Jumpy cursor in MacOS 12.4 Monterey

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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Chuck
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Jumpy cursor in MacOS 12.4 Monterey

Post by Chuck »

Hello friends,

Thanks to Mr Regensburg for this site and all the people who have created and contributed to SheepShaver.

I've have had no trouble using SheepShaver on Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard. Apple is now using 12.4 (Monterey), but when I use SheepShaver with this newer OS which I've installed on a different computer, the mouse is so hard to control that I have to use my other Mac with 10.6 installed.

I can provide any further info necessary for anyone who can help.

Many thanks
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Jumpy cursor in MacOS 12.4 Monterey

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

1. Which is your setting in preferences for Refresh Rate? It should be "Dynamic".

2. Maybe you used an older version of SheepShaver before. Older versions use the hardware cursor by default in window mode, newer versions use the software cursor in both window mode and full-screen mode by default. The hardware cursor moves a little smoother. You can set the hardware cursor by editing the prefs file. See "Advanced features" in the setup manual.
Chuck
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Re: Jumpy cursor in MacOS 12.4 Monterey

Post by Chuck »

Yes indeed I used v 2.4 with with no cursor problem in Mac OS 10.6 but SS v. 2.4 it won't run on Mac OS 12.4. I never use full screen mode but switched to it to see if the cursor worked better. It does seem to work a little better but still not nearly as well as in OS 10.6. I will try enabling hardware cursor in window mode (which I usually use) just in case it works. The guide tells me to add the line:

hardcursor true

to the preferences file. However I'm afraid I don't know how to do that. Is this done in the Virtual Machine Settings Setup in Mac OS 10.12.4 Preferences? It seems not. Also, I don't know what the preferences 'file' is.

Thanks in advance for any help.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Jumpy cursor in MacOS 12.4 Monterey

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

The relevant information is in the setup manual but not in one place. And the manual assumes that the user knows how to access hidden files.

The prefs file is the file ".sheepshaver_prefs" in your Home folder. As the file name starts with a dot, the file is normally hidden in the Finder.

- Do this with SheepShaver not running
- Open your Home folder
- Press command-shift-. (command-shift-dot). Hidden files will now become visible.
- Find the file .sheepshaver_prefs and open it. (It will open in your default text editor.)
- See if there is in the list already an item hardcursor false. If it is there, change false to true
- If the item is not yet there, add at the bottom of the list the line

Code: Select all

hardcursor true
- Close and save the change
- Again pressing command-shift-. will again hide the normally hidden files.
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adespoton
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Re: Jumpy cursor in MacOS 12.4 Monterey

Post by adespoton »

It's also worth noting that with SheepShaver, we generally refer to it by build date, not the version number -- as in the past decade the version number has moved from 2.3 to 2.4, but we've had many many build revisions; some builds won't run properly on older OS X versions, and some build won't run properly on newer macOS versions -- and there's been a continual addition of features over time.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Jumpy cursor in MacOS 12.4 Monterey

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

The OP does indeed not mention the SheepShaver build he uses in macOS 12.4 (Monterey). In my replies I assumed he uses my latest 24 January 2022 universal build.
Chuck
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Re: Jumpy cursor in MacOS 12.4 Monterey

Post by Chuck »

I proceeded as instructed and, lo and behold, the fix worked. Many, many thanks, gentlemen.

Also, in the Info panel for the SheepShaver application, I note that the Created/Modified date are both January 24, 2022. I suppose this may be the date of the build?
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Jumpy cursor in MacOS 12.4 Monterey

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Chuck wrote: Thu Jul 07, 2022 10:45 pm I note that the Created/Modified date are both January 24, 2022. I suppose this may be the date of the build?
It is. The build date is also mentioned with the download link in the the download post and in the name of the downloaded zip archive.

To address the repeated confusion around version number and build date, I will append the build date to the version number in my future builds.
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