A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

About BasiliskII, a 68k Mac emulator for Windows, MacOSX, and Linux that can run System 7.x through MacOS 8.1.

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emendelson
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A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

Now that kanjitalk755's BasiliskII code runs in 64-bit mode, I've put together a preliminary version of a complete System 7.6.1 setup like my earlier SheepShaver-based Mac OS 9 app. As with my Mac OS 9 app, you can print from the System761 app to your default macOS printer or any other macOS printer, and you can create a PDF file on the host desktop from a document running in the System761 app. If you drop a file on the System761 icon, the file will be copied to the System761 desktop.

Forum rules forbid direct links to prebuilt systems, so do this search in Google:
Mac OS 9 for OS X/macOS
and look for the note on System 7.6.1. If you've visited that page recently, you may need to refresh your browser.
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gingerbeardman
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by gingerbeardman »

I just wanted to say thanks for this!

I'm using it for FreeHand, SuperPaint and more.

There's still a lot of WordPerfect stuff on the included drive.
• BasiliskII on iPad Pro 12.9": Macintosh IIci 32MB + System 7.5.5 + Deneba artWORKS & UltraPaint
emendelson
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

gingerbeardman wrote:There's still a lot of WordPerfect stuff on the included drive.
Just delete what you don't want.
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gingerbeardman
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by gingerbeardman »

yes of course, just thought you might want to prune OT to be more generic given you do a separate WP appliance.
• BasiliskII on iPad Pro 12.9": Macintosh IIci 32MB + System 7.5.5 + Deneba artWORKS & UltraPaint
gabiclerc
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by gabiclerc »

Thank you for this System761 app. It works fine for me with MacOS Sierra and I could open many old Mac files and export in pdf. Very useful.

Just a question: is it possible to increase the size of the Mac68k HD ?? I would need more than the ca 338MB. Thanks for your answer.
emendelson
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

You can't increase the disk size, but you can create another disk in the system, copy the first disk to the second while running Basilisk II and then delete the first disk. But this won't be easy because of the way the system works. The file that you'll need to modify to get this done is the .sh file deep inside the BasiliskII app inside the System761.app.

I'll probably replace the existing system with one with a larger disk in the next few weeks, though, and I'll announce it here.

Question for the forum: what is the largest disk size usable with System 7.6.1? Because this system uses a sparsebundle, a larger disk won't cause a much larger download.
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24bit
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by 24bit »

Im usually going with 2GB disk images for BII and SS.
Not because thats a limit, but for ease of exchange on different host OS.
I had 30GB images mounted with the emulators too - HFS, not HFS+ but most users will never need more than 10GB presumably.
Here are some disk images collected, but you will prefer your own ones likely.
http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/disk-images-emulators
emendelson
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

I just now replaced the original image with a 1GB image. If I had read your message before I started, I would have made it 2GB, and I'll get around to replacing it with a 2GB image sooner or later. Meanwhile, the current upload has a 1GB disk image, and is only a slightly larger download than the previous one.

With the sparsebundle format, there's almost no downside to using a larger image, and the script I use to run BII compacts the sparsebundle after each run.
Last edited by emendelson on Thu Nov 29, 2018 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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adespoton
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by adespoton »

I've been using 1GB sparsebundles in my own wrappers, but like 24bit, I tend not to go above 2gb. 4gb *should* work, but may cause issues in edge cases -- 2gb should always be safe.
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by gabiclerc »

Thank you for this improvement. I did install the new version (18-11-29 @ 14:14) and could load now up to ca 900MB in the main HD without problem. Have a nice WE. GC
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by jtwms1 »

I'd downloaded the system761.zip from http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/macos9osx.html, and just wondering if there was a place to get a more updated build of that. Is this what you were referring to?
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

jtwms1 wrote:I'd downloaded the system761.zip from http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/macos9osx.html, and just wondering if there was a place to get a more updated build of that. Is this what you were referring to?
That one dates from 29 November 2018 - less than three weeks ago. I haven't touched it since.
dwengemar
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by dwengemar »

Could you make a version for Windows, please?

Reason I ask is that I'm unable to transfer files from Windows into the Mac OS guest on your Sheepshaver version after a clean installation (default settings). I get 2 errors at the start -- (1) "error creating transfer folder alias" and (2) "The Transfer folder does not exist. Shut down and restart the Macos 9 app if you want to use this feature" or something alone those lines.

Perhaps I might have better luck with a Basilisk 7.6.1 setup...

Thanks for this tool. It's a boon for newbies like me. :)
emendelson
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

dwengemar wrote:Could you make a version for Windows, please?

Reason I ask is that I'm unable to transfer files from Windows into the Mac OS guest on your Sheepshaver version after a clean installation (default settings). I get 2 errors at the start -- (1) "error creating transfer folder alias" and (2) "The Transfer folder does not exist. Shut down and restart the Macos 9 app if you want to use this feature" or something alone those lines.

Perhaps I might have better luck with a Basilisk 7.6.1 setup...
I'm not at all clear about what you are reporting. Are you saying that my Mac OS 9 for Windows system produces those errors (it shouldn't), or are you trying to do something with my System 761 setup (the one runs under macOS)?

When you say a "clean installation," do you mean that you installed one of my systems without changing it in any way, or that you installed a new copy of Mac OS 9 or System 7.6.1 into something I created? Or something else entirely?

If you could spell out exactly what you're reporting (including the exact name of whatever file of mine that you downloaded, and your exact Windows version) that would be very helpful.
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by dwengemar »

emendelson wrote:Are you saying that my Mac OS 9 for Windows system produces those errors (it shouldn't)
Correct.
And when you say a "clean installation" do you mean that you installed one of my systems without changing it in any way
Yes. What I meant by default settings was that I didn't mess around with the program's settings.

Nevertheless, version of Mac OS 7.6.1 for Windows system setup would still be very helpful. Sorry for being vague.

[edit] Seems your post was edited after I posted: To clarify: I'm using MacOS9AppInstaller.exe on Windows 7 64-bit
Last edited by dwengemar on Sun Dec 23, 2018 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
emendelson
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

dwengemar wrote: Yes. What I meant by default settings was that I didn't mess around with the program's settings.
But which program? Which installer? I think you mean my Mac OS 9 for Windows, but I can't be certain.

And which version of Windows? 64-bit Windows 10 or something else?
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by dwengemar »

I updated my post:
To clarify: I'm using MacOS9AppInstaller.exe on Windows 7 64-bit
emendelson
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

I see what the problem is - it seems I never tested it on a clean 64-bit Windows 7 system. Until I get around to fixing the installer script, do this.

Start the Mac OS 9 app, and let the error messages appear. Then follow these steps extremely carefully:

1. Look at the Mac OS 9 desktop. Notice the exact name of the icon that looks like a PC. It is probably "Computer" but it may be something else.

2. Open the System Folder in Mac OS 9.

3. Open the WinPath.txt file. It has one line, probably starting ":C:" etc...

4. At the very beginning of that line type in the name you noted in step 1, without quotation marks, so that the line looks something like this:

Computer:C:Users:YOURNAME:MacOS9:Transfer

Obviously it will have your user name instead of "YOURNAME".

5. With the file still open, press Alt-A to Select All and then Alt-C to Copy to the clipboard. (Or use the mouse to select the entire line and the Edit/Copy menu to copy to the clipboard.)

6. Close the file (it doesn't matter if you save it or not).

7. Still in the System Folder, double-click "MacOS9Startup alias".

If you followed every step correctly, then the Transfer folder alias will be created correctly. If it doesn't work the first time, read the steps again and try again.

I'll fix this in the installer sometime soon, but this should work in the meantime. Thank you for reporting the problem.
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by dwengemar »

I followed your steps exactly as you wrote. Still received the same error(s): [edit] (1) "error creating transfer folder alias" and (2) "The Transfer folder does not exist. Shut down and restart the Macos 9 app if you want to use this feature"

The contents of my WinPath.txt originally were:
:C:Users:MY_USER_NAME:MacOS9:Transfer
In other words, it did not have the "Computer" at the beginning of the line, even though the Computer icon exists on my Mac OS 9 desktop.


So, I modified the contents of WinPath.txt to:
Computer:C:Users:MY_USER_NAME:MacOS9:Transfer
Saved. Then did Alt-A + Alt-C; closed the text file. Then ran "MacOS9Startup alias" again.

This time, the program did execute successfully. No errors. However, when I tried transferring a small 1 MB file from Windows into the Mac OS guest (by dropping over MacOS9.exe), there is no response[edit - see below]. I do note a new file called "macFileList.txt" generated in the Transfer folder.

The path of the file that I'm trying to transfer appears to be correct. It's actually in the same directory as the program's root folder (i.e MacOS9). So the contents of this file is:
:C:Users:MY_USER_NAME:MacOS9:Transfer:NAME_OF_MY_FILE
Again, without the "Computer" at the beginning.

[edit]forgot to add: when I tried transferring the file over, I get this message:
I was unable to find the file. Please move to a different Windows folder and try again.
I did try again from other folders; still the same message.
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

The reason you got the errors when you transferred the folders is that I hadn't fixed the main MacOS9.exe program. Two programs needed to be fixed: MacOS9.exe and (in the Programs folder) MacOS9Launcher.exe.

I've now fixed both programs, and you can download the installer from the same address. Run the installer, and when prompted to overwrite the existing hard disk image, click No.

Thanks again for finding this.
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by dwengemar »

Unfortunately, this time I get a different error involving the startup script.

Two "halt sign" dialog boxes pops up one after another when I start the program and get to the Mac OS desktop:
(1) Can't get <<class orig>> of file "Transfer" of <<class sdsk>> of application "Finder".
(2) File MacOS9:System Folder:Startup Items: wasn't found.
The dialog box (2) pops up even when I try to shut down the OS.

The file paths in WinPath.txt and the generated macFileList.txt are both accurate.

[edit] All this is done on a new installation. (i.e. completely uninstalled the previous installation, deleted leftover files/folders as well as registry entries, re-downloaded and installed your MacOS9App installer, and ran the program with all out-of-the-box default settings)
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

Well, this is very strange. I don't see that error on my 32-bit Windows 7 system, or on my 32-bit Windows 10 system, or on my 64-bit Windows 10 system. But I do see exactly those errors when I run the exact same setup on a 64-bit Windows 7 system running under VMware, with only 2 GB RAM.

It seems that something's wrong in SheepShaver when running under that kind of setup - maybe it's 64-bit Windows 7, or maybe it's something wrong with the amount of memory it's getting, but I do see that error.

There's nothing I can do about it, I'm afraid. The error certainly does not occur in the three other systems I've tried.
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by dwengemar »

emendelson wrote: There's nothing I can do about it, I'm afraid. The error certainly does not occur in the three other systems I've tried.
That's odd. I do remember installing a previous version of your program several months back on this same Win 7 64-bit system (4 GB RAM). And I was able to transfer files from Windows into MacOS just fine. Weird.

Oh well, thanks for trying.


[edit]Since Sheepshaver is out, I humbly request that you consider a Windows version of Basilisk + System 7.6.1 (perhaps someday even a vMac + System 6 setup). The ability to quickly transfer files back and forth between Windows and MacOS (as long as one is mindful of resource/data forks) to test and review ancient software is extremely fruitful.
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by emendelson »

1. The previous versions of my system date back to June 2018, August 2017, July 2017, and a few earlier ones. If you can guess exactly which one you used, I can download it from Dropbox and send a link. This certainly is odd.

2. I don't think a similar BasiliskII-based system is possible, because the file-transfer AppleScript in my OS 9 uses features that weren't in older versions of the OS. At least this is how I remember it from back when I tried it. If you want to experiment, please feel free to do so. You can still run your own copy of Basilisk II and transfer files via the "Computer" folder, of course.
dwengemar
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Re: A standalone System 7.6.1 setup using BasiliskII

Post by dwengemar »

emendelson wrote:1. The previous versions of my system date back to June 2018, August 2017, July 2017, and a few earlier ones. If you can guess exactly which one you used, I can download it from Dropbox and send a link. This certainly is odd.
I think it might have been the June 2018 version.
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