Frequently Asked Questions

Correctly Installing SuperCard

If, when launching SuperCard for the first time and entering your name and registration number results in SuperCard quitting, it is most likely due to SuperCard not being installed correctly.

SuperCard requires two folders to be installed:

1. The "SuperCard 4.81" folder should be placed in "/Applications" (the Applications folder on your startup drive).
2. The "SuperCard 4.8.1" folder MUST be copied to "/Library/Application Support" (this is in the "Library" folder at the root level of your drive and not the one in your home/user folder).

Your downloaded disk image contains a window with aliases (symbolic links) to the correct folders at the right of the arrow symbols next to each of the folder icons. In icon view, dragging the folders on the left to the folders on the right will ensure the folders are copied to the correct locations.

Tutorial video how to install SuperCard

Does SuperCard run on Apple Silicon?

Unfortunately, producing a 64-bit version of SuperCard requires a complete rewrite of the software as Apple has gone back on their promise to deliver 64-bit Carbon frameworks. This is a tremendous undertaking, and while the current version has made some inroads in this regard, currently it is unknown how long it will take.

However, as a stop-gap measure, a technical user can set up a macOS Mojave emulator in UTM to run SuperCard in, by following the following steps:

1. Obtain a copy of the "Install macOS Mojave" application. Sadly, Apple only allow Macs that are running Mojave or earlier and can run Mojave to download this application, so if you have already upgraded to a newer version, you might have to find someone who can still download it for you.
2. Create an install USB stick from this application by following Apple's instructions for macOS 10.14 Mojave. (In short, run sudo "/Applications/Install macOS Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume "/Volumes/NameOfYourUSBStick", where NameOfYourUSBStick is the name your USB stick shows in Finder, and /Applications/Install macOS Mojave.app is where you saved your Install macOS Mojave application)
3. Download the EFI-LEGACY Bootloader from Khronokernel
4. Download the edk2.git-ovmf-x64 UEFI Firmware
5. To extract the UEFI firmware, use:

   cd ~/Downloads
   # Ensure filename matches yours (the numbers may differ slightly)
   tar -xf edk2.git-ovmf-x64-0-20201222.1538.g014b9850f2.noarch.rpm
   # Next rename and move the file into a safe place
   cp usr/share/edk2.git/ovmf-x64/OVMF_CODE-pure-efi.fd ~/Desktop/OVMF.bin
   		

6. Head to UTMConfigs and download macOS 10.14 (config only).utm.zip
7. Buy UTM from the Mac App Store (or download it for free from the UTM web site)
8. Unzip the macOS 10.14 (config only).utm.zip file and double-click the resulting macOS 10.14 (config only).utm file.
9. Right-click on the new VM that has been created in the lefthand sidebar and choose "Edit" from the contextual menu that pops up under your mouse.
10. In the resulting smaller window, scroll down the left-hand sidebar, and in the "Drives" list at the end, you should be able to import the OVMF.bin file as your BIOS drive.
11. Now, similarly, import the EFI-LEGACY file as your UEFI USB drive.
12. The third drive should be the standard "internal hard disk" image, its name will likely be named with a UUID or "Disk-0.qcow2" or so.
13. Plug in your Mojave Installer USB stick and immediately run your VM by double-clicking it in the list or clicking the big "play" icon. You will be asked whether UTM may access the USB stick. Accept.
14. The VM will show some technical-looking text on screen, then eventually prompt you which drive to boot from. Use the up/down arrow keys to select the Mojave installer USB stick and press the return key to accept the selection.
15. After a while longer, you should see the familiar macOS installer and should be able to install Mojave.
16. Once the installation is finished, you can use your USB stick to transfer SuperCard into the VM.

Note that emulation will be a lot slower than running SuperCard on a real Mojave Intel Mac.

Is SuperCard 64-bit?

SuperCard 4.x remains 32-bit. Unfortunately, producing a 64-bit version of SuperCard requires a complete rewrite of the software as Apple has gone back on their promise to deliver 64-bit Carbon frameworks. This is a tremendous undertaking, and while the current version has made some inroads in this regard, currently it is unknown how long it will take.

SuperCard is currently compatible with any Mac running macOS versions Tiger thru Mojave, so we recommend holding off upgrading your Mac to Catalina. For users that must upgrade to Catalina, we have confirmed Parallels 15 is compatible with Catalina on Intel Macs, and can host a Virtual Machine with an older OS version that supports SuperCard. The same applies to VMWare Fusion 12, which will run Mojave on Intel Macs, and UTM (QEMU), which will run Mojave on Apple Silicon Macs with M1 and later CPUs (see below).

Tutorial video how to run SuperCard under Parallels

Note: If you get the error message "This copy of Install macOS Mojave is damaged and can't be used to install macOS", you may have to bring up Terminal from the installer's Utilities menu in the Parallels/VMWare VM and type in date 0919220019 to temporarily change the VM's time to somewhere before the installer's certificate expired.

System Error -61 When Launching SuperCard

A -61 is an MacOS permissions error and it is most likely the case that SuperCard (as currently installed) does not have write permission to all of the files it needs. You should "get Info" on the SuperCard folder in "/Library/Application Support/" and check the permissions. They should be set to read/write at all levels. If not, change the settings manually.

Regardless of whether you changed the settings, you should then apply the changes to all enclosed items using the popup or button (depending on what version of OS X you're using).