This applies to the iMac with model identifier PowerMac2,1. It requires the "iMac Firmware" file from the iMac Firmware Update 4.1.9.
Type make to build this program.
Set up the sound in Audacity. It will need to be a 44.1 KHz mono sound with a maximum length of just under 2.5 seconds. Export it in Audacity by going to File -> Export -> Export Audio and choosing the following settings:
- Format: Other uncompressed files
- Header: RAW (header-less)
- Encoding: Signed 16-bit PCM
For the rest of the example commands, I will assume you named the file sound.raw.
This will likely export the sound as little-endian, but we need big-endian. You can make a big-endian copy using the following command:
dd conv=swab < sound.raw > sound_be.raw
This final sound_be.raw file is the file you will pass to the command in the next step.
Starting from the original iMac Firmware file and your custom sound_be.raw file, run the following command:
mkdir patched
./inject_chime iMac\ Firmware sound_be.raw patched/iMac\ Firmware
The new version of iMac Firmware in the patched directory is the newly patched output firmware file.
Make sure to preserve the resource fork of the file when you copy it back to the Mac. I handle this by storing the firmware file on a netatalk server and modifying the file through a Linux or Windows computer.
The firmware updater program won't allow you to install the patched firmware because it's already up to date.
To patch the firmware updater, use a hex editor to edit the iMac Firmware Updater program. Change the byte at offset 0x688F from 06 to 07.
Just like with the update file, make sure to preserve the resource fork when you make this change.
Note that after installing the update, it will warn you that the update was unsuccessful. This is a false alarm. If it persists at every boot, make sure your System Folder:Startup Items folder doesn't contain a copy of the firmware updater
.
My blog has a post with more info about how I patched the startup chime.