Manually Add Computers into Casper

Have a look at the section in the Casper admin guide that talks about using the Recon application.

I have tried using Recon on the machines in question, but the program fails on them. These are old MacBook G4s. Maybe I'm just out of luck??

I tried to recon some old machines running OS X 10.4 several months ago and after many various attempts I called JAMF. They said it was no longer possible on the JSS version I was running. I think I was using JSS 8.7 then. Only 10.5 and up can be inventoried. This is still true for JSS 9.2 (our current version).

Yeah, 10.5 and up is the only thing you can enroll with the latest versions of 8.x or 9.x Casper Suite. if you really need to manage older systems (though I'd really have to wonder why?) you'll have to spin up an older version of Casper Suite in your environment, but you'd have to speak with your JAMF account manager about that to see what you can work out.

Personally, I'd find a way to ditch such old hardware. What is a G4 MacBook even useful for nowadays?

Is there anyway to do it with computers that won't power on? I know we used to be able to add them manually with 8.7, but can't seem to find it in 9.2.

This may be over-kill but I have my devices pre-added using the API and a web form.

As devices are received, they are tagged and scanned into the form which then submits the info (Tag, Serial Number, MAC Addresses, Tech's Employee ID) to the JSS. This allows me to track them through the imaging/setup/delivery process as well as tie the asset tag to the machine in one step. So far, this process seems to still be working in version 9.