Mosaic was/is a Mac music notation program that was around in the 1990s but hasn't been updated since about 1998. A friend used it on his old Mac for composing & arranging & has saved all the files on floppy disks. But the old Mac has died (RIP) & took with it the Mosaic program.
Mosaic will not run on Macs with OS greater than 9 nor in classic mode.The original installation disk appears faulty & refuses to install properly on an ancient mac running 8.5. So we can't get the original program (version 1.4) running on the new mac & so can't open the saved files.
If we could open the files then we could "save as" so they could then be opened in Sibelius.
Has anyone got a functioning version of mosaic? Or know anyone who might have found a workround to this problem?

If your Mosaic was mid-90s, it's possible that even 8.5 was too advanced for it to open, although having said that, Mac operating systems are normally retrospective. But it might be worth checking - have you got, or can you find on the internet, what the operating specification was for Mosaic? All you might need then is a friend, or a forum friend , who has a Mac which is even more ancient than 8.5 to open it for you.

It's possible that a Mac repair shop could revive your dead Mac and retrieve the data, or open the floppies, and then it's a matter of balancing the cost of retrieval against the value of the files. Might be worth getting a quote.

I sympathise. Not that that's helpful, but I sympathise anyway

The problem is is that the saved files are written in the updated version of Mosaic and the Mac 8.5 will run the original version of Mosaic but the floppy with the upgrade version on it refuses to run. The saved files won'topen in the original version of Mosaic, they need the upgraded version.

The real problem is that we don't have a functional floppy with the upgrade on it.

(posted on behalf of Andy-piano-flute)

I'm really sorry that I can't help you then. But do try ringing round a few Mac repair specialists, particularly the "back-street" guys as well as the mainsteam companies. Normally I wouldn't use a back-street type of repairer, but in my experience, the mainstream companies prefer to deal with straightforward problems, whereas a back-street guy loves to get his/her hands on something more challenging, and a back-street guy would be cheaper anyway. I personally wouldn't like to trust a brand-new state-of-the-art toy with a back-street guy, but that doesn't apply here anyway. They can't make the situation any worse than it is. And I'm sure they'll give you some advice free of charge anyway. Hope you manage to get it sorted.

I think I've just made a mess of trying to quote and got the wrong thing. Still, try this.
You can get converter programs -I know there is one for graphics-which will convert out of date info into readable info. If you go to www.apple.com ,go to "made 4 mac" and do a search on mosaic or music converter
you might find a program that will help. Good luck.