Emulator for MacOS 8/9 + Macsbug

[Crutch]

Hi, I keep asking this question in various places and my current sense is “this is not possible”, but it really feels like it should be and I keep hoping for a better answer so …

Does anyone know of a vintage Mac emulator that can do both of the following things:
1. Run MacOS 8 or 9
2. Run Macsbug

Mini vMac runs Macsbug great but tops out at 8MB so can’t run MacOS 8 or 9.

Basilisk II can’t run Macsbug — something about the emulation not going “deep” enough. Any attempt to pull up Macsbug just does nothing and maybe results in a freeze.

I have yet to be able to get MAME running adequately emulating a Mac IIci or better with correct mouse function.

Reason I’m asking: I want to build system extensions that patch traps and run under MacOS 8/9. This is virtually impossible without Macsbug.

Any help?

 

[robin-fo]

Qemu? I haven‘t tried MacsBug, but it can run A/UX, so it should be a fairly accurate emulation

 

[Crutch]

Thanks. This older thread on emaculation suggests this will work https://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9779

But would love to know if anyone has actually tried it in the 2020s.

 

[robin-fo]

It appears to be buggy, but I tried it in Qemu Quadra 800 running MacOS 8.0.

 

[robin-fo]

You can also start MacsBug inside UTM running Mac OS 9.2, but there is an issue with keyboard input

 

[Crutch]

Well that’s great! Thanks! I will check it out.

Those video artifacts in your first snip are normal for Macsbug running in a screen bigger than its default display size. I think it just fails to clear out that area of video memory representing the pixels outside the Macsbug display, or just randomly writes nonsense to it.

 

[joevt]

You can also start MacsBug inside UTM running Mac OS 9.2, but there is an issue with keyboard input

I think I get this same problem on a real Power Mac 8600 running Mac OS 9.2. Something wrong with autorepeat?

 

[Crutch]

This happens under Mini vMac, too, when emulating at high speed. I think Macsbug, to keep it lightweight, may be doing something in its own code to replicate the normal key repeat function and whatever it is (at least in earlier versions of Macsbug 6) breaks on a really fast Mac. (Curious what version Macsbug you see this under?)

 

[joevt]

This happens under Mini vMac, too, when emulating at high speed. I think Macsbug, to keep it lightweight, may be doing something in its own code to replicate the normal key repeat function and whatever it is (at least in earlier versions of Macsbug 6) breaks on a really fast Mac. (Curious what version Macsbug you see this under?)

MacsBug only uses 640x480 so it appears in a small window in the middle of the 1600x1200 display.

I'm using MacsBug 6.6.3. It seems to work fine on my B&W G3 running 9.2.2 except for some corrupted pixels. I can't see the background while in MacsBug because the pixel depth is not set to 256 colors.

On the 8600, the background is visible in full color while the screen is set to 256 colors and there's no corrupted pixels for any color depth. Pressing Escape hides the MacsBug window and shows the full color background but pressing Escape again doesn't unhide MacsBug (maybe because of the key repeat problem) but clicking the mouse does unhide MacsBug. I can use the mouse to select some commands from menus or to retype words that I click on.

Both my 8600 and B&W have a 1 GHz G4.

It could be an extension conflict on the 8600 or it could be the hacked version of Mac OS 9.2.2? I used OS9 Helper 1.0b8 which is probably not the state of the art when it comes to installing 9.2.2 on unsupported older Macs?