Hello ShapeShifter fans,
NOTE: This site is no longer (and hasn't been for quite some time) updated. But please feel free to make as much use of the stuff you find here as possible!
This is a web page dedicated to users of the Macintosh Emulation software ShapeShifter, and as well now for users of Fusion. This site originated from Colin Thompson's now long defunct Amiga Alley web site.
I will do my best to maintain this site and keep it as up to date as possible (where time permits). Over time, the graphics of this page may change, so might the layout.
If you have an Emulator-specific inquiry I would recommend going to a newsgroup like comp.sys.amiga.emulation.
Current Mac Emulation News:
NEWS FLASH:
MacOnLinux and Basilisk II
MacOnLinux is a Macintosh emulator for Linux based PowerPC Machines including the AmigaOne, those with a PowerPC based machine interested in emulating a modern PPC Mac should check it out.
Basilisk II is still around as well, and is still a 68k emulator, but now exists on Mac OSX as well as the Amiga, Windows, and UNIX/Linux and BeOS. The website for that is here. The last release of Basilisk II (for the Amiga and other platforms) being V0.9-1!
ShapeShifter 3.11
This is the final release (ever?) for this Amiga Mac 68k Emulator. New features being: Fixed MacOS 8 Finder file copy bug, and Disabled 68060 Super Bypass mode because of a CPU bug that is triggered by MacOS 8. You can find it still over at the ShapeShifter Website
Microcode Solutions has just announced a trial pre-ordering for a PowerPC/PowerMac version of their Macintosh Emulator Fusion (and a PowerPC version of their PC emulator PCx). They need 500 pre-orders for it to happen. The price is far from being cheap (has any emulator ever been THIS expensive befor), but considering for the price it gives you, you can run OS 8.6 and all PowerMac and ClassicMac applications in existance. To check out more informatiton and to make your pre-order click here.
ShapeShifter 3.10 out
Once again the author of the marvellous ShapeShifter, Christian Bauer, has released what looks to be the last update of his Macintosh Emulator ShapeShifter for the Amiga. Fear not though, as he is combining his BeOS and AmigaOS coding abilities to bring to you, a multi-platform Macintosh emulator, which I am sure will only result in further development of this emulator over time. (More on this later) The biggest two pieces of news which come with this release is the emulator is now completely free. The other big bit of news is it now finally support Mac OS 8 (a 1mb ROM is required to use OS 8 though). And finally, one other bit of good news for graphic card owners, Picasso96 PIP (15 bit screens) is now used in "Amiga Window" mode when available.
ShapeShifter Replacement - Basilisk II
From the author of ShapeShifter comes the multi-platform Macintosh emulator called Basilisk II, an Open Source 68k Mac emulator for the Amiga, BeOS, Unix, and Windows. You can find it's homepage here.
To download Basilisk II V0.5 (25/4/99) source and AmigaOS/BeOS executables directly from this page, click here (935k). For the moment though I would recommend people use ShapeShifter over this version. As this is currently an Alpha-stage emulator only.
PowerMac Emulation?
One thing many an Amiga PowerPC user has been craving and asking for, for a while now has been a PowerMacintosh emulator for the Amiga. At first a survey was put together to ask for ShapeShifter to be ported to PPC, then the authors of Fusion were asked the same. Fusion's authors commented that they would love to do the port, but those who made the decisions decided it to be unviable (although it is presumable that they were not really too enthused on any further Amiga products, so it would've taken alot more than economically feasible number to make it happen).
...And there was light?
Well maybe. From the author of ShapeShifter comes SheepShaver (yes, the names do get more bizzare). A PowerMac emulator BeOS/PPC and soon LinuxPPC. Those Amigans running LinuxPPC on their Amiga can look foward to PowerMac emulation in the near future. But the question remains, what of a port to AmigaOS? Well hopefully in time this may happen. If you would like to see this happen, I suggest you visit the SheepShaver Home Page, and e-mail the author stateing you want it ported to the Amiga.
Older News:
FUSION 2 Available
FUSION, another Macintosh Emulator for the Amiga from the makers of the old Emplant Macintosh Hardware based Emulators and the hardware free versions of Emplant, Emplant 1200 and Emplant Lite, have released this new emulator which claims to do alot of things ShapeShifter 3.9 doesn't, including support for MacOS 8. (Although Shapeshifter 3.9's read me DOES state MacOS8 support WILL come later). This right now I would call the leading emulator out there for those willing to spend the extra dollars, but ShapeShifter still remains the best value for money.
Fusion is by Microcode Solutions.
If you have a question about it I suggest you visit the Blittersoft Fusion Home Page which includes more in-depth information available as well as FAQ's and other information.
ShapeShifter News:
Version 3.9 is now available.
Although Fusion has had numerous updates since the release of
ShapeShifter 3.8 and in general probably still remains superior
this releases comes as welcome to all existing ShapeShifter
users out there. The changes in this release include few, yet
handy changes:
* Can boot from CD-ROM
* FileDisks are faster
* Some fixes in the serial and CD-ROM drivers
* Ethernet packets are always padded to 60 bytes
Version 3.8 is now available.
I do know that the Mac OS8 cannot be used with SS yet. Don't try. OS8, when booting looks to see what system and processor you have. When it sees IIci, and an 040, it thinks this is impossible, so it stops.
I have heard that Christian is working on a fix for this. As I understand the process, some flags need to be reset... Wait for the fix.
Jean Klos is changing servers now. He has no WWW site at the moment. However, you can still get to his files via F T P
Other News: Those of us lucky enough to own a PowerPC Amiga will in the future be able to run PowerMac and 68k Macintosh Applications and Games through Fusion and possibly Shapeshifter. Right now though those of you with a PowerPC should check out Aminet for a range of PowerPC utilities, including a MacHQX archiver utility made specifically for PowerPC Amigas.
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