Mac Plus help?

[alanswx]

Basilisk patches a bunch of traps and installs drivers to get almost all the features working. I would like to keep my days of writing 68k software behind me. I am thinking if we can get fetch working it might be the best solution. Because it expects to connect to a Unix server. It will try to do the right things.

I am going to read more about the serial chip.

I figured that was probably the case. I mean that feature is not even available on Minimig core

Another serious limitation is the 20MB hd size. Can that be expanded to 10x or even 100x larger?

I am wondering if we need any arbitrary size limit. In the scsi.v it is hardcoded to 20. I think it is now hardcoded to 50 or 500? I need to read the size of the image. But I need to look back at format of the image. There is a scsi driver on the image. A while ago I made myself a big image but didn’t realize the scsi.v was hardcoded.

I am thinking of seeing if we can take the weird sized dsk images we see on the web and artificially make it look like a scsi disk. (Append a scsi driver on the front) That is one of the reasons I wanted two or three scsi disks.

[ericgus]

Ash added a second vhd support. I need to check on it.

I think serial (and therefore ppp) is the next most important thing.

Any better way to get files on it would be great.
.

Well enabling midilink thats already built into mister will get you there, I believe PPP is also part of is feature set... the "hard part" would be adding the UART interfaces to the Mac core but the mac already had serial as part of it basic hardware (classic mac printers were serial based).. I presume thats not much of a leap.

[ericgus]

The link to the installer script is in the video description:

https://github.com/bbond007/MiSTer_BasiliskII
.
.

If you name it BOOT.VHD is should automatically select it. The ability to have multiple VHDs would be really nice.

Wonderful! ... Thank you .. Will also try renaming the file .. I dont think I ever tried that.. but even that small thing would go a long way to making using it less painful..

[ericgus]

Ash added a second vhd support. I need to check on it.

It would be really nice if we had a "UNIX" drive (like Basilisk II) which gives access to the native Linux filesystem. I guess that might be asking too much...

Yea that would be a nice plus ..

[ericgus]

I just want to say thank you to anyone who gives this core any sort of love.. its not had any real updates in a long time .. thanks in advance.

[ericgus]

The link to the installer script is in the video description:

https://github.com/bbond007/MiSTer_BasiliskII

Got it working thanks!
Though it was complaining about 24-bit at first .. I need to check what that was about..

BTW just on a gaff, any chance to get mini vMac working in the same way?
https://www.gryphel.com/c/minivmac/

I tend to use both BasiliskII and vMac .. I know vMac duplicates much of the same Macplus core it would be nice to have ..

anyway just tossing it out there.. thanks again for this .. its wonderful..

[spunkworks]

I would very much appreciate if anyone here could write step by step tutorial on how to set up the Mac II BasiliskII, somehow I can't get it working.
cheers

[BBond007]

For the MacPlus core, I suggest using one of the following SCSI2SD images from this site -->
http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/

These images already contain the necessary SCSI driver/partition for the MacPlus core and already have (minimal) OS 6.0.8 preinstalled. Make sure to pick one with System 6.0.8 as default - 7.5.5 won't work with the MacPlus core...

I went with the 2GB image. Because if you only have one drive you may as well go large

Rename "OS_608_2GB.dsk" to "BOOT.VHD" and place it in the "/media/fat/MacPlus" folder.

I am thinking of seeing if we can take the weird sized dsk images we see on the web and artificially make it look like a scsi disk. (Append a scsi driver on the front) That is one of the reasons I wanted two or three scsi disks.

I tried to convert some existing images using this method but was mostly unsuccessful and the process was very slow --> http://www.codesrc.com/mediawiki/index. ... romScratch

2GB is good enough for now...

I would very much appreciate if anyone here could write step by step tutorial on how to set up the Mac II BasiliskII, somehow I can't get it working.
cheers

BasiliskII setup is easy provided you have the right stuff:

You will need a mac ROM. The two I have tested are LCIII and Q605 ROMS. They should be easy to find - search the google for "all Mac ROMS"...

You will also need some sort of OS Image:

For example: "OS_755_650MBCD.ZIP" from that previous link --> http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/

Unzip this file, and it should contain a file "OS_755_650MBCD.iso"

Put that in "/media/fat/BasiliskII" along with the ROM.

You will need to create a blank VHD and this is where you will install the OS. BasiliskII handles multiple HDs so there is no real reason to go huge with this boot drive.

The following command will create a 512MB blank file:

• #dd if=/dev/zero of=/media/fat/BasiliskII/BasiliskII_BOOT.VHD bs=1MB count=512

(You can issue this command over the Framebuffer console (F9) or SSH)

Next, edit "/media/fat/BasiliskII/.basilisk_ii_prefs" and add change/change the following lines:

• rom Q605.ROM
  disk OS_755_650MBCD.iso
  disk BasiliskII_BOOT.VHD

Keep in mind that the "disk" order determines the boot priority. In this case, we want the ".ISO" to boot before the ".VHD"

When you boot BasiliskII (from the Scripts menu), it should ask you if you want to initialize the drive you just created. Yes - Do that. Name it whatever you want...

To install the MacOS, you can simply drag the "System 7.5.5" folder from the "OS 7.5.5 CD" drive to the new drive you just created. If you started with a different boot image than I suggested this folder will probably just be named "System". There may also be an installer application you can run.

Finally, you can remove "disk OS_755_650MBCD.iso" from the ".basilisk_ii_prefs" as you don't need this anymore.

Adding the line: "disk /media/fat/MacPlus/BOOT.VHD" to ".basilisk_ii_prefs" will allow you to access the MacPlus core HD inside BasiliskII in order to add stuff... For example I have a .5GB "Applications.HFV" and 1.5GB "Games.HFV" and was able to transfer all that to my 2GB MacPlus "BOOT.VHD". BasiliskII seems to be able to handle every image file I have tried which makes it very useful.

BTW just on a gaff, any chance to get mini vMac working in the same way?
https://www.gryphel.com/c/minivmac/

I tend to use both BasiliskII and vMac .. I know vMac duplicates much of the same Macplus core it would be nice to have ..

anyway just tossing it out there.. thanks again for this .. its wonderful..

Yes, I was able to get mini vMac working. It runs quite well on MiSTer, unfortunately, it does not understand the (SCSI2SD) disk images (like BasiliskIl) with the SCSI driver/partition that the MacPlus core requires. It also does not have access to the UNIX filesystem like BasiliskII. The emulator is configurable at compile-time (vs run-time) so I have compiled several versions of it:

• minivmac_512x384
  minivmac_640x480
  minivmacII_640x480
  minivmacII_800x600
  minivmacII_1024x768
  minivmacII_1280x1024

The "minivmacII" ones are MacII 8-bit color.

I hope this info helps...

[ericgus]

Thanks! .. yes..

I didnt even know you could get > 20mb on the plus core.. i will have to look into this, thank you! .. I very much appreciate the effort you put into all of this..

Are the compiled minivmac on your github?

[spunkworks]

Awesome guide man!! thank you so much!

[jca]

Does the core supports FD > 800K (ex: 1.44M)?
Is there a Window utility to convert FD images to dsk or is linux the only way?

[jca]

For the MacPlus core, I suggest using one of the following SCSI2SD images from this site -->
http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/

These images already contain the necessary SCSI driver/partition for the MacPlus core and already have (minimal) OS 6.0.8 preinstalled. Make sure to pick one with System 6.0.8 as default - 7.5.5 won't work with the MacPlus core...

I went with the 2GB image. Because if you only have one drive you may as well go large

Rename "OS_608_2GB.dsk" to "BOOT.VHD" and place it in the "/media/fat/MacPlus" folder.

.........

I hope this info helps...

I tried this disk image without success: I cannot boot from it. If I boot from the FD image provided with the core I see the HD and if I open it it says:
0 items, 32K in disk, 20,121K available.

[LamerDeluxe]

For the MacPlus core, I suggest using one of the following SCSI2SD images from this site -->
http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/

These images already contain the necessary SCSI driver/partition for the MacPlus core and already have (minimal) OS 6.0.8 preinstalled. Make sure to pick one with System 6.0.8 as default - 7.5.5 won't work with the MacPlus core...

I went with the 2GB image. Because if you only have one drive you may as well go large

Rename "OS_608_2GB.dsk" to "BOOT.VHD" and place it in the "/media/fat/MacPlus" folder.

.........

I hope this info helps...

I tried this disk image without success: I cannot boot from it. If I boot from the FD image provided with the core I see the HD and if I open it it says:
0 items, 32K in disk, 20,121K available.

I downloaded the 500mb version (6.0.8 ), to quickly try it, it booted to the desktop and the drive has a lot of system tools on it.

[LamerDeluxe]

BasiliskII setup is easy provided you have the right stuff:
You will also need some sort of OS Image:

For example: "OS_755_650MBCD.ZIP" from that previous link --> http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/

What's the advantage of using the iso file? Just to try, I downloaded a 755 disk image from that site, renamed it to boot.vhd and that works, just like with the Mac Plus core.

[jca]

BasiliskII setup is easy provided you have the right stuff:
You will also need some sort of OS Image:

For example: "OS_755_650MBCD.ZIP" from that previous link --> http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/

What's the advantage of using the iso file? Just to try, I downloaded a 755 disk image from that site, renamed it to boot.vhd and that works, just like with the Mac Plus core.

Thanks for the (involuntary) hint:
I downloaded the image from the link provided in the core readme http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/
There is no CD image there so I went to http://www.savagetaylor.com/downloads/ which shows the CD image.
I guess the image on the first page is an empty one.
I did not have any luck with 7.55 images so I used 6.08 1GB disk image.

[LamerDeluxe]

BasiliskII setup is easy provided you have the right stuff:
You will also need some sort of OS Image:

For example: "OS_755_650MBCD.ZIP" from that previous link --> http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/

What's the advantage of using the iso file? Just to try, I downloaded a 755 disk image from that site, renamed it to boot.vhd and that works, just like with the Mac Plus core.

Thanks for the (involuntary) hint:
I downloaded the image from the link provided in the core readme http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/
There is no CD image there so I went to http://www.savagetaylor.com/downloads/ which shows the CD image.
I guess the image on the first page is an empty one.
I did not have any luck with 7.55 images so I used 6.08 1GB disk image.

I didn't find the ISO file either, so I looked at the other download links and just guessed the right URL, which worked. The image I used was the 500MB 755 disk image, which I renamed, it worked without problems. The latest Performa ROM also works well with this emulator on the MiSTer.

[alanswx]

BasiliskII setup is easy provided you have the right stuff:
You will also need some sort of OS Image:

For example: "OS_755_650MBCD.ZIP" from that previous link --> http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/

What's the advantage of using the iso file? Just to try, I downloaded a 755 disk image from that site, renamed it to boot.vhd and that works, just like with the Mac Plus core.

Thanks for the (involuntary) hint:
I downloaded the image from the link provided in the core readme http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/
There is no CD image there so I went to http://www.savagetaylor.com/downloads/ which shows the CD image.
I guess the image on the first page is an empty one.
I did not have any luck with 7.55 images so I used 6.08 1GB disk image.

There seems to be some kind of bug that makes it so 7.x doesn't work. If anyone knows what hardware is causing it, I would love to try to fix it. I haven't dug in yet.

[LamerDeluxe]

What's the advantage of using the iso file? Just to try, I downloaded a 755 disk image from that site, renamed it to boot.vhd and that works, just like with the Mac Plus core.

Thanks for the (involuntary) hint:
I downloaded the image from the link provided in the core readme http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/
There is no CD image there so I went to http://www.savagetaylor.com/downloads/ which shows the CD image.
I guess the image on the first page is an empty one.
I did not have any luck with 7.55 images so I used 6.08 1GB disk image.

There seems to be some kind of bug that makes it so 7.x doesn't work. If anyone knows what hardware is causing it, I would love to try to fix it. I haven't dug in yet.

Like I said, I have 7.55 working here, with that downloaded 500MB image. I tried it in combination with different kinds of 1MB ROMs and all of them worked, the oldest one started up slow and didn't support color.

[jca]

Like I said, I have 7.55 working here, with that downloaded 500MB image. I tried it in combination with different kinds of 1MB ROMs and all of them worked, the oldest one started up slow and didn't support color.

I will have to investigate. The problem is the following:
with the CD image the screen goes from the empty Mac screen to a black screen for the disc images it start to boot, I get the welcome screen but the starting system popup with the progress bar does not go very far, the black portion of the progress bar is just a square and stays like that forever. The mouse is still responsive as I can move the cursor. Do you use the latest core? Does it works with the rom which came with the core?

[alanswx]

Thanks for the (involuntary) hint:
I downloaded the image from the link provided in the core readme http://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/05/28/ ... isk-image/
There is no CD image there so I went to http://www.savagetaylor.com/downloads/ which shows the CD image.
I guess the image on the first page is an empty one.
I did not have any luck with 7.55 images so I used 6.08 1GB disk image.

There seems to be some kind of bug that makes it so 7.x doesn't work. If anyone knows what hardware is causing it, I would love to try to fix it. I haven't dug in yet.

Like I said, I have 7.55 working here, with that downloaded 500MB image. I tried it in combination with different kinds of 1MB ROMs and all of them worked, the oldest one started up slow and didn't support color.

7.55 works on the mister?

[BBond007]

7.55 works on the mister?

On the MacPlus core no.... 1MB ROMS and color, no - probably talking about BasiliskII?

Would be nice if true

[LamerDeluxe]

7.55 works on the mister?

On the MacPlus core no.... 1MB ROMS and color, no - probably talking about BasiliskII?

Would be nice if true

Oh yes, that is correct, sorry for the confusion. That was what the conversation was about. No, the MacPlus core only works with 6.0.8.

I will have to investigate. The problem is the following:
with the CD image the screen goes from the empty Mac screen to a black screen for the disc images it start to boot, I get the welcome screen but the starting system popup with the progress bar does not go very far, the black portion of the progress bar is just a square and stays like that forever. The mouse is still responsive as I can move the cursor. Do you use the latest core? Does it works with the rom which came with the core?

You are talking about Basilisk II, right? Not the MacPlus core? Because I was responding to a message about setting up Basilisk.

[rondc]

Right now we have alternatives to use Macintosh in FPGA that are much better than using MacPlus core.

Since the Minimig core in MiST and MISter is able of running ShapeShifter, Fusion and Amax, you can run system 7, 7.5 and even 7.6.1 and all their programs and games in colour and at the most convenient resolution and bpp depth.

The Macintosh Plus core (plus_too or big_mess_of_wires) has nothing to do next to the possibilities offered by an Amiga emulating Mac. Even an Atari ST running Spectre GCR goes well with a 30% more of screen resolution rather MacPlus.

IMHO the MacPlus core needs more work, at the moment it is far from what I would like to see.

Just an opinion. Regards.

[breiztiger]

hi

the best system i can run on macplus core is 7.01 US

have someone sucess to boot 7.5 ?

[jca]

Oh yes, that is correct, sorry for the confusion. That was what the conversation was about. No, the MacPlus core only works with 6.0.8.
You are talking about Basilisk II, right? Not the MacPlus core? Because I was responding to a message about setting up Basilisk.

Thanks for letting me know, no wonder it did not work
I was suspicious as somewhere it is stated that 7.55 did not work, also the core rom is 128K and you were talking about 1M roms.
Nether the less many thanks for pointing to non empty disk images.