Thread

Mini vMac for iPhone

68kMLA Software 45 posts Nov 16, 2008 to Jun 15, 2010

#1 Sun, 16 Nov 2008 - 15:29 68kMLA

I just deemed my port of Mini vMac to the iPhone worthy of releasing, so if anyone has a 2.x Jailbroken iPhone and wants to try it, you can post your opinions here.

To install it, add apt.namedfork.net/iphone to your Cydia repositories and it will show up.

You can also see the info page at http://namedfork.net/iphone/minivmac, it says where to place the ROM and Disk Images, and how to use the two finger gestures.

UPDATE: I added sound emulation and made it a bit faster, among other things. The sound can get a bit choppy, there's a switch to deactivate it in the settings. Also, it works in OS 2.2.

#2 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 - 22:42 68kMLA

Man, I just played Shufflepuck on my iPhone, I did it!

This is nothing but the HolyGrail, seriously. I love you! Thank you so much for that wonderful port!

Works great! A lot of clever ideas.

Can't think of a lot more to say right now, but I'll sure keep you updates with my thoughts as I play some more with it!

#3 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 - 02:02 68kMLA

I just deemed my port of Mini vMac to the iPhone worthy of releasing, so if anyone has a 2.x Jailbroken iPhone and wants to try it.

Assuming Apple's SDK Apps will not support Mini vMac? Have been hoping someone would look into this since Apple announced Apps.

#4 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 - 02:52 68kMLA

Hmmm, this might be the final push I needed to re-cydia-ify my touch; after 2.1 came out I never bothered with doing it again.

Do you have any reports on battery life?

#5 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 - 17:38 68kMLA

Assuming Apple's SDK Apps will not support Mini vMac? Have been hoping someone would look into this since Apple announced Apps.

What do you mean by SDK Apps not supporting it?

Hmmm, this might be the final push I needed to re-cydia-ify my touch; after 2.1 came out I never bothered with doing it again.
Do you have any reports on battery life?

The battery life shouldn't be affected unless you install programs that run in the background, like Scrobbled or MxTube.

Also, 2.2 will be out soon and is predicted to be jailbreakable, I hope it doesn't break app compatibility too much.

Oh, and I made a video :beige: :

#6 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 - 02:15 68kMLA

I think he was asking whether it would be possible to build vMac using the official SDK, such that it could be used on non-jailbroken iPhones and release on the App Store.

#7 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 - 05:05 68kMLA

Yep, works great on my iPod Touch... pretty freakin' sweet!!

#8 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 - 06:35 68kMLA

I think he was asking whether it would be possible to build vMac using the official SDK, such that it could be used on non-jailbroken iPhones and release on the App Store.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was asking.

Actually, Apple would most likely NEVER allow Mini vMac to be posted on the App store anyway and it probably wouldn't do Mini vMac project any good to bring too much attention to it at Apple.

What I'm waiting for is a way around installing Apps on the iPhone outside of the App store, in much the same way there is software that allows ring-tones to be installed on the iPhone outside of iTunes.

What are the implications of Jailbreaking the iPhone these days ... ? I have so much trouble with mine as supported by Apple that I couldn't bear to deal with any more problems.

#9 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 - 07:22 68kMLA

Mac128 great icon anyway I would use less glow and shadow

and why platinum? is it platinum plus? is it too small to write Macintosh Plus on icon

I can't wait until Mac II emulator comes with colors

#10 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 - 09:57 68kMLA

It does not comply with the App Store agreement in several ways.

It uses private/undocumented frameworks (for drawing video, it's the only way to get decent speed)
It reads/writes out of the application sandbox (this could be changed by implementing a way to send/receive files within the app)
The icon isn't square (easily changeable)
It runs interpreted code (that's the purpose of an emulator)

And about installing unofficial apps without jailbreaking:

I don't think it can be done, since the iPhone only runs code signed with Apple's keys, and that is one of the things that jailbreaking patches.

#11 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 - 14:25 68kMLA

What I'm waiting for is a way around installing Apps on the iPhone outside of the App store, in much the same way there is software that allows ring-tones to be installed on the iPhone outside of iTunes.

I - sadly - don't think that will ever happen on a non-jailbroken iPhone…

What are the implications of Jailbreaking the iPhone these days ... ? I have so much trouble with mine as supported by Apple that I couldn't bear to deal with any more problems.

In my experience (iPhone 3G, jailbroken from a recent Intel Mac this summer), it's VERY straightforward, using the "official" Dev-Team tools. So easy I was nearly frustrated…

#12 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 - 21:50 68kMLA

great job on the emulator!!! I've got a quick question. I made a 50mb disk image using hfv explorer, when i run it on minivmac on my windows laptop, it isnt locked, but when i run it on the ipod touch, it is. Any suggestions?

#13 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 - 22:27 68kMLA

great job on the emulator!!! I've got a quick question. I made a 50mb disk image using hfv explorer, when i run it on minivmac on my windows laptop, it isnt locked, but when i run it on the ipod touch, it is. Any suggestions?

If you copied it with SSH as root, you'll have to change the owner to "mobile" (and permissions to 644 if it still doesn't work)

#14 Fri, 21 Nov 2008 - 03:13 68kMLA

Mac128 great icon anyway I would use less glow and shadow and why platinum? is it platinum plus? is it too small to write Macintosh Plus on icon

Are you referring to my avatar or the Mini vMac icon?

My icon is of course the classic 128K and is PMS 423 beige.

The Mini vMac icon is both a Plus and platinum as Paul Pratt prefers the Plus icon given that the Mini vMac technically emulates a Plus. It also emulates a 128K & 512K, but that is a build option. The default option is a Plus. Also, platinum is the universal color for all Macs after 1986 and was the color the Plus was the longest. There was room to write Mac Plus, but at the scale it was reduced to, it was completely unintelligible and Paul preferred the cleaner version. As for light and shadow, it was designed to match the OS X icon style and ultimately signed off on by him. It still remains a build option and not default, since Paul still clings to the smallest possible files sizes which OS X graphics inflate unreasonably.

#15 Mon, 24 Nov 2008 - 19:39 68kMLA

Oh, and I made a video :beige: >

I just downloaded your awesome video !

Most excellent work, Sir !

:b&w:

#16 Tue, 25 Nov 2008 - 05:39 68kMLA

Sounds good but as my iPod touch isn't jailbroken, I won't have much fun with it.

#17 Tue, 25 Nov 2008 - 12:20 68kMLA

I'm a little hesitant of jailbreaking my ipod touch (v2.1), maybe you can answer a few questions for me......?

Will I still be able to use App store with a jailbroken touch? Are there any "bad side effects" that occur? (will it affect any Apps I already downloaded?) To "un-jailbreak" the ipod is it just a case of zapping it with iTunes? And finally....are there any "must have" apps that I can only get with jailbreak? (is it really worth it???)

#18 Tue, 25 Nov 2008 - 17:56 68kMLA

Slightly off-topic… But for the sake of winning a future mini vMac user:

Will I still be able to use App store with a jailbroken touch?

Sure. You won't loose any functionality, only win a lot more!

Are there any "bad side effects" that occur? (will it affect any Apps I already downloaded?)

No.

To "un-jailbreak" the ipod is it just a case of zapping it with iTunes?

Yes.

And finally....are there any "must have" apps that I can only get with jailbreak? (is it really worth it???)

Well… mini vMac for example! A complete Mac Plus in your pocket, sure it's worth it!

I myself use only two others apps: Cycorder (video recording) and PDAnet (iPhone as modem to surf anywhere with the laptop).

Edit: usual disclaimer… I can't be held responible, etc, etc. It worked great for me, as I used the official QuickPwn utility from the iPhone Dev-Team, followed all of their instructions and backed up my data first!

#19 Tue, 25 Nov 2008 - 22:51 68kMLA

well that's good to know! thanks!

#20 Thu, 27 Nov 2008 - 05:29 68kMLA

BLAST

I can take or leave most gadgets, but I NEED this. :O My life without it is meaningless. Curse you, Apple !

#21 Thu, 27 Nov 2008 - 16:48 68kMLA

To "un-jailbreak" the ipod is it just a case of zapping it with iTunes?

Click to expand...

Yes.

One follow up question: I assume in the jail-broken state, iTunes will back it up and make archive copies as usual? An occasional system restore has been de rigueur since I bought mine to keep it bug free. If not, then I would assume any data accumulated during the jail-break would be lost.

#22 Tue, 2 Dec 2008 - 22:34 68kMLA

UPDATE: I added sound emulation and made it a bit faster, among other things. The sound can get a bit choppy, there's a switch to deactivate it in the settings. Also, it works in OS 2.2.

Just out of curiosity, the Compact Mac screen is 512x342 pixels at 72 ppi which interpolates to 480x321 on the iPhone screen, which is 480x320 at 160 ppi. However, your emulated screen scrolls more than one pixel row beyond both edges of the iPhone screen. Wondered what factors affect the emulation screen size? Clearly you are maintaining the 512x342 aspect ratio rather than scaling it down to fit completely on the iPhone screen (I don't really consider the single pixel row to be significant). Is this an option that can be built-into Mini vMac or the iPhone port?

#23 Wed, 3 Dec 2008 - 12:25 68kMLA

One follow up question: I assume in the jail-broken state, iTunes will back it up and make archive copies as usual? An occasional system restore has been de rigueur since I bought mine to keep it bug free. If not, then I would assume any data accumulated during the jail-break would be lost.

Not sure about that. Actually I never restored my iPhone, since it works pretty well. But on upgarades, the jailbroken suff is wiped out. Be sure to backup important stuff (mini vMac disk image and ROM file, anyone?) via ssh or other before upgrading.

#24 Wed, 3 Dec 2008 - 13:00 68kMLA

Mac128 great icon anyway I would use less glow and shadow and why platinum? is it platinum plus? is it too small to write Macintosh Plus on icon

Click to expand...

Are you referring to my avatar or the Mini vMac icon?

My icon is of course the classic 128K and is PMS 423 beige.

The Mini vMac icon is both a Plus and platinum as Paul Pratt prefers the Plus icon given that the Mini vMac technically emulates a Plus. It also emulates a 128K & 512K, but that is a build option. The default option is a Plus. Also, platinum is the universal color for all Macs after 1986 and was the color the Plus was the longest. There was room to write Mac Plus, but at the scale it was reduced to, it was completely unintelligible and Paul preferred the cleaner version. As for light and shadow, it was designed to match the OS X icon style and ultimately signed off on by him. It still remains a build option and not default, since Paul still clings to the smallest possible files sizes which OS X graphics inflate unreasonably.

thx, for explaining, anyway I think the perfect classic icon is what mactracker has http://www.mactracker.ca/

it fits perfect in Leopard or Tiger user interface guidlines, ... the mini vmacs custom icon would be good in OS X 10.0 to 10.2 ...

just mine opninion

well about your avatar I would put thiner border lines and change the gradient on screen it doesn't feel natural ... and sorry for my interfering in your icon design [

] ]'> I just think your great icons can look even better

#25 Wed, 3 Dec 2008 - 23:57 68kMLA

Nice home screen theme: ;D (shame not all the icons work!)

http://www.installerapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/19841ii9.png

#26 Fri, 12 Dec 2008 - 16:16 68kMLA

I tried search on google and all it comes with is a video which has no sound and very distorted and hard to see. I have Windows Vista and I was wondering if and how to convert an sit to dsk to play mac games on a mini vMac emulator? Thanks in advance for help

#27 Wed, 17 Dec 2008 - 17:59 68kMLA

Just out of curiosity, the Compact Mac screen is 512x342 pixels at 72 ppi which interpolates to 480x321 on the iPhone screen, which is 480x320 at 160 ppi. However, your emulated screen scrolls more than one pixel row beyond both edges of the iPhone screen. Wondered what factors affect the emulation screen size? Clearly you are maintaining the 512x342 aspect ratio rather than scaling it down to fit completely on the iPhone screen (I don't really consider the single pixel row to be significant). Is this an option that can be built-into Mini vMac or the iPhone port?

It has two display modes that can be toggled by tapping the screen with two fingers:

one will scale the compact mac's screen to the iPhone's 480x320, so you can see the whole thing, and the other will show real pixels and scroll when you touch the edges.

I tried search on google and all it comes with is a video which has no sound and very distorted and hard to see. I have Windows Vista and I was wondering if and how to convert an sit to dsk to play mac games on a mini vMac emulator? Thanks in advance for help

It is explained on mini vMac's page.

http://minivmac.sourceforge.net/doc/start.html

http://minivmac.sourceforge.net/image.html

Basically, you don't convert a .sit to .dsk, you extract whatever is in the .sit and copy it to a disk image.

I think the best thing would be to get StuffIt Expander into Mini vMac, so you can expand things there.

#28 Thu, 18 Dec 2008 - 00:05 68kMLA

The Save function is working very well after unlocking the system dsk img and a blank dsk using MobileFinder,modify,set all to write/exec.How can I make a .sit to be readable by vmac to use Stuffit for extraction?

#29 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 - 15:33 68kMLA

WOW!!! Can it get any better that this?

I have one question, Mini vMac says it can't load my ROM image. I admit that I downloaded it from the web. I do have a Macintosh Classic, but can I extract it's ROM and use it with Mini vMac?

Thanks!

#30 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 - 16:46 68kMLA

WOW!!! Can it get any better that this?
I have one question, Mini vMac says it can't load my ROM image. I admit that I downloaded it from the web. I do have a Macintosh Classic, but can I extract it's ROM and use it with Mini vMac?

Thanks!

Put CopyROM on your old Mac: http://www.emaculation.com/quick/copyrom.hqx

#31 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 - 17:51 68kMLA

I do have a Macintosh Classic, but can I extract it's ROM and use it with Mini vMac?

Mini vMac is version/ROM specific. Since zydeco's version is a port, it may only support the Mac Plus 128K ROM (as I believe he would need to port each version separately). The ROM you downloaded may not be the 128K ROM, or may have a bad checksum. I've run into to that.

Your Mac Classic ROM will work with the Mac Classic version of Mini vMac, however, it is unlikely that zydeco's iPhone port will work with it. Use it with the standard desktop version of MvM/Classic though as you can even boot into the embedded System disk in the ROM (Cmnd+opt+X+O).

Might be worth zydeco doing a port of the Classic emulation for this reason alone, comes with it's own boot disk!

#32 Thu, 25 Dec 2008 - 02:18 68kMLA

Thanks!! I got it to work. Now I have to figure out what disks to get for it.

Is there a way to get a disk to act as a hard drive? I was just wondering because you can do that on "Mac-on-a-stick.

EDIT: I DON'T KNOW IF I'M ALLOWED TO DO THIS, BUT I HAVE A WORKING .DSK FILE. IF ANYONE NEEDS IT, HERE IT IS. HAVE FUN!!!

Just SSH it into ~/Applications/minivmac.

#33 Sun, 28 Dec 2008 - 10:15 68kMLA

I have thought about integrating emulation of different machines, maybe building the different emulation engines as dynamic libraries and loading one at runtime depending on the settings, but I won't bee looking into it until february, after my exams.

Also, the best place for images is /var/mobile/Library/MacOSClassic, the next version will be able to create images there, and delete them.

#34 Thu, 1 Jan 2009 - 14:25 68kMLA

I've installed Mini vMac on my iPhone and I've got a proper ROM and disk image in the proper directory. However, upon launching the app, I get "The application 'Mini vMac' cannot be opened". What else am I missing?

Thanks,

James

#35 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 - 14:24 68kMLA

I've never seen any app do that, it sounds like the problem is happening before the app is launched.

What version of iPhone OS are you running?

#36 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 - 23:17 68kMLA

A funny thing happened. It just started working. I was showing someone else the problem and "presto!" it just booted up and ran fine. Excellent job!

I've never seen any app do that, it sounds like the problem is happening before the app is launched.What version of iPhone OS are you running?

#37 Tue, 17 Feb 2009 - 01:09 68kMLA

hi i have some problem, hope you can help me.

i run my iphone on firmware 2.2.1 and when i try to start up Mini vMac it is error (The application "Mini vMac" cannot be opened)

please help me, i would like to run this emulator.

i just put these 2 files in Applications/minivmac.app/ but nothing happening

nossramo@me.com

thank you

#38 Tue, 17 Feb 2009 - 07:42 68kMLA

I'm running 2.2.1 too, so it can't be that.

Just hope it solves itself, like mactarkus.

You can try uninstalling and then installing again, so all the files get deleted before they are reinstalled.

#39 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 - 05:17 68kMLA

My phone isn't jailbroken and I don't want to risk trying it...But, is it possible to download the source code for this app, compile it using the app development program, then install it straight onto a non-jailbroken phone - bypassing the app store??

#40 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 - 21:32 68kMLA

My phone isn't jailbroken and I don't want to risk trying it...But, is it possible to download the source code for this app, compile it using the app development program, then install it straight onto a non-jailbroken phone - bypassing the app store??

Nope. The iPhone OS will not allow any of the operations that Mini vMac invokes. Nor will it allow bypassing the App Store. I doubt the App development program will allow it either. As for "risk", the iPhone is software, it's not like you are transplanting some hardware component surgically which could destroy the ability of the iPhone to operate. You back up the iPhone, JailBreak it, use it, and if an when you want to return to the features of the iPhone, you simply wipe it and re-install your original Apple software. However, if you are like me and use the Mobile Me suit of integrated services and want a simple, peaceful, interconnected life, you give up neat things like Mini vMac on the iPhone and other features Jailbreakers enjoy which I wish were on the iPhone and must wait for Apple to eventually adopt to use.

#41 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 - 23:48 68kMLA

Nor will it allow bypassing the App Store. I doubt the App development program will allow it either.

'Course it will - how else do you test your software? My brother had a whole lot of programs he'd written installed on his Touch well before they were on the app store.

Anyway, that's a bummer. I'm not game to jailbreak it even if it is "safe" because I've had enough problems with it already.

#42 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 - 04:28 68kMLA

Nor will it allow bypassing the App Store. I doubt the App development program will allow it either.

Click to expand...

'Course it will - how else do you test your software? My brother had a whole lot of programs he'd written installed on his Touch well before they were on the app store.

I was under the impression that all of the testing was done via a virtual iPhone application within the OS X environment. Obviously there is some porting method within the SDK, which only makes sense. The question I have now was whether any of the applications your brother wrote violated any of Apple's guidelines for Apps. If so, then the only restriction is the actual App Store itself and the development software allows violating Apple's rules. ANYBODY KNOW FOR SURE? However, since Apple neither condones nor supports violating their guidelines, you may well have more problems than if you jailbreak your iPhone. Also, unless you wipe your iPhone clean before any AppleCare service, the presence of the unauthorized application would void your warranty – and you may not always be able to wipe it when something goes wrong.

Besides, Zydeco already answered this earlier.

Anyway, that's a bummer. I'm not game to jailbreak it even if it is "safe" because I've had enough problems with it already.

My understanding that for those who follow the procedures, the jailbroken iPhone actually runs better than Apple's software, depending on what you need it to do, ad restoring it to Apple's software introduces no new problems than Apple's software is already full of. I make this point so as not to let your fear be interpreted as fact by someone casually reading this. Jailbreaking one's iPhone causes NO DAMAGE whatsoever. You are at greater risk trying to run an unauthorized app under Apple's software.

#43 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 - 04:42 68kMLA

Jailbreaking one's iPhone causes NO DAMAGE whatsoever. You are at greater risk trying to run an unauthorized app under Apple's software.

I've heard plenty of bricking stories, so I'm not so sure about that. That's not my main concern though, as I agree it probably won't happen.

#44 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 - 07:38 68kMLA

Oh and to answer your question, no, all my brother's stuff ended up on the App Store eventually, so - no guidelines broken.

#45 Tue, 15 Jun 2010 - 18:21 68kMLA

How is the new "Retina" display going to affect the application? At standard res, there's gonna be a thick black frame around the display. Come to think abut it, it's gonna look a lot like it did on the original (when properly adjusted for WYSIWYG) :beige:

Do you have a version for the iPad yet? The best part is that the current iPad resolution is exactly double the original 512 resolution, which means a nice sharp crisp display that should look almost identical to the original display! (well with 21 extra black pixels top & bottom – can't wait for the Color Classic version of Mini vMac which will fit those dimensions exactly).