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<title> Mini vMac FAQ </title>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
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<link rel="canonical" href="faq.html">
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</head>
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<body>
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<div>
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<i> <a href="https://www.gryphel.com/index.html">www.gryphel.com</a>/c/<a href="index.html">minivmac</a>/faq
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- <a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/feedback.html">feedback</a> </i>
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</div>
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<hr>
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<h4 align=center>
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Mini vMac
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</h4>
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<h2 align=center>
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Frequently Asked Questions
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</h2>
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<hr>
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<p> <b> I have a question that isn’t answered in this FAQ or
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in the <a href="index.html">documentation</a>. What do
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I do? </b> </p>
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<p> Ask on one of the various internet
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<a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/forums/index.html">forums related to Mini vMac</a>.
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</p>
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<h2> Support requests </h2>
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<p> <b> How do I get my Macintosh programs and other files
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into Mini vMac?</b> </p>
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<p>
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To use a program or other file with Mini vMac, you
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need to get it into a disk image. The recommended way to do this
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is with the
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<a href="extras/importfl/index.html">ImportFl</a>
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utility.
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</p>
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<p> <b> How can I read a floppy disk that was written
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on a Mac Plus? </b> </p>
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<p> Modern machines can’t read the 400k and 800k floppy disks
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used by the Mac Plus. This a hardware problem, not solvable in
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software - they lack the variable speed motor of the old drives.
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I don’t know any reason why some company couldn’t now manufacture
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a floppy drive that reads the old disks, but I’m not aware of
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anyone doing so. </p>
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<p> So the only way to read such disks is to
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<a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/buymac/index.html">get an old Mac</a>.
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A somewhat later Mac than the Mac Plus would be useful, one that can
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read 400/800k floppies, but has some options for talking to modern
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machines, such as 1.4M floppies or ethernet. </p>
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<p> An alternative is to hire someone to do this for you. See the
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<a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/convert/index.html">Old Macintosh Disk Conversion Services</a>
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page for some possibilities. </p>
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<p> <b> How can I print from Mini vMac? </b> </p>
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<p> There is no direct support for printing, but you can use the
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ability built into System 6.0.8 and later to print to
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a Postscript file. You can then export this file to the host
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computer, and print it from there. </p>
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<p> To print to a Postscript file, select LaserWriter in the
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Chooser, then print from your application as normal, except
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that in the print dialog, choose PostScript File as the
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destination. To transfer the resulting file to the host
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computer you can use <a href="extras/exportfl/index.html">ExportFl</a>.
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The Preview application in Macintosh OS X 10.4 or later can open and
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print PostScript files. (The name of the file should end
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with ".ps" to allow Preview to recognize it as PostScript.)
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Other operating systems may require
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additional software to print PostScript files. </p>
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<p>
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When selecting LaserWriter in the Chooser, you can ignore
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the warning about requiring AppleTalk. The print to file feature of this
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driver will work without AppleTalk. Choosing Cancel is fine, which
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leaves AppleTalk off. Choosing OK, which turns AppleTalk on, is
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also fine. The standard Mini vMac variation
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without LocalTalk emulation still tries to correctly emulate the serial
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port, with no LocalTalk network attached, which is sufficient for
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turning on AppleTalk. (AppleTalk is the protocols that
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are used to talk over the LocalTalk network hardware.)
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</p>
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<p> <a href="extras/exportps/index.html">ExportPS</a> is a
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specialized variation of ExportFl that saves a few
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steps when printing. </p>
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<p> Warning : printing to a Postscript file in System 6.0.8 has
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sometimes been observed to generate invalid Postscript.
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This problem may be fixed in later System versions. I've
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not had trouble with my preferred version:
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System 7.1 with System Update 3.0.
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</p>
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<p> <a name="rom"> <b>
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Can you send me a ROM image? </b> </a> </p>
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<p> No. </p>
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<p> That would be a violation of copyright law.
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I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that
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it is ok to produce
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a product that might be used for illegal purposes, so
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long as there sufficient legal use for it.
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Therefore I try to emphasize that
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Mini vMac can be used legally. The legal
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method is to own an old Macintosh
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(see the
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<a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/buymac/index.html">Buy Mac</a> page)
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and extract the ROM image (see
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<a href="extras/copyroms/index.html">CopyRoms</a>)
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for your own private use. (Some people think
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that this isn’t legal either, but that
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isn’t my understanding of U.S. copyright
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law, though I am not a lawyer, and laws could
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differ in other countries.) </p>
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<p> <b> I own an old Macintosh that I can’t extract
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the ROM image from (because it is broken,
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or because I don’t have the means to make it
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communicate with newer machines).
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Can you send me the ROM image? </b> </p>
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<p> Sorry, no. </p>
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<p> That would still be a copyright violation.
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It only reduces the chance that anyone would
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care. (I think, I am not a lawyer.)
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Speaking of caring, as far as I know
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Apple doesn’t seem to have bothered
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lately to stop the various illegal copies
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of Macintosh 68k ROMs floating around the web.
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But I expect there would be limits
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to their tolerance. </p>
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<p> <b> Will you tell me where to find an illegal
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ROM image? </b> </p>
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<p> Of course not. </p>
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<p> <b> Why do I get a message that the ROM image may be corrupted? </b> </p>
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<p> Some of the illegal ROM images floating around the web
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are in fact corrupted. </p>
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<p> <b> Can you provide a bootable disk image? </b> </p>
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<p> No. This would require Apple System Software, involving issues
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similar to those mentioned above for ROM images. Except that
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<a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/sw/system/index.html">System Software</a>
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may be downloaded freely from Apple. </p>
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<p> <b> What System Software versions can be used with Mini vMac? </b> </p>
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<p> Mini vMac can currently be used with up to System Software 7.5.5, and
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any earlier version back to the earliest known prereleases. In theory
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some (distant) future version of Mini vMac may be able to work with up to
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Mac OS 8.1, the last version to work on a 680x0 Macintosh.
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Later system software, starting with 8.5, runs only on a PowerPC
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Macintosh. </p>
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<p> <b> Which emulation should I use (Mac Plus, Mac 128K, Mac SE)? </b> </p>
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<p> Which version to use depends on what ROM image you have.
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If you have all of them then the Mac Plus emulation is probably preferable.
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There are few detectable differences in the Mac SE emulation, and it’s
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not as well tested. The Mac 128K emulation can run some very early
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software that won’t run on a Mac Plus, but a lot of software that
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works on the Mac Plus won’t work on a Mac 128K (and only 128K of
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memory is very limiting). The Mac Plus was sold for the longest period
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of any Macintosh model, and so software written over a long period of
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time works well on it. </p>
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<p> <b> Why doesn’t the ROM from a Mac SE/30 or Mac SE FDHD work in the
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Mac SE version of Mini vMac? </b> </p>
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<p> As described on the
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<a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/mac68k/index.html">Mac 68k page</a>, the Mac SE/30 and the
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Mac SE FDHD are different machines from the Mac SE, and use
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different ROMs.
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I believe the Mac SE FDHD is quite similar to the Macintosh SE,
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but it has been reported that it is not close enough for the
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Macintosh SE FDHD ROM to work in the Macintosh SE emulator.
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The Mac SE/30 is much more different. </p>
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<p> <b> How is Mini vMac different from Basilisk II? </b> </p>
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<p> The biggest current difference is that Mini vMac emulates
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the earliest Macs, while
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<a href="http://basilisk.cebix.net/">Basilisk II</a>
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emulates later 680x0 Macs. The fundamental technical difference
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is that Basilisk II doesn’t emulate hardware, but patches the drivers in ROM, while
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Mini vMac emulates the hardware (with the exception of the floppy drive). </p>
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<p> The consequences are that some of the earliest Mac software will run in Mini vMac and
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not Basilisk II, while much of the later software will run in Basilisk II
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and not Mini vMac. For software that will run in either, the emulation in
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Mini vMac can be more accurate, while Basilisk II offers many more features
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(including color, larger screen, more memory, network access, and more host
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integration). </p>
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<p> Mini vMac aims to stay simple and maintainable.
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So Mini vMac only has compile time preferences, where as Basilisk II has
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many run time preferences. And Mini vMac uses a rather simple emulation of the
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processor, compared to Basilisk II, which could make Mini vMac slower. </p>
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<h2> Feature requests </h2>
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<p> <b> Color?</b> </p>
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<p> Maybe someday. The next computer that I plan to emulate is
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the Mac II, which has color.
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Meanwhile, you could try Basilisk II. </p>
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<p> <b> Larger screen? </b> </p>
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<p> It might be possible to hack the ROM of the Mac Plus to
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support larger screen sizes. (Actually, the original vMac
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for Macintosh supported larger screen sizes, though in a
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way that doesn't work for Mini vMac.) But since it would
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not be emulating any Mac that ever existed, there
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definitely would be compatibility problems. It would work
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except when it didn't, which is not very satisfactory.
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If I implemented this, it would mostly be as a stepping
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stone to emulating later Macs, which is the preferred
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solution. </p>
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<p> update: This is now implemented in the
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stable version. </p>
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<p> <b> More memory? </b> </p>
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<p> The Mac Plus (and Mac SE) can support no more than 4MB
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of memory, since the RAM starts at address 0 and the ROM
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is at address 0x00400000 (4MB). </p>
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<p> After figuring out how to patch the ROM to support a
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different size screen, I investigated whether it would be
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possible to patch the ROM so that it could function
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elsewhere in the address space. The answer was no.
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The Macintosh System software, in particular the part
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that installs bug fixes for traps that otherwise would
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be implemented ROM, assumes and depends on the exact
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address of the ROM. It would not be enough to patch
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the ROM, any System Software version that might
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be used would have to be patched as well. </p>
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<p>
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The (incomplete) Macintosh II emulation currently supports up
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8MB. The Macintosh II ROM is not "32-bit clean", and so has
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problems with more memory. But there is a later software
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update that is supposed to make a Mac II 32-bit clean
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(I assume by providing replacements for many of the ROM routines.)
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Unfortunately this doesn't work in Mini vMac yet, for
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unknown reasons. Maybe in the future.
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Meanwhile, you could try Basilisk II.
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</p>
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<p>
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I've received a
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"<a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/mail/v2.html#m27">report</a>"
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that there was a third party upgrade for the original Mac that allowed
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it to support more than 512K of memory. So presumably it is possible
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for Mini vMac to do the same. I have not investigated this yet.
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</p>
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<p> <b> Networking? </b> </p>
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<p> Mini vMac does not currently support networking.
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A real Mac Plus can use TCP/IP over a modem. All that software
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will work in Mini vMac, but there is no modem emulation.
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Mini vMac emulates the serial ports with nothing attached.
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In the future, I’m thinking there could be a replacement of
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the Mac Plus TCP/IP software to run inside Mini vMac, that
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could use the Mini vMac extension mechanism to talk to the
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TCP/IP API of the host operating system.
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But that is likely quite some way away.
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Meanwhile, you could try Basilisk II. </p>
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<p> <b> Save PRAM? </b> </p>
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<p> A real Macintosh has a small amount of memory that is preserved
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when the computer is turned off. This memory, the PRAM, is used to
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hold settings such as sound volume, start-up system drive,
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and printer connection. </p>
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<p> vMac saves this information to a file upon quit,
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and loads this file on launch. Very early versions of Mini vMac
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also did this, until one day Mini vMac stopped working for me.
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I eventually realized that it was because the saved PRAM was
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corrupted. (This was a problem on real Macs too.) To prevent
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support headaches, I stopped saving the PRAM state. </p>
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<p> If you compile your own version of Mini vMac, you can
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change the initial settings of the PRAM in the source code.
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A possible future feature for the Mini vMac build system
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is to make this easier, by providing build options for
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the more useful PRAM settings. </p>
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<p> <b> Preference dialog? </b> </p>
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<p> (For options such as which machine to emulate and how much RAM) </p>
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<p> Since the goal is to keep Mini vMac small and simple, easily portable and maintainable,
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I don’t plan to implement any run time preferences, only compile time preferences.
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Run time options are more complex to implement than compile time options, and would
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make the program larger. If implemented in a simple way, having to constantly check
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what machine is being emulated at run time would make the program slower. </p>
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<p> Another major concern is that preference files can get corrupted.
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(Similar to the PRAM issue mentioned above.) This is a very common problem
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with a lot of software. Not having a preference file
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prevents this problem. </p>
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<p> I would prefer to continue trying to make it easier to use compile time options.
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Mini vMac is small enough that you can keep multiple copies of it, each
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customized to a different use. </p>
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<p> <b> Port to Syllable, SkyOS, Palm, BeOS, Amiga, or ...? </b> </p>
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<p> Porting to other operating systems is fun, and central to the
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goals of Mini vMac. However, it takes a while for
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me to learn enough about programming for an operating system
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as different as these to port Mini vMac, and relatively few people
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benefit, so that is not too high a priority for me. </p>
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<p> On the other hand, if someone who is already familiar with
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an operating system would like to port Mini vMac to it, I'd
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be happy to assist, such as by answering questions about
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how Mini vMac works. Mini vMac is intended to be portable, has
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been ported a number of times already, and is relatively
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simple, so I think it should be relatively simple to learn enough
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about Mini vMac to be able to port it to a new operating
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system (compared to me learning enough to program for a new
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operating system). </p>
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<p> <b> Port to Apple II, TRS-80, Atari XL, Commodore 64, or ...? </b> </p>
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<p> In theory, Mini vMac can be ported to anything vaguely
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resembling a computer, so long as it has enough storage.
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So if you’re willing to do enough swapping of floppy disks,
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cassettes, or whatever, then it should be possible.
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However, it would be very difficult to create such ports,
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and impractical in the extreme. (As in, boot times measured
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in days, months, or years.) </p>
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<p> For a practical Mini vMac port to be possible, a computer
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should have enough fast memory (RAM) to hold the
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emulated machine's RAM (minimum 128K for Macintosh)
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plus the emulated machine's ROM (minimum 64K), plus enough
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to hold the code of the emulator. A 16 bit computer
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like those mentioned above can only directly access
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64K of RAM total. Some workarounds are possible,
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but they are complex, and it is hard to imagine anyone
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would ever bother. </p>
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<p> Also, the host computer should preferably be at least 50 times faster
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than the original Macintosh to allow the emulation
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to run at a useable speed. The computers mentioned above
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are slower than the original Macintosh. (Modern computers are
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thousands of times faster.) </p>
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<p> <b> Emulation of a Mac LC475 or Quadra650 or IIci or ...? </b> </p>
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<p> Maybe someday. I’d like to eventually add emulation of other Macs, starting
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with the Mac II. I can’t work on emulating the machines in any order;
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each is a stepping stone to the next. For example the Mac SE was much
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like a Plus except for having to figure out ADB. The Mac II will be a
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much bigger step, having a 68020, a 68881 FPU, graphics card, and a
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new sound chip. But at least I have good documentation for it; I don’t
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have as much for later machines. Later machines also tend to use a
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68030 or higher, which means having to deal with virtual memory. </p>
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<p> <b> Emulation of a PowerPC Macintosh? </b> </p>
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<p> No. PowerPC emulation will never be in Mini vMac, no matter how long I
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maintain it. It is “Mini” vMac, so one has to draw the line somewhere.
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Mini vMac is about preserving early Macintosh software. Such software,
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when written properly, will run efficiently on any 680x0 Macintosh.
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A PowerPC Macintosh runs this software by emulation. Emulating an
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emulator is much slower than just one level of emulation. (A
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PowerPC processor is faster than a 680x0 processor, but an emulation
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of a PowerPC processor is no faster than the emulation of a 680x0 processor.) </p>
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<p> Instead, see
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“<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SheepShaver">SheepShaver</a>”
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or
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“<a href="http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/">PearPC</a>”.
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</p>
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<p> <b> Emulation of a Lisa? </b> </p>
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<p> In theory, emulation of a Lisa running MacWorks is within the scope
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of Mini vMac. But it is not a high priority, since a Lisa is complex
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to emulate, and emulating it would not greatly advance the primary
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goal of preserving early Macintosh software.
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Instead see Ray Arachelian’s
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“<a href="http://lisa.sunder.net/">Lisa Emulator Project</a>”.
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</p>
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<p> <b> Emulation of an Apple II? </b> </p>
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<p> No. An Apple II has no real similarity to a Macintosh.
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This is “Mini” v“Mac”, if you want one emulator
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for everything, see
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“<a href="https://www.mamedev.org/">MAME</a>”.
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</p>
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<p> <b> Open source ROM replacement? </b> </p>
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<p> No. While on some computers the ROM is relatively simple
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and just used to load the operating system, on an
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early Macintosh the ROM contains all the core software that
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makes it a Macintosh. The earliest system software
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doesn't have much more than a few bug fixes. (Which,
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by the way, is possible because the code in ROM is
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accessed through a dispatch table in RAM.) A
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replacement for the ROM would be much more complex than
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the whole of Mini vMac, and there would always
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be compatibility issues, so long as it wasn't
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identical to Apple's ROM. </p>
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<p> It has been done though. See
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“<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executor_(software)">Executor</a>”.
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</p>
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<h2> Other </h2>
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<p> <b> What format is the Mini vMac source code in,
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and why don't you use something more standard? </b> </p>
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<p> It is a zipped hfs disk image. The
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"<a href="build.html">Building Mini vMac</a>"
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page describes how to use it. </p>
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<p> The "real" Mini vMac is not an emulator, but a program
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|
that generates source code for various Macintosh 680x0
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|
emulators for various development tools. This is the Mini
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|
vMac build system. The build system is a program that runs
|
|
on a Macintosh 680x0, which allows it be used by anyone
|
|
who has Mini vMac (or any other real or emulated 680x0
|
|
Macintosh). The source code for the build system is in a
|
|
format suitable for using with a Macintosh 680x0 C
|
|
compiler. The build system is not made to be portable to
|
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other kinds of computers, as that would add much more
|
|
complexity. </p>
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|
<p> Even if the build system were not needed for generating
|
|
all the various variations of Mini vMac, it would still be needed
|
|
for supporting the various development tools. There are no
|
|
standard source formats that are directly usable on all
|
|
computers and development tools that Mini vMac is ported
|
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to. </p>
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|
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<p> <b> What should I do with my old 680x0 Macintosh? </b> </p>
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<p> Keep it, of course. Owning an old Macintosh allows you to
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|
use Mini vMac legally. Even if Mini vMac doesn't emulate
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|
your specific 680x0 Macintosh model, it may at some future
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|
date, or a different emulator may. </p>
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<p> If you really can't keep it, then some of the places listed
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on the <a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/buymac/index.html">Buy Mac</a>
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page could also be used to sell one. </p>
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<p> : </p>
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<p> Back up to - <b><a href="index.html">Mini vMac</a></b> </p>
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<hr>
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<div>
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<i> <a href="https://www.gryphel.com/index.html">www.gryphel.com</a>/c/<a href="index.html">minivmac</a>/faq
|
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- <a href="https://www.gryphel.com/c/feedback.html">feedback</a> </i>
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<br>
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copyright (c) 2020 Paul C. Pratt - last update 2/29/2020
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