User:NeoAmsterdam/Customize Mini vMac's disk image

Warning

• I will not provide Mac Plus ROM images.
  If you do not know why this is an issue, then don't run Mini vMac.

Note

• You must provide Mini vMac a Mac Plus ROM image.
• The Mini vMac activity has been crippled (relative to the "standard" version):
  • It can access only one disk image.
  • Its use of a compressed disk image slows down performance significantly.
• Mini vMac has no "breakout" support - any file created under emulation will be inaccessible from the XO (and vice-versa).

Requirements

• A Mac Plus ROM image
• Mini vMac
• Disk Utility
• gzip

Instructions

• Note: The disk image creation instructions are for Mac OS X. File:Blank vMac.DSK.gz is available for download to help non-OS X users get started.

1. Create a new blank disk image that is large enough to contain all your software and that contains no partition layout information.
   Check your existing Mini vMac's disk usage for a good idea how much space you'll need.
   hdiutil create -size 40m -fs HFS -layout NONE 40MB.dmg
2. Convert the disk image into an NDIF ("Classic" DiskCopy) read/write format.
   hdiutil convert -format RdWr -o 40MB.img 40MB.dmg
3. Now inside Mini vMac, install whatever you like to the disk image
   I recommend System 6.0.8 or System 7.0.1; System 7.5.3 is possible but overkill.
4. Once you're finished with Mini vMac, compress and rename the disk image
   gzip 40MB.img && mv 40MB.img vMac.DSK.gz
5. Copy the disk image to your XO. You'll find the default disk image located at MiniVMac.activity/vMac.DSK.gz

See Also

• Mini vMac Downloads Page
• Build Instructions for Mini vMac
• About ROM Images
• Apple System Software Page