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Advanced Mac Substitute is an API-level reimplementation of 1980s-era Mac OS

113 points by zdw 4 hours ago | 20 comments

I can't imagine how fast this is compared to the original hardware that ran it. I remember using a Mac 512k with a single floppy drive (no hard drive support) and doing the insert-floppy-dance. Computers were far more mechanical then.

It would be fun to have a "slow it down" feature that also has the various floppy read/write noises paired with it. Bonus points for different generations of hardware and having the OG HD noises to pair with those too!

drzaiusx11 2 hours ago

There was a show HN retro HW project somewhat recently that included sound emulation on board. Maybe that author is reading this, but their sound emulation was probably my favorite part (not to disregard the actual hard parts! I just found it charming)

londons_explore 38 minutes ago

I am amazed that 1980's software works on binary API compatibility rather than relying on API quirks like timing, memory alignment quirks, memory layout from specific allocator behaviour, etc.

It only takes one unintentional reliance on an implementation detail to make an application not run on another OS implementation...

wmf 13 minutes ago

There were plenty of apps that relied on implementation quirks.

hyperhello 3 hours ago

I'd like to see something like Carbon for old apps so that they boot in modern window frames (without the missing Tahoe corners) and can save to files.

davidfstr 3 hours ago

Wine for classic Mac OS? Amazing. Well done.

bsimpson 7 minutes ago

Sounds like Wine + FEX

Batbird 2 hours ago

This triggered flashbacks. I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly, but I think we sometimes also used used Pascal, and it was optional for some toolboxes. It's been a long time though so I could be mistaken. That might have been pre-Mac? But good times, though. Boy, is the world a different place.

DavidSJ 50 minutes ago

The original Mac system software was written in Pascal and most Mac toolbox calls took Pascal-style (prefixed by length) rather than C-style (terminated with null character) strings. But you could write application code in either language keeping this caveat in mind.

shermantanktop 3 hours ago

But will it run Dark Castle??

Many hours were wasted on that game.

Chazprime 3 minutes ago

Hell, I’d go straight for Beyond Dark Castle… it really took the series to a whole different level.

rvnx 2 hours ago

Still wondering why the main character looks like Sammy from Scooby Doo

and yes:

https://github.com/jjuran/metamage_1/commit/30cb0e260d5ff478...

homarp 3 hours ago

how does it compare to executor? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executor_(software)

azinman2 4 hours ago

This is quite the feat. I’d love to know more about the process to make this, the motivation, how much time was spent, etc.

whartung 3 hours ago

I'm guessing they reimplemented the toolbox at the TRAP level (most MacOS calls at the time were accessed through the 68K TRAP instruction).

So, rather than emulating hardware to run native ROMs, they "simply" reimplemented the ROMs.

A friend of mine did this at another level. He basically rewrote the bulk of the toolbox as a C library so that the company, who had a Mac application, could port it to run on a PC, while sharing the source code.

This was before Windows, and it worked! Launched it from DOS, takes over the entire screen. He didn't copy the Mac look and feel. Instead he used OpenLook for his gadgets and what not (since it was, you know, "open").

But he rewrote the bulk of it: QuickDraw, Event Manager, Memory Manager, Window Manager, etc. Just ate it like an elephant. I don't think his regions were as clever as the Mac. Pretty sure he just stuck with rectangles.

homarp 3 hours ago

hagbard_c 3 hours ago

   make ams-vnc
   ./build.pl -i exhibit graft skif minivx xv68k freemountd listen vnc-interact

   ...

   Daemon starting up... done.
   T=0.037s  ERROR:    OpenDF is unimplemented

Hm, doesn't seem to work. Let's try the X11 version:

   make ams-x11
   ./build.pl -i exhibit graft skif minivx xv68k freemountd interact-x11

   ...

   T=0.275s  ERROR:    OpenDF is unimplemented

Nope, it seems to be missing something. OpenDF? All I find is this: https://github.com/PrjEnt/OpenDF, a long-abandoned project which seems to be a more compact version of another abandoned thing.

Someone 2 hours ago

I think they mean FSpOpenDF (https://dev.os9.ca/techpubs/mac/Files/Files-53.html#HEADING5...), a (relatively) late addition to the Mac API.

ksherlock 2 hours ago

OpenDF is a MacOS toolbox call (which is apparently not implemented)

hagbard_c 31 minutes ago

Strange it errors out on given that I assume the thing does run elsewhere. The X11 version sometimes shows the opening screen but any attempt at interaction leads to the mentioned error. The VLC version shows the error directly.