SheepShaver FAQ

This page is maintained on-demand. Current editors include:

• Gwenole Beauchesne
• Howard Spoelstra a.k.a. Cat_7
• Toshimitsu Tanaka
• TODO: please add your name here

Prerequisites to run SheepShaver:

• You need a rom file
• You need a supported Mac OS on cd
• You need the SheepShaver program

If you experience issues like disappearing folders or files, you have not set the “extfs” configuration-option correctly. Create a folder specially for sharing files with the host OS.
Set it like this:

extfs /path/to/the/folder/you/like/to/share/foldername

To repair errors, you can use the following command:

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a avbstclinmedz MyFileName

In Linux: PowerPC MacOS 7.5.2 up to MacOS 9.0.4.
In Windows: PowerPC MacOS 8.5 up to MacOS 9.0.4.
In Mac OS X: PowerPC MacOS 8.5 up to MacOS 9.0.4

• SheepShaver supports PowerMac PCI ROM images. Those Old World ROMs are 4 MB in size and support MacOS 7.5.2 up to MacOS 9.0.4. An easy means to know whether your ROM image would work or not is to execute the following command:

  strings ROM_image_file | grep "Boot "

  Then check for the following strings:

  • Boot TNT (PowerMac 8600)
  • Boot Alchemy (PowerMac 5400/6400)
  • Boot Zanzibar
  • Boot Gazelle (PowerMac 5500/6500/20th Anniversary Macintosh)
  • Boot Gossamer (PowerMac G3 Beige)

• SheepShaver also supports a subset of New World ROM images. The following are reportedly working with the SheepShaver build available from this site (but your mileage may vary with the newer build available at www.emaculation.com):
  • MacOS ROM 1.1.2 from MacOS 8.5
  • MacOS ROM 1.2.1 from “iMac Update 1.1”
  • MacOS ROM 1.4 from MacOS 8.6
  • MacOS ROM 1.6 from “MacOS ROM Update 1.0”

• Old World ROMs can be extracted from your PowerMacintosh with the ROM Grabber(mirror)utility.
  Note: run the program with extensions and virtual memory OFF.
• New World ROMs are available in your MacOS System Folder.
  

• Full screen mode can hang your SUSE Linux installation. You can try to change the .sheepshaver_prefs file like this:
  

screen fbdev/horizontal resolution/vertical resolution

screen fbdev/1280/1024

Take care to also disable the gui as it will overwrite your settings with the “normal” ones. So set the next line in your config file:

nogui true

• Sound is supported, but in Mac OS 8.5/6 you need to enable it through a somewhat obscure control panel. When in Mac OS, look in the folder “Apple Extras” for a control panel called “Sound” (not Monitors and Sound) and select the output device “Built-in”. Sound should now work.
  

• In Mac OS 9 you can use the “Sound” control panel to select the output device.