Basilisk II JIT

Basilisk II is an Open Source 680×0 Macintosh emulator developed by Christian Bauer. That is, it enables you to run 68k MacOS software on your computer, even if you are using a different operating system. However, you still need a copy of MacOS and a Macintosh ROM image to use this program. Basilisk II is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

The Basilisk II JIT project aims at improving the run-time performance of the emulator. In technical terms, it uses dynamic recompilation techniques to translate original 680×0 code into native code (currently x86 and x86_64). The engine is derived from Bernie Meyer’s just-in-time (JIT) compiler engine for UAE. Further bug-fixes and improvements were made for Basilisk II.

The following platforms are currently supported: Linux/i386, Linux/x86_64, FreeBSD/i386 and MacOS X for Intel. An experimental port to Windows is available again but it’s still looking for proper maintainership.

Note: This webspace contains development code currently available in CVS. Though efforts are made to ensure stability, regressions are possible. Please see the Official Basilisk II Homepage for stable builds.

Last update: 2006/05/05 -- MacOS X GUI fixes.

• Emulates either a Mac Classic (which runs MacOS 0.x thru 7.5) or a Mac II series machine (which runs MacOS 7.x, 8.0 and 8.1), depending on the ROM being used
• Uses UAE 68k emulation or (under AmigaOS and NetBSD/m68k) real 68k processor
• High performance JIT translation engine for x86 and x86_64 (AMD64, EM64T)
• Copy and paste of text between MacOS and the host OS
• Easy file exchange with the host OS via a “Host Directory Tree” icon on the Mac desktop
• Color video display with support for run-time resolution switching
• CD quality sound output
• Floppy disk driver (only 1.44MB disks supported)
• Driver for HFS partitions and hardfiles
• CD-ROM driver with basic audio functions
• Ethernet driver
• Serial drivers
• SCSI Manager (old-style) emulation
• Emulates extended ADB keyboard and 3-button mouse

• [2006/05/01] Basilisk II 1.0 snapshot with JIT
  • Handle up to 1 GB of Mac memory
  • Handle MacOS idle wait (idlewait prefs item)
  • Fix a crash with the AppleShare extension
  • Improve SLiRP network emulation performance
  • Portability fixes to IRIX/mips, Solaris/SPARC
  • MacOS X:
    • Port to MacOS X for Intel, including the JIT
    • Add a primitive graphical preferences editor
    • Fix clipboard (copy/paste of text from/to the host OS)
    • Fix external filesystem (extended file infos, “invisible” folders, creation times)
    • Fix SLiRP network emulation (workaround MacOS X bugs)
  • Windows:
    • Add SLiRP network emulation (ether slirp)
    • Add TAP-Win32 network emulation (ether tap)
    • Fix CD-ROM auto-detection (pollmedia now works)
    • Improve GUI for network configuration

• [2005/11/22] Basilisk II 1.0 snapshot with JIT
  • Fix support for 4+ GB hard disk images
  • Fix JIT translation through constant jumps (jitinline)
  • Fix crash when closing the GUI Prefs Editor too early on Unix platforms
  • Fix default configs when using the GUI for the first time
  • Fix detection of newer CPUs, fallback to safe settings if necessary
  • Add support for user-mode network emulation (slirp)
  • Add support for full-screen mode graphics in SDL targets
  • Add Windows GUI based on GTK+2
  • Improve responsiveness on NetBSD platforms

• [...]

• Basilisk II 1.0-Pre JIT R5 (01.May.2006)

  • Linux/i586 (glibc 2.2, gcc 3.2, RPM)
  • Linux/x86_64 (glibc 2.3, gcc 3.4, RPM)
  • MacOS X (Universal Binary)
  • MacOS X GUI (2006/05/05)
  • Windows (SDL, ZIP)

  • Sources: [ tar.bz2 ] [ rpm ]
• Older releases

• Note to Windows users: you will also need SDL 1.2 libraries and a GTK+2 Runtime.

• A Help Center is also work-in-progress thanks to a group of volunteers.
• Several community forums are available: Emaculation ; Delphi Forums for MacEmulation and Basilisk II / SheepShaver.