How to run Classic (pre OS X) apps on Intel Macs
Tue, May 16 2006 at 8:00AM PDT • Contributed by: sp1nner
Tue, May 16 2006 at 8:00AM PDT • Contributed by: sp1nner
Do you use an Intel-based Mac but still have a few essential Classic (pre-OS X) Mac applications you want to run? Recent universal compiles allow you to use SheepShaver (SS) or Basilisk II (B2) to run Classic software in emulation on Intel Macs under Mac OS X directly -- or under Windows via dual-boot or Parallels virtualization. B2 emulates an old 68K Macintosh, while SS emulates a PowerPC Mac.
What you need:
Tips:
[robg adds: The ROM downloads linked in this hint are all provided by Apple, they are not pirated versions. I have not tested this one. If you are going to do so, I recommend a good backup first, just in case.]
What you need:
- An old Mac OS (up to OS 8.1 for B2, or OS 7.5.2 through 9.0.4 for SS). You can get OS 7.5.3 for free from Apple. E-Maculation has a downloadable OS 7.5.3 starter disk already prepared (4.3MB download).
- A Mac ROM. For B2, you must extract a ROM file from an old 68K Mac that you own. Use CopyROM or ROM-grabber for the extraction. For SheepShaver, use the Mac OS ROM Update 1.0, provided by Apple. None of the other Apple-distributed software-based New World ROMs, nor the Old World ROMs I've extracted from my own Macs have worked. However, to use this ROM, I think you'll need at least System 8.5 (I couldn't get it to run on OS 8.1; maybe older systems don't support New World ROMs?). Extract the ROM from the updater with TomeView. These extractors are themselves Classic apps, so you'll need access to a Mac capable of running Classic or older to get the ROMs.
- To run SS or B2 under Windows, you'll also need: (a) the Win32 Runtime Library of Simple DirectMedia Layer and (b) the Gtk+ Win32 Runtime Library. Just extract the contents of the downloaded files into the same directory as the SS and B2 .exe files.
Tips:
- I'm running MacOS X 10.4.6 on a MacBook Pro 2.16 GHz w/ 2G RAM. Basilisk runs for me using either System 7.5.3 or 8.1, but won't launch some of the software I want to run. So, I use SheepShaver running OS 9.04. But, that is not without difficulties. Using SS 2.3, build 0.20060121.1-OSX.i386, under OS X, I have to start up OS 9 with extensions off (hold down the shift key when launching SS), or else I get some sort of display problem after the OS 9 boot sequence.
The display problem doesn't occur when running the Windows version of SS (under either Parallels Workstation or dual booting via Apple's Boot Camp). So, ironically, I run SS in Windows (XP Home Eddition, Service Pack 2) in order to use my Classic Macintosh applications (Photoshop 4 and Matlab 5, because I'm cheap and they are still perfectly good versions!). - To get a little feedback from B2 and SS running under OS X, run them from Terminal (view the application package contents and open the Unix Executable File in the MacOS folder).
- Both B2 and SS read a variety of disk image types, including dmg, cdr, img, smi, and hfv. DMG and CDR can be created with Disk Utility under OS X. If you get an .hfv disk image (created in Windows, such as the starter disk mentioned above), you can rename it with the .img extension for mounting under OS X. B2 and SS are capable of mounting CDs, but I use DMG images for everything.
- Older Mac systems (pre-8.1, I think?) cannot start up from disks formatted as "MacOS Extended" file systems. If that is a problem, you may have to create a disk image with Disk Utility then erase and reformat it (you can only specify the disk format when you erase the disk, not when you first create it).
- Startup disk images made outside of B2 and SS are not always recognized by B2 and SS as valid startup disks (the System folder doesn't have the Mac system icon badge on it). Starting up with a different disk (eg, an installer CD or the starter disk image mentioned above), and mounting the problematic startup disk image in B2 or SS, then simply opening its System folder fixes this. Mounting the disk image on a Mac booted into Classic would probably also work.
- Both B2 and SS crash not infrequently (eg, when editing some folder names, using some command key combos, and during other seemingly innocuous activities). Save often. There is an option to mount a host-OS folder as a disk inside the emulator, to make file exchange easy. This feature is a bit buggy, too, so if you do this, don't make your root OS X user directory the shared folder. I use a disk image to transfer files (but mounting disk images in both the host OS and in the emulator simultaneously is risky, so don't do that either!). You might also consider keeping your Classic applications on a separate disk image from the startup disk image.
- There are how-to's scattered on the Web for B2 and SS. E-Maculation is a good place to start. They also run forums for support questions.
[robg adds: The ROM downloads linked in this hint are all provided by Apple, they are not pirated versions. I have not tested this one. If you are going to do so, I recommend a good backup first, just in case.]
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