The configuration file

The following settings are available in the SheepShaver_prefs file. Included is a short explanation on how to use them. This should give you a reasonable impression on which settings are available.

For clarity: the keywords are in bold and the possible values are just plain text. Where there is “true” or “false” behind a keyword this means the option can be turned on or of by setting one of these values.

Beware that not all settings are available in all of SheepShaver' builds

rom Mac_OS_ROM
(Linux) Use the rom file called Mac_OS_ROM from user's homedir.
(Windows) Use the rom file called Mac_OS_ROM from the location the executable is placed too. You can change this by adding a path before the rom file name e.g. c:\SheepShaver\Mac_OS_ROM

disk SheepHD500.hfv
(Linux) Name of the hard file to use as hard disk. Location defaults to the user's homedir.
(Windows) Name of the hard file to use as hard disk. Location defaults to same place the SheepShaver executable is placed. You can change this by adding a path before the rom file name e.g. c:\SheepShaver\SheepHD500.hfv

cdrom h:\
(Windows) Sets CD-Rom to use to drive letter h:\

windowmodes 7
Controls the set of resolutions you can use in Mac OS. A setting of 7 makes it possible to choose from 640×480 600×800 1024×768

screenmodes 63
not used, but controles full screen mode

extfs \
(Linux) Sets the root file system for desktop file access
(Windows) Has no effect, use enableextfs

enableextfs true
(Windows) Enables the external file system, when “true” it gives you the “my computer” icon on the Mac OS desktop. Use it in combination with extdrives

extdrives CDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
(Windows) List of possible drives to look for when starting SheepShaver. Drives can be masked out by specifying only the right set of letters. you can get access to your floppy drive by adding the drive letter in the string of external drives. It then shows up under “my computer”

pollmedia true
(Linux, Windows) Tries to automatically mount new media

debugextfs false
Turns on debugging of external file system

seriala COM1
Redirects the mac serial port to com1 port. Possible other value is FILE

serialb COM2
Redirects the mac serial port b to com2 port. Possible other value is FILE

bootdrive 0
(Linux) Selects the drive to boot from.
(Windows) For now this is not used, as SheepShaver automatically boot from cd if no bootable hard disk file is found

bootdriver 0
(Linux) Selects driver to boot with

ramsize 268435456
(Linux, Windows) Sets the ram size available to SheepShaver. 16 MB or less creates problems booting with extensions on.
use 33554432 for 32 MB
use 67108864 for 64 MB
use 134217728 for 128 MB
use 268435456 for 256 MB

Maximum ram is 1 GB

frameskip 0
Number of video frames to skip. Setting this lower improves user experience. Local users stick to “frameskip” set to 0. Remote users may want to change this value

keyboardtype 5
(Linux, Windows) Sets type of keyboard to be used. 5 = Mac extended keyboard II

gfxaccel true
graphic acceleration is on.

nocdrom false
(Linux, Windows) Use the cd rom

nonet false
(Linux, Windows) Use network

nosound false
(Linux, Windows) Enables sound

nogui false
(Linux, Windows) Enables the graphical user interface

noclipconversion false
(Linux) Sets conversion of clippings from Mac to X11 clipboard (Windows) Sets conversion of clippings from Mac to Windows clipboard

ignoresegv true
set to ignore illegal memory accesses. This can create problems but for now, it's the only way to get Apple Personal Diagnostics working in MacOS 9.0.4.

jit true
(Linux, Windows) Enables the just in time compiler. Disabling this makes your emulator much slower

jit68k false
Disables the old 68K mac just in time compiler. It is best left disabled.

keycodes false
(Linux, Windows) Disables SheepShaver looking for a file defining your keyboard key mapping

mousewheelmode 1
(Linux, Windows) 0=mouse wheel click for page up or page down; 1=mouse wheel click for lines up or lines down (in combination with setting for mousewheellines)

mousewheellines 3
(Linux, Windows) Number of lines to scroll when using the scroll wheel

idlewait true
Tells SheepShaver to stop execution when there is nothing to do.