[B2-devel] SheepShaver 2.2 from RPM + MacOS8.5 CD on PlexWriter = strange problems

[Carsten K. <ck...@ku...>]

I discovered SheepShaver a few days ago, and have since tried to get it 
running on my Linux machine. I have SuSE 8.1, SuSE 9.0 and LFS on my 
disposal, as well as my wife's PowerMac 8600/300 with MacOS9.1 and OS X 
installed on it.

First I tried to build SheepShaver from the sources, but as hard as I tried, I 
always failed at the configuration stage (some macro with GTK 1.2 in it). So 
then I tried to get the pre-built RPMs running and first succeeded with them 
on Suse 9.0, and after having "upgraded" my LFS system to gcc 3.2.2 in order 
to resolve the libstdc++ 3.2.2 dependency, also on my LFS system. I took my 
wife's Mac OS 8.5 CD and tried to mount it -t hfs, but that failed. So I used 
her Mac, and ftped the Mac OS ROM file to my Linux box. That succeeded. Put 
the MacOS CD back into my Linux box, and started SheepShaver. I created a 1GB 
Mac volume from the GUI, entered the path to the ROM file, and started 
emulation. From a technical point of view, it's very successfull: I get the 
grey screen with the smiling Mac on it, so the PPC emulator works, and the 
ROM is ok, too. Then I get the MacOS Bitmap, so reading from the CD works, 
too, and the majority of the initialization works well, too. Then I see a few 
extension icons showing up -- and then the whole emulation window vanishes. 
This behaviour is the same on SuSE 9.0 and LFS, with 2.4 or 2.6 kernels. The 
severity of this emulator crash depends on if the JIT is turned on or not. If 
the JIT was turned on, then the whole machine freezes: I can't move the 
mouse, can't enter a key, can't switch to a virtual console, and even 
caps-lock doesn't toggle the LED anymore. Strangely, the HD LED blinks every 
now and then, so not everything is dead. If I turn the JIT off, the system 
stays alive, but I can't eject the CD anymore, so I'm forced to reboot, too.
I also tried booting with the extensions off (Shift key pressed during boot) 
but to no avail. In the Non-JIT case these here are the last few lines of 
console output:

>>>>>
bash-2.05a# ./SheepShaver
SheepShaver V2.2 by Christian Bauer and Mar"c" Hellwig
Reading ROM file...
WARNING: Cannot open /dev/fd1u1440 (No such device or address)
PowerPC CPU emulator by Gwenole Beauchesne
Illegal instruction at 40810000, opcode = 00000000
bash-2.05a#
<<<<<

(Is 40810000 RAM or ROM on a Mac?!)

Here are a few possible explanations:
- The ROM Image on the MacOS8.5 CD is not suitable for SheepShaver
- MacOS8.5 doesn't run under SheepShaver
- The MacOS CD has a physical defect and SheepShaver tries to execute a 
program segment located in a defective area
- SheepShaver works the CD ROM Driver in such an uncommon way that my 
PlexWriter crashes
- SheepShaver works the CD ROM Driver in such an uncommon way that a 
programming error in the IDE driver shows up
- SheepShaver works the CD ROM Driver in such an uncommon way, so that a 
difference between a CD Writer and an ordinary CD Drive shows up

I'm an experienced Windows C++ Programmer, but I have no experience with Mac's 
whatsoever (except as a user) so could one of you please point me in the 
right direction?

TIA

Carsten