Starter Kit for OPENSTEP 4.2 on VirtualBox

[Rhetorica]

VBoxOS42.iso.gz

Isn't it a shame how there are no Guest Additions CDs for NEXTSTEP VMs? It's almost like those eggheads at VMware and VirtualBox don't know how pioneering NeXT was in the home computer virtualization market! _{(also, RIP VMware)}

Well, last Spring I set out to put together precisely such a thing—every sanity-check and creature comfort that was essential to getting a new OS4.2 VM set up. The project went on the back burner for a while and I ended up quietly putting it on the INDeX CD-ROM archive in July, but certain events interrupted formally announcing it. (Really, a good thing—writing up that thread in full detail would have been a lot of wasted keystrokes.)

Attached below is the tutorial, and linked above is the actual CD image. It's in Rock Ridge format, built with a NeXT version of mkisofs, and hence has all the niceties that you wouldn't expect from a modern ISO, like a directory icon. The tutorial is written to be accessible for NeXT newbies but contains useful information that even veterans will appreciate, and may be of some use when setting up any NeXT machine, even real hardware, as it includes steps like updating the timezone info and configuring networking.

Also available are the BIOS images, which the tutorial mentions. Now your white-hardware guest doesn't have to puke that hideous red Oracle logo at you during boot-up. It's a miracle!

For a non-forum-bound permanent link to these files, see http://index.nextcommunity.net/cdrom/OS/4.2/vbox/

[jeffburg]

@Rhetorica thanks for posting this. I will cross-post my 1 year old post from the forum that shall not be mentioned

Hey, for anyone using VirtualBox to run their OpenStep/NextStep/Rhapsody VM, I updated the VBoxVideo driver to support widescreen resolutions. So if you are running it a modern monitor or laptop, these new resolutions should make it a closer fit for the screen.

I tested all the resolutions in the list (bold are widescreen):
"Height:1080 Width:1920 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height:1050 Width:1680 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 900 Width:1440 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 800 Width:1280 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 768 Width:1366 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height:1200 Width:1600 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height:1024 Width:1280 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 864 Width:1152 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 768 Width:1024 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 600 Width: 800 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 480 Width: 640 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 768 Width:1024 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:555/16";
"Height: 600 Width: 800 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:555/16";
"Height: 480 Width: 640 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:555/16";

I tried to make it run at 1920x1200 but it booted a blue screen. Same with 2560x1440. So I think 1920x1080 is the highest we will get out of the VirtualBox VGA emulation. If you want to try it yourself (and let me know if something goes terribly wrong ) then you can find the compiled version here: https://github.com/jeffreybergier/VBoxVideo/blob/mac-resolutions/build/VBoxVideo-1.1.config.tar

I am not sure if the owner of this repo is open to pull requests or even still around for these things, but if they are, I created a PR at this URL: https://github.com/vcarosadev/VBoxVideo/pull/1

-Jeff,

Also, Happy New Year!

[ptek]

Attached below is the tutorial, and linked above is the actual CD image. It's in Rock Ridge format, built with a NeXT version of mkisofs, and hence has all the niceties that you wouldn't expect from a modern ISO, like a directory icon. The tutorial is written to be accessible for NeXT newbies but contains useful information that even veterans will appreciate, and may be of some use when setting up any NeXT machine, even real hardware, as it includes steps like updating the timezone info and configuring networking.

Rhetorica, Did you compile your version of mkisofs on NS or OS?

[Rhetorica]

Rhetorica, Did you compile your version of mkisofs on NS or OS?

I just used existing binaries; there are copies here: http://index.nextcommunity.net/archive/peak/apps/utils/cdrom/

They are NS3.3 friendly. (Still working on unbreaking my OS4.2 dev setup after the "Let's install WebObjects 3.5!" debacle...)