image and copy the whole MPW-GM folder — MPW and Interfaces&Libraries together — to the hard disk before registering the MPW folder inside your copy. A toolchain registered on the mounted image cannot build, and a copy of the MPW folder alone qualifies and then fails every compile on its first #include: MPW's own Startup finds Interfaces&Libraries beside the MPW folder, and the qualification probe checks the tools, not the headers. The Read Me on the setup disk says so too.

4. Download the complete setup disk

In the classic Mac's browser, open the exact http://…/now address shown by the host. Choose the complete setup disk. If the browser cannot preserve the download directly, use the .bin link and allow the classic transfer software to decode its MacBinary envelope.

The classic-browser setup page and complete setup disk link

The setup server supports the narrow, old-browser-compatible GET and HEAD paths shown on that page. It does not accept uploads or expose a directory listing.

5. Open and install

Open the downloaded image with Disk Copy 6.3.3. Copy New Old World to the classic Mac. Put New Old World Prefs in System Folder:Preferences. If you selected the Extension, put it in System Folder:Extensions and restart before expecting its features.

If CarbonLib 1.6 is not already installed, run the bundled Apple installer and accept its installer license. NOW does not extract or silently install CarbonLib. On an older detected CarbonLib, the guest warns at launch; choosing Don't Warn Again suppresses later warnings without changing the runtime.

The mounted NOW Setup disk with its selected contents

6. Prove the connection

Launch New Old World. A personalized image's generated preferences already contain the host address and listener port; with the generic image, enter them on the Connection page. Setup is complete only when the host shows a named active session and a module returns a typed result; a successful download is not connection evidence.

Stop the onboarding server when setup is complete. It is temporary plaintext HTTP intended only for a trusted LAN.

If setup stops

  • A missing required package or rejected checksum leaves the image unavailable; replace or reacquire that package rather than bypassing the check.
  • Selections changed after the last build require a new image.
  • If the browser mishandles the disk image, use the offered MacBinary form and confirm the transfer software decoded it.
  • If archive extraction support is unavailable on the host, install the named local prerequisite or provide an already accepted package.
  • If the guest cannot connect, use Recover a connection.

For a manual fallback, use Install the PowerPC guest and Configure a connection.