Ten years ago I put together a working OpenStep system for use with VMware Fusion and Workstation. It still seems to work, though it took me forever to remember to use HostManager to set it up with the router I'm using now. (I forgot entirely how to set the addresses via the terminal.)
Is it legal to post a link to it here? If so, here it is:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q2jjazdpykw3t0b/OpenStep42ForVMware.zip?dl=1Now, if anyone can point me to a beginner-level how-to for setting up Previous, I'll be very grateful
Previous (for macOS) download ->
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j7ssow91fc67i3p/Previous_2.5.zip?dl=0years ago I created images of almost every release (v0.8 up to v4.2 for black hardware).
somehow these images ended up on the WinWorld website...
https://winworldpc.com/product/nextstep/just download the "****step X.X HD Image With Previous" ZIP file. the bundled version of Previous is old (and it's a Windows binary).
Quote from: mikeboss on July 29, 2022, 06:06:34 PMPrevious (for macOS) download -> https://www.dropbox.com/s/j7ssow91fc67i3p/Previous_2.5.zip?dl=0
years ago I created images of almost every release (v0.8 up to v4.2 for black hardware).
somehow these images ended up on the WinWorld website...
https://winworldpc.com/product/nextstep/
just download the "****step X.X HD Image With Previous" ZIP file. the bundled version of Previous is old (and it's a Windows binary).
Thank you for this! I don't know what to do at the NeXT> prompt in order to get the GUI to start up, but I'll keep looking on line for the answer. Meanwhile, this makes life much easier. Thank you again.
EDIT: I *think* I'm supposed to enter "bsd -s" at the boot prompt - or maybe bsd(0,0,0) , but I still can't get past the prompt that says "erase ^? etc." Ctrl-C doesn't help. I'll keep learning...
Quote from: emendelson on July 29, 2022, 09:47:03 PMThank you for this! I don't know what to do at the NeXT> prompt in order to get the GUI to start up, but I'll keep looking on line for the answer. Meanwhile, this makes life much easier. Thank you again.
EDIT: I *think* I'm supposed to enter "bsd -s" at the boot prompt - or maybe bsd(0,0,0) , but I still can't get past the prompt that says "erase ^? etc." Ctrl-C doesn't help. I'll keep learning...
On the NeXT> prompt you can type "bsd" for booting from SCSI but it sounds as if you are on the single user mode console. If that is the case, just type "exit" and it will continue booting. Make sure to read the networking instructions that come with Previous. You can also find them here (
https://sourceforge.net/p/previous/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/networking.howto.txt).
Quote from: andreas_g on July 30, 2022, 01:19:12 AMOn the NeXT> prompt you can type "bsd" for booting from SCSI but it sounds as if you are on the single user mode console. If that is the case, just type "exit" and it will continue booting. Make sure to read the networking instructions that come with Previous. You can also find them here (https://sourceforge.net/p/previous/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/networking.howto.txt).
You're terrifically helpful - thank you! All I needed to do was enter "bsd" and it booted. Thank you again. One more question and I promise I'll shut up: where should I put the BIOS ROM file so that I don't get prompted to browse to it every time I start up? Right now, the BIOS files are the same folder with Previous itself and the disk image. Or perhaps I should simply change these entries in previous.cfg:
szRom030FileName = //Rev_1.0_v41.BIN
szRom040FileName = //Rev_2.5_v66.BIN
szRomTurboFileName = //Rev_3.3_v74.BIN
Any ideas would be welcome, and from then on I'll Read The Fact-filled Manual for any more information. Meanwhile, thank you again.
Quote from: emendelson on July 30, 2022, 07:24:49 AMwhere should I put the BIOS ROM file so that I don't get prompted to browse to it every time I start up? Right now, the BIOS files are the same folder with Previous itself and the disk image. Or perhaps I should simply change these entries in previous.cfg:
szRom030FileName = //Rev_1.0_v41.BIN
szRom040FileName = //Rev_2.5_v66.BIN
szRomTurboFileName = //Rev_3.3_v74.BIN
Any ideas would be welcome, and from then on I'll Read The Fact-filled Manual for any more information. Meanwhile, thank you again.
Unfortunately there is no manual for Previous itself. I did not have the patience to write it. There are only manuals for setting up NeXTstep for networking, file sharing and netboot.
But people can always contact me for help! At the moment Previous does not have valid default locations for the ROM files. Just put them anywhere you want and make sure to set the configuration accordingly.
For doing so invoke the options dialog using F12 or ctrl-alt-o. Then go to the ROM section and select the files you want to use. Different systems require different ROMs, so there are three categories. If you just want to simulate one system you don't have to select the other ROMs. When you are done, go back to the main menu and save the configuration to the default location (~/.previous). It will then be automatically loaded each time you start Previous.
By the way you can also set up Previous to automatically boot from SCSI disk without having to type "bsd" to the NeXT> prompt each time (just like on real hardware): Go to the boot section of the options dialog and select SCSI disk as your boot device. This can also be saved to the configuration file so you don't have to select it each time you start Previous. If you have any problems, feel free to ask.
Quote from: andreas_g on July 30, 2022, 08:20:21 AMFor doing so invoke the options dialog using F12 or ctrl-alt-o. Then go to the ROM section and select the files you want to use. Different systems require different ROMs, so there are three categories. If you just want to simulate one system you don't have to select the other ROMs. When you are done, go back to the main menu and save the configuration to the default location (~/.previous). It will then be automatically loaded each time you start Previous.
By the way you can also set up Previous to automatically boot from SCSI disk without having to type "bsd" to the NeXT> prompt each time (just like on real hardware): Go to the boot section of the options dialog and select SCSI disk as your boot device. This can also be saved to the configuration file so you don't have to select it each time you start Previous. If you have any problems, feel free to ask.
This is superbly helpful. Thank you. I'm still struggling to get networking started under 3.3, but I've done this in my VMware NExTSTEP setup, and will get it done here. Thank you again!