Rhapsody OS: Installing Apple’s Lost x86 OS from 1998 on a 3.4 Ghz i7 CPU & SSD

[@foch3]

I want to see more of Rhapsody that looks cool.

[@O_mores]

It is, indeed. Unfortunately, Rhapsody was released at the peak of Windows dominance in 1998, so almost no one wanted to develop software for a platform with such a tiny market share, especially when even writing software for the more popular Mac OS 9 wasn’t very compelling.

[@masterkamen371]

Haha thanks, this is awesome. You really are a genius for this stuff. I mostly gave up on Rhapsody and OPENSTEP when my AGP ATI 3D Rage Pro was not supported.

[@O_mores]

Haha, thanks! I'm glad you liked it. I went ahead and made the video anyway, even though I knew from the start it wouldn't get much distribution on KZbin because it’s such a niche topic. My videos on Windows 286, Windows NT 3.1, or about a rare Chromatic Mpact video card (that no one heard about it) didn’t go well with the algorithm. But then, my last video on Windows Vista-bam!-25K views in 10 days!

[@masterkamen371]

@@O_mores Indeed, unfortunately you really have to be a degenerate in order to succeed on KZbin these days. The Vista video got a surge of views most likely because Vista is in the minds of kids as the "terrible OS". Do a Windows Me video in the same fashion and I bet you'd have more views once again. You'd also have to cut the academic, well researched stuff and rather cater to the average viewer's ADHD with shorter videos, clickbait titles and what not. The average viewer will click away after a minute of watching your average video. It's why I have not tried my hand in KZbin that much, you have to run over all your morals in order to be an internet personality. I say keep the great quality.

[@O_mores]

The more controversial the more views... Funny enough, my Windows Me video is actually my best performer so far-seems like nostalgia for chaos really pulls people in. I'll keep balancing quality with what clicks!

[@UCs6ktlulE5BEeb3vBBOu6DQ]

Never had a Mac. I love learning about old macs.

[@O_mores]

I had many Macs in the early 2000s, including the iconic iMac G4 'Lamp,' which looked amazing. But since I was a student and more into gaming at the time, a PC running Windows was the thing for me...

[@UCs6ktlulE5BEeb3vBBOu6DQ]

@@O_mores I had it all, 3dfx, zip drives, 386sx33, 486dx2, P133, PII-450, etc etc etc. Only PowerPc Macs interest me. Current Macs for me are closed Linux distro on Gucci hardware. Its like those that drink Starbuck for the prestige.

[@O_mores]

My passion for Macs began at a local computer store that, surprisingly, acquired a huge lot of used G3 iMacs while there was no demand for them locally. These beauties with translucent plastic still held value for Mac enthusiasts, but they were already outdated in 2004. The store had hundreds of them, mostly models from 2000 with G3 processors running at 400/450 MHz. I had friends at the store who helped me to get the best Macs, and I made new friends by selling them iMacs . I became known as 'the iMac guy.' Those were good times.

[@UCs6ktlulE5BEeb3vBBOu6DQ]

@@O_mores Back in 2001 I got a keyboard of one of these and it was so genius because it had a usb port on it for me the mouse! Imagine using only 1 port on your computer for both the keyboard and the mouse! PC master race didn't reach that level yet in 2024

[@masterkamen371]

@@UCs6ktlulE5BEeb3vBBOu6DQ Now picture this, they had this concept back in the 80s! Instead of including an unnecessary port for the mouse on the motherboard, they simply put one and then had an ADB hub on all the keyboards, which let you plug in a mouse along with a tablet or something.

[@missiondemolition]

This is so cool! I used this on a 200 MHz 604e. Model was Power Macintosh 7300/200. I used DR1 and 2. I also used a Pentium II for the x86 version.

[@O_mores]

Nowadays, running Rhapsody on a modern i7 3.4 GHz should run as fast as it can possibly be. But back on period-correct hardware, it wasn’t exactly blazing fast, which I think adds a certain charm to the experience... :)

[@missiondemolition]

@@O_moresIt does. The PPC version has a bootscreen in color. My Pentium II runs at 266 MHz and my 7300 runs at 200 MHz. The DR1 PowerPC bootscreen is my favorite one.

[@kirishima638]

‘At least 32mb of RAM’ And in 2024 that wouldn’t even be enough to load a single typical web page. How far we have fallen.

[@pikachulovesketchup666]

You are still free to use 1990's software on daily basis.

[@kirishima638]

@ woosh

[@O_mores]

32MB in 1998 was something like is 16GB today, almost standard for newly built PCs. Anyway my new PC came with 16MB and that was good enough for Windows and games like Quake 1, but it was so bad for big games released in 1997/1998 - like Quake II, Unreal or Half Life - there was so much swapping...

[@nalinux]

@@O_mores Unreal needed exactly 96 Mo ram to stop swapping :) But I think 32 Mo was not so commun in 1998. Most of my friends just had 16.

[@O_mores]

@nalinux Back when I was a student, I came across an interesting description about Unreal and RAM. I actually used it during a free computer course I taught for a student association I was part of. Here it is, from the readme.htm: "How Unreal will perform under different RAM conditions: Less than 16 megabytes: Unplayable. 16 megabytes: Playable, but very frequent swapping to the hard disk. We highly recommend turning on "Low Detail Textures" and "Low Quality Sound" to reduce memory usage. 32 megabytes: Some swapping. 64 megabytes: Great, with perhaps a teeny bit of swapping. 128 megabytes: Oh Yes! "

[@vmisev]

Thanks for the video! I never used nor saw Rhapsody IRL, but I do remember Yellow Box (API for Rhapsody) on NT 4 very well. Yellow Box was integral part of Heidelberg Signa Station (imposition software) and their Delta Technology RIP & Workflow Software back in late ‘90s / early 2Ks. Only some time later we got our first G4 with Cheetah (OS X 10.0/1.3.1).

[@O_mores]

You're welcome, and thank you for sharing your experience! I haven’t worked with Heidelberg Signa Station, but I once had to tackle imposition while preparing my first science fiction book: "The First Stage". The goal was to fit two pages of the book vertically on an A4 sheet (e.g., page 1 and page 2) and position the third page sideways to avoid wasting space. It turned out to be a real nightmare!

[@vmisev]

@@O_mores So, front page: (4, 1, otatebox{90} 5); back page: (2, 3, otatebox{-90} 6)? 😉 TBH, I never liked Signa Station (but Delta RIP was great); I always preferred PREPS, it gave much more freedom in arranging stuff around.

[@O_mores]

I remember using some unconventional solutions... My approach involved printing separate PDFs for odd and even pages, then combining them into a single PDF. While it worked, it wasn’t the proper procedure. Anyway it was cool to be able to get my book printed in small batches - like 10 or 20 and I was doing this like every week or two.

[@vmisev]

@@O_mores Hey, kudos for getting job done! 👍BTW, for small format / short run / print on demand needs ‘Quite Imposing’ for Acrobat is a great tool. It’s about $900, so IMHO every short run digital print shop should have it. And it’s not author job to make imposition, that responsibility is on print shop and should be free for medium/big jobs, or charged not more than 1 hour of operator time for really small jobs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@rodrigogirao8344]

To be nitpicky, Apple's first go at x86 was the 1992 "Star Trek project".

[@O_mores]

You're absolutely right-I knew about the 1992 'Star Trek Project,' but it slipped my mind in the moment. Running Rhapsody got me so excited that I shifted gears from a Windows 7 video to quickly putting this one together.

[@DhavidSetiawanKilluaDhavid]

Oh wow, I miss Bootcamp after I saw this video

[@O_mores]

Same here! Running Windows on a Mac was like my favorite dish... :)

[@DhavidSetiawanKilluaDhavid]

@O_mores Steve Jobs make this software more friendly after switching Intel at 10.5 Leopard. Now, it's gone after change to Apple SillyCone

[@friedgpu]

two things you got wrong. first, rhapsody was not the first time Apple experimented with x86. there was a "Project Star Trek" in 1992 to port the Classic Mac OS to x86 with help from Novell. secondly, the "X" in Mac OS X is the roman number 10 and pronounced as such.

[@O_mores]

I'm a hardcore Windows fan doing "on request" an Apple video. That said, I did have a 'Mac phase' back in the 2000s, so I'm not entirely new to the Mac world but I definitely know much more about PCs and Windows history than I do about Macs. For instance I’ve even heard people pronounce it as Mac OS "EX".

[@liliwinnt6]

hi, is your ftp server accessible from the open internet? i saw something interesting in there.

[@O_mores]

No, it's not. But what's interesting down there? I can provide you with a separate link.

[@liliwinnt6]

how about all the nt and 95 98 related pics stored inside? thanks

[@O_mores]

That is actually the "funstuff" folder from Windows 95 CD, a similar folder called "cdsample" you can find on Windows 98 CD, you can find there some .mpg videos, Age of Empires 1 demo and more stuff... You can easily download these .ISOs from winworldpc.

[@liliwinnt6]

thanks, i'll see to that

[@liliwinnt6]

very well, i found the "funstuff" folder in Windows 95 OSR2.5 cd iso but no "cdsample" folder in Windows 98 4.10.2222A cd iso maybe i need to download the vintage version of 98 cd iso?

[@mickplayvm]

wow new video this cool and interesting

[@O_mores]

I was planning to do a Windows 7 video running on Intel 14th Gen hardware, but playing with Rhapsody was fun enough to forget about Windows for a few days.

[@ages2001]

When will you get AM5 motherboard? Or will you get? I still have no solution for win 9x without PCI to SATA adapter.

[@O_mores]

I'm still unsure whether to go for AM5 or switch to socket 1851 for the 15th Gen CPUs, now called 'Ultra 200.' I’m more inclined to choose a Z890 motherboard as it’s top-tier, and it has what I want: a PS/2 port. I haven’t found any AM5 X870 motherboards with a PS/2 port, so I have to downgrade to some mid-range chipset to have PS/2. In a month or so I will do the switch...

[@ages2001]

@O_mores okay

[@LiamLG_Official]

Try OS/2.

[@O_mores]

Definitely! OS/2 has better hardware support, especially for some PCI sound cards and legacy peripherals, making more rewarding experience in the end... I guess. It also has support for classic DOS and Windows 3.x applications, so I can't pass it...

[@sleepingbee101]

Looks better than the os they have now😂

[@O_mores]

Now it's all about integrating AI stuff in the OS... :) "Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.2 With New Apple Intelligence Features - Wednesday December 11, 2024"

[@sleepingbee101]

@O_mores if apple integrated blockchain technology in their operating system. Then now we're talking.

[@MaddTheSane]

For the most part, Rhapsody's look was based on the Platinum theme introduced with Mac OS 8 (and available for older OSes via the Appearance control panel). There were some UI hold-overs from OpenStep/NeXTStep, but it was clear that these were just not yet ported to the new UI. Of course, Apple was planning on a new UI theme to wow people who would get Mac OS X, called Aqua. Those wouldn't be visible on developer previews until 4. Fun fact: Internet Explorer 5 for Mac decided to make their toolbar look like an iMac G3's bezel. This caused Apple to question the development team, thinking that someone leaked the Aqua UI to Microsoft.

[@sleepingbee101]

@@MaddTheSane intellect 🤯

[@erwinvb70]

Please practice saying Apple instead of Aypal

[@O_mores]

I’ll try, but it seems I have signed an exclusive deal with 'Aypal'.