Extension Manager automation request

[dlatkinson]

I have created different Extensions Manager sets depending on whether I boot up into Mac OS 9.2.2 or launch the Classic environment within Mac OS X. When I boot into Mac OS 9.2.2, I depress the space bar in the early stages of the boot process until the Extensions Manager window appears, and then I select one of my custom sets ("Mac OS 9 Boot") from the pop-up menu and click on the Continue button. This set activates such goodies as Timbuktu, Retrospect client, Norton stuff, SETI@home, MOM, etc. Conversely, when I boot into X, I never have it autolaunch Classic because I always use the Advanced tab when launching Classic so I can choose Open Extensions Manager from the Startup Options pop-up menu. As Classic comes up, it will stop at the Extensions Manager window, where I can then select a different custom set ("Mac OS X Boot") and click Continue, which will bring up a very basic Classic without all of the unneeded or troublesome control panels and extensions that would otherwise muck things up.

This all works very well for me. The problem is that for my non-technical customers, it is a hassle to say the least. In fact, I need to give them a sheet of step-by-step instructions on how to perform the switch between OS's when they have to. In a perfect world, everything that requires rebooting into Mac OS 9 could be done in Classic, but that's not the case today (for example, the only way to use my SanDisk SDDR-12 media card reader is to boot into Mac OS 9, because it puts the media card on the Mac OS 9's Finder's desktop). It would be great if Apple designed things so that if it detected user-created Extensions Manager sets called "Boot Mac OS 9" and "Boot Mac OS X", that it would use these as default sets requiring no user intervention. That way, a Mac user would only need to know about how to use Startup Disk. It would also allow you to launch the Classic environment with the proper Extensions Manager set automatically upon bootup to Mac OS X. Alas, that is not the case.

Can any of you Brainiacs lurking out there think up a reasonable way to accomplish this?

[Phil St. Romain]

The way I have gotten around this, is by setting up three partitions. You don't really need three, but I consider it somewhat the ideal. On one partition, install Mac OS X; on the second, Mac OS 9.1, which you would use when you work in OS 9; on the third, install OS 9.2.2, which you would use for Classic. You can determine which operating system you want to boot into during startup by holding down the option key. You can also set up the different OS 9 extensions configurations the way you want, and not have to bother with them again. This is the way I've set up my computer, using a very striped-down System folder and extensions set for Classic. You could do the same thing with two partitions, installing Classic on one, and OS 9.1 on the other, but I just like to have them separate, which makes it easy to choose one or the other during the startup process by holding down on the option key.

[RichB]

Conflict Catcher does much more than isolate conflicts and way more than Extension Manager. I have a set of extensions for booting to 9 or X. It automatically senses the OS that is running and chooses the appropriate set. Once it is set up it is a nobrainer!