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[rraucci]

Running Mac OS 9 on your OLPC XO is a good way to have a Mac kind of experience with your little green laptop.

This guide is for XOs running Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid) from an SD card.

The software used to run Mac OS is SheepShaver, a PowerPC Macintosh emulator, capable of running up to Mac OS 9.0.4.

Find an Ubuntu version of SheepShaver here:

http://geekyschmidt.com/2008/09/06/sheepshaver-on-ubuntu

This is a .deb file; once you download it, double-click on it, and it will install.

Next you have to take care of an incompatible software library that can hang you up.  Run the following command in a Terminal window:

sudo ln -s /lib/libreadline.so.5 /lib/libreadline.so.4

After that, run this command to take care of a memory issue:

sudo sysctl -w vm.mmap_min_addr=0

To get sound output, run this command:

sudo modprobe snd-pcm-oss

Next, get your Mac OS Rom and your Mac hard drive image ready.  See the links below for more information.

http://gwenole.beauchesne.info/en/projects/sheepshaver
http://www.redundantrobot.com/sheepshaver-tutorial/

Start SheepShaver.  This will load the config panel.  Set the hard drive path to your hard drive image.  Set the Video to 1024 X 768 Windowed.  Set the networking to slirp.  Set the ROM path to your Rom image, and set the memory to 64MB.

Hit Start, and you should start up in Mac OS 9:

[mavrothal]

It's pretty fun! and efficient too!!!
Did you find where the "apple" key maps in the XO? This is rather important for mac use.
Also where do you find stuffit expander as a SEA or in a linux expandable format? Most mac-classic downloaded applications require it for expansion (including stuffit 7.0.3.hqx...)

[rraucci]

I agree, it is pretty fun.  I haven't found the way that the Apple key works yet in SheepShaver.  For now, I use the Finder menus for keyboard commands.

I also don't have a good way for transferring files from the host system to SheepShaver so that they show up as usable Mac files. 

One way around this is to get a Mac disk image that you can mount on another Mac.  I used this one, here:

http://www.redundantrobot.com/macemulator/OS9.img

and mounted it in Mac OSX 10.5 on my Mac Mini (by double-clicking on it).  Once it's mounted, I can drag any old software from the Mac desktop to that drive.  Then close and eject the drive, copy it to a memory stick, move it to the XO, and copy it to your SheepShaver folder.  Add it to the list of drives that SheepShaver runs on startup, and it should show up on the desktop.

Reverse question: any idea of how to get SheepShaver to run using more than 64MB for the Mac OS?

[Wayan Vota]

Can we have a photo of OS9 on the XO laptop?  Not a screenshot, but a photo of the laptop too.  I'd love to make this a post on OLPC News.

[rraucci]

Wayan.

Here are some pictures of my XO running OS 9:





I look forward to your article.

Richard

***

Richard Raucci
rraucci@well.com

[mavrothal]

I agree, it is pretty fun.  I haven't found the way that the Apple key works yet in SheepShaver.  For now, I use the Finder menus for keyboard commands.

Actually the <Alt> key maps as the "apple" (command) key. Is the "Option" key is the one that does not map anywhere. Assigning Xorg 127 and 128 (the hand keys on the XO) for "Option" in the /etc/SheepShaver/keycodes file, did not work.
Anybody has any idea on that?...

I also don't have a good way for transferring files from the host system to SheepShaver so that they show up as usable Mac files. 

If you define a specific folder path for the unix root (eg /home/olpc/MacOS) in the settings window, works pretty well since "Trash" "Desktop" and "TheVolumSettingFolder" can be generated. This can not be done at the root directory. You can also do that in the "etxfs" line of  the ".sheepshaver_prefs" file in your home directory

Reverse question: any idea of how to get SheepShaver to run using more than 64MB for the Mac OS?

It did accept 96 in my case (settings window-> Memory tab) but did not improve things speed wise... (I have a big swap partition).

Did you manage to get Internet access in OS9 and if yes how?
The suggested ip forwarding command "echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward" in /etc/SheepShaver/tunconfig did not change that.
Maybe a linux competent person can configure this file for the XO-Intrepid so MacOS9 will have also internet access.

PS: I almost forgot.... :-)

[rraucci]

You're right about the Apple key mapping to the Alt key.  That does work.  I don't know about mapping alternate keys for SheepShaver.

I'll see about setting the memory to 96MB.  Should help a bit.  It might also help to kill the XFCE window manager and run SheepShaver from the command line all by itself, but that might not work at all, either.

Hmmm.... Internet access just works for me, using the "slirp" setting under the Networking tab.  On my OLPC, SheepShaver OS 9 finds the network via the XO's wifi connection.  See my screenshots above yours, with IE 5.1 accessing Apple's home page from yesterday.

[mavrothal]

Hmmm.... Internet access just works for me, using the "slirp" setting under the Networking tab. 

That did it. A full working OS9! Happy 1999... :-))))

[rraucci]

Welcome to the 20th century!

Here are some places to look for software for your OS 9 setup:

http://mac.the-underdogs.info/

http://www.mac.org/

Richard

[Jens Peter]

Brilliant!

I have to give this a try in the weekend

But I guess I have to figure out, who to get Ubunto to run in the first place

[mavrothal]

Here are some places to look for software for your OS 9 setup:

http://mac.the-underdogs.info/

http://www.mac.org/

Memories...:-)
Looking through my backups I found a HD image of my late 7500 with OS 9.0.4 and all the applications! I just had to change TCP settings and runs fine. All the applications run as expected, though considerably slower than the 7500 :-(
Who said that the XO does not run MS Office?... I have the proof of the opposite :-)))

I already feel 10 years younger ;-D
 

[rraucci]

Jens,

You can find a guide to installing Ubuntu on your XO here:

http://www.olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=4053.0

In my continuing efforts to get OS 9 / XO working better, I found that going into the Appearance control panel and changing the system fonts to Gadget @ 14 points looks better on the XO's screen.  I also changed the highlights to Emerald and Green, more like the way the custom version of Ubuntu looks.

And I found I could boost the memory to 112 MB in the SheepShaver config panel.  Should help.

Nice work on getting Office 98 to work.  I have an OEM Office 98 disk that doesn't want to install properly - I should dig out my 10-year-old backup files!

[mavrothal]

And I found I could boost the memory to 112 MB in the SheepShaver config panel.  Should help.

With Just SheepShaver and the terminal running after boot, I could go 128MB but this does not really helps since in classic every app has preallocated memory. You just run more apps.
The CPU is steadily above 90% devoted to sheepshaver but the performance is really poor. Is an emulation after all... Remember VPC running win2000 on 603 or G3 machines? This is just the opposite but with similar results (speed-wise)... :-(

[rraucci]

Well, I just got MS Office 2001 up and running in Mac OS 9 / XO.  This should make the little green lappy work better with my other systems.  And it comes with Clippy, and Banana Junior! :-)

I'm still figuring out how to tune SheepShaver performance a bit better.  The 256 color apps seem to run at a decent speed, but the sound emulation lags.  iTunes 2.04 will start up, but clicking on an MP3 freezes SheepShaver (though the audio plays!).

Internet Explorer 5.1 runs pretty well, but doesn't render a fair number of sites too well.

Acrobat 5 is pretty good for rendering PDFs.

 

[mavrothal]

I'm still figuring out how to tune SheepShaver performance a bit better.  The 256 color apps seem to run at a decent speed, but the sound emulation lags. 

I tested with Norton System Info under different settings.
Things that make a difference in the  JIT compiler (huge), keep window  refresh rate to a minimum (5Hz !!!) and use Quickdraw acceleration regardless of the status of the mac QD extensions.
However the best score I got was 114 compared to 6100/60 and that was mostly because of the fast "HD", that was balanced off however by the lack of FPU.
For comparison the same USB stick that I run OS9 from gave me more than 1200 in an iMac Duo (eg similar to a G4 Cube).
So I would say that the best SheepShaver can do on the XO is to emulate a 15-year old Mac that was coming with OS 7.1.2...

Internet Explorer 5.1 runs pretty well, but doesn't render a fair number of sites too well.

Try iCab 3.0.5. It renders even olpcnews.com OK :-)

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