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:
  • 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.