Setting up SheepShaver for Mac OS X

(Last updated March 20, 2010)

(You can also set up SheepShaver for Windows)

This manual is revised for use with the 25-10-2009 build of SheepShaver.
The build is Universal Binary and will run in Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard.

We start with the description of a classic setup with all files together in a folder “SheepShaver”. That folder can be anywhere you like, for instance in your Applications folder or in your Home folder. In this setup, with the needed files in the same folder with SheepShaver, no full paths are required for configuration, just file names will work. However, files and folders can be renamed and/or moved to different locations, provided you make sure the file names and/or full paths to the files are entered in SheepShaver preferences.

Note: Changed settings in preferences will take effect after SheepShaver is quit and launched again. With only a restart in the emulated machine new settings will not be used.

Note: With most compatible (new world) ROM files SheepShaver for Mac OS X can run Mac OS 8.5 through 9.0.4. It can run Mac OS 7.5.3 through 9.0.4 with an old world ROM file. SheepShaver cannot run 9.1 or later.

Note: Only generic retail Mac OS install CDs can be used with SheepShaver. A system install CD that was originally provided with a new Mac will only install on that specific model.

(A disk image of a retail Mac OS install CD can be used instead of the real CD. The disk image must be in a non-compressed format and the image file must be locked in the Finder to convince the installer that it is on the original read-only CD. One can also burn a CD from the image that can be used just like the original CD. If the disk image is in a format that SheepShaver cannot read, it may still be possible to burn a CD from the image that will work.)

Please post questions and comments on E-Maculation SheepShaver forum: http://www.emaculation.com/forum/.

Recent builds of SheepShaver for Mac OS X have a built-in preferences editor. When SheepShaver is used in window mode, no separate SheepShaverGUI or SheepShaverPrefs application is needed anymore. When SheepShaver is used in full-screen mode, the stand-alone SheepShaverPrefs application is still needed because in full-screen mode the built-in preferences editor cannot be opened.

SheepShaver will not run without a compatible ROM file. If SheepShaver does not find a compatible ROM file, it will immediately quit on launch.

When you have acquired a compatible ROM file, rename it “Mac OS ROM” (without the quotation marks) if that is not yet its name. (SheepShaver will recognise a ROM file with that name in the same folder when no prefs file is yet configured.)

It may be difficult to get hold of a compatible ROM file as distributing bare ROM files violates Apple license agreements.

The ROM file from a 9.0.4 system CD will not work with any version of SheepShaver. ROM files from a 8.5 or 8.6 system CD may work with SheepShaver for Windows, but do not work with SheepShaver for Mac OS X (with a few specific exceptions that are beyond the scope of this manual).

ROM files that will work with SheepShaver for Mac OS X are either an “old world” rom extracted from an actual hardware PowerMacintosh or the “new world” rom file extracted from the “Mac OS ROM Update 1.0” with TomeViewer. The “Mac OS ROM Update 1.0” can be downloaded from Apple, but you need to have a working Mac OS system (or Classic in Mac OS X) to run TomeViewer.

About Mac OS ROM Update:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60408

Extracting the ROM file from the Mac OS ROM Update:
http://www.open.ou.nl/hsp/Engels/SheepShaver_Help/rom_file_how_to.html

TomeViewer:
http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/15295

Emaculation.com site policy is to not offer or link to ROM files, although Apple seems to have stopped taking action against distribution of ROM files. You can find compatible files when you search the web for “redundant robot sheepshaver” (without the quotes).

With the old world rom file SheepShaver can run System 7.5.3 through Mac OS 9.0.4, with the new world rom file SheepShaver can run Mac OS 8.5 through 9.0.4. If you want to install 9.0.4, best use the new world rom.

The keycodes file is not needed (but does no harm either) if only a US English QWERTY keyboard layout will be used. If you did not get a keycodes file with your SheepShaver application, you can download one here:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ronaldpr/sheepshaverforum/keycodes.zip

From within SheepShaver you will have access to a folder on the Mac OS X side. That folder will appear on the SheepShaver desktop as a disk named “Unix”. Files copied or saved in SheepShaver to the “Unix” disk, will appear in the shared folder on the Mac OS X side and files placed in the shared folder on the Mac OS X side will appear in the “Unix” disk in SheepShaver.

Before you start configuring SheepShaver, create a folder that can serve as shared folder. The folder can be anywhere it is convenient for you and it can have any name you like. Below I describe configuring SheepShaver for a shared folder that I created on my Mac OS X desktop and that I named “Shared”.

Note: Although the most serious bugs that plagued the shared folder feature in early versions of SheepShaver have been solved, we still advise to not use folders like your Documents folder or your Home folder as shared folder and not keep the only existing copy of a file in the shared folder.

When the needed files are in the SheepShaver folder and when you have created a shared folder, you can start configuring SheepShaver.

If SheepShaver does not find a compatible ROM file, it will immediately quit on launch.

If a compatible ROM file with the name “Mac OS ROM” or “ROM” is present in the same folder, SheepShaver will launch and show in its window the grey floppy icon with blinking ”?”, indicating that the emulated Mac has not found a startup volume.

Note: At this stage you can only quit SheepShaver pressing Control-Escape.

The settings will be saved in a invisible file .sheepshaver_prefs in your Home folder. The following description assumes that SheepShaver is set up for the first time and that there is no pre-existing ~/.sheepshaver_prefs file.

ROM File
First add the ROM file name using the “Browse…” button to find and “Open” the ROM file.

Volumes
You can now proceed with creating the disk image file that will be the virtual hard disk on the emulated Mac. Click the “Create…” button.

Choose an appropriate name for the image file, for instance MacOS9. (An extension .dsk will be suggested, but no extension is needed.) Choose a size for the volume (for instance 500MB or 1000MB) and save the file in the SheepShaver folder. (Creating a large disk image may take a while after the “Save” button is clicked, wait till the dialog closes and the created volume appears in the Volumes list.)

(If a CD disk image file is used instead of a real install CD: Use the “Add…” button to find and “Open” the CD disk image file. The file will appear in the Volumes list below the created volume. See also the information about using a disk image file in the Introduction chapter above.)

Unix Root
Add the path to your shared folder using the second “Browse…” button to find and “Open” the folder you created to be the shared folder. (In this example I used a folder named “Shared” on my desktop.)

Do not keep the default value ”/”, that setting would make your entire hard disk the shared folder !

RAM Size (MB)
Enter a value for the amount of RAM that the virtual Mac will have. For instance 128 or 256 or 512.

Leave Boot From set to “Any”.

Leave Disable CD-ROM unchecked.

Video Type
Set Video Type to “Window”. (Do not use “Fullscreen” at initial set up. We will discuss using full-screen mode later.)

Refresh Rate
On fast Intel machines the preferred setting is “Dynamic”. (On slower machines a lower setting like 30Hz may improve performance and will lower the extreme CPU hunger of SheepShaver on PPC machines.)

Width and Height
Set Width and Height for the window to lower values than the width and height of your screen. If you have a large screen, you can enter higher values than those in the menu, for instance 1280 x 800.

Check Enable QuickDraw Acceleration.

The Audio Settings can be ignored.

CPU Options
Check only “Enable JIT Compiler” and “Allow Emulated CPU to Idle”.

Mouse/Keyboard
Check “Use Raw Keycodes” and browse for the keycodes file in the SheepShaver folder if your keyboard lay-out is not US-English.

“Mouse Wheel Function” and “Lines to Scroll” is a matter of taste. The image shows my preference.

Serial/Network
Ignore “Modem Port Device” and “Printer Port Device”.

For “Ethernet Interface” enter “slirp” (without the quotation marks).

Click “Save” to save the settings and to close the Preferences window.

The emulated machine cannot be shutdown normally while waiting for a boot disk and SheepShaver cannot be quit with the emulated machine still running. So at this point we use Control-Escape to quit SheepShaver, which is equivalent to a hard shut down of the emulated machine.

If you use a real install CD, first insert the CD and have it mount in Mac OS X.

(If you use a CD disk image instead of a real install CD, make sure the CD image file is locked in the Finder: Check the “Locked” box in Finder “Get Info” for the file.)

Launch SheepShaver. The emulated machine will startup from the install CD (or from the CD disk image).

During startup, the system will encounter the newly created volume and will offer to initialize it. Give the volume an appropriate name (for instance MacOS9HD) and (for Mac OS 8.1 or later) choose Mac OS Extended for the format. Click to proceed with initializing the volume.

Finally, you will see the desktop with icons for the startup volume (the CD or the CD disk image), the icon for the new volume that you will install the system onto, and the icon for the “Unix” volume that gives access to the shared folder on the Mac OS X side.

Proceed with the system installation and when the installation is completed, you can quit the installer.

(If you used a CD disk image file instead of a real install CD: Open SheepShaver Preferences and remove the CD disk image file from the volumes list, select it and click the Remove button.)

Shut down the emulated machine and quit SheepShaver.

If you used a real install CD, you can now remove it in Mac OS X.

The Configuration Assistant
When you launch SheepShaver, the emulated machine will boot from the installed system. The Configuration Assistant will guide you through the configuration of the new system. However, in SheepShaver the Configuration Assistant will usually lock-up while configuring network settings. Better quit the Assistant when it arrives at the network settings and do the remaining configuration manually in the various control panels.

The Startup Disk control panel is not functional in SheepShaver
SheepShaver will startup from the first bootable volume in the Volumes list, or from a bootable CD if no bootable volume is in the list, or always from a bootable CD when “Boot From” is set to CD-ROM in Preferences. Trying to use the Startup Disk control panel will cause SheepShaver to crash.

Enable sound in SheepShaver
In “Sound” control panel, select “built-in” for the output device. In Mac OS 9 the Sound control panel is installed with the other control panels and can be accessed in the Apple menu. In Mac OS 8.5/8.6 the Sound control panel is installed in the “Apple Extras” folder. You can use it there to select the built-in output device. If the “Apple Audio Extension” happens to be installed in the Extensions folder, remove it.

Enable network access
Set the TCP/IP control panel to Ethernet and DHCP. As soon as you start using IP network access, for instance with a web-browser, the IP adresses will become visible in the control panel.

QuickTime
The latest version of QuickTime that is compatible with SheepShaver is version 4.1.2. Note that it is not possible to downgrade QuickTime by simply installing an earlier version. If you happened to have installed a later version, you will need to remove all QuickTime related files first.

The shared folder / “Unix” disk
As explained above, the shared folder that you created in Mac OS X will appear on the SheepShaver desktop as a disk (a volume) named “Unix”. Files copied or saved in SheepShaver to the “Unix” disk, will appear in the shared folder on the Mac OS X side and files placed in the shared folder on the Mac OS X side will appear in the “Unix” disk in SheepShaver. That way you can use the shared folder and the “Unix” disk to transfer or exchange files in both directions.

Exchanging files via the shared folder used to be crippled by many bugs. The most serious bugs have been solved but you may still encounter occasional unexpected behaviour while copying folders to and from the “Unix” disk.

If you use the shared folder and “Unix” disk to transfer applications for use in SheepShaver, always copy the applications and related files within SheepShaver from the “Unix” disk to the startup system volume (or to another mounted disk image volume) before actually using them. Applications cannot run properly from the “Unix” disk.

Note that moving files directly from the “Unix” disk onto the SheepShaver desktop, does not copy them to the startup system volume. Those files will still be on the “Unix” disk, in fact inside the “Desktop” folder in the shared folder.

Trashing files from the shared folder should be done at the Mac OS X side. On the Mac OS side, the trash cannot be emptied when it contains files from the “Unix” disk.

CD-ROM
To use a CD-ROM in SheepShaver, insert and mount the CD before launching SheepShaver. SheepShaver will recognize CD-ROMs, no Audio CDs, no DVDs.

Additional volumes
In Preferences you can create additional volumes (disk image files) or add existing compatible disk image files as additional volumes. All volumes in the volumes list will appear on the SheepShaver desktop. SheepShaver will startup from the first bootable volume in the list.

See this guide: Appletalk for SheepShaver/Basilisk in Leopard or Snow Leopard (32-bit)

On some host machines and/or with some configurations in the installed Mac OS system, SheepShaver will crash at the beginning of Mac OS startup. In Console log you will then typically find, among the lines that refer to SheepShaver, a line that ends with “SIGSEGV”. (View the log with Console application in /Applications/Utilities/)

The exact cause of the crash is not known yet, but in most cases it can be prevented by checking “Ignore Illegal Memory Accesses” in Miscellaneous tab in SheepShaver preferences. When it is impossible to start SheepShaver because of the crash, you can change preferences settings with the stand-alone preferences editor:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ronaldpr/sheepshaverforum/SheepShaverPrefs.zip