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SetDate CDEV and Clones = shenanigans
Posted by: Crutch on 2020-10-30 09:13:36
In other news, I just successfully got my version of SetDate to crash with a bus error! I failed to correctly dig in though and now can’t replicate it ...
Posted by: Crutch on 2020-10-30 09:17:16
Wow there is a thread here with people reporting SetDate crashing. 





version 1.0 which I have is from the Garden

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/setdate-rob-braun-avoid-year-2020-bug-in-system-6-7-8
Posted by: jessenator on 2020-10-30 14:51:36
Okay, one more stupid thing I tried… that seems to have worked in 7.5.3:

  1. Zapped the PRAM several times (my clock was still set… weird)
  2. I disabled MacsBug
  3. Set the clock to 24 hr in Date & Time panel
  4. I saw an option in the Memory panel "Modern Memory Manager" and turned it to off (I'd forgotten that existed… thought, 'why not?')
  5. Rebooted, opened SetDate: set the time first, no crash. Set the date???!?!?!?! NO CRASH.


Well, on the StarMax 5000/225 I got SetDate to work (under 7.5.3) by simply doing steps 2–4—no disabled extensions (I did disable MacsBug…). It also appears the preferences on the clock within Date & Time, generally, were saved having moved the startup disk from Mac to Mac: so 24-hr, show century… Not going to jinx it by switching back to a 12 hr clock…

Not sure about a workaround in 7.6.1 though… I don't recall if the Memory panel has that option to disable it or not.
Posted by: jessenator on 2020-10-30 15:53:34
Installed 7.6 (as an upgrade) and 7.6.1 update over the original 7.5.3 install and all seems working. Also, strangely, it somehow set my clock to a 12-hr, yet still retaining the correct date.

So I got that going for me, which is nice. I don't know what will happen when it comes time for a new battery :/  Maybe I'll have lost my love for 7.x  :tongue:

Posted by: jessenator on 2021-07-24 06:34:26
I'll update this with the post that was lost.

As an alternative to SetDate, there's a 2020 Patch: a simple system extension that allows you to set the date with the Date & Time control panel!

Works with every Mac and clone I have. No troubles.
Posted by: djhaloeight on 2022-01-29 14:34:09
I know this is an old thread, but I was getting a bus error crash on my 6400/180 running 7.5.5 with SetDate 1.0 with Modern Memory Manager turned on. I turned it off, rebooted, SetDate worked fine then, no crash. Turned MMM back on, along with virtual memory and all seems well so far. Got a new PRAM battery too so shouldn’t have to worry about it for a while.
I am gonna look into the 2020 Patch in the post above mine though too. Can't have enough options!
Posted by: jessenator on 2022-01-29 16:47:11
I am gonna look into the 2020 Patch in the post above mine though too. Can't have enough options!
With all the due respect to bbraun and his efforts with SetDate and other software for the classic Mac OS, I believe this new 2020 Patch extension solution is far more user-friendly option to use going forward. If there are shortcomings, I'm not a developer enough to identify them.
Posted by: djhaloeight on 2022-01-29 16:59:05
With all the due respect to bbraun and his efforts with SetDate and other software for the classic Mac OS, I believe this new 2020 Patch extension solution is far more user-friendly option to use going forward. If there are shortcomings, I'm not a developer enough to identify them.
Duly noted and appreciated!
Posted by: Franklinstein on 2022-01-30 13:36:16
Valiant efforts but I'm not sure I see a huge benefit here, at least not for most people who just fire these vintage things up for old games or reading recipes Grandma typed up 30 years ago. Every 6~11 years the calendar repeats, so just figure out what year to set to sync the date and don't worry about it because, unless you're a huge stickler for accurate created/modified dates on files or rely on the date for something (automated backups, for example) or you're running an Internet-enabled machine that checks date/time on certs, it won't matter. I don't do anything like that on a Classic Mac, so telling the system that today is January 30, 2022, 2011, 2005, or 1994 is all the same to me; the system's happy because it thinks it has a valid date set, and I'm happy since the clock still says it's a Sunday.

Honestly the bulk of my classic Mac files are dated August 1956 or whatever the default is because I just don't set it most of the time (I don't usually replace PRAM batteries and I can't be bothered to set the date every time I power up a machine). It'll make digital forensics challenging for someone if nothing else.
Posted by: Addicted on 2022-09-24 17:19:24
Just a 1+ on this locking up on a Quadra 605/System 7.5 with 36MB physical memory.

As a retired software engineer, I'd be willing to fix this. I have the sources.. but.. how do I build a new cdev/app which is compatible with the Macintosh Systems of the 1990s? I vaguely recall CodeWarrior... 🤔
Posted by: jessenator on 2022-09-24 22:02:52
compatible with the Macintosh Systems of the 1990s
the 2020 patch works perfectly on my Quadra 650 😀

That's the one I was referring to earlier 🙂 I'm not sure when bbraun last updated the code, but this extension has sort of taken its place in my book; it's also a bit more user friendly (across the macs I've owned) than setdate, to be honest. You just install it in the Extension folder and then use the standard Time & Date control panel to set it. Should work.
Posted by: jessenator on 2022-09-25 07:49:13
[incoherent and grammatical kakhornery]
There's lots of poorly-written crap in that last post of mine.

bbraun wrote SetDate, which circumvents the Date & Time control panel (as long as you never open that control panel again, IME). SetDate usually works, and has done in a few Macs, but as I noted with some of my machines (mostly clones, but then other Macs also manifested the problem): the date either doesn't stick, or trying to adjust it straight up crashes the machine. I sort of got around the issue with my StarMax and 4400 (any LPX-40 based clone) by rounding off the time to a whole hour with no minutes or seconds, fwiw, but I didn't know if another solution was out there. In the interim, a new solution was written:

Glenn Anderson wrote the 2020 Patch, which when installed allows one to simply use the system Date & Time control panel as one normally would, and the time stays. On the whole, it has much better experience since you don't have to set every value manually in a separate panel.

I'm not begrudging bbraun's efforts in the least, my comment was more that I don't know when he updated the code last and 2020 patch seems to just work(tm). That's it.
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