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Best software to include on an OS9 'bridge' machine

avadondragon

Well-known member
I have my own set of tools I've collected over the years but I thought it would be interesting to ask the community what things they think are essential or really useful/cool. Go ahead and include no-brainer stuff like the latest version of DiskCopy and Stuffit too. I'd like to see an all encompassing list good for people new to MacOS.
 

CTB

Well-known member
Disk Copy 4.2, Disk Copy 6.3, StuffIt Deluxe, BinHex, ResEdit, GraphicConverter, PDF Viewer. Toast to name a few.
 

avadondragon

Well-known member
Any reason to use Disk Copy 6.3 over the last version available - 6.5b13?
6.3.3 is the version I use for 68k Macs but I've always used 6.5b13 on PPC's running OS9.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
I find other adjuncts helpful that others may not think of:

TomeViewer - very helpful for extracting bits of system installations when you don’t plan on upgrading the system.

StuffIt 1.5.1 - specifically to make the most compatible archives for your machines.

2020 Patch - I load this on all my machines to correct the date issue.

Virtual CD/DVD Utility - mount those CD images without hassle. Great to place on your System 7 machines.
 

Phipli

Well-known member
MacZip.

It can handle zip files from Mac OS 10.4+ without breaking resource forks. Also normal Zips.
 

CTB

Well-known member
Any reason to use Disk Copy 6.3 over the last version available - 6.5b13?
6.3.3 is the version I use for 68k Macs but I've always used 6.5b13 on PPC's running OS9.
I never like using a beta of anything, the Coders made it beta for a reason. Also, 6.3.3 for 68K just to avoid the fat binary.

„Trawl“ if you use AppleTalk networking.
I use AppleTalk all the time. What is Trawl?
 

Chopsticks

Well-known member
along with everything @LaPorta listed, I also find the following have been handy for me

Transmit and/or Fetch - very handy for Ftp transfers if you Mac has network support

Tombviewer - useful for extracting files from Mac OS system installer tombs

Nortons Utilities - Benchmarking, basic disc and data recovery etc

Stuffit 5.5+ - many .sit files seem to need this version or later to extract (more important for OS X stuff I guess)

A-Dock - gives use a dock somewhat like OS X has

ResEdit - self explanatory

Resourcer - arguably better then resedit, get v2.2

File Buddy - handy for changing file attributes etc, integrates well with os 9

System Picker - chooses boot Folder


im sure there other must have apps that I use but those are just the ones that came to mind
 

mikes-macs

Well-known member
MacTCP 2.1, and Network Time Control Panels as self extracting archives. Also, FWB Toolkit, Lido, Apple SCSI Setup, Drive Setup 8.1, SCSI Probe, and TattleTech as applications.
 

ArmorAlley

Well-known member
To add the already excellent list:

If this OS9 is also your file server, then AppleShare IP v6 is good to have.


Files can be stored on SCSI/FireWire drives. Some of the later drives have RAID built in for added security/speed but given the speed of teh network, I would stick with RAID 1 (mirroring for added safety).

I like to have access to installers in image form especially the system software and drivers. It is handy if you can access the file server from the network with a floppy, download the image locally and boot from that image (assuming, of course, that it is bootable).

As for StuffIt, I keep v6.0 on the OS9 machine for unstuffing files I get from the Macintosh Garden and v4 for stuffing them so that they can be unstuffed in System 6.

Thanks @robin-fo for Trawl. I shall try it out tonight.
 

Cory5412

Daring Pioneer of the Future
Staff member
So, just by way of opinions: I actually run a public ASIP6 server and I heartily recommend against the idea of running AppleShare IP unless your goal is explicitly to experience what it would've been like being a workgroup or education sysadmin in 1998.

Unless you need over ten concurrent connections or private file storage areas for individual named areas, it doesn't do anything better than the personal file sharing built into mac os 9 or even early versions of OS X. There's more moving parts, so backups and file moves are more annoying to manage, and it doesn't do anywhere near as much as it could to make those things better for you.

For System 7.1 and newer on '020s and newer, 10.4 is even significantly better at those things than OS 9. The only downside to 10.4 is that it doesn't retain AppleShare-over-AppleTalk. Linux, however, does.

Add to all that, there's a "right" and a "wrong" way to use ASIP and if you're gonna use it the "wrong" way you may as well just use the built-in file service on the client version of 7/8/9.

ASIP6 isn't bad, it's just probably not worth the overhead.
 

Cory5412

Daring Pioneer of the Future
Staff member
In terms of other software: What's been listed here covers it. I also have another ISO/image mounter utility.

I don't bother with the disk copy 6.5 beta because mounting DMGs on Mac OS 9 isn't valuable to me, I have OS X Macs for that. I do have an OS X system with Classic Mode available so I can re-image DMGs as DC6 files should one that was made inappropriately show up.

I use mostly stuffit 5 on my OS 9 machines and, again, I have an OS X machine to bridge the gap between the modern internet and OS 9, so OS 9 can bridge the gap between my ~2005-09 Macs and my 1990-95 ones.

We're basically at the point where people who have a fairly wide interest range will likely need to consider having more than one bridge Macs. For my purposes, I have a Mac running 10.6 that I use both for ~2009-11 era Production(TM) software but also for translating files to and from formats compatible with and suitable for vintage Macs. 10.6 is the newest version that can connect to my ASIP6 server (this applies to the built-in file sharing too) but the reverse isn't true, so I use my OS 9 server (and again this could be 10.4, NT4/2000/2003, or Linux/BSD) more as a hub than an actual bridge.

I do have a handful of Macs that "need" AppleTalk specifically (as opposed to IP over ethernet) so it bridges in that way, but if I had, say, a big system 6-and-earlier contingent I'd high key consider an even older bridge/hub. (or again: linux/bsd)

I tend to install the regular software I'm using on bridge machines, plus file translation tools like GraphicConverter, QuickTime Pro suitable to whatever OS version you're running or slightly upgraded, Office, newer version of ClarisWorks, etc etc.

In terms of actual process, because I do have that OS 9 file server set up, I actually do a lot of my grunt work in a QEMU-PPC instance that runs in the background on my main personal desktop. I have separate ones for OS X 10.4 and OS 9, but I might at some point pop classic mode into the OS X one, mostly to get the logistical benefit of "shutdowns work correctly" while still having the option to fire up the dedicated OS9 instance.

I would probably adapt my ASIP6 instance to QEMU but I haven't bothered getting direct IP networking to work so my QEMU instances are NATted within the Windows box I run 'em on and can't be servers. (I also don't actually know if it's possible/reasonable to P2V an existing ASIP6 instance - as I mentioned in my previous post I don't really recommend ASIP6 unless you need private home directories or more than ten concurrent connections, both vanishingly rare circumstances.)
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
In addition to the above, I have:
  • A "Hardware Support" folder which conain contains all the drivers for all the hardware I have (ish; I'm not organised enough to really keep it up well). It also contains drivers for hardware I think I'm likely to get and which otherwise might disappear into the internet void.

  • The main OSes I install in DiskCopy format. That way I can install them over the network, booting with the 7.5NAD.

  • Utilities: BBEdit Lite. GetDown Classic (from @rabbitholecomputing). Lido. MacTCP Watcher. SCSIProbe. SendEcho (appletalk ping). TattleTech. Tardis (the AppleTalk time server client; I run a timelord server). The A/UX and the patched versions of HD SC Setup. Disinfectant. Force32 (tootling my own trumpet a bit here I suppose!). Gestalt.Appl (exploring the Gestalt). MODE32. MountImage (a CDEV for System 6 which mounts DiskCopy 4.2 images). SetDate. SuperClock.

  • More abstruse but very useful: ADB Parser. HexEdit. Macsbug. Netminder Localtalk (if you do LocalTalk). "Slots", the application off the old dev CDs which shows you what the machine thinks it has in it.

  • Apple patches for 7.1: Thread Manager, File System Manager
Not all of these, of course, end up installed on all machines...
 

Mk.558

Well-known member
About Disk Copy 6.5b13 or 6.4, those ignore the floppy drive restrictions on machines that don't have built in floppy drives (among other things). E.G. You have an iMac G4 with 9.2.2 and a USB floppy drive, well with DC 6.3.3 you cannot write a 1.44MB disk image because it won't allow it. 6.5b13 / 6.4 don't have this restriction. I have used 6.5b13 for awhile and never had a problem with it.

I have never really gotten the .DMG function to work on 6.5b13, but I don't use it for that anyways.

EDIT: ...Would you like to tell us how you run Commander One on Mac OS 9?
 
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