[HN Gopher] SheepShaver is an open source PowerPC Apple Macintos...
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SheepShaver is an open source PowerPC Apple Macintosh emulator
Author : janandonly
Score : 128 points
Date : 2025-03-16 10:32 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.emaculation.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.emaculation.com)
| ranger_danger wrote:
| If you need support for later versions of OS9, qemu at least
| works on 9.2 in my testing.
|
| And unlike SheepShaver, Netscape/IE seems to work fine in qemu
| for me.
| NegativeLatency wrote:
| Might also be able to use the "classic environment" from older
| mac os versions (in an emulator)
| flashman wrote:
| macintosh.js is an alternative that runs as an Electron app
| https://github.com/felixrieseberg/macintosh.js
| duskwuff wrote:
| It's an Emscripten-compiled version of Basilisk II [1], which
| is closely related to SheepShaver. (The two emulators target
| different generations of Apple hardware - Basilisk does 68k
| CPUs, SheepShaver does PowerPC.)
|
| [1]: https://basilisk.cebix.net/
| noisebuffer wrote:
| Time to fire up Tomb of the Taskmaker
| cactusplant7374 wrote:
| I loved that game!
| watersb wrote:
| I first saw SheepShaver at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, a
| commercial product that enabled a Classic Mac environment on
| PowerPC-based BeOS hardware, the original BeBox.
|
| These days, if you are just curious or want to relive to glory
| days of Apple's rise and near-death of 1990s, it might be easier
| to run a hosted environment such as Infinite Mac.
|
| https://infinitemac.org/
| TuringNYC wrote:
| Here I thought it was a shearer emulator for aspiring farmers!
| dlevine wrote:
| The name SheepShaver is a play on ShapeShifter, which was a Mac
| II emulator for Amiga. I remember running an Amiga Emulator (UAE)
| AND Shapeshifter on top of that since it was the best Macintosh
| Emulation at one point in the late 90s.
| lelandfe wrote:
| RIP to the _other_ Mac ShapeShifter:
| https://web.archive.org/web/20060613064350/http://unsanity.c...
|
| There was a whole community around _theming_ OS X in the
| aughts, chock full of talented designers. It all depended on
| ShapeShifter. MacThemes2.net was bustling, along with self-
| important invite-only communities like macristocracy.com.
|
| Good times.
| syndeo wrote:
| Gosh, I remember that so well and fondly miss it. Was a wild,
| whimsical time for sure. They made other fun "haxies" (as
| they called them) too, but ShapeShifter was always the
| coolest. To this day I remember my favorite was the green
| Aluminum Alloy theme; I liked Milk too. Somatic was wild as
| well!
|
| Found a list with screenshots for those curious:
| https://www.mac-dvd.com/cool-mac-theme.html
|
| I rocked CrystalClear Interface (CCI) from Musings from Mars
| for a good while too.
| kstrauser wrote:
| Fun fact: ShapeShifter was virtualized, not emulated, so
| software ran at full speed. I used it to play Myst and other
| games on my Amiga. Its 68060 CPU was faster than any real Mac,
| so programs were screamingly fast on it.
| relistan wrote:
| I've got it on my Amiga 500 with Vampire 500 accelerator (so-
| called 68080 MMX). Pretty sure that's nearly the fastest
| native 68k Mac, even if it's an FPGA.
| NikkiA wrote:
| PiStorm is faster but then you get into nuances of arguing
| over if pin compatible emulation counts or not, and if not,
| why would an FPGA emulation.
| actionfromafar wrote:
| For a very short period of time and circumstances (Mac PPC
| was out but some Photoshop plugins were m68k only) an Amiga
| with SCSI and a 68060 was the fastest Photoshop Mac. :)
| techterrier wrote:
| I read it as something completely different scanning HN
| turnsout wrote:
| It's too bad there isn't more momentum in the Mac emulation
| scene. It seems like it stalled out with SheepShaver and Basilisk
| II. The only new thing is "make it run in JS."
|
| I would love to see an emulator that could run later OS versions
| like Tiger.
| compton93 wrote:
| PearPC?
| cosmic_cheese wrote:
| qemu-ppc can run PPC versions of OS X. This is a good place to
| get started: https://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/qemu
|
| I've personally run as new as Tiger with it. Takes a little bit
| to start up but after that it's reasonably responsive.
| tengbretson wrote:
| For Tiger and beyond wouldn't the hackintosh images in
| VirtualBox give you what youre looking for?
| lproven wrote:
| > I would love to see an emulator that could run later OS
| versions like Tiger.
|
| UTM.
|
| https://github.com/utmapp/UTM
| helfire wrote:
| Very active new PPC emulator project
| https://github.com/dingusdev/dingusppc
| turnsout wrote:
| Follow-up: Thanks for all the links, everyone! I haven't been
| keeping up, but it looks like there's more momentum than I
| realized.
| scarface_74 wrote:
| If I could find fully functioning versions of Ambrosia's
| software, I would download this in a heartbeat.
|
| I bought every game the minute it became available back in the
| day.
|
| Andrew Welch use to post here occasionally
| card_zero wrote:
| I was playing Ambrosia games on SheepShaver last year or so.
| Not sure where I got them from, but probably here:
|
| https://macintoshgarden.org/games/e?page=7
| tpmoney wrote:
| Grab the software from the Macintosh Repository and while
| you're there, grab the "DecoderRing":
| https://www.macintoshrepository.org/63637-ambrosia-
| software-.... The latter will require a modern(ish) mac rather
| than running in an older classic mac but it will generate valid
| license keys for any old Ambrosia software.
| opan wrote:
| I tried setting up SheepShaver on a Steam Deck specifically to
| play Bubble Trouble (no modern-PC-compatible versions or even
| similar games seem to exist), but I never got it to work. The
| easiest way I have to play it is firing up an old iMac G3.
| scarface_74 wrote:
| It looks like there was a version that worked on Classic OS
| and OS X.
| opan wrote:
| I recall some missing dependencies or drivers stopping the
| game from starting in SheepShaver. I was able to resolve
| some, but not all of them (I remember something with
| "carbon" in the name). It seemed like it was a sound-
| related issue, but the game wouldn't start at all, I
| couldn't even play it muted. I may try again at some point.
| Maybe there's a forum where I could get some help.
| flomo wrote:
| Google's special relationship with Reddit says the Ambrosia
| website disappeared only 6 years ago. Perhaps you could try
| emailing the guy?
| simondotau wrote:
| No need to download anything. You can emulate a Macintosh in
| your web browser and play Ambrosia games including Bubble
| Trouble on Infinite Mac.
|
| https://infinitemac.org/1997/Mac%20OS%207.6
| UncleSlacky wrote:
| https://www.macintoshrepository.org/software_search.php?pubi...
| dogcow wrote:
| Somewhat related:
|
| Previous, an emulator of NeXT boxes.
|
| https://previous.unixdude.net/
| rhet0rica wrote:
| Those are all really old builds. Strongly recommend one of the
| following alternatives:
|
| - On Mac or Linux, building version 3.6 from the SourceForge
| repo (r1603 is a good revision):
| https://sourceforge.net/projects/previous/
|
| - Using one of my Windows builds from here:
| http://rhetori.ca/next/
|
| - If you just want to gawk, see the WASM port here:
| https://infinitemac.org/ (also WASM ports of Basilisk II,
| SheepShaver, Mini vMac, and PearPC)
| evereverever wrote:
| Wow, contributed to today!
| deviantintegral wrote:
| Are there any ways to do some sort of upscaling for HiDPI
| displays? I've always wondered what MacOS 8 or 9 would feel like
| with 2x retina style rendering.
| vintagedave wrote:
| I've wondered the same for classic (pretty, ie Aqua) OS X. I
| wonder if GPU neural net upscaling as used in video games would
| be a good way to go.
| duskwuff wrote:
| > I've always wondered what MacOS 8 or 9 would feel like with
| 2x retina style rendering.
|
| I'm not sure what that would even mean. Most of the UI was
| drawn from bitmaps - there isn't any higher resolution internal
| representation of e.g. a window border or a radio button.
| sintax wrote:
| Sounds like an opportunity to shove AI into some more
| products! :P
| simondotau wrote:
| >I'm not sure what that would even mean.
|
| What it would mean is something like hq2x, 2xSaI or similar.
| These algorithms are popularly for emulation of 8 and 16 bit
| era games consoles. The example image on this Wikipedia page
| is illustrative of what's possible with a deterministic
| algorithm:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hqx_(algorithm)
|
| Imagine what could be possible with a well trained neural
| network, with knowledge of every icon, every element, and
| every font glyph at every bitmap size.
| rcarmo wrote:
| You can set up a Platinum theme on XFCE and have a pretty
| good analog (that's what I do).
| ayaros wrote:
| No, but there's an config option to enable integer scaling. It
| makes things look much crisper on a high DPI display.
| drproteus wrote:
| Wow this takes me back, but not as far as you'd expect. I
| remember setting this up in the biology labs at UR some ten years
| ago to run some legacy phylogenetic software.
| brucehoult wrote:
| I use it to this day to run the "Best Books" accounting software
| (cut down MYOB) I bought in 1991 for the single-digit number of
| invoices I issue in a year. That's M68k software. Accounting
| doesn't change. The only thing I've had to do is change the GST
| rate from 12.5% to 15% in 2010.
|
| I use print to PostScript for invoices and reports then copy them
| to the host machine (which these days can be anything) and PDF or
| print them.
|
| In theory Basilisk II would do the job, but SheepShaver runs
| PowerPC software too, and a modern CPU emulating PowerPC
| emulating 68k is just fine.
|
| I should try "II in a Mac" (from 1985) inside that.
| akoster wrote:
| I think I found MYOB but not Best Books here:
| https://www.macintoshrepository.org/2021-m-y-o-b-v5-0-1 Is the
| interface similar for Best Books? and also in color?
| brucehoult wrote:
| Hah, I actually haven't used it since I was last doing misc
| consulting stuff before living in Moscow in 2015-2018. I
| found my BestBooks folder easily enough, but had an ancient
| SheepShaver. Downloading an Apple Silicon-compatible build
| from January 2025 I replaced the app file, pointed it at a
| disk image, dragged the BestBooks folder in via the Unix
| shared folder ... and it launched right up!
|
| Here's browsing some oooold data...
|
| https://hoult.org/bestbooks.png
|
| https://hoult.org/bestbooks_about.png
|
| BestBooks is apparently an offshoot of MYOB 3, your find is
| MYOB 5.
| netrap wrote:
| You should upload it to macintoshrepository.org. It seems
| like it is not available anywhere else.
| ProllyInfamous wrote:
| I also maintain a decades-old Macintosh that is kept simply for
| offline tax / accounting / business invoicing (USB print).
|
| Even as a Millenial, it is extremely frustrating that modern
| versions of Excel/Office/&c are always _trying to be so
| [un]helpful_... auto-dates /-formatting is just such an
| absolute nuissance.
|
| The day this machine dies will be one of great personal
| mourning / frustration.
|
| Thanks for the emulation alternative, OP!
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| I love playing with SheepShaver (and BasiliskII and MinivMac).
|
| I created disk images for the various 68K/PPC Mac emulators that
| have not just my early game sources but the compilers/tools to
| build them (if you're into that sort of thing).
|
| The commercial games are here:
| https://github.com/EngineersNeedArt/SoftDorothy-CasadyGreene...
|
| But I have a repo with the shareware games and two more repos of
| games that were never completed (and probably a third one coming
| when I get time to put it together). They're easy enough to find
| if you're interested with the above link as a starting point.
| Qwertylala wrote:
| I just wanted to say that I LOVED Glider 4 when I was a kid. I
| had an Amiga 500 and later a 1200 but probably played Glider
| more than anything else, except maybe Frontier Elite 2, in my
| father's Macintosh LC.
| giomasce wrote:
| Nice thing! I use it to let my kids play with the educational
| games I used to play when I was their age (mostly Sammy's Science
| House).
| salgernon wrote:
| I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Rosetta Stone that is
| infinitemac.org - it's "just" compiled to JavaScript or whatever
| but really well done.
|
| From their "About": >>>Infinite Mac is a project by Mihai
| Parparita to make classic Mac and NeXT emulation easily
| accessible. It uses WebAssembly ports of Mini vMac, Basilisk II,
| SheepShaver, DingusPPC, and Previous to allow a broad set of
| System Software/Mac OS versions to run on the web.
|
| Shortcuts to the most popular versions are available:
| system6.app, system7.app, kanjitalk7.app, macos8.app, and
| macos9.app. <<<
| frollogaston wrote:
| First Mac I used in school ran Jaguar, and it was cool how it
| booted up an entire separate OS (Classic mode) for some of the
| software. I was sad when Leopard removed that, until I found
| SheepShaver.
| karel-3d wrote:
| I used this to run the original Myst... on a PPC OS X iBook (I...
| think it was PPC. I genuinely don't remember). It worked great.
| Not sure about ARM64, but it should work there too.
|
| Well, sometimes it all randomly crashed once in a while.
| lproven wrote:
| The iBook range was PowerPC. Initially very rounded, truly
| clamshell shaped, then a white curved plastic rectangle.
|
| The MacBook was the similar-looking x86 range: plastic unibody
| cases.
| karel-3d wrote:
| I had the late white plastic one; I got confused, because the
| first x86 MacBooks looked identical.
| mahrain wrote:
| Sheepshaver is great, but I've found Qemu's PPC emulation has
| progressed probably beyond what Sheepshaver can offer. For
| instance, it can run MacOS 9.2.2 and even early MacOSX PPC
| versions. Due to it's emulation limitations (lack of MMU),
| Sheepshaver has some weird incompatibilities, for instance MS
| Office, that you won't encounter running Qemu. On Mac, the UTM
| app is a great place to start!
| rcarmo wrote:
| Yeah, but QEMU has worse volume handling, etc.
| WoodenChair wrote:
| Edward Mendelson does an amazing job packaging Sheep Shaver with
| a bunch of built-in utilities and interfaces to your outer system
| that makes it much more usable out of the box:
|
| https://www.mendelson.org/macos9osx.html
|
| You can think about his work as a wrapper for Sheep Shaver with
| some quality of life improvements and some pre-installed software
| on the disk image.
| schlauerfox wrote:
| If you want to go the other way and bring your old Mac to the
| internet, there is FujiNet. Also if you do have an old Mac,
| remove those old batteries, they leak destroying the motherboard.
| itsmartapuntocm wrote:
| Are there any advantages to BasiliskII/SheepShaver these days?
| Seems like QEMU has caught up on the Macintosh emulation side for
| both 68k and PPC. The only hole is early Macs which Minivmac
| handles quite well.
| duskwuff wrote:
| The file sharing features in Basilisk/SheepShaver are really
| useful, particularly if you're on a Mac host. Being able to
| drop files you've had archived on your computer for the last 20
| years into a shared folder and open them directly on the
| emulated system is pretty neat.
| rezmason wrote:
| This is my workhorse for any kind of Macintosh retrocomputing.
| I've tested HTML on old browsers with it, I've opened old
| documents and played old games, for longer than my time using
| real classic Macs. For a free and open source program, it's
| highly dependable.
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(page generated 2025-03-19 23:02 UTC)