Macintosh line

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Apple Macintosh
Macintosh.jpeg
Developer Apple Computer, Inc.
Type Computers
Release date 1984
Discontinued 2001
Introductory price US$2495 (equivalent to $7316.97 in 2024)
Predecessor Lisa, Apple ][
Successor MacOS
Emulated
This page is about software that emulates Classic Mac OS systems on other non-native hardware.
For emulators that support current macOS (formerly Mac OS X and OS X), see macOS.
For emulators that run on macOS (previously Mac OS X), see Emulators on macOS.
For other emulators that run on Classic Mac OS Emulators on Classic Mac OS

The Macintosh is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc. since January 1984. The original Macintosh was the first mass-market personal computer that featured a graphical user interface, built-in screen, and mouse, eschewing the command-line interface and/or BASIC interpreter that had been the mainstay for home computers since the late '70s. Apple offered the Macintosh alongside its popular Apple II family of computers for almost ten years before those were discontinued in 1993.

Throughout its history the Macintosh has spanned four CPU instruction set architectures that represent the four commonly known generations. From its launch in 1984 up until 1996, Apple sold Macintoshes with the Motorola 68k family of CPUs. In the early 90s, Apple partnered with Motorola and IBM to combine IBM's POWER with Motorola's 88k to produce the PowerPC (PPC) architecture they used in Macs from 1994-2007, naming some of them accordingly as Power Macintosh. They switched to x86 in 2007, justifying it with the explanation that PPC failed to be competitive with Intel's Pentium M series. And in 2020 have started a transition from x86 to ARM, further integrating with its more popular iOS mobile spinoff.

Macintosh computers have always included a platform-exclusive operating system that never had a consistent name.[N 1] An important divide relevant for Mac emulation is "Old World" vs. "New World" motherboard ROMs, with Old World used for System 1-7 on 68k/PPC targets, and New World generally used for Mac OS 8-10 PPC targets, since New World ROMs were stored with the OS, they are available legally from Apple for free online in OS updates. A quick way to distinguish an Old World from a New World Mac is that all New World Macs have onboard USB ports, while no Old World Macs do. Mac OS 8.5 dropped support for 68k CPUs. Mac OS X, which has UNIX underpinnings different from its predecessor, was introduced in 1999 requiring a PowerPC G3 at minimum,[N 2] and ported to x86 in 2006. With version 11 in 2020, macOS is now being ported to ARM (like its mobile cousin iOS).

A ton of Macintosh emulators have appeared over the years, some early in the system's release (mostly for competing m68k microcomputers) and others as late as a few years ago. As a PC platform in its own right with its own userbase and varying degrees of unique software and hardware features, most major emulators of other platforms maintain a macOS port, or are ported to macOS by external collaborators, in addition to a number of emulators originating on the Mac over the years. It should be noted that we do not aim to be the last word on Mac emulation; there's a community called E-Maculation that covers this more thoroughly, as they offer builds for many of the emulators shown here on their forums. We'll either be further ahead or severely behind.

  1. It used to be called System or System Software until version 7.6, when it was renamed Mac OS in 1997. Version 10 was named Mac OS X (Ten, not Ex) in 2000, and when version 10.8 was released in 2012, it was shortened to OS X. When version 10.12 was released in 2016 it was rebranded as macOS to match the style of their other OSes at the time: iOS, iPadOS, tvOS and watchOS. They kept using the 10.x versioning until the release of macOS 11 Big Sur in 2020, and continue to increment every year.
  2. With the exception of one orphaned early G3 laptop. Though that didn't stop some users from programming OS X bootloaders for most PCI-based Macs, especially those with G3/G4 upgrades.

Emulators[edit]

68k[edit]

Name Platform(s) Latest version License Active Recommended
PC / x86
Basilisk II Windows Linux macOS 19-01-2024 (Win)
23-02-2024 (Linux)
29-12-2023 (Mac OS X)
git
GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Mini vMac
minivmac_libretro
Windows Linux macOS 37.00(beta)
libretro core
36.04
GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME Windows Linux macOS git artifacts[N2 1]
0.272
libretro core
GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
*
Clock Signal Linux macOS FreeBSD 2024-10-19 MIT (Permissive) ?
PCE Windows Linux macOS 0.2.2 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Ardi Executor MS-DOS Linux Windows 2.1.17 MIT (Permissive)
vMac Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD 0.19 ?
QEMU Windows Linux macOS 9.2.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~ (Largely untested)
Mobile / ARM
Mini vMac Android iOS Ports GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Consoles
Mini vMac Dragonbox Pyra Nintendo 3DS 36.04
Ports
GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Basilisk II PSP git GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
Basilisk II
An emulator targeting the "Mac Classic" and "Mac II" lines, capable of booting System 6.0.7 to OS 8.1 depending on ROM. The successor to Basilisk, a similar emulator for Linux and BeOS, it works by providing replacement drivers for components that would normally be hardware (a sort of HLE approach). Aside from the usual Windows, macOS, and Linux ports, Basilisk II also received an acclaimed (homebrew) PSP port.
Mini vMac
The successor to vMac, an older emulator. Targets the Macintosh Plus (capable of booting Systems 3 to 7.5.5), but can be built targeting other models (128K, 512Ke, SE, SE FDHD, Classic, or [buggy] II).
MAME
To say it's a multi-system emulator would be an understatement. It covers a wide range of electronic history, with its namesake being arcade machines. Just typing in "Macintosh" will list basically everything Mac-related like the original Macintosh 128K (labelled as Working) and the Macintosh II (which is OK). See the full list here. MAME supports emulation of all m68k Macintosh models.
Clock Signal
A multi-system emulator with full-hardware cycle-accurate emulation of the Macintosh Plus, as well as the Macintosh 128K, 512K, and 512Ke.
PCE (PC Emulator)
A multi-system emulator. Computers it targets include the Macintosh Plus, SE and Classic. Stables used to release every two years but stopped in 2013. A snapshot exists for December 2018 however, which suggests that the project isn't completely dead.
Ardi Executor
A formerly payware compatibility layer targeting System 1 to 6. Requires no ROM images or other copyrighted Apple code, as it instead translates Macintosh API calls into equivalent Win32 or POSIX API calls similarly to Wine. Compatibility is limited however, and as such some games and applications which depend on Mac System Extensions may not work properly. An updated fork called Executor2000 is under semi-active development, and only is for modern macOS and Linux. It includes a mode similar to Parrallels's Coherence mode and the early Mac OS X's classic environment.
QEMU
Supports emulation of the Macintosh Quadra 800 able to run Mac OS 7.1 to 8.1. ROM (BIOS) file required. Due to QEMU for m68k not supporting booting from the floppy disk, you need to use a bootstrap to install A/UX 3.x.

PowerPC[edit]

Name Platform(s) Latest version License Active Recommended
PC / x86
SheepShaver Windows Linux macOS 25-02-2024 (Win)
23-02-2024 (Linux)
29-12-2023 (Mac OS X)
git
GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Classic Environment macOS (PPC) Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" Proprietary
QEMU Windows Linux macOS 9.2.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~*
MAME Windows Linux macOS git artifacts[N3 1]
0.272
libretro core
GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
*
DingusPPC Windows Linux macOS git GPLv3 (Copyleft) WIP
MAME Windows Linux macOS git artifacts[N2 1]
0.272
libretro core
GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
UTM macOS 4.5.3 Apache 2.0 (Permissive) ?
ARM
UTM macOS iOS 4.5.3 Apache 2.0 (Permissive) ?
SheepShaver
An open-source "run-time environment" that includes a PowerPC emulator for non-PowerPC host systems. Originally commercial software named ShapeShifter, it is the companion app of the 68k Mac emulator Basilisk II. It boots System 7.5.2 through (due to a lack of MMU emulation) OS 9.0.4, runs most Mac applications at full speed on any modern PC, and can interface with and copy files to and from host hardware. It hasn't seen significant development in a while, not to mention that it is riddled with hacks and workarounds, which accounts for why some applications such as the default bundled Internet Explorer flat-out crash. Like Basilisk and vMac, it needs a firmware image from a working Mac.
QEMU
Best known for its use as an x86 hypervisor, QEMU also emulates a wide range of CPU architectures. In 2015, a Google Summer of Code event brought PowerPC Macintosh support from a curiosity to a possibility and it now supports a specific range of versions as of 2017. QEMU is run from a shell.
DingusPPC
Experimental emulator early in development. Plans on supporting all Macintosh models using PowerPC, and can boot many of them, including the Apple Pippin (despite being nearly useless due to not supporting the Pippin's CD-ROM drive nor the AppleJack controllers) but is pretty active.
MAME
Only supports the Power Macintosh 6100 for now as of MAME 0.289 and can boot to the installer, but cannot install. On an emulated iMac G3, only the boot chime can be heard.
UTM
UTM is full featured system emulator and virtual machine[1]. Under the hood of UTM is QEMU, so it's essentially a frontend for QEMU and it can do everything QEMU does. Windows (ARM is virtualized, x64 is emulated), PowerPC Macs, SPARC Solaris, etc.[2] Emulates multiple operating systems on Intel and ARM Macs, including Mac OS 9 but does not currently support GPU emulation/virtualization. [3] Keep in mind that UTM SE ("slow edition", for iOS devices that haven't been jailbroken) version uses a threaded interpreter which performs better than a traditional interpreter but still slower than JIT used on macOS and jailbroken iOS devices. [4]

Resources[edit]

  • E-Maculation - This links to their wiki, but they also have a forum that's "super busy." They provide setup guides and builds when the emulators themselves don't.
  • Macintosh Garden (They feature many abandonware games. This page shows guides with links to installing any of the three covered emulators, two for the 68K line called Basilisk II & Mini vMac; and one for the PowerPC called SheepShaver.)
  • Macintosh Repository A page with tons of software for the Macintosh and other Apple computers, including games and much more.
  • Pathways into Emulators - A Guide to Pre-Halo Bungie Games (www.bungie.net forums. Mar 17 2011. Includes guide links for running Basilisk II on Windows, mac OS and Linux.)
  • InfiniteMac/Github A project based on Basilisk II, SheepShaver and Mini vMac which makes several Macintosh and Early MacOS versions available on any web browser.

Notes[edit]

Apple Inc.
1998 apple logo.png
Desktop: Apple IApple II Line (Apple IIGS) • Apple III lineLisaMacintosh lineMacOS
Mobile: iPodiOS
Consoles: Pippin