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[DieHard]

After getting a few PMs from our core members, I felt I should explain my affinity for always pushing the Mac OS 9 realm (and OS X for that matter) into unsanctioned areas. These efforts are based on finding solutions, not replacing our core values.

As you guys know, or may not know, I am an old guy old and I have been exposed to computers from Commodore PET, IBM mainframes, and Unix terminals in my teens to contemporary PCs and Macs today. That being said, Mac OS 9 in particular, has always had a place in my heart, and will always be unique, there is a perfect balance of art and functionality that is intrinsically "baked" into it's core.  Even the G3/G4 hardware of the era became a perfect balance of "art" and "engineering", pushing all sorts of envelopes, while IBM PCs were just kinda boring. Sure DOS was great, sure it ran stable, and setting up business networks and Novell servers, Word perfect 5.1 as a production marvel with virtually no maintenance.  OK, I'll get off the tangents.

Back to the topic... the reason I have ventured into the "QEMU" thing was expressed by member FBz 100% correctly...

Seems that our fearless leader is a…
bona fide QEMU Madman!

(Checked the Forum last night ‘round 2:00 a.m.
and he was still up, uploading QEMU packages.)
While some OS 9 purists might view this as utter blasphemy,
it extends the life of MacOS 9 on… and into the future.

Certainly, I will continue to run Quicksilvers, MDDs, etc., yet
this work bridges the past with (and on) more current hardware.
(To say nothing of the support-ability of original OS 9 machines.)

Absolutely marvelous. Hats off to DieHard!

Yes, we will keep the G3/G4 hardware alive for as long as we can. But I feel that QEMU is a way to extend the future on Mac OS 9 via emulation.

So, we have many options here, from purist to practical and all in between.  I just wanted to tell you guys, that Mac OS 9 is my first girlfriend, the hot one, the one that I will always remember as the most amazing, but as we get older, we can also appreciate our other loves.  Many of you know my day to day DAW runs on a series of Mac Pros and High Sierra. New Sampling Libraries, 32GB of RAM, Nvme drives and other advancements have migrated my workflow to things more modern over the years; do I still power up the MDD, the QS, and my Macos9lives mac mini ?... Hell Yes !  Am I still searching for those elusive software titles that we don't have in our downloads yet.... YES!!  My personal search for Virtualization and Emulation setups are expressed on the forum as "Practical solutions" for those who are interested in porting old projects to newer systems or for those who don't have the room, or the energy to track down old Mac hardware.

I just wanted to tell you guys I am still dedicated to our cause.  But I can multi-task. 

Remember, the basic motivation that I and Mactron created this site with... was based on the idea that musicians, and others, would source out used G3/G4 hardware for low dollars, and in some cases free and have a resource to download applications that would make these antiquated machines produce real results.   Bringing complete systems with peripherals, like a home recording Studio, or a graphics workstation station, to life, so many years later, MacOS9Lives!.... looking at a system that would have cost thousands 20 years ago and enjoying getting the 98% discount.

This is still what drives me to this day to keep this all going.  With the help of our core members, we have helped so many achieve their goal of a working and productive Mac OS 9 system. We will continue to help all the members of our community.

[GaryN]

What he said !!

[Syntho]

I worry that in the years to come we will have no hardware left. I plan to use old Macs for the rest of my life. I fear the day that it all stops working. I guess this can help with that, but it just won't be the same. Better than nothing, though.

[GaryN]

I worry that in the years to come we will have no hardware left. I plan to use old Macs for the rest of my life. I fear the day that it all stops working. I guess this can help with that, but it just won't be the same. Better than nothing, though.

The solution to that potential issue is both obvious and simple.
I, for example, use an MDD in order to be able to run the best of both ≤OS9 and OSX PPC apps.
In addition to my use-it-everyday MDD, I have enough pieces and parts to fix anything that breaks or build three more.
In other words, enough to keep it going until I die or senility sets in.

Simple.

[lepidotos]

Computers don't really care what year they were made. People cloned Apples back in the '80s, and I don't think it would be impossible to make a 20 year old computer nowadays, even if it was just a pile of FPGAs hooked up to some RAM, although 750s are still being made last I checked. The main question is how many people would actually buy one, but there are clones of PETs, C64s, and XTs on the market, so why not a G3 or G4, which has a bigger niche than just gaming? It's not just the elderly that have a soft spot for OS 9. 
Legal issues I suppose, but PowerPC Macintosh was two processor architectures ago, I don't think they'll cry too, too much about hardware they stopped selling when I was three. A computer basically equivalent to a good Pentium 3 is not really a competitor to the M1 MacBook Pro. And even then, it could be in a sort of 80% state, to borrow a loophole from another community I'm in the periphery of, where all of the essential parts are in there and you just supply the parts that actually make it a Macintosh, rather than just a PowerPC computer.

[IIO]

in opposite to windows, linux, and pink elephants, OSX PPC, classic enviroment and emulation of OS9 are releated to OS9 and should always have a place here.

as soon as QEMU supported 9.2.2. and a proper solution for audio and midi I/O, an ARM mac could be an economic working alternative or addition.

who would have thought that you can run the virus firmware or powercore plug-ins in an 56k emulator 20 years ago? well, now you can.

who would have thought 20 year go that virtualisation of OSes and loggin into terminals form a client feels 100% the same than running the OS natively and locally? well, today we do it.

and did you know that on the windows side you can still run x68 x32 applications on ARM processors?

the bigger the CPU power gap between our machines and the most recent machines gets, the more likely some of the things an OS9 user needs can be emulated while still beeing 10 times faster than on a G4 dual 1.6 GHz.

[macarone]

>as soon as QEMU supported 9.2.2. and a proper solution for audio and midi I/O, an ARM mac could be an economic working >alternative or addition.

Does this mean someone has actually been able to use Qemu to run OS 9 on an Intel Mac?

I have been able to get OS 9 running on a G5 using Sheepshaver.

I've seen this post:

     http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,6043.msg45046.html#msg45046

and downloaded the file, but I was not able to get it to run on an Intel Mac. Is it for PCs only?

If someone was able to get it up and running on an Intel Mac, please, please do tell how. THANKS!.

[IIO]

intel is boring. A1X will get more interesting.

[DieHard]

Does this mean someone has actually been able to use Qemu to run OS 9 on an Intel Mac?

I have been able to get OS 9 running on a G5 using Sheepshaver.
I've seen this post:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,6043.msg45046.html#msg45046
and downloaded the file, but I was not able to get it to run on an Intel Mac. Is it for PCs only?

If someone was able to get it up and running on an Intel Mac, please, please do tell how. THANKS!.

Yes, this is to run a ppc emulated virtual machine on an Intel Mac !!! as noted...

NOTE: This pre-built qemu-system-ppc has been tested and created on High Sierra (Mac OS X 10.13.6)

If you have an older version of Mac OS X (before High Sierra) for the "Host" (The machine you are running QEMU on), then you may need an older version of QEMU, so download and unzip an older version and copy my "qemu.command" file and my drive image file into the older version

If you are running, Mac OS X 10.11 or 10.12, you can still use the Mac OS 9 Lives drive image and the command script, but you may need and older version of QEMU found here:
https://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=8848&p=52102#p52102

Instructions:
Download this file, unzip it and double click the file "qemu.command" located at the root level of the expanded folder.
This will launch the qemu-system-ppc emulator with the settings in this command script via the Mac OS X terminal.
Please read this entire page for a full understanding of the download.

[FBz]

Being of a certain age (elderly and perhaps “older-minded” / ring any bells?)
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=3508.msg22931#msg22931
I suppose that I do have zee major soft spot for OS 9… yet I don’t particularly
enjoy being termed in such a way.

Perhaps even if death and / or senility might be rapidly approaching.
Don’t poke zee bear.

2021-2003 = 18 and 18+3 = 21
(Really no need to be ageist about things.)

Anyway… with my faltering and remaining reliquiae grey matter,
I excitedly downloaded the “Initial” QEMU Drive image...
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,6041.msg45044.html#msg45044
and I toyed with it a bit before being interrupted by other responsibilities.
It (QEMU) was indeed very impressive and I hope to return to it very soon.

The following however did give me pause and may possibly require some
further examination / clarification here?



Are we to permanently “install” QEMU resident on the HD? And if so,
can we not multi-partition the HD beforehand and thus make the host
machine dual-bootable / choosing a QEMU partition…
AND a High Sierra partition too?

I know, an elementary question perhaps… but again, I AM elderly
and older-minded. And as soon as I wrap this other project I may
test it all out again and answer my own question(s).
[Some limited synapses still fire. YMMV]

Now get offa my lawn.

[FdB]

I got a chuckle out of that too and translate 'older minded' as WISER!! Haha!

Thank You Mr. Happy!

[refinery]

who would have thought that you can run the virus firmware or powercore plug-ins in an 56k emulator 20 years ago? well, now you can.

Powercore plugins? Ive been following that thread on GS about the Motorola DSP emulation project since it first started and I don't recall anyone talking about Powercore plugins. It's still just focused exclusively on the Virus B ROM. Unless there is another project out there somewhere that I wasnt aware of?

[IIO]

if it makes sense is another question, but in theory anything written for 563xx can be run in the emulator and controlled by a vst plug-in. waldorf already offered him help with the two products in question.

of course in OS9 we dont really need to think about that.

[DieHard]

Are we to permanently “install” QEMU resident on the HD? And if so,
can we not multi-partition the HD beforehand and thus make the host
machine dual-bootable / choosing a QEMU partition…
AND a High Sierra partition too?

I know, an elementary question perhaps… but again, I AM elderly
and older-minded. And as soon as I wrap this other project I may
test it all out again and answer my own question(s).

THIS ENTIRE SECTION WAS UNDER...

Background only for those who are interested... the download was created via the following process:

So, to absolutely clarify, none of these steps need to be done; this was the step by step procedure used to create the download, all the work has been done for you, nothing gets installed on the "Host" side (High sierra); after extracting all the files to the folder, double click the command script and it launches a terminal windows, again, no High Sierra files get modified in anyway.

I have now added the line...

Note: THE STEPS BELOW DO NOT NEED TO BE DONE, EVERYTHING HAS BEEN ALREADY DONE FOR YOU, THESE ARE NOT DIRECTIONS, ONLY REFERENCE INFO.

Screaming it out for the old grey matter to store it

[FBz]

Oy Vey!

Reading IS FUN-damental und now…
I’ve also turned up my hearing aid. Thank ya.

Previously, I just drug the files from a thumb drive
onto the desktop und voilà, BOOM - OS 9!

Then I got busy w/ another time-consuming
& un-related project which is now completed!
Mea Culpa. (Dog ate my homework.)



So maybe time for some more QEMU?
DieHard's Complete working QEMU v5.2 System
with Mac OS 9 Lives! 9.2.2 "Loaded" Drive Image
(with Software Library) Mucho mo' fun than the above pic.

http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,6043.msg45046.html#msg45046

[IIO]

so you´re riding a suzuki, just as i suspected.

[FBz]

Off topic - deleted.

[FBz]

So maybe time for some more QEMU?
DieHard's Complete working QEMU v5.2 System
with Mac OS 9 Lives! 9.2.2 "Loaded" Drive Image
(with Software Library)

I figured why wait ’til later in the week to test that Loaded QEMU file…
Moved that file to the 27” iMac running High Sierra and unzipped it.
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,6043.msg45046.html#msg45046
Double clicked on the qemu.command file and BOOM!

Many OS 9 files and apps now present.

Next will be figuring out how to get things in and out of it
(printing, external media recognition, etc.)
AND possible... eventual installation of Photoshop here!

But yard work and other home duties now calling my name.

Thanks DieHard!
Pretty cool.

[teroyk]

Virtual machines can be nice for programming (if emulation is good) or office stuff, but I want to see that day that there is less latency in MIDI with modern macOS or Windows, because you cannot have less latency in emulation. And how about your favorite PCI DSP-cards? 

Lately I have more fun with emulating PC with Virtual PC on Mac OS9...although still looking for Connextic Virtual PC Linux additions.
 

[lepidotos]

Does anyone have a POWER9 computer? If so, I'd be curious to know how KVMPPC runs. If it has similar (lack of) latency to my G4 hardware, it'd be a strong contender for one of my next daily-driver PCs. Probably not my next one, but the one after that. How sluggish everything is is one of the reasons I really dislike modern OSes (besides all the bloat, spyware, and flat-design """eye candy"""), and booting into OS 9 feels like having 300 pounds being taken off my ankle.
Edit: apparently there's a WM for Linux that copies the Mac OS 7/8/9 GUI, mlvwm. Just something I thought I'd mention as a fun bonus for anyone who does go down the POWER9 route before me.