Emulating OS X Server v1.2

[eagle]

Hi, all.

Now that we're seeing so much action with Previous emulating m68k NeXT, I'm wondering if it would be possible to have a PPC emulator that runs OS X Server v1.2.  I no longer own a Mac that is capable of running OS X Server v1.2, but I still own the OS license and would love to be able to run it again.

Thoughts on that one?

[t-rexky]

I doubt that any of the existing PowerPC emulators have the required hardware emulation to run Rhapsody, considering how picky Rhapsody is about the hardware.  The only available options that I know about are PearPC and QEMU.  You could always give them a try but the chances are very slim: http://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2492

As an alternative, I would be delighted to assume new ownership of your Mac OS X Server v1.2 media and license, if you are interested...  

[eagle]

Thank you for your generous offer, but I will be keeping my OS X Server media and license.

I should try the available emulators to see what they can do.

[Noth]

I'd like to try OSX Server 1.2 in PearPC too ... Can't get a hold of the iso though. The oldest OS I've tried is OSX 10.1, it installed quite flawlessly. If you're going to run it in linux, I strongly recommend using the win32 0.5 binary with WINE as it's got the JIT working, which the *nix versions don't have. It makes one hell of a difference speedwise...

[neozeed]

It runs now!





I downloaded the latest win64 binary from https://qemu.weilnetz.de/w64/ And this got me into single user mode... And yes I can type!

It's crazy slow, but wow... this is great!


https://imgur.com/a/OIf6H7h

Full album of installation.

So basically boot up the MacOS part of the CD to partition the virtual disk. Nothing special here

Code Select Expand

qemu-system-ppc-screamer.exe -L pc-bios  -m 256 -M mac99 -prom-env "boot-args=-v" -prom-env "auto-boot?=true" -prom-env "vga-ndrv?=true" -hda 2.vmdk -cdrom "Mac OS X Server 1.2, MOSX_Booter.iso"  -sdl -device usb-mouse -device adb-keyboard -boot d


Boot up the OS X side of the CD, and it'll format & start the install

Code Select Expand

qemu-system-ppc.exe -L pc-bios  -prom-env "boot-args=-v rd=sd0" -drive file=..\2.vmdk,index=1,format=vmdk,media=disk -M g3beige -cpu g3  -drive file=..\"Mac OS X Server 1.2, MOSX_Booter.iso",index=0,format=raw,media=cdrom -prom-env "boot-device=cd:9,\\:tbxi" -m 256 -net none


I wasn't sure where the boot stuff is, so boot off the CD again, but point root to hd0, and it'll complete the install.

qemu-system-ppc.exe -L pc-bios  -prom-env "boot-args=-v rd=hd0" -drive file=..\2.vmdk,index=1,format=vmdk,media=disk -M g3beige -cpu g3  -drive file=..\"Mac OS X Server 1.2, MOSX_Booter.iso",index=0,format=raw,media=cdrom -prom-env "boot-device=cd:9,\\:tbxi" -m 256 -net none

_________________

[t-rexky]

Cool, this is almost as exciting as when I got it to boot on one of my G4 Cubes!

[neozeed]

Cool, this is almost as exciting as when I got it to boot on one of my G4 Cubes!

Tell me more about this G4 cube adventre.....

[eagle]

Wow, this is awesome!  Once I'm done with my move and all my stuff is out of storage, I will be checking this out!!

Thanks!

[neozeed]

Wow, this is awesome!  Once I'm done with my move and all my stuff is out of storage, I will be checking this out!!

Thanks!

If you have a PPC it'd be interesting to know what the speed difference is between Rhapsody and OS X DP 1...   Because, on Qemu at least once the kernel is loaded XNU-68.4-1.1 is significantly faster than old NeXTSTEP v5.5 ..

[Scutboy]

Cool, this is almost as exciting as when I got it to boot on one of my G4 Cubes!

Tell me more about this G4 cube adventre.....

I second this request - this would be fun to run on my "extra" Cube!

[eagle]

You guys are making me wish I still had a G4 Cube...

[t-rexky]

You guys are making me wish I still had a G4 Cube...

Don't mean to brag, but I have three G4 Cubes :oops:

Actually two complete kits and one donor machine for parts.  My primary Cube has a 1.2 GHz (I think) CPU and a modified (by me) Geforce 3 card in it.  Other two are stock.  The speakers are disintegrating though, the foam-rubber surrounds to be exact.

Now, all I can recall about installing OS X Server 1.2 is that it needed 1.2v3, and that the standard installation process fails, at which point you have to do some "manual" magic.  I don't recall the details, but I think it is related to destination disk selection, perhaps...

The other thing is that OS X Server is insanely picky about hardware and USB.  The only way I got it to work was by plugging the keyboard into the Cube USB port directly and plugging  the mouse into the keyboard USB hub.  Don't try to plug-in the keyboard into the LCD USB hub as it will not be recognized.  And it does not work with the Sonnet 1.2 GHz CPU card, just the stock 450 MHz or 500 MHz Cube CPU.

I think this is it, everything else worked as expected.  Although I have to admit that Server 1.2v3 running on a 500 MHz Cube feels similarly responsive to my Turbo Color running NS3.3 off a SSD drive.  Well, maybe Server feels a little bit faster, but not by much.

[Scutboy]

You guys are making me wish I still had a G4 Cube...

Don't mean to brag, but I have three G4 Cubes :oops:

You're not trying - I have five, plus three organ donor chassis  :wink:

I'm pretty sure I have 1.2v3 - I'm going to have to give this a spin...

[eagle]

Finally getting around to trying this, and not having much luck:

Code Select Expand

[eagle@nest(X12):2074:/Users/eagle/Downloads/QEMU]Programs/qemu-system-ppc -L pc-bios -m 256 -M mac99 -prom-env "boot-args=-v" -prom-env "auto-boot?=true" -prom-env "vga-ndrv?=true" -hda 2.vmdk -cdrom "Mac OS X Server 1.2, MOSX_Booter.iso" -device usb-mouse -device adb-keyboard -boot d
WARNING: Image format was not specified for '2.vmdk' and probing guessed raw.
        Automatically detecting the format is dangerous for raw images, write operations on block 0 will be restricted.
        Specify the 'raw' format explicitly to remove the restrictions.
Trying to write invalid spr 0 (0x000) at 00f110b4
Trying to read invalid spr 0 (0x000) at 00f110bc
qemu-system-ppc: Trying to execute code outside RAM or ROM at 0x12181020
This usually means one of the following happened:

(1) You told QEMU to execute a kernel for the wrong machine type, and it crashed on startup (eg trying to run a raspberry pi kernel on a versatilepb QEMU machine)
(2) You didn't give QEMU a kernel or BIOS filename at all, and QEMU executed a ROM full of no-op instructions until it fell off the end
(3) Your guest kernel has a bug and crashed by jumping off into nowhere

This is almost always one of the first two, so check your command line and that you are using the right type of kernel for this machine.
If you think option (3) is likely then you can try debugging your guest with the -d debug options; in particular -d guest_errors will cause the log to include a dump of the guest register state at this point.

Execution cannot continue; stopping here.

Exit 1


I have never run QEMU before, so there's no telling what I'm doing wrong.  Any tips for a first timer?

[eagle]

Anybody?  I'd love to be able to run OSXS1.2 again!