OpenStep Virtual Appliance

After many hours fighting with configuration and networking and finding working apps, I'm releasing an OpenStep 4.2 Virtual Appliance (OVA) that anyone can download and use on a VirtualBox host platform of your choice (Mac, Windows, Linux).

It is network-ready (with a static IP which you can change) and comes with a bunch of Intel-compatible apps and games. Its useful as a bridge to real hardware, or as a way to play with OpenStep for those who can't afford real hardware.

Download it here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Av5IQUxnr8DUjd5jeLvF3okH2VJxkA?e=Q01tKq

Thanks for making this available to everyone codepoet80 as well as your writeups and forum contributions!

Hi Codepoet80,

Would like to seek your advise on solving NS3.3 time drifting issue running on Virtualbox .
Host OS is Windows10

Thanks
Stepen9569

I saw when you posted it, and had some initial thoughts, but haven't had time to explore them. This issue is not unique to NS/OS guests:
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1006072

In most *nix systems, we can do a one-time sync time from the command line -- I don't know if there's an NTP client in NS/OS.
In most *nix systems, we can schedule command line instructions as periodic tasks -- I do know that cron exists in NS/OS.

Next time I fire up my slab, I'll play with it and see if I can come up with a solution...

Hi Codepoet80,
I added this line below to the .vbox files in the virtual machine folder and NS3.3 is able to sync the time when boot up.
<ExtraDataItem name ="VBoxInternal/Devices/VMMDev/0/Config/GetHostTimeDisabled" value="0"/>.

There is this ntp and cron in NS3.3.
If I were to add :
0,15,30,45,* * * * root /usr/etc/ntp into the crontab file. Will it sync to the host( Win10)?

Thanks
Stephen9569

I don't know if the Host presents a NTP server, but I did some tests on NextStep and OpenStep, and as long as you have Internet access, you can sync with the NTP pool like this:

/usr/etc/ntp -s -f pool.ntp.org
You can put this command in your rc.local. This will sync every boot (but wouldn't help with drift if the VM is running for long periods of time.)
This should work as cron job, but I haven't been able to make it happen, with:

*/5 * * * * /usr/etc/ntp -s -f pool.ntp.orgwhich is "run every 5 minutes", or
*/5 * * * *  root /usr/etc/ntp -s -f pool.ntp.orgwhich is "run as root every 5 minutes", or
5 * * * * /usr/etc/ntp -s -f pool.ntp.orgwhich is "run the 5th minute of every hour"

I can't actually get any kind of cron job to run in either NS or OS.
Tried wrapping it in a script. Tried just a simple job to echo something to a file. Nothing works... gotta give up for now. Will fight with cron more later. Here's a site for building cron schedules:
https://crontab.guru/#*/5_*_*_*_*

This cron job will set the time per the NTP Pool, although I had some issue with Daylight Savings Times, and had to choose another time zone, in order for the offset to be right:

5 * * * *     root /usr/etc/ntp -f -s pool.ntp.org
This one will happen at the 5th minute of every hour. If you want to do it twice an hour, add a new line -- the minute/* wildcard approach doesn't seem to be supported in this old version of cron. This one will run at the 35th minute of every hour:

35 * * * *   root /usr/etc/ntp -f -s pool.ntp.org

I documented my solution here:

http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=2642.msg20967#msg20967

Same thing, I just use my own in-house NTP server.  Running NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP in a VM results in terrible skew, so I run it every 5 minutes.

Hi Eagle, Codepoet80;

I edited the crontab file, but it is not updating the time, looks like it is not running.
While I manual run the ntp command, the time updated.
Is there any way to find out if cron running?
From the verbose boot up, "starting standard daemons update cron" displayed. Does it mean cron started?
Thanks
Stephen9569

Yes, cron is always running. However, its is extremely picky about the instructions in the crontab file. Try something simple, like:

5 * * * *     echo test > /me/test1.txt
10 * * * *    root echo test > /me/test2.txt
And see if you can get it to write a text file at the top of the hour (5 min and 10 min past)

Hi Codepoet80,

  Thanks for the advice, cron is running, I add the below code:
0,15,30,45 * * * * root ntp -sf 192.42.172.98 >>/etc/ntp.drift
      0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * root echo test >>/me/test.txt
  now the clock is updating, but the last command is not executing. :)

 Thanks
 Stephen9569