#openstep41 — Public Fediverse posts

OpenStep 4.1 (x86) on 86Box with Socket 370 [1998]

In 1996, Apple Computer acquired NeXTSTEP and OpenSTEP and used them as a foundation to build Mac OS X, which was later rebranded to macOS, for Macintosh computers. The Darwin kernel uses NeXTSTEP’s technologies to power the core part of macOS (Mac computers and laptops), iOS (iPhone), iPadOS (iPad), watchOS (Apple Watch), and tvOS (Apple TV).

Our focus in this article is testing OpenStep 4.1 on an 86Box emulated machine with a Socket 370 [1998] motherboard. You can download it from here, and you can download the working boot images from the OpenStep 4.1 folder from this link.

We’ve configured the virtual machine as follows:

We’ve configured a virtual machine to run with:

• Machine type: [1998] Socket 370
• Machine: [i440LX] Supermicro 370SLM
• CPU: Intel Celeron (Mendocino) @ 366 MHz
• Memory: 128 MB
• Video: [PCI] S3 Vision968 (Number 9 9FX 771)
  • Video Memory: 4 MB
• Keyboard: AT Keyboard
• Mouse: PS/2 Mouse
• Sound card: None
• Floppy disk controller: Internal device
• Hard disk controller 1: Internal device
• New hard disk: NeXTSTEP.vhd
  • C/H/S: 2080/16/63
  • Size: 1024 MB
  • Bus: IDE
  • Channel: 0:0
• CD-ROM drive 1: ATAPI – MATSHITA CD-ROM CR-583 1.07 (8x)
  • Channel: 0:1

Once everything is configured as above, we can now start the virtual machine. Insert the disc called OpenStep 4.1 (User).iso to the CD-ROM reader and the floppy disk called 4.0_Install_Disk.img to the floppy drive, then let the system start.

After that, let it boot to the installer, then press 1 in both screens to begin installation.

Now, insert the device drivers disk to the floppy drive. The disk name is 4.0_Drivers_1.img.

Now, choose the following drivers:

• For the CD-ROM, since the drive was connected to an ATAPI channel, you’ll need to load the EIDE and ATAPI Device Controller (v3.34) driver.
• For the hard drive, use the IDE Disk Controller (v3.34) driver.

Then, continue without loading additional drivers.

Let NeXTSTEP start.

Confirm that the correct disk and the correct size is shown. Then, press 1 to select it. Afterwards, press 1 to erase the whole disk, and press 1 once again to confirm the installation.

Let the first stage of installation copy the base system files to the hard disk.

Afterwards, the installer should say that the installation is successful. Remove any disk from the floppy drive, then press ENTER to restart the virtual machine to the second stage of the setup.

OpenStep will show you a screen where you’ll be prompted to insert the floppy disk for the device drivers again since the ATAPI driver doesn’t exist in the CD-ROM. So, insert the same driver disk and press 1.

After that, let OpenStep load. When it asks you to insert the drivers disk for the device controller, press OK.

If everything goes well, you should see this screen.

Configure the Number Nine Motion 771 PCI graphics adapter by clicking on the monitor icon, then click on #9 Motion 771 PCI Display Adapter (4MB Modes) > Add. Then, go back to the main menu by clicking on the paper icon at the left of the window, and click Save.

A new window opens where you’ll be able to customize what components will be installed to your OpenStep system. We have kept everything as the default, so we clicked Install.

Let the installation begin.

Click on Restart, and let it reboot to the OpenStep language and keyboard layout customization screen.

Click OK, and the desktop will load with the file viewer open.