We’ll go over these in more detail in a minute.
There are several free and open-source software options for emulating legacy Mac systems on contemporary computers. Intro: How do I pick what emulator to use?.(You can jump right to an app with this Table of Contents: I’ll start with the essential components to get any Mac emulation program running, give some recommendations for picking an emulator, then round it out with some installation instructions and tips for each one. So what really is the boundary between Basilisk II and SheepShaver? Why is there such a difference between MacOS 9.0.4 and 9.1? And what the hell is a ROM file anyway? That’s what I want to get into today. Most of the “default” or recommended pre-compiled Mac/Windows versions of emulators offered up to casual or first-time users don’t necessarily do every single feature that the emulator’s front page brags about. That’s partly because, as open source software, each of these programs is *potentially* capable of a hell of a lot – but might require a lot of futzing in configuration files and compiling of source code to actually unlock all those potentials (which, those of us just trying to load up Nanosaur for the first time in 15 years aren’t necessarily looking to mess with). In particular, while each Mac emulator has some pretty good information available to troubleshoot it (if you’ve got the time to find it), I’ve never found a really satisfying overview, that is, an explanation of why you might choose X program over Y. That’s also not something that to hold against them in the least, mind you – when you are a relatively tiny, all-volunteer group of programmers keeping the software going to maintain decades’ worth of content from a major computing company that’s notoriously litigious about intellectual property….some of the details are going to fall through the cracks, especially when you’re trying to cram them into a forum post, not specifically addressing the archival/information science community, etc.
The tinkering enthusiast communities that come up with emulators for Mac systems, in particular, are not always the clearest about self-documentation (the free-level versions of PC-emulating enterprise software like VirtualBox or VMWare are, unsurprisingly, more self-describing). I elided much of the technical process of setting up a legacy operating system environment in an emulator, since my focus for that post was on general strategy and assessment – but there are aspects of the technical setup process that aren’t super clear from the Emaculation guides that I first started with. First I've got to find a valid Mac ROM image, though.Last fall I wrote about the collaborative technical/scholarly process of making some ’90s multimedia CD-ROMs available for a Cinema Studies course on Interactive Cinema.
I'm excited - this means my Kindle Fire may finally have a purpose if I can get Mini vMac for Android (free) or Mini vMac II ($1.99) running on it. He has a gallery of screenshots taken by Mini vMac for Android user FlyingToaster that include the flat Mac running MacPaint and a number of games.
His dream was based on the reality of someone who got the old Mac OS running on an iPhone, but he wanted to have a touch-enabled Mac that would run on a thin tablet device with 256 MB of RAM and a 600 x 800 screen.Īt the time of Cane's post, someone had begun work on moving the Mini vMac emulator to Android, Now, that work is complete, and Cane is the happiest camper in the world. Last November, blogger Mike Cane had the dream of running the classic Mac OS on a Nook Simple Touch.
Well, here's something you can do with it - turn it into a Mac running OS 7.5.3. So, your clueless Uncle Rob sent you a Nook Simple Touch for Christmas last year, and it's been sitting around collecting dust.