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Mac2Windows
Mac Emulation With Basilisk II, vMac
- 2002.05.08 - Tip Jar
My review of Basilisk II, an open source Mac emulator for PCs (and other platforms) was posted on May 1st. I got a lot of feedback and have learned a lot from the people who responded to it.
Some things to note:
Christian Bauer, keeper of the Basilisk II flame, points out "from your article one could get the impression that B2 works with Mac Plus ROMs, but it doesn't (it requires ROMs from a 32-bit clean '030/'040 Mac or from a Mac Classic)." Fans of the Mac Plus shouldn't despair, however (more on that in a bit).
And Ian Raymond had a different clarification. He points out that Lauri Petersen, who ported Basilisk II to the Windows platform "is a him, not a her." You can read his interview with Lauri. Among other things, it talks about reasons why there are no PowerPC emulators currently available.
Graeme Bennett, of MacBuyersGuide/ PCBuyersGuide notes that readers may be interested in his Basilisk II software compatibility list. Note, however, that this is unofficial: it lists the applications that Graeme has tried out, so if the application you're interested in isn't listed, it's worth a try in any case; several applications that I'm running successfully under emulation aren't on that list.
Reader William Dawson found the performance of my emulated Mac impressive but wondered what sort of PC I was running it on. The results I reported were achieved on a Compaq notebook with a Pentium III/750 processor and a relatively unimpressive Trident video card.
Several people were interested in emulating a Mac on a Mac. Why, you may wonder? For the people writing, it's to be able to run software that won't work on more modern hardware and operating systems.
Nigel Pearson has one solution; he ported Basilisk II to run under OS X.
That won't necessarily help the reader only known as "M." (Named after James Bond's superior, perhaps?) M wrote, "What I'd really like and could really use, because I have old software I wish to run, is that Connectix would 'get with the program' and produce Virtual Mac for the Mac. I really need something like Virtual Mac with Mac OS 6.0.8."
It may be possible to install Mac OS 6.0.8 on Basilisk, but I don't know if M is running OS X, letting him use Nigel Pearson's port. Instead, he may want to check out vMac, a project to emulate a Mac Plus. As with Basilisk II, vMac requires a Mac ROM (either physically in a Gemulator ROM board or as a ROM image file) - in this case, the ROMs from a 1987-era Mac Plus.
While originally designed to run on PCs (versions for Windows, DOS, Unix/Linux, NeXT, OS/2), Richard Bannister has gotten vMac to work on a Mac! A carbonized application, it will run under OS X or under earlier Mac OS versions with CarbonLib 1.2 or later.
Peter Johnson has taken it perhaps the final step. As
illustrated, he has vMac up and running inside Virtual PC 4.0 on
his FireWire PowerBook running OS 9.2.2. An emulator running within
an emulator. His comment: "Largely useless, but amusing."
Alan Zisman is Mac-using teacher and technology writer based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Many of his articles are available on his website, www.zisman.ca. If you find Alan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Recent Columns by Alan Zisman
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- Another Hard Drive Disaster Ends Happily (Thanks to Time Machine), 10.29. This time it was the MacBook's drive that failed. Thanks to automated Time Machine backup, recovery was easy, although far from fast.
- Preview in Snow Leopard Supports Scanners and Screen Shots, 10.19. The newest version of Preview can even use a remote scanner, creates compact PDFs, and includes three screen capture options.
- Creative's Vado Pocket Camcorders Now Work with Macs, 09.16. Until now, Creative's Vado camcorders didn't play nice with Macs. With the release of Vado Central for Mac, that has finally changed.
- More in the Mac 2 Windows index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
- Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
- November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Quad-Core CPU Makes Sense in MacBook Pro, OS X 10.6 Causing Overheating, Overseas Power, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.06. Also Late 2009 MacBook reviewed, how to add RAM to new MacBook, 18.4in Acer notebook used Intel i7, and SanDisk SSD chosen for Sony VAIO X.
- Dumping Macs for Google Apps, SSD in iMac, Late 2009 iMac Performance Problems, and More, Mac News Review, 11.06. /newsrev/09mnr/1106.html
- WiFi Paranoia, iMac-O-Lantern, Magic Mouse Does Click, Free Clipboard Managers, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.05. Also strange time stamps, problem with ColorIt on Intel Mac, and the story behind OS X 10.5.4 install discs.
- IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.04. SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives.
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
- Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
- Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
- Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
- More deals in our archive.

