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Unofficial Emulator Builds
Please keep in mind that this builds are all unofficial and sometimes untested. For best results, download the latest official release of the emulator of your choice, and then overwrite with the files provided in these archives. Please don't contact the developers with bug reports of support for these emulators - post your questions in our message board instead.
Note that this page is almost always out-of-date. Do check the forum for the most recent unofficial releases.
(updated December 10, 2009)
SheepShaver
SheepShaver is a PPC emulator. Within SheepShaver's emulated Macintosh, it is possible to boot Mac OS 9.0.4 and earlier.
SheepShaver for Windows
Changes: - The SheepShaver GUI and other files (HFV-Explorer, SDL.dll, drivers, documentation, etc) are included.
Changes: - Fixed Copy-Paste bug where an extra character would be added to the clipboard content when copying from/to Windows.
Changes: - Cursor placement. - Mouse lock-up after frequent movement in and out the SheepShaver window - Multi-mouse button support through e.g., TheMouse2B - CD-rom support improved - Fix file corruption experienced when doing random-access file I/O to the external filesystem - Cope with assembler updates in emulated CPU - Support for 64 bit Intel/ia64 - FPU instructions added - SSE and MMX optimizations - SSSE3 optimizations (Intel Core 2 CPUs and newer) - Update to slirp sources from QEMU 0.9.0
SheepShaver UB Build for MacOS X
The original 18-10-2009 build caused a freeze or crash at startup on some machines. This seems to have been solved for most with this 25-10-2009 build.
New SheepShaver UB build for MacOSX 10.4 and 10.5, should also work in 10.6. Compiled from CVS 18-10-2009. Many fixes and improvements, among which the fix for the "Cannot map RAM" error on Leopard, see included ReadMeFirst.
Note that the Setup Guide has not yet been updated for this new build. I will update the manual as soon as I have time to do that. When the updated manual is available, I will announce it in this topic.
The most important changes for a standard setup: - There is now only one version of the application, not a "S" and a "H" version as described in the manual. - A rom file with default name "Mac OS ROM" or "ROM" will now always be recognized if no rom file name is entered, not only at first boot as described. - No shared folder is included. If you want to use a shared folder, you can create one yourself in a convenient location and enter the path to that folder in the field "Unix Root" in preferences.
This new build supports self contained SheepShaver virtual machine bundles with extension .sheepvm. The manual does not yet contain information about how to setup and use the virtual machines.
A "SDL audio patch" was applied on 19 February 2009 for BasiliskII and SheepShaver, intended to improve sound on slow host machines. However, it appeared that (at least on faster machines) the patch caused very poor sound in BasiliskII. The patch was applied to the file audio_sdl.cpp that 'CharlesS' mentions above.
Building BasiliskII with the pre-19 Februari version of the file, greatly improved sound performance in BasiliskII compared with other recent builds.
The same may be true for SheepShaver. Here is a new SheepShaver UB version, build from the current source, but without the 19 February audio patch.
I've uploaded a new SheepShaver Universal Binary, built from the most recent CVS. It contains:
The RAM-anywhere changes.
The logic for handling sheepvm bundles.
The recently committed changes for precise timing under OS X.
Note: The build issue is now fixed in CVS.
The fix discussed in this thread to initialize the NVRAM to use the PPC memory manager, intended to fix issues with creating new OS 7.5 machines.
A new fix: If the ROM file is being found because it has the magic name "ROM" or "Mac OS ROM", then it will continue to be found even after the Preferences editor is used.
This is intended to fix the issue where a user creates a new machine, with the ROM file in the SheepShaver application folder, then uses the Preferences editor to create the hard disk, but does not change the ROM path.
I have a fix for the "Cannot map RAM" bug that some machines (including mine) get running SheepShaver on Leopard.
This build also lifts the restriction on RAM size, so now OS X hosts can set the SheepShaver machine to have up to 1 GB of RAM.
Supports full-screen mode.
Changes from July 12: - Mouse buttons now correctly numbered. - If no ROM can be opened SheepShaver will quietly quit instead of hang. - Refresh Rate "Dynamic" now sets correctly frameskip to "0" and is now the preferred setting for the software cursor version of SheepShaver.
Basilisk II
Basilisk II is a 68K emulator. Users can emulate a Macintosh capable of booting any version of System 7, as well as Mac OS 8.1.
Basilisk II JIT for Windows
Changes: - Included are all files from the original release in 2006, plus HFV Explorer.
Basilisk II JIT UB Build for MacOS X
New version build from source 4 October 2009, but without the "SDL audio patch" change that was applied 19 February 2009. The "SDL audio patch" caused poor sound performance, apparent in all BasiliskII for MacOSX builds in the past months.
There should be further improvements with the external file system.
Mini vMac
Mini vMac emulates a Mac Plus. It is the only emulator that can boot System 6. The builds linked below, however, implement an experimental emulation of a 68020 Mac Plus. Use it if you have a ROM image from a Mac Plus. Note: These are merely development snapshots. The author of Mini vMac is not really looking for bug reports.
Mini vMac UB build for MacOS X
This adds color to the Mac II emulation. It requires a rom image from a Mac II.
Mini vMac for Windows
Built to emulate a Mac II. Uses only a ROM image from a Mac IIx or a Mac IIcx, which should be called "MacIIx.ROM." Now emulates in color!
Changes: -fixes the cursor display issue in the Mac II emulation -The Mac II emulation now implements the automatic power off at shutdown
Changes: -The video now works, but there is still an issue with cursor display.