#MARCHintosh

[@OldAussieAds]

My family growing up had a Mac Plus. I was very lucky to have it - there was no better computer for my school work. But when we upgraded to the Mac LCII with upgraded V RAM and a CD ROM drive (not a common peripheral at the time)… they were some of the best years of my life. Prince of Persia, Lemmings, Creepy Castle, Maelstrom, 4D Boxing, Beyond Dark Castle, Crystal Quest, Sim City 2000, HyperCard, MacroMind Director, ResEdit, late night BBS sessions while listening to CDs and more. Try as I might, I just can’t capture that excitement with modern computers.

[@jengelenm]

Holy shit. Seeing this video reminds me i played Dark Castle when i was 10 or so...my nephew had a macintosh, so i think it was over there at his house...vague memories...

[@2600hz]

Excellent, just got this running on my Pi400!

[@RetroTechChris]

Wow, this was REALLY cool to see. Might be time for me to get a Pi 400 :-)

[@retrobitstv]

It's a fantastic little system and a lot of fun to play with! So far, it's made a great Amiga, Mac, and can also play 10's of thousands of classic arcade and console games.

[@zgolkar]

I am loving pretty much every single Retrobits video in the series after I discovered them through the MiSTer news latest one. The only thing I find hard to follow is when switching to high resolutions -many of us watch on iPads, etc. Please consider easier to read text! Great content, thanks!!!

[@retrobitstv]

Thanks! I'm still getting a hang of getting good video captures and I agree some of those screens were defaulted to much too high a resolution. Make sure you vote in the poll about which devices you use under the Community tab!

[@zgolkar]

@@retrobitstv it turns out that Community posts are not available on iPad :D

[@TheSulross]

that last MiSTer option could be called "68K Inception" - the levels so deep that one's brain neurons start to smoke from the overload

[@michaelctanner]

Nice! Will fire up old 68k Mac Stuff on my Pi 😎 Thanks as always for the review/tutorial/demo/build/fun😉

[@retrobitstv]

NP, glad you enjoyed it and good luck with your projects!

[@lsdowdle]

I'm not sure why the MacPlus core wasn't allow you to have a functional hard drive bootable system post-install. I played with it more than 6 months ago and I am pretty sure the hard drive install worked for me... but I've since gotten a larger microSD card for my MiSTer FPGA and didn't bother copying over the MacPlus setup I had played with. I did end up discovering a few archive sites that had quite a bit of older macOS software that could be run... and given the fact that most of the work was just copying it from floppy images onto the drive... it was amazing just how much easier things were to install back then mainly because they took up a fraction of the disk space they do today.

[@retrobitstv]

Oddly, I did get it to boot from the HDD image once in a while, but not repeatably. I also found that if I added or removed individual files from the installed System folder, it would boot where it wouldn't previously, or break where it had previously worked.

[@matt4193]

@@retrobitstv Perhaps you need to set the SRAM addon board instead of the internal DDR3 memory.

[@RetroGamer_George]

I had no issues creating a Hard Drive and installing the Mac OS on my MiSTer, it worked for me on my first try, the only issue I did have was if I didn't shut the machine down properly through the menu the Hard Drive image would corrupt.. besides that it all worked perfectly for me.

[@retrobitstv]

Interesting. I recently saw an Adrian's Digital Basement where he seemed to have no issues booting the Mac Plus core from a a HDD image either. I guess there must be some variability in the hardware, assuming we're all running the latest software versions. There's a issue in the Cave 68k GitHub page for a handful of people having the same crash that I was having with that core as well. I wonder what the commonality is. I know there have been issues with the 128MB RAM module, but my hardware passes all the tests...

[@Anaerin]

Basilisk II also supports JIT for the 68000-series processors, which will increase speeds even further! Still, I'd be real interested to see how ShapeShifter or Fusion works on a Vampire v4.

[@retrobitstv]

Neat! I did notice the section about JIT in the manual but I kind of glossed over it since it mentioned it was for x86. I tried turning it on anyway on this ARM build, but I don't know if the binary distro I used was built with that option or if it even works with this architecture or not. I didn't get any higher benchmark scores with this particular build :(

[@squirlmy]

@@retrobitstv I wish I could justify buying the Vampire4 to myself. I never used Amiga, in fact my high school and college years are Apple IIe (and my best friend's C64). But my first computer as a working adult was Mac Quadra650-. 68040. My biggest question is: shouldn't the Vampire FPGA be able to be re-programmed to run MacOS on "bare metal" Mac core? Is there enforceable IP from Apple preventing this? Running it on an emulation of Amiga sounds wasteful of resources- ie too slow. Adrian's Digital Basement recently had a video of a Mac Classic Accelerator "card" which just about replaced the entire motherboard with a 68030 chip and slots for appropriate memory. Surely an FPGA can do the same.

[@davidste60]

You might know this already, but the latest version of CoffinOS works on emulators out of the box now. So you can try Shapeshifter on a kickass virtual Amiga using WinUAE or FS-UAE very conveniently (everything is included in the CoffinOS image file).

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

@@retrobitstv likely not, then. I found JIT doesn't help things while gaming, at least when running WinUAE on x86. If anything it can make it stutter and act weird. I would presume it mostly helps for math-heavy apps like Lightwave, Scenery Animator, Imagine and ADPro (and benchmarks like the much-maligned but classic and ubiquitous SysInfo).

[@NomadicDmitry]

Classic Mac on Raspberry Pi, oh yeah! ;)

[@Lee_Adamson_OCF]

Neat. My main machine back in the early-mid 2000s was a PowerMac 8500/120 with a 300 MHz G3 card in it. I ran Debian on it, of course. But there was also a Mac emulator, or rather not 100% an emulator, as it ran code natively and used traps to redirect toolbox calls to the "emulator". But I don't remember what it was called...... Anyway, it would run on its own VT, so I could instantly switch back and forth between PPC Linux/XWindows and System 7 or 8. It was pretty freaking sweet. I miss that machine......

[@squirlmy]

Perhaps it was Mac-on-Linux? It ran on PPC Linux, but only actively developed around 2005-7. There was a spin-off called Mac-on-Mac when OSX was still new.

[@OldAussieAds]

Why would you spend all that money and be limited by PPC Debian? Or was PPC a stack better than what ARM Linux is now?

[@cathrynm]

Mac looks more fun on the Mister with color. Going to try that out, I think.

[@pentiummmx2294]

why does lemmings not have can can on level one, i remember i had a mac version lemmings and it had can can on level one.

[@retrobitstv]

Huh, I didn't even notice until you mentioned it. The Amiga version certainly had can can on level 1 as well. The PC version had a different level 1 song entirely IIRC.

[@pentiummmx2294]

@@retrobitstv i downloaded lemmings on my imac g3 from macintosh garden and it had can can on just dig

[@Spokavriel]

Curious about your Keyboard issue. Did you change your USB poling to reduce controller lag in a gaming core? I'd think if that change was global it might cause that kind of behavior with the keyboard since the Mac core is looking for apple bus frequency on the serial input.

[@retrobitstv]

Hrm, good question. I have not made any changes to the USB settings from their defaults. I am using a pretty old base install of MiSTer though, perhaps some of my configurations are obsolete. I could try with a fresh install.

[@_.OX._]

Followed this to a tee but it still fails to boot, not sure what I've missed - Edit: It had an old install that was defaulting to minivmac, all working now and with JIT thanks Matt.

[@retrobitstv]

Sweet, glad you got it working!

[@georgemaragos2378]

Hi - Nice Video Personally i run the following Apple Mac Emulators Mini vMac OS 6 to 7 Sheep Shaver OS 9 Your video is very good and through, i also recommend anyone getting stuck to search key word "redundantrobot" for help in setting up sheep shaver and Basilisk I also have versions of these emulator on my PPC 2003 Apple Ibook G4 and my sons 2007 Imac core2duo and of course the win7 and win 10 machines Regards George

[@bogdahn689]

My mac had a micro crt, not a 4k, mister is the best for me

[@rager1969]

Good job. Maybe you can figure how to make the Apple emulator in Retropie automatically boot to Total Replay .hdv file for #Appleril

[@The8BitDuke]

Very cool! I have been playing with various Mac emulators and systems like Mini VMac and I thought the MiSTer core would do everything I needed, but I ran into the same issues you bring up. I have never used an Amiga or touched the MiniMig core since I had never used one, but now I am curious to get ShapeShifter running on it and try that out on the MiniMig core! Do you have any setup resources or tutorial you'd recommend on setting that up in MiniMig? Great stuff, very easy to follow - subscribed for sure!

[@retrobitstv]

Thanks and welcome! The Mac Plus HDD booting issue was fixed for me in a recent update, so that is working pretty well now. Still, it's nice to have a more fully featured color Mac, so ShapeShifter under Minimig is still a good option. I did a video on how to set up and use ShapeShifter on a real Amiga which can be found here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jImWmJWfit2he5o I touched on how to set up the Minimig core in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3qzYZ5pfManfqc but it's far from a comprehensive guide, more like a quick tour of features. I found it was easiest just to set up my virtual Amiga under emulation on my PC first and then copy the disk image and ROM file over to the MiSTer later once I had loaded all the software I wanted on it. The Minimig documentation does talk about installing the RTG driver and shared drive support which are super nice to have: github.com/MiSTer-devel/Minimig-AGA_MiSTer Good luck and have fun!

[@The8BitDuke]

@@retrobitstv Awesome, thank you for the indepth reply, super appreciated!!! Can't wait to dive in!!!

[@mortimermango791]

22:12 - This is NOT how the music in this level is supposed to sound... I grew up playing this on a 68040 and the music is supposed to be much faster and lively. I experienced this as well when trying sheepshaver , same happens with Flashback, it ain't the same :(

[@mysteriousghost4852]

anyone have weird artifacting when the video is at 1080p fullscreen when the os boots up? lol

[@teejmiller]

Dear Matt, Thank you for taking the time to produce such an in-depth discovery of this unique multi-role open-source hardware device. I feel people do not fully appreciate this very low cost package with endless boundaries. I enjoyed your adaptation to run Apple 3.14159. Yours Truly, Dr. Tom from the Gulf of Oman.

[@HammyHavoc]

You've posted this same comment on multiple videos across multiple channels. 🤔

[@teejmiller]

@@HammyHavoc I've posted a similar comment on another of Matt's videos. Weird comment to a weird comment, but thx for noticing me.

[@kjakobsen]

At least they don't overpromise.

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

Until just now, I had believed for 30 years that the Amiga version of Lemmings was the superior version... nope... Mac. There's more resolution and detail (the little buggers have EYES!) and the sound and animation is just as good. Although, in my defense, I believe it came out for the Amiga in 1991, and the Mac version wasn't released until 1993... so for 2 years, the Amiga version stood alone... until they went and ported it to EVERYTHING. Looking at the WikiPedia entry, I see they ported it to PSP, and it's supposed to look sweet... hmmm... I have a PSP emulator...

[@retrobitstv]

Yea, they sure did port it to everything, even the 8-bit systems! I had the PC version back in the day, which is pretty comparable to the Mac version.

[@DrDavesDiversions]

Wow, neat episode, Matt - you really packed the experiments into it! For the MiSTer Mac Plus core, it looks like it's about where Mini vMac is, but without the large image mounting support. My A-Max/Amiga-based Mac Plus will not run Dark Castle, neither on 68040 nor 68000. 8:44 Apple Pi :) Wow the Basilisk II emulation flies on that Pi 400 - plus networking! ... and what is that screen resolution?!

[@retrobitstv]

I had problems running Dark Castle on my A3000 also. It would run, but locked up in certain spots. I should have emphasized what the Mac Plus core does well right now, as it will certainly meet the needs of many folks who just want to run software from original disk images. I was running Basilisk II at full 1080p resolution, which is why everything is so small on the screen. I even tested it at ultrawide resolutions and was surprised to find that MacOS 7 handled 21:9 without breaking a sweat. retrobits.tv/pi400_basilisk_ultrawide.jpg

[@DrDavesDiversions]

@@retrobitstv Neat, ya. System 6 works fine in my weird screen resolutions that the Amiga supports with A-Max, too... And all that graphics code written in 68k assembler! I've been having fun reading/bsdiff'ing the annotated, disassembled ROMs :) www.bigmessowires.com/rom-adapter/plus-rom-listing.asm

[@squirlmy]

"it looks like it's about where Mini vMac is" -I wish you hadn't made that comparison. You may not be aware, vMac started in 1996 and stopped 1999-2001. I used to run it on my 68k Quadra! So "where it is" is not much further from where it was 20 years ago. I don't want to wait another 20 years for MisSTer to catch up!

[@DrDavesDiversions]

​@@squirlmy :) What I think is perhaps irrelevant. :) I was out of the Mac emulation game since 1994 until now. My understanding is that vMac and Mini vMac are two different things and that the latter is still maintained, like Mini vMac 37 was released this month. Do I understand that correctly?

[@temporarilyoffline]

Can you get the pi to emulate the amiga emulating the mac emulating an apple ][ emulating a c64?

[@retrobitstv]

There is a PC emulator for 68k Macs, so it might be possible to use the Pi to emulate an Amiga to emulate a Mac to emulate a PC to run Linux on. That would complete the circle :P

[@temporarilyoffline]

@@retrobitstv That would be amazingly useless! Challenge on!

[@jonglass]

Lemmings! I still have my original manual, with the anti-pirate codes. My wife and I, between the two of us, completed all the Lemmings levels. And dude, you need to work on your Marathon vidboi skillz ;-) Oh, and now I have a new use for my Pi 4. It makes more sense to run emulation on that than on my big Mac. I've already got BII, but I wonder if the config files it uses will work with the Pi version?

[@retrobitstv]

Haha I've never played Marathon before and the keyboard controls are weird! I imagine the BII config files are more or less the same, minus some specific PI graphics and path settings. Any disk images you've already got should just work.

[@jonglass]

@@retrobitstv Cool. thanks!

[@davidwujcik6830]

Heh, Dark Castle was the first official computer game I ever played.

[@UCs6ktlulE5BEeb3vBBOu6DQ]

Classic Mac in 1080p kewk

[@sonicunleashedfan124]

I have never gotten it to work on retropie, I just use it in the desktop environment on raspbian/raspberry pi OS

[@MichaelDoornbos]

Great video. Is it weird that I prefer the 8 Bit Prince of Persia?

[@retrobitstv]

Not at all! I never got into the newer 3D ones all that much but still enjoy the originals. The smooth animation was pretty amazing back in the day!

[@MichaelDoornbos]

@@retrobitstv phew ;-) I always feel weird in the retro community because I have no nostalgia for the Amiga (I missed it completely somehow). I'd play an 8 Bit game over something more modern any day ;-)

[@squirlmy]

It was originally programmed by a single programmer, Jordan Mechner, on the Apple II, after his very successful Karateka game. Ironically, overall Apple II software sales (1989) were sharply declining, being displaced by the Mac. It was the re-porting of his 6502 assembly code to other platforms which made it a big hit. Mechner also published his programming notes into two books. The 8-bit versions are the vision of a single genius. The sequels are a team effort where Mechner just participated in the design, and not really as a programmer.

[@squirlmy]

@@MichaelDoornbos It was mainly a European thing. The one(American) person I know got it for his computer animation major (the first year it was ever available as a major). Amiga was best for video editing, and the best alternative to IBM clones, which America grabbed onto right away.

[@brostenen]

Why not use MC?

[@_.OX._]

Matt do you know if it's possible to have a collection of .dsk and .img files in the macintosh Retropie directory so that each entry can run directly from that menu as a seperate game? Could the filename be passed as a parameter to the emulator on startup and mounted as a disk?

[@retrobitstv]

Yup, this is entirely possible! An easy way to do it would be to remove any "disk" statements from basiliskii.cfg and then modify emulators.cfg with the following: --disk %ROM% Now whenever you select any of the .dsk files listed in Emulation Station, it'll boot straight to that particular image. Note that this will break the "Start" menu item though! There are probably more advanced ways to tackle this with Runcommand scripts.

[@HaveYouTriedGuillotines]

So what you're saying is that the fastest 68k Macintosh is a Raspberry Pi? ;)

[@retrobitstv]

How about "the fastest 68k Macintosh for under $100 is a Raspberry Pi" :)

[@CaptainRufus]

My Mac iisi has 65 megs of ram. You might have had a bit more luck at that level. But internet on a g3 ibook with 9.2 and Classzilla is kinda pokey. But I can get to Macintosh Garden with it so jobs a goodun.

[@retrobitstv]

I didn't try to see how much the emulator could support but I will crank it up a few more notches and see.

[@gamepad3173]

in the case of the MIster, I'd prefer the real thing. using a USB floppy drive and 1.44MB floppy disks for the Mac Plus.

[@torokun]

:( I was getting excited about the possibility of hooking up MiSTer to my faulty Mac Classic... :(

[@retrobitstv]

The project doesn't appear to be under active development (last major feature update was Jan 2020) but hopefully it will get some attention in the future!

[@torokun]

@@retrobitstv there was an update to the core that just dropped like yesterday. I look forward to your update!!!

[@rsuryase]

Graphics look better than SNES.

[@overdriver99]

Thanks for video! every video you uploaded is so good! I am curious if Mister core works with CRT option which I miss on classic mac.. I would try on CRT once Mac core is mature enough. ..BTW I am disappointed that you are using VI editor.. now I quit watching your video LOL! ok just kidding. I never learn VI I love Pico or emac. what a useless argument which editor is better 20 years ago.

[@retrobitstv]

Y/W, glad you enjoyed it. The Mac Plus core on MiSTer outputs 22khz analog RGB, so it would probably need a Apple CRT or a multisync unit that can handle the signal. Haha, everyone's got their favorite editor. I just got used to vi since it's found just about everywhere without having to install anything additional. Sometimes that mattered, like back in the Solaris 8 days :)

[@kenknight5983]

Most people don't go to that much effort to show how to get an emulator running

[@retrobitstv]

I was worried that including all the configuration steps would be too dry, but I wanted to get it documented in case it helps someone down the road.

[@kenknight5983]

I've never got basilisk running

[@squirlmy]

@@kenknight5983 Maybe you weren't looking at the right places, although I assume you just meant KZbin when you said "to show". There's a lot of how-tos on just setting up Retropie, and Mame, too. Although you could argue those are entirely different kinds of emulators.

[@e8root]

Yes I do want ketchup but I fail to see how this is relevant to the video topic

[@retrobitstv]

Ketchup is always relevant :)

[@gnustep]

An FPGA does not emulate. It actually implements the hardware on a gate array.

[@squirlmy]

while this is true technically, there's yet a lack of terminology for describing what the FPGA does to distinguish it from running on original CPUs. "Simulate?"

[@davidste60]

It emulates, you can check the definition of emulate in a dictionary if you're not sure. It doesn't implement the hardware, it implements the logic, which is also what software emulators try to do. FPGAs can potentially achieve better cycle accuracy IF the developers can get all the information about the internal circuitry of the chips, and even then an FPGA core is not automatically better than a software emulator.

[@badbusiness2113]

@David Stevenson Thank You