Kind of like WINE with an added CPU emulation layer. I can imagine an emulator that can do Marathon could be 10x more code than one that emulates a Mac Plus.Īh, but this doesn't emulate a computer it instead translates code from M68k instructions to x86 instructions and re-implements the back end libraries using x86 native parts. And System 7 added multitasking, ROM loading from disk, and a LOT of other stuff. The older Mac games and MacOS versions shown didn't expect a MMU or FPU. The 68040 alone integrated the MMU and FPU, so that's a lot more stuff to emulate. Is this effort looking to add that kind of functionality? The screen shots were of games that ran on mid-late 80's B&W macs. Marathon came out in 1994, and required at least a 68040, 256 colors, and System 7. Was more limited but is now open source and works fine (software) Marathon, a whole bunch of games from Ambrosia Software (Harry the handsome executive is a must, and I spent way too many hours in escape velocity).Īlso worth noting that a piece of software called executor was translating to x86 code ages ago. So anyone got a list of cool videogames that were only for Mac? The libraries would be native code in any case, the emulation only applying to the executable code from the game. The way this project is structured, PowerPC support would be pretty easy to do once the features of the corresponding MacOS had been implemented. Trying to support MacOS, including extensions, would be super-hard given all the weird architectural shifts it made over the years and the hacks it used to do so. Narrows the scope a lot (but would probably exclude screen savers from running). You'd need to installers if you wanted to emulate Finder and other OS stuff, but this is only an app emulator, not a MacOS emulator. This effort, by not requiring MacOS ROMS or software, enables a clean-room implementation of anything, which could allow supporting up to 9.1. But they DO provide the update service for all OS X versions going back to 10.3 or so, and provide the downloads for all updates going back to 7.5.3. I just wish they provided a free download of each version that is hardware EOL for some of their equipment. And they still provide a free download of 7.5.5. I'm lucky to have saved images of all my install media going back to 6.0.4, and before System 6, Apple was openly distributing the versions through MUGs. Mac OS 9 is what, 14 years old now for the very last update? Eternity!Ī Mac OS 9 install CD is available on, for that matter. Apple's never done a thing to take down the sites hosting copies of those paid software. It's technically illegal to install a variety of classic Mac OS's without buying them, System 8.0 and System 8.5 were paid software products and never made free downloads (system 8.1 and 8.6 were free upgrades, for instance, but useless without 8.0 or 8.5). And they are openly requiring Mac OS ROMS. Basilisk and Sheepshaver have been around for a very long time, and Apple has left them alone.
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