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Getting Started
- A 64-bit Intel Mac running OS X (to run Shoebill)
- A Macintosh II, IIx, or IIcx ROM (IIx isn't tested, but I presume it works)
- An A/UX 1.x.x or 2.0.x installation CD ISO
- The kernel on that image (/unix) (see Primer)
Shoebill is different from other Macintosh emulators in how it boots. Instead of booting directly into the Macintosh ROM, Shoebill implements a bootloader and boots directly into A/UX itself. Traditionally, A/UX is booted by first booting Mac OS, and then running SASH/launch to mount the A/UX root partition, run fsck if necessary, load the unix kernel, and then boot it. SASH provides the ability to manipulate the A/UX filesystem while actually running in regular Mac OS.
Shoebill cannot boot into regular Mac OS, although that's a future goal. Instead, it replicates the functionality of Apple's bootloader, and boots directly into A/UX. Unlike Apple's bootloader however, Shoebill can't currently read the root SVFS/UFS filesystem, so it can't load the kernel directly from the root image. Instead, you have to somehow extract the kernel from the root image. The kernel is simply the file located at /unix on the root partition, but unless you can mount that partition, you can't easily copy it.
If you already have a Mac running A/UX, then it's very easy to extract the kernel. Just copy the file at /unix to a disk or something, and transfer it to your OS X machine.
If you don't have a machine running A/UX... then, I don't really have any good ideas. Maybe try,
- Begging a friend who does have A/UX running on real hardware
- For A/UX 2.0.x, since the default filesystem is UFS, maybe try mounting it on an old BSD system. (I don't know whether this is actually possible.)
Once you have all the ingredients, booting Shoebill is simple.
- Double click Shoebill.app, and go to the Preferences menu item.