Running networked programs in sheepshaver

About SheepShaver, a PPC Mac emulator for Windows, MacOS X, and Linux that can run System 7.5.3 to MacOS 9.0.4.

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ivanflr
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Running networked programs in sheepshaver

Post by ivanflr »

Hello Forum,
My name is Ivan, I work in a music education lab at Miami Dade College where we are facing a serious problem. Some of the programs we run are outdated OS 9 programs, where developers have either sold the company, or show no intention of porting them to Mac OS 10.5. My dilemma is that the college is upgrading all the computers to new the new iMacs, this completely cripples the lab I work in as far as student education is concerned, none of the programs we have are going to be able to run on the new OS. While sheepshaver has allowed us to run OS 9 effectively, the licensing agreements for the programs only allow us to run them over a network using a server. While using 'Slirp' has allowed us to connect to the internet and access some files over the network, sheepshaver gives me the error message, "The file server's connection has unexpectedly closed down" when I attempt to connect to the lab server. At first I assumed that it was a server problem until I was able to connect to it using another computer running OS X, unfortunately the other computer was not running sheepshaver. My question: is there anything I can do to fix this? I tried using 'slirp' and the 'basilisk II slirp' but with no results. Does anyone have any ideas? Thank You.
symbolic X
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Post by symbolic X »

If the college decided to change their mind and throw in Windows computers, I might have some input on that.

My first concern would be to put those programs on a concrete disk image, make sure you have the best version of OS 8.6/9 you have, and the ROM image to go with it. Double-check the settings in OS 9 and make sure everything works on there, even sound. Then put all of that on your server.

On the Windows part, you'll want to throw in some security techniques as long as you hold power as server administrator.

For the disk image that all of your programs are on, mark that as "Read-Only" so that no one can change anything on that server. If you obtained a copy of FoolProof Desktop Security for Mac, then forget the Read-Only and just install that into the image.

Under SS/BII GUI, allow the My Computer icon to appear on OS 8.6/9 so that users will at least have a place to save their files.

For the rest of the files (prefs, DLL's, applications), my best bet would be to put in special privileges under the Security tab (right-click and then select Properties) to where no one can delete any of them.

In this case, whatever Mac programs you want to run remotely, it should be all on the server based on agreement. The college people should have no excuse to say what anyone is not allowed to do, based on my input here.
ivanflr
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No windows

Post by ivanflr »

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on what camp your in, the college has spared us from having to adopt PC's into our environment. Which further limits my options because, while your advice seems like it would work, the time for turning in budget requests has passed. What I was considering is setting up an OS9 server and running the programs off of that. Maybe the older software would communicate more efficiently with the emulator. Any thoughts?
symbolic X
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Post by symbolic X »

I have seen many versions of OS 9 as themselves, but never seen it as a server version. I got a good feeling that OS 9 would only work if it was on a disk image, not on a standalone computer. It's worth a try, but there's no telling what emulators can react to Mac OS these days...

There are some Mac programs where if they're not configured correctly; between themselves, the Mac control panel settings, the Mac OS version, and the emulator; then SS/BII is likely to crash. Keep this in mind if you do want to test out Mac applications within a Windows-emulator-based environment.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

symbolic X wrote:I have seen many versions of OS 9 as themselves, but never seen it as a server version.
:?:
There are no special server versions for MacOS. As long as I use Macs (System 6 and up) I have seen and used Macs running as servers, file servers, mail servers, web servers. In fact, I still access daily over the internet a server that runs MacOS 8.6.

MacOS in SheepShaver on MacOSX can access servers using slirp IP-networking, like accessing servers on the internet, but AppleTalk will only work within the primary network. Thus, for most practical purposes, AppleTalk will not work. I do not know if it is possible to use in MacOS in SheepShaver on MacOSX applications served from a Mac running MacOS.
symbolic X
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Post by symbolic X »

Okay, I kept thinking about this and now I want to try to make it simple (and let's hope it does). This will be based on the server running Windows and all workstations/terminals in a classroom running Windows.

On the server, place all the programs onto a "concrete" disk image, mark it read-only, and make sure no users have privileges of changing the access to the disk image and all of its files. Once this image is on a folder, make sure that sharing is enabled so that all workstations can see it in My Network Places.

On each workstation (test one of them first), go into My Computer and map the network drive leading to that disk image on the server. Install SheepShaver or Basilisk II into the workstation and make sure it's got everything it needs including the appropriate ROM of a Mac that can run with it.

Open the GUI and confirm all configurations of how Mac should run. Then make sure the emulators in each workstation aim directly at the disk image mapped on the network drive. Don't forget to include the ROM image on each individual workstation. I recommend putting the ROM on each workstation or at least hiding it. Otherwise, your college may throw temper-tantrums about this if it was on the server.

If for any reason that the disk image works on one workstation and does not work on everyone else's, although it was supposed to be sharable, then I don't know what to tell ya. I would bleed from my eyes if Windows couldn't open the disk image just because it was "reserved" by another user. I hope I made more sense here.
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