Is there a way to preserve the network selection (Ethernet) without a PRAM battery?

[Scribe]

Mac SE with Asante Ethernet card, 4 MB RAM, SCSI2SD with partitioned 8GB SD card, System 6.0.8 (also System 7.1 on a different partition, but I try to avoid it because sloooooow). When Mac is unplugged or even just switched off, the network reverts to LocalTalk. Is there any way around this (other than putting in a new PRAM battery)? I saw a few older posts asking about this, but I did not see a definitive solution.

 

[Scribe]

So... No?

 

[beachycove]

There is a Control Panel that might work: Pram Auto-Restore. I would have thought that network settings should be covered, but have never tried it myself.

This Gamba archive has a list of associated tidbits: https://vintageapple.org/gamba2/tidbits.html , but the d/l seems to be broken. Scroll down to the pram cluster and go a-googling.

 

[Scribe]

There is a Control Panel that might work: Pram Auto-Restore.

I tried it... Selecting it in the control panel caused the Mac to crash.
I can't access most of the files on the Gamba page -- they lead to "failed to open page"... Mostly because "FTP URLs are disabled".

 

[beachycove]

Too bad. Have you tried any of the other ‘pram’ files in the Gamba links, then?

 

[ArmorAlley]

@cheesestraws is surely the person to ask. If anyone knows, it is him.

 

[Scribe]

Too bad. Have you tried any of the other ‘pram’ files in the Gamba links, then?

Most of them are dead links (at least for me). I was able to download a few of them to my modern Mac, but I didn't have a chance yet to check them on the SE.

 

[Phipli]

Any of these any use? Two links and I fetched some of the stuff you said didn't work from the gambas archive. Only PRAM Auto Restore didn't download for me.

ForcePRAM - Macintosh Garden

IForce Parameter Ram INIT In many environments, especially public access labs, it's critical for easy maintenance to be able to automatically reset settings controlled by the Macs' parameter ram (PRAM), instead of manually via the Chooser and various control panels.

macintoshgarden.org

PRAM Auto-Restore - Macintosh Garden

PRAM Auto-Restore 1.0 PRAM Auto-Restore is a Control Panel. To install it, drop it onto your System Folder. I've tested PRAM Auto-Restore with System 7.5.1 and 7.1, but it should also run with System 6.x. PRAM Auto-Restore resets your PRAM and Extended PRAM at startup and/or shutdown to a...

macintoshgarden.org

 

[mg.man]

Only PRAM Auto Restore didn't download

This?
- https://macgui.com/downloads/?file_id=23225

 

[mg.man]

Found the Gamba referenced one...

 

[Scribe]

Any of these any use? Two links and I fetched some of the stuff you said didn't work from the gambas archive. Only PRAM Auto Restore didn't download for me.

ForcePRAM - Macintosh Garden

IForce Parameter Ram INIT In many environments, especially public access labs, it's critical for easy maintenance to be able to automatically reset settings controlled by the Macs' parameter ram (PRAM), instead of manually via the Chooser and various control panels.

macintoshgarden.org

PRAM Auto-Restore - Macintosh Garden

PRAM Auto-Restore 1.0 PRAM Auto-Restore is a Control Panel. To install it, drop it onto your System Folder. I've tested PRAM Auto-Restore with System 7.5.1 and 7.1, but it should also run with System 6.x. PRAM Auto-Restore resets your PRAM and Extended PRAM at startup and/or shutdown to a...

macintoshgarden.org

Don't have time to fire up the Mac SE right now... I will give them a try as soon as I get a chance...

 

[Scribe]

So I tried them all... Either they crashed the Mac, or didn't seem to work all.

Some of them were in folders with all kinds of other associated files that I couldn't identify. Maybe configuration files or something. Anyway, I could not get the desired result. If anyone else can figure it out, I'd love to hear about it.

 

[Phipli]

So I tried them all... Either they crashed the Mac, or didn't seem to work all.

Some of them were in folders with all kinds of other associated files that I couldn't identify. Maybe configuration files or something. Anyway, I could not get the desired result. If anyone else can figure it out, I'd love to hear about it.

How are you moving the files to the SE and extracting them?

 

[beachycove]

Or just buy a battery….

 

[rjkucia]

Or just buy a battery….

I'm sure OP has their reasons not to, but I am curious what those are. My understanding is that batteries are fine as long as they're inspected and replaced every decade or so. Additionally, I believe the coin cell batteries (with adapters) work just as well, and have a negligible risk of leaking or exploding.

 

[cheesestraws]

The problem is that all the PRAM restore utilities run at INIT-time, when the AppleTalk interface has already been set. So although they can restore the AppleTalk interface bits in PRAM, they won't actually affect the active interface because AppleTalk has already been initialised.

One way to get around this that might work would be to turn the INIT that loads the PRAM into an AINI, which is a type of extension specifically designed to load stuff that affects AppleTalk. I haven't read that bit of the boot code recently, but I'm pretty sure those load before AppleTalk is enabled.

I want to add this to Force32, but I haven't had the time or energy to work on that in a while. If anyone else wants to take it on, the thing to do here would be to install a shutdown hook that saves the longword at xpram address 0xE0 into a resource or something in the INIT when the machine is shut down, then reinstate that at that same address at boot and if either that or the 32-bit status has changed, then reboot.

 

[Scribe]

How are you moving the files to the SE and extracting them?

Oh. Wait...
A while ago I tried extracting files on the SE but didn't have any luck, so I was extracting them on my M1 Mini and then moving them over to the SE (via MacIPpi). But now I realize that maybe the modern Mac is part of the problem. Or is it? Hmmm... Need to experiment further.

Stay tuned...

 

[Scribe]

I'm sure OP has their reasons not to, but I am curious what those are. My understanding is that batteries are fine as long as they're inspected and replaced every decade or so. Additionally, I believe the coin cell batteries (with adapters) work just as well, and have a negligible risk of leaking or exploding.

In theory, I could easily solve this whole issue by just putting in a battery.
If I used the SE all the time I would probably do that.
The problem is that it spends most of its life in storage. I can go months (or sometimes years) without powering it on at all, and then use it daily for a week or two. I don't want to have to remember to crack it open to take out the battery every time I put it away (especially since I occasionally take it right back out the next day).
At this point, it's worth the hassle of resetting the network (and mouse) every time I pull it out of the closet, knowing that I don't have to worry about an exploding battery because I haven't checked it in a while.

 

[Phipli]

In theory, I could easily solve this whole issue by just putting in a battery.
If I used the SE all the time I would probably do that.
The problem is that it spends most of its life in storage. I can go months (or sometimes years) without powering it on at all, and then use it daily for a week or two. I don't want to have to remember to crack it open to take out the battery every time I put it away (especially since I occasionally take it right back out the next day).
At this point, it's worth the hassle of resetting the network (and mouse) every time I pull it out of the closet, knowing that I don't have to worry about an exploding battery because I haven't checked it in a while.

Getting off topic and I'm not meaning to drag it on. Sorting what you asked is what we should do, when you have your reasons. But that said, one idea is an external battery holder, or a coin cell adapter(they almost never fail).

But, it sounds like you've been accidentally stripping resource forks by transferring the files already decompressed. Sorting that and you'll be able to do exactly what you set out to do

 

[cheesestraws]

I don't want to have to remember to crack it open to take out the battery every time I put it away

Yeah, right with you here; adding an extra thing with an expiration date into the mixture just adds more stress I don't need. Batteryless 4 lyfe tbqh ;-)