Changing password on Panther
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had presumably discovered costs too much to fix at Apple and threw in my
direction, not particularly expensively. I can use it but it has an
administrator password I obviously can't find which prevents me from
installing a DLink WiFi USB pickup.
I googled and found it written that "doesn't panther allow you to boot into
single user mode? try starting up in single-user mode by pressing Command-S
during
startup. then 'passwd username' to change password."
I tried this and it goes into verbose bootup but the computer just sends a
white screeen to my monitor?? And most of my screen is broken so all I can
see are a few words on the left hand part (not many): I tried typing 'passwd
theadministrator'susername', hit enter and it gave me a usage line the only
bit of which I can see is [-i /infosys. Then Change password just tells me
that I am using the change command wrongly which I kinda knew as I am using
pure guesswork. Am I doing it right or is there something I am missing? Do
I have to -i /newpassword on this line or something? Or does anyone know
what it is trying to tell me in this verbose mode which I can't see?
If I try to boot from an OS9 install disc to a desktop is it any easier to
change the password in Panther's system files?
Incidentally is there anywhere I can buy the screen from some Samsung
distributor or woudl it have the wrong connector cables on it? Has anyone
ever done this?
gutts
> If I try to boot from an OS9 install disc to a desktop is it any easier to
> change the password in Panther's system files?
You need to boot from Panther's install disks and somewhere (I think in
disk utility) there's an option to reset the admin password.
>
> Incidentally is there anywhere I can buy the screen from some Samsung
> distributor or woudl it have the wrong connector cables on it? Has anyone
> ever done this?
ebay. I've found screens for other Apple laptops for sale there, so
maybe you could pick up a screen for the 12"
Graham J Lee
"news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote:
> I googled and found it written that "doesn't panther allow you to boot into
> single user mode? try starting up in single-user mode by pressing Command-S
> during
> startup. then 'passwd username' to change password."
>
Sadly that's not sufficient. Local user accounts are stored in netinfo,
and netinfo isn't launched in single-user mode. You can modify the
netinfo database without launching netinfo, using nicl. However, I seem
to remember that 10.3+ don't store the passwords there...
> I tried this and it goes into verbose bootup but the computer just sends a
> white screeen to my monitor?? And most of my screen is broken so all I can
> see are a few words on the left hand part (not many): I tried typing 'passwd
> theadministrator'susername', hit enter and it gave me a usage line the only
> bit of which I can see is [-i /infosys. Then Change password just tells me
> that I am using the change command wrongly which I kinda knew as I am using
> pure guesswork. Am I doing it right or is there something I am missing? Do
> I have to -i /newpassword on this line or something? Or does anyone know
> what it is trying to tell me in this verbose mode which I can't see?
>
You have to do something like '-i netinfo' to tell passwd what service
you're storing your password in.
--
I am leeg, for we are many
http://nextstep.sdf-eu.org
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install discs first to see if there is any way of doing it from there: I was
always a bit scared of booting from install discs because on some PCs which
I have, if you do this you will wipe out all your configurations and data
(which in my case isn't relevant) and all your installed software. Because
SECONDLY what I want to preserve is the Photoshop CS and Microsoft Office X
on this drive. I don't suppose I can re-install the OS and retain installed
software? In Windows XP there is a procedure for this which is called a
Repair Install of the OS (I cant believe that on a Mac it is as easy as
people have told me which is that all you do to retain software is to copy
the software's main folder to a CD).
(BTW It does say on the Apple site that you can change a password by booting
off a 9 disc into 9 but it doesn't say how)
What is the serial number situation on a Panther install? On a PC if your
computer came with a valid OS (and one of those pathetic recovery discs
which wont let you repair anything), and you do a repair install from
another install CD, your formerly valid serial number will be replaced with
what is indistinguishable from an illegal one which came from the install
disc. Does this happen on a Mac as well now? I know that with Microsoft if
you are using what looks like an illegal OS they like to instill visions of
FBI agents waiting on the tarmac at Idlewilde with hand cuffs next time you
fly into the US but have never heard of Apple trying to frighten its
customers like this?
Lastly I know that these screens are a bit fragile and lots of people seem
to be in my position either initially or because they have obtained a unit
with a bust screen which the owner decided was too expensive to repair. So
screens which come up on EBay fetch inordinately high prices. As the 12.1
is now and end-of-life item and has been so for quite a few years, has no
one tracked which model this is and where it can be bought as a part and
whether the connectors are standard? I have seen it described as a generic
12.1 inch screen which can have a Samsung part number LTN121S6-T01 (this
might be a 15 inch screen which isn't so end-of-life) or indeed a Philips
part number. I am sure Apple woudl like to pretend it was, but the screen
wasn't designed specially for this new unit for Apple was it?
Elliott Roper
> On these points, FIRSTLY I think I would prefer to try the boot from Panther
> install discs first to see if there is any way of doing it from there: I was
> always a bit scared of booting from install discs because on some PCs which
> I have, if you do this you will wipe out all your configurations and data
> (which in my case isn't relevant) and all your installed software.
It just works. You can install a new OS over the current one. Nothing
much gets wrecked. You could use the archive and install procedure if
you are nervous.
>
> SECONDLY what I want to preserve is the Photoshop CS and Microsoft Office X
> on this drive. I don't suppose I can re-install the OS and retain installed
> software? In Windows XP there is a procedure for this which is called a
> Repair Install of the OS (I cant believe that on a Mac it is as easy as
> people have told me which is that all you do to retain software is to copy
> the software's main folder to a CD).
You can believe it. Of course you can. You don't even need to copy your
applications off to CD, although that does work. It is a very good idea
to backup frequently. You never know when a disk will die, or when you
will wake up one morning wishing you hadn't deleted that version of
your movie from three weeks ago.
>
> (BTW It does say on the Apple site that you can change a password by booting
> off a 9 disc into 9 but it doesn't say how)
>
> What is the serial number situation on a Panther install? On a PC if your
> computer came with a valid OS (and one of those pathetic recovery discs
> which wont let you repair anything), and you do a repair install from
> another install CD, your formerly valid serial number will be replaced with
> what is indistinguishable from an illegal one which came from the install
> disc. Does this happen on a Mac as well now? I know that with Microsoft if
> you are using what looks like an illegal OS they like to instill visions of
> FBI agents waiting on the tarmac at Idlewilde with hand cuffs next time you
> fly into the US but have never heard of Apple trying to frighten its
> customers like this?
Nope. We don' need no steenkin' serial numbers. For the OS that is.
You will need all the keys for applications that require them, but they
won't get damaged on OS re-install.
The FBI will be waiting for you anyway.
Can't help with the screen stuff.
--
I thought I would be the last on earth to mung my e-mail address.
fsnospam$elliott$$
1A96 3CF7 637F 896B C810 E199 7E5C A9E4 8E59 E248
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> you are nervous.
That sounds the best course because it is least likely to ask you for the
PRESENT password?
I suppose I can do both easily as there is a Superdrive on this computer,
put Photoshop on one backup CD adn Office on another
> You will need all the keys for applications that require them, but they
> won't get damaged on OS re-install.
How do find them and I back them up just in case?
> The FBI will be waiting for you anyway.
1A96 3CF7 637F 896B C810 E199 7E5C A9E4 8E59 E248
I am ng at codes but I'll see if I can wake the boys at Bletchley Park up to
get Colossus warmed up on that one!!
Peter Ceresole
> I am ng at codes but I'll see if I can wake the boys at Bletchley Park up to
> get Colossus warmed up on that one!!
Was Colossus at Bletchley Park or at Dollis Hill?
--
Peter
Elliott Roper
> You could use the archive and install procedure if
> > you are nervous.
>
> That sounds the best course because it is least likely to ask you for the
> PRESENT password?
No, it *will* want your password.
As others have said, you will be able to change your present password
using the installation CD for OS X
>
> I suppose I can do both easily as there is a Superdrive on this computer,
> put Photoshop on one backup CD adn Office on another
>
> > You will need all the keys for applications that require them, but they
> > won't get damaged on OS re-install.
>
> How do find them and I back them up just in case?
heh. Printed on the side of the box they came in.
Each application has its own magic for hiding the number from prying
eyes. However, most of your apps will be ok if you save and restore if
you have to, the /Applications folder and /Library/Application Support/
folders. I have never bothered to experiment where the big commercial
apps hide their registration numbers.
>
> > The FBI will be waiting for you anyway.
>
> 1A96 3CF7 637F 896B C810 E199 7E5C A9E4 8E59 E248
>
> I am ng at codes but I'll see if I can wake the boys at Bletchley Park up to
> get Colossus warmed up on that one!!
It won't do 'em much good. It is nothing but my PGP fingerprint. The
idea is if I put it about, then it will be a little more difficult for
the ungodly to substitute another PGP public key purporting to be mine.
a bit of an affectation really.
--
I thought I would be the last on earth to mung my e-mail address.
fsnospam$elliott$$
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"> As others have said, you will be able to change your present password
> using the installation CD for OS X
Thanks guys, there doesnt seem to be much problem doing this as I see that
when you use a Panther Install Disc, there is a check mark for PRESERVE USER
IDs AND NETWORK SETTINGS and if the userID and the old user's network
settings are what I am trying to delete, unchecking this box while using the
reinstall procedure from a Panther install disc would seem to be the proper
course? It also doesn't seem to matter trying to preserve the installation
'key' from the original OS install for this computer if I also have the key
from the Panther install CDs, which I do. (I don't suppose I will find them
for Office X or Photoshop CS which I have now backed up to CD)
Is there any difference then between 'Archive and Install' (followed by
deletion of the Previous system folder when I am sure everything is up and
running) and simple INSTALL without checking the Retain USERID if they
> > > won't get damaged on OS re-install.
(the only bit that does now worry me is the bit about the Feds waiting for
me on some piece of tarmac)
I THOUGHT I had seen (presumably de-classified) photos of both Collosus in
operation as well as the table where it originally stood and that it was at
Bletchley Park? I wouldn't have thought that the MoD would have wanted to
keep anything as secret as the fact that they had invented the world's first
computer anywhere as (relatively) unsafe as Dollis Hill? After the war,
someone might have found out about it and (remember there was an old-type
Labour government in power at the time) noticed that you could make some
money out of such a curious concept as the computer?
Peter Ceresole
> I THOUGHT I had seen (presumably de-classified) photos of both Collosus in
> operation as well as the table where it originally stood and that it was at
> Bletchley Park? I wouldn't have thought that the MoD would have wanted to
> keep anything as secret as the fact that they had invented the world's first
> computer anywhere as (relatively) unsafe as Dollis Hill?
Okay, I've looked it up. The Colossus hardware was developed by a GPO
engineer, Tommy Flowers, at Dollis Hill, which during the war was an
extremely secure establishment, much of it deep under ground [1].
Colossus- there were several machines- was actually used at Bletchley
Park.
So I was kinda close, but no cigar.
[1] The deepest bits were closed off some time after the war as they
were damp and nasty and cost a lot to maintain. A friend of mine who
worked in the GPO Research Unit in the late '60s told me that they used
the shallower bits as rest rooms and played ping pong there in the lunch
hours. I was told that all the underground bits have been closed now.
--
Peter
Pete Verdon
> It also doesn't seem to matter trying to preserve the installation
> 'key' from the original OS install for this computer
As far as I'm aware (and I may be wrong) there's no such thing as an OS
X installation key, serial number, or other big-brotherish mechanism.
Software copyright infringement[1], although it exists, seems to be much
less of an issue on the Mac.
Pete
[1] "Piracy" means violence, looting and/or murder at sea, whatever Bill
Gates tries to tell you.
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seems to be much
> less of an issue on the Mac.
Yes, but now I seem to have a bigger problem or possibly I am doing
something wrong: Whatever I try to do, the unit wont boot off the install
discs (which I kinda knew? Unless there is some boot sequence I didn't know
of, or is it dangerous to boot off a 9 install disc into 9 and try to
install Panther from there? This sounds dangerous, or am I too much of a
worrier?) and any change to the system from within OS X (such as by putting
a Panther install disc in and trying to reinstall) involves being asked to
put the present password in.
Does anyone have any experience of how it will change the directory
structure if I try to do a fresh install of Panther from 9 or is this
relatively safe? Will it find the present installation of X and re-install
the files over the present identical ones, - erasing only the USER ID and
network settings unless I tell it to retain them?
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underground bits have been closed now.
Sort of leaves open the interesting general question of whether any bits of
the World's First Electronic Computer are left in those boarded up rooms if
they are still boarded up? Apparently the actual Colossus at BP was broken
up after the War for fear that (heaven forbid) someone might find a use for
it and make some money out of it in the period when the socialist
Government's official line was Austerity.
But while people are selling early computers for huge amounts and there are
people out ther who are apparently quite rich and collect these things, why
doesn't someone who was around at the time have a gander about before the
provenance disappears when they die and one valve or bit of chassis starts
looking a whole lot like any other valve or bit of metal?
Peter Ceresole
> Apparently the actual Colossus at BP was broken
> up after the War for fear that (heaven forbid) someone might find a use for
> it and make some money out of it in the period when the socialist
> Government's official line was Austerity.
Not a bit of it.
The whole effort- Colossus, bombes, everythgin- was officially
dismantled because the government wanted to stop the codebreaking story
from becoming known- and it remained remarkably secret for several
decades afterwards.
Nothing to do with Socialist purity- the government was keen for Britain
to make all the money possible as the nation as a whole was totally
bankrupt and the Americans stopped war time aid literally as the echoes
died down which was a horrible and unwelcome shock. The real reason was
that they gave the captured German Enigma machines to all their
Commonwealth Allies to use without ever mentioning that they had been
compromised. So they were reading their "friends'" traffic for many many
years without their knowledge. This is why 'Enigma' remained such a
total secret well into the the later fifties and why even in the sixties
there was a fuss about publishing the stories.
--
Peter
Noses
> Apparently the actual Colossus at BP was broken
> up after the War for fear that (heaven forbid) someone might find a use for
> it and make some money out of it in the period when the socialist
> Government's official line was Austerity.
Colossus was just that: A big special purpose machine with rather poor
abilities for anything but doing strange manipulations of Galois Fields -
at least all available documentation is hinting at that. Now
<http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/> is really worth remembering - besides
(listen to it yourself at
<http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/leo-oz.mp3>) educating certain
directors about the sound a computer should make. So if you want to conserve
some historical big iron that's where you might want to put your energy.
Noses.
Graham J Lee
Elliott Roper <nos...@yrl.co.uk> wrote:
>
> It won't do 'em much good. It is nothing but my PGP fingerprint. The
> idea is if I put it about, then it will be a little more difficult for
> the ungodly to substitute another PGP public key purporting to be mine.
> a bit of an affectation really.
I give out my key ID (where appropriate). The idea is that people
should grab my key - given the ID - from a keychain server they trust,
then come and see me in person to verify the fingerprint; I will
identify myself with some trusted ID mechanism. Once that's sorted, we
sign keys, then can start sending each other naughty emails ;)
MattC...@gmail.com
> poor abilities for anything but doing strange manipulations of
> Galois Fields - at least all available documentation is hinting at
> that.
What do you mean by "strange manipulations of Galois Fields"? The
general operation of Colossus is now well understood, and is not
particularly arcane: it takes two streams of bits...one the
ciphertext[1], the other an internally-generated copy of the cipher
machine that it's trying to break[2]. It then simply counted the number
of times a specified boolean function evaluated to true over all
positions in the stream. If the key settings had been chosen correctly,
the count would be higher than if it hadn't been chosen correctly.
Colossus wasn't that exciting -- it just counted things and looked out
for high correlations.
Matt
[1] 5 bits wide punched on paper tape
[2] The Lorenz SZ 40 or 42, codenamed "Tunny".
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> Have you tried putting the CD in, restarting, and holding down the 'C'
> key? That should cause the Mac to boot from the CD, if it _can_ be
> booted from that CD.
Well that was all very disastrous , a disaster mitigated only by my running
the two hour install process in the background
It installed Panther over Panther but left me with exactly the same password
problem AND no sound and no DVD player (that is all I have discovered as
yet)
Should I boot into 9 and try to install from there or will it just do the
same thing again? WHere precisely IS this screen which is supposed to give
you the option of keeping or not keeping your password and network settings
OR is there some file I should delete before I reinstall Panther all over
again?
That's the 'C' key, not the "control" key. Then
> you could choose "Reset Password" from the install menu.
There is no optoin to reset password: What did I do wrong?
> If the other user has been using his "Keychain" then you'll have to
"resynchronize"
> those passwords as well. Documentation exists.
>
> My understanding is that you want to preserve the applications that
> you haven't bought, right? The rest you don't care about. You can't
> back up OS X simply by doing a drag-and-drop, unfortunately, so if you
> can't boot from your OS X cds, then you're going to have to borrow or
> buy an OS X that you _can_ boot from.
I have a full Panther install set which is the one which isnt working!!
> You won't hurt your system by booting into OS 9. Have you tried
> restarting and holding down the "Option" key? That should bring up the
> boot loader screen. If your system is set up to boot from both from
> the internal HD, you should be able to choose OS 9 (the icon with
> face, not the one with the X), then hit the arrow. There's not much
> you're going to be able to do, though. I don't know where Panther
> keeps its password file(s) but I can bet that you won't see them from
> OS 9. Well, maybe File Buddy can help you. You can search for that.
I thought the trick was to boot from an OS9 install disc?
> Now, if you finally can't boot from a CD that you _know_ in your heart
> you should be able to boot from, then the previous user has probably
> set an "open firmware" password and you should start here. Look in the
> "security" section.
The last user MAY have done so but I would tend to doubt it: How (in OF?)
can I check?
> http://archive.macosxlabs.org/documentation/documentation.html
>
> --
> Looks like more of Texas to Me