Reconfiguring S...

[garyj]

Hi ~ I haven't posted here for a couple of years, glad to see all seems to be still up & running well.
I have finally repaired my older MacBook Pro (mid-2010, running Mac OS 10.6.8), which involved removing the logic board, etc. Before I repaired the Mac, (it was a bad trackpad), Sheepshaver worked beautifully. Now it doesn't. The program tries to open, but gets nowhere.
Would you please tell me what I must do to get it functioning again? Do I need to erase everything SS-related and reinstall? I'm hoping you can give me a nice, simple answer like you have in the past, several times!

My sincere thanks,
~ Gary

[Cat_7]

Hi, welcome back!

Are you still using your old hard disk with the old SheepShaver installation? Did you move the SheepShaver folder?
You might take a look at your SheepShaver preferences by opening a terminal and typing "open .sheepshaver_prefs" (no quotes) Do you see anything pointing to a location that is not correct? You can also copy the content in your answer so we can take a look.

Or did you download a new one from our site? Our newer builds do not run on your OSX version.
See this page viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7360
For your host we have the Version 2.4, 9 July 2018, 32-bit only available.

Best,
Cat_7

[garyj]

Thank you, Cat_7 ~ Yes, I'm on the same HD as before the work I did. Sorry, but I am not much at all familiar with Terminal. Did I find the prefs that we are looking for?
Here's what I found, does this help? Thanks again...
____________________
disk MacOS9 3
disk MacOS9 4
disk MacOS9 2
disk MacOS9 1
disk MacOS9 5
disk MacOS9 6
cdrom /dev/poll/cdrom
extfs /Users/garyjackson/Desktop/SheepShaver New Shared Folder
screen win/0/0
windowmodes 0
screenmodes 0
seriala /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Modem
serialb /dev/null
rom Mac OS ROM
bootdrive 0
bootdriver 0
ramsize 1073741824
frameskip 0
gfxaccel true
nocdrom false
nonet false
nosound false
nogui false
noclipconversion false
ignoresegv true
ignoreillegal false
jit true
jit68k false
keyboardtype 5
ether slirp
keycodes false
keycodefile
mousewheelmode 1
mousewheellines 3
dsp /dev/dsp
mixer /dev/mixer
ignoresegv true
idlewait true

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

This is indeed the prefs file that contains SheepShaver settings.
With these settings, the used "disk" volume files, the "rom" file Mac OS ROM, and the SheepShaver application itself should be together inside the SheepShaver folder. (Did you use all six MacOS9 disk images mounted at the same time, or were you in the habit of switching between them?)

Is the SheepShaver application in the same folder with the other files? With at least the SheepShaver application and the Mac OS ROM file in the same folder, SheepShaver should not quit on launch.

Which SheepShaver build (note the build date!) do you use?
Running Mac OS X 10.6.8, your best choice would be the Version 2.4, 9 July 2018, 32-bit build as Cat_7 mentioned. You can download it here: http://ronaldpr.home.xs4all.nl/sheepsha ... 180709.zip

[garyj]

Thank you, Ronald ~
Yes, the disk volume files (MacOS9 1 through 6), Mac OS ROM, and the SS app are in the SS folder. No, I did not switch between them and actually do not remember why I had six of them...
Yes, I have SS v.2.4 (2018-07-09)

When I double-click on the app icon to open it, it starts to open for about 1/10th of a second, then stops.

Please advise. Thanks again!

[Cat_7]

Hi,

This would normally suggest SheepShaver cannot find the rom file (Mac OS ROM). Can you do a "get info" on the rom file to see whether it has a hidden extension added to its name?

Best,
Cat_7

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

Considering that SheepShaver did run before the work on the hardware of the host machine, that you did not replace the hard disk, that you did not make any changes to SheepShaver settings, and that you made no changes to the files in the SheepShaver folder (except maybe the SheepShaver application itself?) this is really a mystery.

Did you use a different SheepShaver version/build before?

[garyj]

Thanks so much, Cat_7, Ronald.
No, there is no extension attached to the MacOS ROM file and yes, this is the same version and build as previous.

What I had done earlier is: I have another older Mac, also with OS 10.6.8 on it, which has SS on it and working correctly. (I still have that.) I acquired another older MacBook Pro (MBP) and installed a large SSD in it. I then transferred all of my files from the first computer to this newer MBP. Sheepshaver worked really great on it, my ancient OS9 apps worked wonderfully fast, all was well. – Except the trackpad.

So, as I mentioned, I replaced the trackpad, that's when a couple of oddities happened: some of my apps thought that this was the first time they were operated on this machine. The clock was off. -Which I guess is normal...

I'm thinking perhaps some part of SS is lost like that...? Should I try a complete reinstallation of SS? (I'd rather not! ) Or maybe I should transfer all of the SS files one by one, from the first computer? Might that work?

Thanks again, sincerely!
~ Gary

[Cat_7]

Hi,

When apps behave like it is the first time they run that probably means they cannot find their prefs and have to create new ones. This indicates they were not fully copied.

For SheepShaver to run on another computer it needs a correct .sheepshaver_prefs file. This file is hidden in your home folder and would normally not be copied when you do a manual copy of files to a new computer. SheepShaver also creates a hidden .sheepshaver_nvram file. Both these files should get created upon first run.

Reinstallation is not that difficult. You can backup the hidden .sheepshaver_prefs file first: open a terminal and type
"mv .sheepshaver_prefs sheepshaver_prefs_old" (this renames the prefs to a visible file called sheepshaver_prefs_old)
"rm .sheepshaver_nvram" (this deletes the sheepshaver_nvram file which will be recreated upon first run).

Do not remove any files from your current SheepShaver folder.
Download the version we pointed to earlier. Copy the content from the archive into your SheepShaver folder and run SheepShaver.
As you have a rom file with the correct name in that folder, SheepShaver should start and you should be able to enter the preferences editor to add you disks and make other settings.

If not, nothing is lost. You can rename the sheepshaver_prefs_old file to .sheepshaver_prefs ("mv sheepshaver_prefs_old .sheepshaver_prefs") and everything returns to how it now is.

Best,
Cat_7

[garyj]

Thank you again, Cat_7 ~
Okay, that worked! All of my old apps collection has shown up, it seems... but most of them won't open now because of lack of RAM. I try to add RAM from the OS9 Control panel, but it says there is none available. – though my computer has 16Gb, with 12Gb free.

Can you please tell me how I can access some more memory?
Cheers !
~ Gary

[Cat_7]

Very good.

The amount of ram available to Mac OS 9 is also set in the preferences editor. So start SheepShaver and open the preferences editor. Find the tab where the memory can be set and set the amount of ram to e.g. 512 Mb. Shut down Mac OS 9 so SheepShaver stops (do not just restart Mac OS) and start SheepShaver again. The ram should now be available.

Best,
Cat_7

[garyj]

Thank you, Cat_7 ~
On my older machine, the one that is running SS with no problem, the RAM is set to 1024Mb. On the machine that we're working on, I set it to 1024 also. But when I tried to re-start up SS again (from a shutdown), it would not start up. So I had to start over with fresh preferences. The next time, I set the RAM to 512 and all is ok. Can you tell me what is the problem? Can I use more than 512Mb?

~ Gary

[Cat_7]

Hi,

I'm sorry but to that question I have no answer. But I guess 512 Mb should be sufficient for any application running in Mac OS 9.

Best,
Cat_7

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

You are running SheepShaver on OSX or macOS. Applications cannot run from the 'Unix' disk or from the desktop when the application was moved directly from 'Unix' to the desktop (which still leaves it on 'Unix', in a hidden folder "Desktop Folder").

The message that an application cannot run because no memory is available is typical for when you try to run an application from the Unix disk. Make sure applications are copied from 'Unix' to the virtual HD (or to another mounted disk image volume).

[garyj]

Hey, Ronald and Cat_7 ~ ~
I think I'm up and running well again with SheepShaver.

I wanted to say thanks again so much for your help.

Really, Thank you! You all are providing a truly wonderful service to the world! I am very grateful!

Will talk to you later, no doubt...
~ Gary
Olalla, Washington, USA

[garyj]

Hello again ~
Can you kindly tell me how I can increase the size of my OS9 "disk" in SheepShaver? Its current capacity is 119.9 Mb and it now has 116.5Mb in use.
I am wishing to install more ancient applications, but no room...

Thanks immensely!
~ Gary

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

I suppose you did not install MacOS9 yourself, as instructed in our setup manual, but instead used a pre-installed boot image like the one you can download from Redundant Robot. That image does not contain a full MacOS installation and, as you noticed, it does not have room for additional installations.

Study the setup manual, find a proper MacOS 9 (9.0.4) install disk image and do the installation on a newly created disk image of at least 500Mb, better 1000 or 2000Mb, as suggested in the manual.