Basilisk-II under Windows, for dummies

[michiel]

I used to be a Mac user until about 2000, when for institutional reasons I migrated to Windows PC. I am very inapt at deep software and hardware manipulations, and presumably too old to learn now.

By 1996 I had written a series of programs on Mac Performa, using Quickbasic and its compiler so that they could run on their own on my Mac Performa. These programs have done excellent service to me, I still use them a few times a year, converting their TXT output to a Windows format, and then word-processing it further with MSWord. These, to me, indispensible programs are only reason why I have kept my 20-years old Performa, and still use it.

Now exporting from Performa to Windows, and reading (from the 3.5”floppies that are my Performa’s only remaining working output) is, inevitably, becoming more and more of a problem, and I find the need to run these programs directly on my Windows PC. For that purpose I need to emulate the Mac Performa environment in Windows. If I understand correctly, this could be done with Basilisk-II.

Today I tried to install Basilisk-II. However, I cannot get past the first step, After unzipping the Basilisk-II download file, I am warned that

cdenable.sys

is unavailable so that I cannot proceed any further. From the Forum entries I understand that that error message is faulty and should be ignored, and that I need to put cdenable.sys into some specified drivers folders anyway -- but then I need to obtain cdenable.sys in the first place -- and according to Google, the Basilisk-II download package is the only available source for cdenable.sys. Catch-22. How can I break out of this vicious circle?

Thanks for any suggestions, and please remember that you will be addressing an ignoramus I.e. dummy.

[adespoton]

cdenable.sys is required to use your optical drive natively in 32-bit Windows OSes. In 64-bit Windows OSes, there is currently no method to use your drive natively.

cdenable.sys is available with a number of packages, not only Basilisk II. However, it is not required; you can just create a disk image of your CD, and then set that image (locked) in the prefs file. This is faster and more reliable than using native CD support.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

You probably only downloaded the most recent 06-05-2013 BasiliskII build, which only contains the BasiliskII.exe file.

A little lower on the BasiliskII for Windows downloads page, you will find the remark "Always start with this download" with a link to an older BasiliskII build. That download contains many of the needed additional files, like HFV-Explorer, SDL.dll, drivers, documentation, etc.

[michiel]

Thank you, Ronald, that is very helpful. I will try again. Since the Mac emulation in a Windows environment appears to be a solved problem, and one whose solution still has topicality today also for others than myself (contrary to what I expected), I am determined to succeed in this excercise, even though it is well over my head as a dummy. Best wishes
Wim

[michiel]

Dear adespoton

Thank you. Your post, although reassuring ('I do not need the missing item') , is also alarming to me. You write:

'you can just create a disk image of your CD, and then set that image (locked) in the prefs file.'

and that just reminds me that even the seven operative words in that quote are simply over the top of my head, as a simple user. I take it that this specialised forum is obviously not the place to explain such basics (no sarcasm intended at all, I know I am a dummy in this context), and I will therefore ask someone to explain their meaning to me face to face.

Thanks anyway, I gradually get the feel of what is required to emulate Mac in a Windows environment, and I will yet get there!
Wim

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

No need to be embarrassed. You are certainly not the only one here who needed an explanation about how to create disk images and about how to use them. However, we do not know yet if you will need to use CD images.

When you need further guidance setting up BasiliskII, make sure to add info about the Windows version you use.

[adespoton]

Indeed; no need to be alarmed if any of what we write flies over your head -- we've just been at this for a long time and at least I sometimes mis-gauge people's level of experience with the material. This forum supports everyone from the experienced programmer attempting to tweak some esoteric function in an emulated Mac down to someone who was referred to here because they heard they can run old Mac software on their current computer, but don't know where to begin.

We've got over a decade of archived guides and discussions on here at all levels, and active forum members like Ronald are extremely good at explaining things that may confuse the beginning emulation enthusiast.

Well done deciding to press on with Mac emulation. Enjoy!

[michiel]

Dear Adespoton

Thank you for your encouragement. IT WORKED! After a few days of intensive study, going through the excellent and nearly fool-proof guidelines which your Forum is so generously providing, and carefully identifiying, collecting and checking all the bits and pieces of software, I just managed to actually emulate a decent Mac computer on my PC -- like I was using up to 15 years ago (and like I am still having in working order on my physical desktop, next to my several PCs). This is great.

However, to my considerable disappointment it does NOT YET solve my problem. The main problem of the old Mac I am having is that it does do all the computing I need from it, but (in the absence of an Internet connection, and of a built-in CD-ROM writer) it can only write the results onto a 3.5" floppy which then turns out to be unreadable by any of the Windows PCs I have. (This problem did not exist half a year ago, when my Windows PCs could still read Mac floppies with TXT data, using my newly bought 3.5"floppy drive. I suspect that drive has meanwhile gone corrupt.) I hoped to solve this problem by emulating a working Mac on my PC. Having just successfully completed the emulation, I find my emulated virtual Mac does not recognise any of the imput devices (CD, Internet, 3,5"drive) that I have on the PC on which it is being emulated.

So again I end up with a black box that is nicely functioning in itself, but cannot receive files nor give files to the outside world. I intended to read my real-Mac-produced floppies on it -- but that does not work. I hoped to mount onto the emulated virtual Mac my cherished self-written programmes and run tham there -- but although I am pretty sure they will run there I have no way of mounting them there.

Having come this far I will not give up. I cannot remember how internet and external floppy drives where handled on my old real Mac, so this is what my problem now boils down to: having a working emulated Mac on a Windows PC, how to utilise the I/O devices on that PC so as to let also the Mac use them?

Given the excellent, dummy-proof quality of the emulation guides I have used from your Forum so far, I am confident that a viable solution to this relatively minor problem exists. Please help me out.

Kindest regards, and thanks

Wim

[adespoton]

You're in luck -- all you are missing is a configuration setting for the emulator that lets you share a folder between the host and the emulated Mac. It's in the documentation

[michiel]

Dear adespoton

Thanks for your encouraging response. I closely followed one Forum manual to the letter, with partial but astounding success, and there I/O matters were not discussed. I will carefully look in the other documentation for further clues. Failing which I will come back to the Forum.

Best wishes,

Wim

[Cat_7]

Hi Wim,

In the windows version of Basilisk/Sheepshaver, you can access a whole drive through the Enable "my computer" icon in the preferences GUI (on the Volumes tab). Just tick the box and enter the drive letters you want to access in the box behind "Mount drives". Default is to access all drives, but that is a bit of overkill .
While in itself very helpful, it provides access to the windows formatted hard disks, which cannot hold all mac-related information contained in files originating from real Macs (unless they are compressed and get uncompressed inside Mac OS in Basilisk).

If you floppy drive still operates, I would suggest to use the HFV explorer program to access mac formatted floppies and transfer files from them to the disk image on which you have Mac OS installed. Alternatively, you can create disk images of your disks on your Mac. These can be added to the volumes list in Basilisk and appear on the desktop with all files intact.

Btw: Internet access should work in Basilisk after setting Basilisk Slirp in the Network tab in the preferences editor. But there is no truly reliable browser. Icab might be used.

If you are still in control, and not overwhelmed by the myriad of options, you can try an older version of Basilisk (version 142), which can actually access Mac formatted floppies (1.44 Mb only). If you do, please install it in a separate folder, so the preferences don't get mixed up.

Groet,
Cat_7

[michiel]

misery:

trying to emulate a Mac on my Windows PC, and having spent a week figuring out the various permutations and unclarities, on 12 January I had it all figured out, and my emulated Mac appeared nicely on my Windows desktop. I saved the Mac icon as a shortcut, and using it I managed to re-activate it a number of times. I also burned a CD-ROM containing all the files etc. of the configuration. I could move from my PC to my emulated Mac and back, just as I wanted.

However, a day later I was tricked into using some common Windows diagnostic programme (cannot right now retrieve the name) promising me hundreds of improvements to my system. I only ran the diagnostic, and did not explicitly allow it to make any changed to my setup. In the end I found that I had to buy the diagnostic programme before I could make any improvements at all. This I refused as a form of blackmail. However, in the meantime something had happened apparently: I can no longer use my shortcut, whatever I try with the various configurations that I saved, gives the same error message when telling BASILISK II GUI.exe to RUN: 'cannot open ROM file' . I have already replaced the PERFORMA.ROM file I was using, but to no avail. The CDROM I burned, does not run either, and gives the same error message.

I am desperate now. What can I do?

Wim

[Cat_7]

Hi Wim,

Start all over again?
No, seriously: Start the GUI, go to the Memory/Misc tab and reselect the rom file by browsing to it.

The GUI only modifies a text file called BasiliskII_prefs. This file is read by BasiliskII.exe when it starts.
You can paste the content of your BasiliskII_prefs file in your reply, so we can take a look at the actual settings. You can right-click that file, choose Open and then select Notepad.exe to see the contents of the file.

Groet,
Cat_7

[24bit]

For a messed up Windows system:
Most flavors of Windows create restoration points, usually available via Backup and Restore in the System control settings.
That way one can fall back to a day when everything was running.
This feature already saved my bacon occasionally.

[michiel]

Dear Expert User / Ronald

Thank you for your instant reaction, which again I have found very encouraging and got me over the dead point. My experience has been, thoughout a long life: if everything else fails, start all over again, and within ten minutes I had the emulated Mac back on my Windows desktop. One little tick in the extensive settings tabs of ...GUI.exe had been removed, accidentally, or by the malicious influence of the Windows Regenerator or whatever it was named. Back to normal now.

I find that my present emulation offers a fully-fledged Mac desktop, and in principle access to all drives of my Windows PC: C, D (CD-ROM) and A. C and D work well, A does not, even though I explicitly mount A during the emulation process. After the Mac desktop appears on the PC, it does acknowledge the A volume, but whatever I insert in the physical A-drive which is USB-connected to my PC, no floppy can be read or written -- the drive keeps being reported as 'empty'. No formatting of the drive's contents (using the emulated Mac's function 'ERASE DISK') is possible either, so far.

I ought to be happy to have my successful emulation reinstalled, but I am not. Through the years (20 now) I have always kept a good working physical Performa (with indispensible self-written applications) which -- since the crashing of my ZIP drive -- only has 3.5" floppies to bring the coveted output of these applications to the outside world (I can still ENTER input into it with a CD-ROM but it cannot WRITE CD-ROMS). Until half a year ago I could read that output on several of my Windows PCs, especially under XP (which I now replaced by Windows 7 on most configurations); but now I can no longer read them now, not even on the remaining XP configurations. What triggered my desire to emulate Mac on Windows (and in the meantime I have spend a week full-time on the project) was the hope that this would enable me to read the output on the Performa floppies once more. And this is precisely what my emulated Mac still refuses to do.

Last week I plugged the USB floppy drive into one of my children's four-years old Macbook, it immediately recognised the drive and the floppy, and I could use her mail connection to e-mail the output to my own account. So my problem can be solved without Mac emulation, by buying an affordable Macbook (my children live in another city). Originally a Mac man, but forced (around 2000) to migrate to Windows for institutional reasons, I am totally fed-up with Windows anyway, because I find I now spend 40% of my computer time fixing my configuration, attending to my virus scanner, or waiting for interminable updates to be configured. This is of course unacceptable, yet common experience.

Fleeing back to a physical Mac is certainly tempting, but after all my efforts and all the heart-warming support from the Forum I feel ashamed to take that easy way out without further trying the hard way.

So: is there still a floppy life after Macemulation?

Kindest regards, and thanks again

Wim

[24bit]

So: is there still a floppy life after Macemulation?
Wim

Mac HFS HD floppies can be read by BII build 142 and FusionPC. Both apps are for PC only.
With BII build 142, pressing Ctrl-Shift-F12 is needed to mount the Mac floppy.
Fusion mounts Mac floppies on the fly as they are inserted, but the emulator wants a DOS/WIN9X host.
Best use a FreeDOS partition for Fusion, as FreeDOS saves you some hassle configuring DOS.

Of course HFS floppies can be read from Userland in OSX - 10.8.5 is my last OS, so I can´t speak for 10.9 and 10.10.
Writing to floppy from Userland is only posible up to 10.5.
From Terminal, floppies can be written with the help of the dd Unix command though.

[Jorpho]

I find that my present emulation offers a fully-fledged Mac desktop, and in principle access to all drives of my Windows PC: C, D (CD-ROM) and A. C and D work well, A does not, even though I explicitly mount A during the emulation process. After the Mac desktop appears on the PC, it does acknowledge the A volume, but whatever I insert in the physical A-drive which is USB-connected to my PC, no floppy can be read or written -- the drive keeps being reported as 'empty'. No formatting of the drive's contents (using the emulated Mac's function 'ERASE DISK') is possible either, so far.

Rather than attempting to get floppy emulation working in the emulator, it may be easiest to use HFV Explorer to copy files from the floppies to the .HFV volume of your emulated Macintosh.

Note that Macintosh floppies can only be read on a PC if they are high density (i.e. they will have a small hole in one corner of the disk, opposite the write-protect tab). Reading double-density floppies is generally impossible.

Through the years (20 now) I have always kept a good working physical Performa (with indispensible self-written applications) which -- since the crashing of my ZIP drive -- only has 3.5" floppies to bring the coveted output of these applications to the outside world (I can still ENTER input into it with a CD-ROM but it cannot WRITE CD-ROMS).

I managed to get files off a Performa once using a Power Mac 6100 – you can connect it to the Performa with a Macintosh parallel (or "printer") cable, and simultaneously connect it to a PC via Ethernet. Then, by installing LocalTalk Bridge, you can communicate with the Performa over Appletalk using Sheepshaver or Basilisk. It's not as ugly as it sounds, especially if the alternative is messing around with floppy disks forever.

[macintosh966]

I have Windows 98 Second Edition and i can get the CD-ROM to work on it, but not the floppy drive.

[Cat_7]

Hi,

As said above: you need the HFV explorer program to access mac floppies (only 1.4Mb), or use Basilisk142, which has to ability to access floppies directly.

Best,
Cat_7