6 ms·

Building Basilisk II for iOS (2021)

102 points by alden5 4y ago

mattkevan 4y ago
Followed this guide a while back and got it working - an iPad makes a wonderful classic Mac, especially with Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Even thought about getting an iPad mini and putting it in a Mac Plus enclosure, but the fact I’d need a developer account put me off somewhat, couldn’t be bothered to keep rebuilding the app.
- msephton 4y ago
  With a developer account it's a once a year rebuild. Without it's once a week unless you automate it with AltStore.
sharikous 4y ago
There is now experimental support of 68k Quadra emulation in qemu too. I wish it expand to the whole 68k Mac line.
retrobrandcool 4y ago
This is incredibly useful software(if you can get it working). I used sheepshave to retrieve some old game files to run in ScumVM awhile back, since apparently new macs can’t mount ‘*.img’.
0x38B 4y ago
A sibling post shows UltraPaint running on his iPad Pro: https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/04/17/turning-an-ipad-pro-into-the-ultimate-classic-macintosh/ https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/04/17/turning-an-ipad-p...
- msephton 4y ago
  I use a mix of apps but these days use mostly Deneba artWORKS, which is essentially an enhanced UltraPaint or a cutdown Canvas 3.x depending on your point of view. Their plugins can all be shared. I have another blog post about that. https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/04/25/mixing-external-tools-across-deneba-software/ https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/04/25/mixing-external-t...
  - 0x38B 4y ago
    Thanks for the link. I never used MacOS back in the day, but it looks beautiful running on the iPad. I used iPads from the first to the 2017 Pro model as my primary computers on the go, but the lack of a terminal and Unix tools (zsh, rsync, openssh) did them in for me. I miss the the Apple Pencil, which I found fantastic for drawing. Do you have any videos of you drawing on the iPad in artWORKS or UltraPaint? Would love to see it, since I don't have an iPad to try it on.
    - msephton 4y ago
      I'll prepare some time-lapse video/animation of my next drawing. This might be of interest: https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/07/30/playdate-1-bit-illustration-postmortem/ https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/07/30/playdate-1-bit-il...
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Maursault 4y ago
Excellent, amazing, incredible, best emu for Mac 68k ever, but can never get on the AppStore (boo AppStore!); only for developers. Still...
- msephton 4y ago
  You can install it using AltStore (though without my screen size and scaling modifications) it was hat floats your boat.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    I'd much rather that Apple relaxed its position on emulators and old software. I think if someone figured out a way to compromise iOS and variants using nearly 40yo software run in an emulator, this would be an amazing feat, and ultimately only serve to make the host OS more secure, stable and resilient. I also think the copyright argument is stillborn because there is no market for 40yo software, so copyright holders are no longer able to earn from it no matter what happens.
    - msephton 4y ago
      Of course, me too. But right now you can install through AltStore or build it yourself, or wait forever for Apple to change.
- MBCook 4y ago
  Even ignoring the app store emulator policy, Basilisk II requires ROM images doesn’t it? And they could never distribute that.
  - Someone 4y ago
    Not never. For the original Mac ROMs, we’re just over halfway the 75 year for copyright expiration (in the US). ‘Only’ 37 years to go. (If I’m not mistaken, the first software for the ENIAC is out of copyright. I don’t know whether any of it still exists, though)
JKCalhoun 4y ago
Very cool. I got MinivMac running on the Raspberry Pi — with a 7" LCD display I made pretty convincing "classic Mac" running on modern hardware. I may have to revisit it. I was able to get THINK C installed and was trying to figure out again how to open/compile one of the old apps that I had written back in the late 80's. The thought of writing Mac "Toolbox" code again, using ResEdit is hilarious to me. EDIT: wow, guy has some great 1-bit art too [1]. MinivMac Raspberry Pi on the workbench [2]. [1] https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/03/22/asanegami-morning-hair/ https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/03/22/asanegami-morning... [2] https://imgur.com/XgnGYH9 https://imgur.com/XgnGYH9
- ofrzeta 4y ago
  That MinivMac Raspberry Pi looks nice. I don't quite get from your post who made it. EDIT: nevermind, after cyberstalking you a little bit I found some more info: https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/systemsix-a-modern-homage-to-macintosh-computers https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/systemsix-a-modern-ho..., https://www.engineersneedart.com/systemsix/systemsix.html https://www.engineersneedart.com/systemsix/systemsix.html
  - JKCalhoun 4y ago
    Yeah I did two similar projects — the first just setting up the emulator. But when I wrote an e-ink calendar that looked like the old Mac OS, I made a simplified version of the "enclosure" I had done for the earlier emulator. So they look similar but differ in function (and scale, the e-ink display is smallish so had to scale down the compact Mac accordingly).

102 points by alden5 4y ago

Followed this guide a while back and got it working - an iPad makes a wonderful classic Mac, especially with Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Even thought about getting an iPad mini and putting it in a Mac Plus enclosure, but the fact I’d need a developer account put me off somewhat, couldn’t be bothered to keep rebuilding the app.

msephton 4y ago
With a developer account it's a once a year rebuild. Without it's once a week unless you automate it with AltStore.

sharikous 4y ago

There is now experimental support of 68k Quadra emulation in qemu too. I wish it expand to the whole 68k Mac line.

retrobrandcool 4y ago

This is incredibly useful software(if you can get it working). I used sheepshave to retrieve some old game files to run in ScumVM awhile back, since apparently new macs can’t mount ‘*.img’.

0x38B 4y ago

A sibling post shows UltraPaint running on his iPad Pro: https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/04/17/turning-an-ipad-pro-into-the-ultimate-classic-macintosh/ https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/04/17/turning-an-ipad-p...

msephton 4y ago
I use a mix of apps but these days use mostly Deneba artWORKS, which is essentially an enhanced UltraPaint or a cutdown Canvas 3.x depending on your point of view. Their plugins can all be shared. I have another blog post about that. https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/04/25/mixing-external-tools-across-deneba-software/ https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/04/25/mixing-external-t...
- 0x38B 4y ago
  Thanks for the link. I never used MacOS back in the day, but it looks beautiful running on the iPad. I used iPads from the first to the 2017 Pro model as my primary computers on the go, but the lack of a terminal and Unix tools (zsh, rsync, openssh) did them in for me. I miss the the Apple Pencil, which I found fantastic for drawing. Do you have any videos of you drawing on the iPad in artWORKS or UltraPaint? Would love to see it, since I don't have an iPad to try it on.
  - msephton 4y ago
    I'll prepare some time-lapse video/animation of my next drawing. This might be of interest: https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/07/30/playdate-1-bit-illustration-postmortem/ https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/07/30/playdate-1-bit-il...

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Maursault 4y ago

Excellent, amazing, incredible, best emu for Mac 68k ever, but can never get on the AppStore (boo AppStore!); only for developers. Still...

msephton 4y ago
You can install it using AltStore (though without my screen size and scaling modifications) it was hat floats your boat.
- Maursault 4y ago
  I'd much rather that Apple relaxed its position on emulators and old software. I think if someone figured out a way to compromise iOS and variants using nearly 40yo software run in an emulator, this would be an amazing feat, and ultimately only serve to make the host OS more secure, stable and resilient. I also think the copyright argument is stillborn because there is no market for 40yo software, so copyright holders are no longer able to earn from it no matter what happens.
  - msephton 4y ago
    Of course, me too. But right now you can install through AltStore or build it yourself, or wait forever for Apple to change.
MBCook 4y ago
Even ignoring the app store emulator policy, Basilisk II requires ROM images doesn’t it? And they could never distribute that.
- Someone 4y ago
  Not never. For the original Mac ROMs, we’re just over halfway the 75 year for copyright expiration (in the US). ‘Only’ 37 years to go. (If I’m not mistaken, the first software for the ENIAC is out of copyright. I don’t know whether any of it still exists, though)

JKCalhoun 4y ago

Very cool. I got MinivMac running on the Raspberry Pi — with a 7" LCD display I made pretty convincing "classic Mac" running on modern hardware. I may have to revisit it. I was able to get THINK C installed and was trying to figure out again how to open/compile one of the old apps that I had written back in the late 80's. The thought of writing Mac "Toolbox" code again, using ResEdit is hilarious to me. EDIT: wow, guy has some great 1-bit art too [1]. MinivMac Raspberry Pi on the workbench [2]. [1] https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/03/22/asanegami-morning-hair/ https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/03/22/asanegami-morning... [2] https://imgur.com/XgnGYH9 https://imgur.com/XgnGYH9

ofrzeta 4y ago
That MinivMac Raspberry Pi looks nice. I don't quite get from your post who made it. EDIT: nevermind, after cyberstalking you a little bit I found some more info: https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/systemsix-a-modern-homage-to-macintosh-computers https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/systemsix-a-modern-ho..., https://www.engineersneedart.com/systemsix/systemsix.html https://www.engineersneedart.com/systemsix/systemsix.html
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Yeah I did two similar projects — the first just setting up the emulator. But when I wrote an e-ink calendar that looked like the old Mac OS, I made a simplified version of the "enclosure" I had done for the earlier emulator. So they look similar but differ in function (and scale, the e-ink display is smallish so had to scale down the compact Mac accordingly).