From: arends@Yosemite.metaphor.com (Dale M Arends)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.unix.misc
Subject: Liken - Macintosh emulator
Keywords: Macintosh Emulator UNIX 68000 SPARC
Date: 11 Sep 92 00:28:47 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.misc
Distribution: na
Organization: Metaphor Computer Systems, Mountain View, CA
Originator: arends@yosemite

I recently had the occasion to evaluate Liken, a Macintosh emulator that
runs on a SPARCstation.  This is a copy of the evaluation report.

Dale
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dale M. Arends                    arends@Yosemite.Metaphor.com
Metaphor Computer Systems, Inc.   ...!uunet!metaphor!yosemite!arends

Any opinions expressed herein are my own and not those of my employer.  They
probably aren't interested and maybe don't agree and therefore ...
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Liken Evaluation

by Dale M. Arends


What is it Liken to?

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to work on your Macintosh at home and, the next 
day, bring the document to the office and work on it there?   "But," you say, 
"all I have at the office is a SPARCstation."  Well, if you are using a 
common-platform application like FrameMaker, the only problem is moving the 
file since SPARCstations do not read Macintosh disks.  "But," you say again, 
"my document is in a Macintosh only application format.  What can I do?"  Well, 
you do have an option.

At the August A32 meeting,  Sunburst Computers gave us a short demonstration 
of a Macintosh emulator called Liken from Xcelerated Systems, Inc.  Critical, 
cynical soul that I am, I obtained an evaluation copy to try out on the 
SPARCstation IPC that I use at work.  

Depending on the purchased license, Liken is configurable by the user to 
either single- or multi- user.  The licenses can be fixed, where only 
particular machines will be able to run Liken, or with floating licenses.  
This gives a good degree of flexibility for the user environment.  During the 
configuration process, a fax to Xcelerated Systems will get an authorization 
key needed to complete the installation.  (The return fax with the key came 
to me within one hour.)  I tried it with a single user in both fixed and 
floating license mode.

The Liken system itself consists of 2 high capacity diskettes and a users 
manual that I would rate somewhere between 5 and 6 on a scale of 10.  The 
manual deals well with the general information and very well with problems 
and errors that may be encountered.  It is rather weak in guiding the user 
through somewhat more complex areas like creating a new disk search path and 
having it recognized during boot-up.  The information is frequently there, 
but retrieving it often requires playing hopscotch through the manual.  

Liken requires a minimum of 8 megabytes of RAM and at least 6 megabytes of 
free disk space plus space for the various Macintosh virtual hard disks.  
Liken actually emulates a 68000 processor onto which you load real Apple 
system software version 6.0.7 (on 1.44 Meg diskettes) for a Macintosh 
Classic.  System 7 is not (yet?) supported, nor is MultiFinder.  

Short Technical diversion...

Liken creates a 10 megabyte virtual hard disk on a path specified at 
installation  time.  This path may be local or on a server.  More virtual hard 
disks can be defined, either local or on the server.  The recommendation is 
to have a shared boot drive and each user having a local private drive.

Since the Sun file system does not truly handle the dual forked Macintosh file 
structure, Liken splits the forks and stores the resources in a hidden 
directory in the user's home directory.  In use, the separation is invisible 
to the user.  However, care must be taken that files on the Macintosh disks 
are deleted from within the emulator so that both parts are properly removed. 

End of technical diversion, on with the good (and not so good) stuff...

Once the installation and configuration is complete, a strangely familiar 
window is presented.  Except for the fact that it is framed in an X11 (or 
OpenWindows) window, it looks like a Macintosh desktop, complete with MenuBar, 
Apple menu, and the rest.  Icons are the Trash and the boot disk named 
SharedDisk (even if it isn't).  Icons open and close with appropriate mouse 
clicks; the menus look complete and correct; even the Control Panel and its 
devices work as you expect.  Windows appear almost exactly like the real 
Macintosh windows.  

Accessing the "About this Macintosh..." menu item shows 
the first drawback.  This Macintosh is only a 4 megabyte machine!  There is 
no way to increase the available RAM, despite the amount in the SPARCstation.  
Well, without MultiFinder that should not be too much of a problem.  Nor is 
the fixed 10 megabyte size of the boot drive changeable.  However, this is 
not too important as you can create a larger virtual drive and use that for 
general purposes.  Subsequent virtual disk drives are limited by available 
disk space.

Liken claims to emulate a monochrome Mac Classic.  I can't verify the 
comparison to a Classic, but it is definitely slower than my Mac IIcx.  This 
may well be due to the fact that Liken emulates a 68000 rather than a 68030.  
Still, it is eminently usable for most things.  One difference from 
Macintoshes is that the SPARCstation has a three-button mouse.  This fact 
is dealt with in a surprising manner.  The left button is recognized as the 
normal Macintosh mouse button.  The center button acts as a latching version 
of the Macintosh mouse button.  This simply means that it acts as if you 
pressed and held the regular button, and resets at the next button press.  

This seems almost counter-intuitive to me so I didn't use this one much.  
The right button is not used as a Macintosh mouse button.  Instead it brings 
up Liken's utility menu.

Liken's utility menu allows you to set up the emulation preferences and 
change the configuration.  It also deals with another difference between 
the emulation and a real Macintosh.  The SPARCstation does not recognize 
diskette insertion events.  To deal with this, the utility menu has a 
selection for "Use current diskette" that mounts the floppy diskette in the 
internal drive.  External floppy diskette drives are not recognized but an 
external CD-ROM drive can be used.  Liken reads and writes real Macintosh 
diskettes.  However, it cannot format the diskettes.  Diskettes must be 
formatted on another Mac, a PC, or using the SPARCstation's UNIX `fdformat' 
command.  Once formatted, the diskettes can be initialized and erased as 
Macintosh diskettes.

Also in this utility menu are selections for changing the screen size.  
Liken allows you to select the desktop size you want from selections that 
include 512x342,  640x480, and 1024x768.  If you want, there is also an 
option for 2x magnification.  

Ok, what works and what doesn't...

Two biggies do not work!  Neither  MultiFinder nor System 7 are supported.  
I would hope that they are to be supported soon, or at least System 7.  At 
that time the limitation of 4 megabytes of RAM would need to be addressed.  
Also, since the emulation is of a 68000 Mac Classic, programs that require 
a 68020 or 68030 (or MMU/FPU), or color, are out of luck.

In the couple of weeks that I was able to use it, Liken showed that it was 
capable of running most of the applications I needed, including one I wrote 
myself in 1984 and have not recompiled since then.  The documentation that 
comes with Liken contains a fairly long list of applications that are supposed 
to work.  I won't go into them except to say that the list includes most of 
the common applications for production of documents, spreadsheets, and graphs.  
Microsoft Word 4.0 and Excel 3.0 both were able to deal with the documents 
and problems I gave them.  Graphics programs are represented in the list but 
to a smaller degree.   

Printing is supported in, what I feel, is a partial solution.  As things are 
now, the Liken manuals suggest that the Apple LaserWriter NT be installed.  
This is selected through the Chooser, as usual, and printing goes out through 
the UNIX `lpr' command to the default system printer.  Command line parameters 
for the `lpr' command can be modified in the Liken utility menu.  I would much 
rather see Liken be able to read the UNIX printcap file and generate named 
printer icons for the Chooser to allow selecting the desired printer.  Still, 
printing works as efficiently as on a true Macintosh.

Many of the more popular maintenance utilities, such as Norton Utilities, do 
not work.  Nor was I able to get either Disinfectant or Gatekeeper to work.  
On the other hand, while Compact Pro 1.33 worked well, StuffIt Deluxe was very 
touchy and StuffIt Expander worked not at all.  Apple's ResEdit 2.1.1 works 
but is very touchy.  Font/DA Mover 3.9 gave no trouble at all.  From this I get 
the feeling that the slightest unusual circumstance or programming technique 
will crash the system (Liken, not UNIX).  

Games have a very poor showing.  This is not surprising and probably caused 
by the same situation that will cause many utilities, INITs and CDEVs to fail; 
non-standard coding practices.  Emulations usually have a hard time with 
programs that step outside of the basic functional shell.  Practices like 
drawing directly to the screen or writing directly into assumed safe memory 
is likely to crash emulators and Liken is no exception.  Most programs that 
behave themselves and "follow the rules" seem to work.

Conclusions and other stuff...

In evaluating Liken, I did not give it as thorough a workout as I would have 
if I had more time and applications available.  In all, I tried about fifteen 
various applications and utilities.  My intent was to see if it could serve 
as a Macintosh adjunct in a mixed Macintosh/Sun business environment.  In 
all, I feel that Liken is a viable addition to such an environment if the 
user is predominately a UNIX user with an occasional need for a Macintosh.  
It does not have sufficient speed or capabilities (yet?) to take the place 
of real Macintoshes in a production environment.  My main reservations 
are the speed and memory size available.  System 7 needs to be supported.

One concern I had is the effect on a server when using Liken across a network.  
With the configuration set for a floating license, I had some timing tests 
running on my machine while using Liken from a remote logon.  The impact on 
the server was apparent but not unduly so.  A multi-user license would require 
a server with more horsepower than my IPC.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best, I would give Liken a clean, 
solid 7.  What it does, it does well; it simply needs the next evolutionary 
step.  I look forward to seeing it.

Miscellaneous...

The version of SunOS on the SPARCstation is 4.1 running X11R4.
The version of Liken evaluated is 1.2.
The version of the Macintosh OS is 6.0.7 with SuperClock 3.9.1, Preview 1.0

Sunburst Computers can be reached at:

     Sunburst Computers
     500 Mansion Court, Suite 115
     Santa Clara CA 95054
     408-727-8166

Xcelerated Systems, Inc. can be reached at:

     Xcelerated Systems, Inc.
     3944 Murphy Canyon Road, #C201
     San Diego CA 92123
     619-576-3080

Liken starts at about $695US for the single user license.  Multi-user 
licenses come in 10, 25, and 50 license packages and are significantly 
more expensive.

All registered and non-registered trademarks are the property of their 
respective owners. 


-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dale M. Arends                    arends@Yosemite.Metaphor.com
Metaphor Computer Systems, Inc.   ...!uunet!metaphor!yosemite!arends

Any opinions expressed herein are my own and not those of my employer.  They
probably aren't interested and maybe don't agree and therefore ...
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc