Frequently Asked Questions

MorphOS is a lightweight, highly efficient and flexible desktop operating system. It includes primarily proprietary but also open-source components, most notably the Ambient desktop environment. Its many features range from a modern exceptionally customizable graphical user interface, which can utilize 3D hardware acceleration, to a high-performance Just-in-Time compiler which emulates the 68k family of processors and thereby allows to transparently execute legacy applications developed for the Commodore Ax00 series of computers.

A few parts of MorphOS were originally derived from work made for the open source AROS project.

MorphOS is currently focused on hardware systems based on the Power Architecture and includes special optimizations for the AltiVec instruction subset.

More specifically, it runs on Powerbook G4, iBook G4, Mac mini G4, eMac, Power Mac G5, and Power Mac G4 as well as on computers and systems based on EFIKA, Pegasos I, Pegasos II, Sam460 and X5000 mainboards. There exist also development ports to the NXP MobileGT platform.

For a detailed list of the supported hardware, please visit this page.

You can find a list of developers and contributors on this page.

Boot MorphOS and launch the included RegTool application (in the Tools drawer). Fill out the form and register. You will receive a validation email and after a successful validation, an email with PayPal link.

The price is 79 EUR for one laptop or desktop computer. Special pricing of 49 EUR per device is offered for EfikaPPC and Sam460 systems.

The unregistered version of MorphOS includes the full functionality, but slows down operation after a 30 minutes period until you choose to reboot your computer.

No, a MorphOS keyfile is bound to the machine it was generated for. If you want to sell the hardware, you are free to sell the keyfile with it.

No, in case of hardware failure we usually let the owner register a new machine and generate a free keyfile for it. In order to apply for a replacement, register the new machine and put "In place of a dead machine" in the Purpose field inside the RegTool application. Verify the link you will receive by email, but do not use the PayPal link. We will contact you using the provided email address. You will need to email us the keyfile generated for the dead hardware in order for us to validate your request and may be asked for some sort of proof that the machine is really dead. Be aware that the old keyfile will be invalidated for future MorphOS releases and it will not be possible to register that machine again.

In order to be recognized, the key file needs to be copied to

SYS:Devs/

and the file should be called:

MorphOS.key

In case you are not familiar, "SYS:" is a shorthand for the partition where MorphOS is installed on your computer.

Our contact details can be found here. In case you need assistance with your MorphOS setup, we encourage that you sign up to our support mailing list and post any problems there before you contact us directly.

For urgent matters, please visit #morphos on the Libera Chat network (irc.libera.chat) where you can talk to other MorphOS users and various core developers.

For detailed information, please read the release notes for all subsequent versions.

MorphOS 3.10 first introduced proper time zone support. For this to work properly you need to specify your time zone and correct the system time in Time preferences. If you have already configured your internet connectivity you can also:

1. Select the correct time zone
2. Click "Set date and time using the Internet"
3. Click Save

You need to make sure that ixemul can find the zoneinfo files. This can be remediated with:

sh -c "(cd /etc; ln -s /MOSSYS/Data/zoneinfo)"

Usually you should get it within a period of 24 to 48 hours. We would like to note that this process is handled manually. Please be patient and do not register a second time. If you think there is a problem, send an email to support@morphos-team.net instead.

When you are looking at the Ambient desktop, move your mouse pointer to the screen title bar and select the menu column labelled as "Ambient". Now, choose "About MorphOS" and view the "Support" tab. Read the on-screen instructions and fill out a report. Finally, press the "Generate report" button. Thank you.

Enter 'getramdebuglog ram:morphos.log' in a shell window and send the newly created file named morphos.log, which is to be found in your Ram Disk, to the developer.

MOSSYS: is an assign pointing to SYS:MorphOS. The idea is that SYS:MorphOS is a private directory for the operating system and you do not need to touch anything in it. A system upgrade will be done by simply putting a new directory (old one can be renamed or so). If you want to change the way the system is started edit s:user-startup, nothing else.

Due to changes in licensing some applications are no longer included on the ISO.

When it is ready. Please do not ask developers repeatedly when something is ready as it is hard to predict and is being worked on most of the time irregardless of your questions.

The MorphOS development team cannot port MorphOS to hardware that does not exist. Furthermore, the developers do not make plans based on planned products. A product must exist and be for sale to be even considered for a port.

We strongly urge you to not buy or otherwise finance any hardware for the purpose of running MorphOS until you have read an announcement on this website that clearly states MorphOS will support it.

Mount the HFS Boot partition with Mounter application found in Tools. Open the bootinfo.txt in your favourite text editor and find the <boot-script> line. It should be something like: boot &device;:&partition;,\boot.img ramdebug

Now add your boot arguments after the ramdebug keyword and save the file. You need to call HFSSetMacBoot Boot:bootinfo.txt EACH TIME you
modify the bootinfo.txt or your Mac computer will not be able to boot MorphOS!

It marks files as bootable by OpenFirmware, making a partition appear as bootable in OSX and OpenFirmware's boot menu.

Press and hold Command + Option + O + F keys after you hear the chime sound.

Enter the OpenFirmware prompt and type 'eject cd'. You can continue booting by typing 'boot' or reboot with 'bye' or 'reboot-all'.

Your Mac computer's OpenFirmware can only read HFS or HFS+ partitions, so it would not be able to load the boot.img from a FFS or SFS partition. HFS is the only Mac filesystem with write support under MorphOS.

Using and understanding boot options requires a little knowledge about DOS pattern management. If you are just searching for examples, skip the following part and take a look at the examples listed below.

General Meaning:
The character case is not important. Just the boot image file name must be exact.

• no / behind argument means that a textual argument is expected.


• = means you can use one of these key word as argument. e.g. Fuh=Bar=Chicken/S allows to enable the same switch by using fuh, bar or chicken.


• /S means no arguments needed. Just the keyword will enable option.


• /N means a numeric argument is required.

Arguments:
To get all available arguments simply use
> boot boot.img "

(" is important here, as it makes it fail and shows a template.)

• BM=BootMenu/S
  The boot menu can be opened by using F1 or pressing your left mouse button during the boot up, but this may be tricky due to issues of wireless devices or USB ones in general. This switch forces the boot menu to be opened without any additional key or button press.


• BD=BootDevice
  If there is more than one partition marked with the boot flag, you can use this option to specify the name of the boot drive / partition from which you would like MorphOS to be loaded, e.g. bd dh0:


• RD=RamDebug/S
  By default, debug output is routed though the serial port. This may slow down debugging or cause massive system slowdowns whenever applications with enabled debug
  or bugs are running. This option allows to redirect debug into a predefined memory section.


• RDS=RamDebugSize/N
  Normally the size of ram debug memory is 4MB on the Pegasos and 256kB on the Efika. This may not be enough for several debug purposes, so this option allows to increase the amount of memory to the desired size. Using the size of 0 disables ramdebug and enables default (serial) debug.


• RDO=RamDebugOffset/N
  This option allows to move the used memory area which is usually at the beginning of the memory block. As Open Firmware overwrites the first kB of the memory it may be useful to move the ram debug cache beyond that area.

Examples:
Please note that boot.img and ide:0 need to be adjusted depending on your hardware and partition layout.

Optimal arguments for using MorphOS on Efika & Pegasos:
> boot ide:0 boot.img rd rds 0

Optimal arguments for running MorphOS with basic debug functionality being enabled.
> boot ide:0 boot.img ed invzeropage

This will boot MorphOS from a device/partition named SDH2.
> boot ide:0 boot.img BootDevice SDH2

First make sure its working when typing the commands by performing a test boot. Then, define a boot file and set options. Boot command and boot device will be added by using the Open Firmware.
> setenv boot-file boot.img ramdebug

There are alias names available if you did not remove them, so this /pci/ stuff can be replaced by a simple ide:0.
> setenv boot-device /pci/ide/disk@...

Now, we set the auto boot delay. By default the Open Firmware counts down from 5 before starting auto boot. This would be a 5 second delay. It is possible to set up lower or higher numbers. It is recommended to refrain from using values below 1000, because it may be very hard to re-enter the Open Firmware command line interface again otherwise. The optimal values are between 3000 and 10000. (4000 equals 4 seconds, 1000 equals 1 second, and so on.)
> setenv auto-boot-timeout 3000

You may skip this for now. Using "boot" command without any argument will use the configuration specified above. If its working fine you finally can enable automatic booting using those set-ups.
> setenv auto-boot? true

We strongly urge that you DO NOT try to mess around with Open Firmware startup scripts or you might end up with a machine that does not boot at all.

There is a GRUB port done by Marcin Kurek available at http://tbs-software.com/morgoth/projects.html

Ambient has a Format menu.

You will see them in the Format menu.

Always use 80 pin IDE cables for everything. 40 pin cables are not supported.

No, it should work with any version of OpenFirmware. However, some features like Gigabit Ethernet and SFS boot may not be available.

As stated in the installation tool, upgrades are not supported. They should work, but after 4 years of development many things changed and because of the pressing release schedule updating old installations was not tested / verified to work at all. Theoretically, it should work, but in case you run into any problems please try a clean installation first before reporting bugs to the MorphOS development team.

The preferred way is to report the issue on the mailing list (see MorphOS.readme how to subscribe) or use the Bug Report feature in the 'About MorphOS' requester you can find in the Ambient menu.

You must boot from MorphOS 3.x to use MorphOS 3.x components. MorphOS 3.x components cannot be started from MorphOS 2.x or MorphOS 1.4.

The problem is that you selected MBR as partition table which is not very flexible and no even contains a real checksum. The solution is to change the boot block type to RDB. This can be done by using right mouse button above the hard drive image. In the newly appeared context menu you can select RDB. After this is done, SFS can easily be chosen via the GUI.

On a Mac system, always use the MAC partition layout.

Double click on Mixer icon and choose MUI from menu item. In Mixers MUI settings select window from list and disable the "icon on desktop" check mark.

MorphOS 3.x should automatically recognize your monitor and generate the best configuration for it. In case you want to edit the monitor settings by hand, go to 'Monitors', chose a proper monitor in the monitor list or create one if you do not find it. Create some new screen modes, press 'Save'. Reboot. Go to 'Screens' and select them in the list view. You may also have a look at the file ModeEdit.pdf inside the Docs drawer.

Right click on the screen depth button (the button in right/top edge of screen) and select the module from the menu.

In SYS:Classes/MUI

As a general rule, no. It might work, but we do not support these type of MorphOS setups in any way. Possible bug reports or other forms of help requests caused by related problems will most likely be ignored. Only the MorphOS development team can make sure that all components of MorphOS fit together well and work in harmony. We encourage that you do not risk system stability in favor of adding unofficial software components to MOSSYS:

You can use the additional boot arguments rds (ramdebugsize) and rdo (ramdebugoffset) to modify internal settings. Ramdebug does not survive a reset when
it is located in the first 32MB of ram (i.e. it will be overwritten by the firmware)

Example:
> boot boot.img ramdebug rdo=33555456

If you type the above, this will result in the Ramdebug log surviving a reset on Pegasos computers by moving its buffer outside the first 32MB of RAM. Of course, this implies that sufficient memory is available to do so.

First of all, we do not support such configurations. Once you start to replace system stuff you are on your own. That said, if you want to replace a library, for example MOSSYS:Libs/foobar.library, put your 3rd party foobar.library into libs: (which is SYS:Libs) and *rename* MOSSYS:Libs/foobar.library to MOSSYS:Libs/foobar.library_ (you can use any name but appending '_' is handy). The system will then fallback to LIBS:foobar.library. But you should really refrain from doing that as MorphOS libraries are heavily improved and extended compared to 3rd party stuff.

In order to use a wireless Internet connection, plug in a supported PCMCIA or PCI card and start the machine or reboot. Do note that MorphOS does not support hotplug for PCMCIA cards, so if you plug one in once MorphOS is already running, you will have to reboot for the card to be detected.

Select System... from the Ambient's Settings menu to open the Network settings. You should see the wireless network interface wl0 at the top of the list. Once you enable the interface, a list of available Access Points should appear shortly. In order to connect to a selected network, double click the item and type in the password if requested. Wait for the led next to the network name to turn green and press the Save button.

You should be online now!

Please note that while the passwords are saved, you will have to manually switch to a new network when moving around. This will be changed at a later date. In case you are connected to a wireless network (signalled by the green led in the Network settings), but the connection does not seem to work, it is likely that the DHCP service has failed. Try rebooting the machine - you will be reconnected automatically when booting MorphOS.

MorphOS will run on any Apple PowerBook Aluminum with a Radeon graphics chip and any Apple iBook G4.

The 12 inch Powerbook models include an NVIDIA graphics chip which is unlikely to ever be supported.

We recommend that everyone reads "Buying a PowerBook" article before buying a PowerBook - it is available in English, Polski and Deutsch.

MorphOS handles most of the hardware found in PowerBooks, namely:

• CPU throttling (DFS2, currently only for 1.67GHz models)


• Temperature and fan control


• Screen backlight control


• Keyboard backlight


• Touchpad


• Cardbus


• Battery control


• Lid sensor


• Sound output with hardware volume control


• And all the obvious things like USB, IDE, Ethernet controllers

Support for built-in wireless networking, DVI/TV output, sudden motion sensor, and sound input is planned for future releases. Modem support is not planned.

Real-life tests indicate that a new, fully charged battery provides 3 to 4 hours of lifetime under MorphOS, depending on the PowerBook model. A1138 will last the longest.

This may mean that the selected boot.img file or the filesystem Mac mini boots from is corrupt. Boot MorphOS from the CD, mount the HFS Boot partition with Mounter, format it using Ambient´s Format menu (remember to name it Boot) and copy files found in mac_ppc32 directory on the CD to the freshly formatted Boot: partition. Now open a shell and type 'HFSSetMacBoot Boot:bootinfo.txt'. Finally, eject the CD and reboot.

It may be that the HDD was not detected or that its partition table is damaged. In case you have your data backed up, the best way would be to try reinstalling MorphOS. You may also want to run HDConfig from Tools to see if the HDD is detected and has the proper partition layout.

Try to erase the nvram. This is done by holding Command + Option + P + R keys after hearing the chime sound after you power on the mini. You should keep the keys pressed until you hear the Mac reboot itself again. Even if the chime sound was previously muted, you should hear one now.

You may try the same key combination, but this time power the mini off, hold the Command + Option + P + R keys and press and hold the power
button with your third hand. Keep all keys and the power button pressed until you hear the Mac mini reboot again.
If this does not help, you should probably send the machine to your local service center.

We have successfully tested Apple´s A1048 and M7803 keyboards but discovered compatibility issues with the A1242 and A1243 models. These issues have been fixed since the release of MorphOS 2.5. Please upgrade your operating system.

Please make sure that you are using IDE cables with 80 conductors. Cables with only 40 conductors are not supported!

You may have forgotten to enable the boot flags in IWizard or HDConfig for the partition you installed MorphOS 3.x on.

Reboot CD again and use the HDConfig tool in tools drawer to set the boot flags for that partition.

You cannot just insert the CD and boot as you might do with a MorphOS 1.4.5 CD. The reason is that the old MorphOS 1.4.x boot.img on your hard drive is being used when you boot from CD unless you specifically tell your computer to not do so.

Type the following line to boot your Pegasos 2 via CD only.

> boot cd boot.img

On a Pegasos 1, please type
> boot cd bootpeg1.img

After making a proper installation, you can now boot any MorphOS 3.x CD without the need to type this again.

Make sure you use MorphOS 2.3 or higher.

This problem has been investigated and is related to the USB stack. Unfortunately, we cannot provide any information on if this might be solved. It should be only a comparably minor inconvenience, however.

It seems your prior installation used a separate boot partition for boot images. During installation the boot file didn't get replaced. Boot from CD again and copy the boot.img file from your MorphOS 3.x partition over to your boot image partition and overwrite the old file. Now booting from hard drive should be possible.

This may be a serious problem. It is known that some SCSI and USB cards or card revisions may cause trouble with MorphOS 3.x and MorphOS 2.x. Try removing those cards and file a bug report with a proper description of the used card.

The application in question depends on buggy behaviour of original asl.library: the width/height/depth limits can be bypassed. You can enable the original behaviour with 'setenv save asl/MODEREQ_EMULATEBUGS 1'.