Sprockets dead/dying(?). Is it possible to make newer ones?

[Jones]

The network sprockets are mostly dead and dying, correct? I think this is the reason some old games I liked to play across our home network with my brother no longer work, even though they're Mac OS X compatible.

Seeing as they are dead/dying. How easy/feasable on a scale from 1 to 2^32 would it be to write some sort of kernel extension legacy driver to make them work again?

Assuming that that's part of the problem. It's the only reason I can come up with. I'm actually interested in finding out how possible it would be.

Thanks!

[Taxxodium]

The only sprocket that made it to Mac OS X is the DrawSprocket, which is now a framework. The rest was dead since the start of the new system.

Making a kernel extension to revive them is silly since there are better options. Your best bet is to run your games in Classic mode (which doesn't seem to exist on Intel Macs). There emulators that emulate Mac OS 9 but I haven't had much success with them.

It's sad Apple didn't bring the sprockets to Mac OS X, but that's not a big deal, at least for me.

[Jones]

The only sprocket that made it to Mac OS X is the DrawSprocket, which is now a framework. The rest was dead since the start of the new system.

Making a kernel extension to revive them is silly since there are better options. Your best bet is to run your games in Classic mode (which doesn't seem to exist on Intel Macs). There emulators that emulate Mac OS 9 but I haven't had much success with them.

It's sad Apple didn't bring the sprockets to Mac OS X, but that's not a big deal, at least for me.

Classic mode is pretty crappy for games, I've never tested some of ones I'd like to play though. I'll try 'em out. I think it'd be great if I could make a library to emulate the functions of Network sprockets. I haven't done any networking code yet, it's the last thing on my list actually. But I'll look into BSD sockets and such. :)

[Taxxodium]

I haven't done any networking code yet, it's the last thing on my list actually. But I'll look into BSD sockets and such. :)

If all you want is basic LAN play, I would recommend you take a look at Bonjour (used to be known as RendezVous, aka NetServices). It's a very simple API and I think is quite good for games.

[Frank C.]

You might want to check out OpenPlay (http://developer.apple.com/opensource/internet/openplay/index.html) (Apple open source).

[OneSadCookie]

Nobody used NetSprocket anyway, and no native Mac OS X application can use it; it's rather unlikely to be the cause of your problems.

[Jones]

Yes, I might have to look elsewhere to solve this problem in particular.

Thanks for the links and suggestions! :)

[MarkJ]

I used NetSprocket! Back in 1998, my friend and I used it for our entry at MacHack, which was a cheesy ode to the classic NetBunny.