What Needs to be done for a NeXT Emulator

[andreas_g]

@MindWalker
You can load the latest version of Previous for macOS here.

If that does not solve your problems, I think the easiest way to debug this would be to you make the affected images (floppy and HDD) and your configuration file available to me. For the networking problem: Any success if you ping 10.0.2.2? What version of Mac OS is installed?

[MindWalker]

Thanks! Using v.2.8 the floppy issue is resolved and Mac-side disks mount correctly! This will greatly ease Daydream-usage.

Networking issue is still there. Again; I am using the MacTCP config I used on my real machine but as I am not quite sure how SLiRP works, should I be using 10.0.2.x range IP address' instead (of my real networks 192.168.0.x)? And even on a real mac the old MacTCP is somewhat of a gamble, I actually might be better of testing if the newer OpenTransport works any better! I am using MacOS 7.1 in here.

[andreas_g]

Thanks! Using v.2.8 the floppy issue is resolved and Mac-side disks mount correctly! This will greatly ease Daydream-usage.

Networking issue is still there. Again; I am using the MacTCP config I used on my real machine but as I am not quite sure how SLiRP works, should I be using 10.0.2.x range IP address' instead (of my real networks 192.168.0.x)? And even on a real mac the old MacTCP is somewhat of a gamble, I actually might be better of testing if the newer OpenTransport works any better! I am using MacOS 7.1 in here.

I'm glad to hear that the floppy issue has been resolved!

You can't access your local network through SLiRP. You need to use the addresses of the virtual network. Try to set up MacTCP with theses values:
IP address: 10.0.2.15
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Router address: 10.0.2.2
Domain Name Server Information: Domain: home, IP address: 10.0.2.3

I hope this solves your networking issues.

[MindWalker]

Right, I see now that I mixed how SLiRP and PCAP work!

Thanks! Btw; is there a way to make donations for Previous' development?

[andreas_g]

Right, I see now that I mixed how SLiRP and PCAP work!

Thanks! Btw; is there a way to make donations for Previous' development?

Great! So all problems solved?

No, I never started collecting donations. I think it would cause pressure on me. I love working on Previous. One reason is that I don't have to. Also I can't guarantee that my time resources and priorities stay like this forever. Last but not least although I am the main developer Previous is the work of many and it would feel wrong to take donations for that.

[andreas_g]

Hello all,

I'm happy to announce the release of Previous v2.9. It has two convenient new features:

• It is now possible to save the screen contents to a PNG file by pressing ctrl+alt+g. The file will be saved to the directory specified for the printer output.
• It is also possible to record the sound that is played inside Previous to an AIFF file. Press ctrl+alt+r to enable recording. Pressing ctrl+alt+r again will stop recording and complete the file. The output is saved to the same directory as for the screen contents.

I hope you like the new features.

You can load a universal binary for macOS 10.13 and later here.

Update: I have replaced the download with a slightly updated version. It does now show a statusbar message, while sound recording is enabled.

[paolo.bertolo]

Out of curiosity... Is it possible to print from Previous to a real NeXT Laser Printer connected to a NeXT machine?

[andreas_g]

Out of curiosity... Is it possible to print from Previous to a real NeXT Laser Printer connected to a NeXT machine?

That is not possible. Previous writes printer data to a PNG file which can be printed afterwards. Currently there is no way to forward it directly to a real printer.

[Rob Blessin Black Hole]

That is not possible. Previous writes printer data to a PNG file which can be printed afterwards. Currently there is no way to forward it directly to a real printer.

Hello Andreas and other NeXT Guru's:

Is it possible to have previous on my Mac Mini M2 Pro , handshake with an original NeXT computer on a mixed Network .

Does anyone currently have a set up where they have a modern Mac networked with an original NeXT 68K Computer? (Probably threads)

I'm hoping to set up a NeXT 68K computer using WIFI or a powerline that is connected using the Mac Mini M2 Pro as the server , now if previous configured with NeXTSTEP 3.3 set up as a server is running on the M2 Pro , I have this working now in version 2.9 and surfing the web ...

Well for me it is unique as I want to try an use the NeXTSTEP 3.3 network install lol (feeling nostalgic) as it says excuse me while I kiss the sky at the start of the install over the network and then goes, back in the day it was fun to see it do remote NeXTSTEP upgrades or fresh installations on mixed networks up to 20 computers at a time.

  It gets interesting if this is possible , as I now have an I5 Mac Mini to spare , so I have a Mac M2 Pro running previous 2.9 talk to my 2nd mac Mini I5 also running previous over the local network ..... if that works can I add a 68K NeXT to the mix?

Now back to the question of the printer , if previous can see an original NeXT via a network then maybe it would send the print job through , if the Previous image is set up as a server and the client original NeXT 68K box is set up as a client , print server... we are swinging for the fences here lol.

Can Previous Running on my Mac M2 Pro or Mac I5 running NeXTSTEP or Openstep in VMware so the Intel version see Previous NeXTSTEP 68 K on the same computer , may be NFS file share folder....

to ultimately a 3rd NeXT 68K computer , 4 , 5 etc. as it was always easy to simply add NeXT computers as clients once the server was set up https://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/NeXTStep/3.3/nsa/ ,  I'm planning on setting up a little NeXT computer museum so it would be fun to make a video showing this is possible.  No hurry on it as it is a complicated question ....and may need a different thread so not to jam up this one.

[andreas_g]

I'm not entirely sure but it might be possible with some limitations. You would need to set up Previous for using PCAP as networking interface and the host system has to be connected via Ethernet. Connecting over WLAN won't work. I'm not sure if Ethernet will work using the powerline adapter in between. Probably it will.

Do you know how to run Previous with PCAP? If you are on macOS you have to start Previous with super user privileges from inside the bundle:

Code Select Expand

cd Previous.app/Contents/MacOS
sudo ./Previous
When selecting PCAP under the Network options you have to select an interface. Most likely your Ethernet interface is en0. You can look it up in the System Information utility.

In NeXTstep you have to set up networking with the parameters of you home network. Use the same parameters that you would do for a real machine. Automatic networking and shared directory setup won't work. These are only available via SLiRP.

[paolo.bertolo]

I confirm it works, I could have on the same network a Previous machine (2.9, hosted on a MacPro 2013, PCAP connected via cable), along with a real black hardware (Cube 030).
I can connect to the internet using the Previous machine and ping both directions, from the Previous machine to the real one and vice versa, but that's pretty much it.
Maybe I am missing something part 1 - the "hosts" files is not seen by the Previous machine, you need to manually specify the entire IP address.
Maybe I am missing something part 2 - NFS sharing doesn't work, but I understand it's expected.

[wlewisiii]

Had to reinstall Linux Mint on my laptop so I checked out the current code and built it. It runs fine except that nothing I do can get it to see the network. It comes up, goes to 127.0.0.1 and that's it. PCAP, SLiRP, sudo, etc. Perhaps I'm missing something? Or was something changed in 2.9?

Thanks!

[andreas_g]

Could you build Previous again with some debugging enabled?

It can be enabled by setting LOG_EN_DATA and LOG_EN_ANALYZE to 1 (src/ethernet.c, lines 300 and 301).

It would be interesting to see debugging output during the boot process.

[wlewisiii]

Will do that on Saturday and post the debugging info here.

Thanks!

[wlewisiii]

Ok, had the time to rebuild 2.9 today. Ran it unprivligaed with slirp and then sudo with Pcap. I have the a screen shot of the boot rom monitor (looks the same for all boots so just one screen shot) but I did get the terminal out put redirected to text files. They're about 500k each. Where is a good place to upload them to?