Evan Kleiman
- 2001.01.24
Q. It seems that more and more every day more really cool and
useful programs are being introduced for the PC, and most times
there is little or no chance of a Mac version being put out. I've
heard that there are ways to be able to use these applications on
my Mac. Can you tell me what they are and which ones are the best
options for me? Thanks!
A. It does seem true that more and more cool programs come out
for the PC, but not for the Mac. Most of the times, either the
program won't ever be ported to the Mac - ever - or the program
will be coming to the Macintosh "shortly," which in most times can
mean never (such as AOL 6.0, it's still not even out in beta for
us. . . c'mon AOL, where are you guys??).
But there is a way to give into your PC envy (shame on you!)
without giving away your Mac. This first is probably the best and
most cost efficient one: Virtual PC 4. This
program, made by Connectix.
This program lets you totally emulate a PC, so you can run any
operating system you want (you have your choices of DOS 6.2,
Windows 98, or Windows ME, but you can install any other OS you
happen to have laying around from an older PC).
Virtual PC offers support for many things, such as multiple OSes
(run Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, and more at one time on the same
Mac), MMX support (basically better multimedia), and better
internet support for AOL and the such than previous versions.
However, Virtual PC does have some down sides. For one, it's
rather costly (up to $200, not because of the program, but in order
to run Windows 98, you need to have Windows 98, and Microsoft
charges a lot for it) and another big problem is most "low end"
older Macs won't even come close to running it. The minimum
requirement for the DOS version is Mac OS 8.5, 20-32 MB of
free RAM, and 260 MB of free hard drive space. For the
Windows 98 or ME versions, the requirements are even steeper.
What if you don't have a snazzy, new iMac, G3, or G4? There are
some other options. You can also still buy Virtual PC 3
(which you can get for a substantially lower price with lower
requirements). Or, you can go with a cheaper program. Some of them
aren't supported as well as others, but they'll still do what you
need.
Blue Label Power Emulator, or, BLPE for short, is made by
Lismore Software Systems.
It does have some advantages over VPC4, such as a much smaller
price ($19.95, much less than VPC4, unfortunately, you need to
provide your own OS, but it';s still about 10 times as cheap).
Also, it only requires a 66 MHz PPC 603 or better, so you can use
it on more computers, and instead of a minimum of Mac OS 8.5 (8 for
VPC3), it only requires a minimum of Mac OS 7.6.
In the end, while it's not a real PC, Virtual PC and Blue Label
Power Emulator can still satisfy your PC-Envy hunger. (Another pair
of alternatives is available from FWB Software: SoftWindows98
and RealPC. ed.)
Evan Kleiman has been writing for Low End Mac since January
1999. He also runs his own site, Evansite. Evan uses an iMac,
along with some vintage hardware. You can read more about his
computing experience in The Many Macs of
Evan Kleiman.
