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|logo = Macintosh.jpeg|developer = [[:AppleInc.|AppleComputer, Inc.]]|type = [[:Category:Computers|Home computerComputers]]

|predecessor = [[:Apple IILine|Apple ][]], [[Apple Lisa emulators|Lisa]]

The '''[[wikipedia:Macintosh|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 sold offered the Macintosh alongside its popular [[Apple II Line|Apple II]] family of computers for almost ten years before they those were discontinued in 1993, and later shortened the line to '''Mac''' in 1998.

Throughout its history the Macintosh comprised three processor has spanned four CPU instruction set architectures that represented represent the three four commonly known generations. From its launch in 1984 up until 19941996, Apple sold Macintoshes with the Motorola 68k family of CPUs. In the early 90s, Apple partnered with Motorola and IBM to create combine IBM's POWER with Motorola's 88k to produce the Power PowerPC (PPC) architecturethey used in Macs from 1994-2007, using a CPU brand called PowerPC and naming some models of them accordingly like as Power MacMacintosh. They then switched to x86 in 20062007, explaining justifying it with the explanation that Power PPC failed to be competitive with Intel's Pentium M series. Macintosh computers have always included a platform-exclusive operating system that never had a consistent name.<ref group=N>It used to be called System or System Software until version 8, when it was renamed Mac OS in 1997. Version 10 was named Mac OS X in 2000, and when version 10.8 was released And in 2012, it was shortened to OS X and then macOS when version 10.12 was released in 2016. Don't try to make sense of this.</ref> Old World ROMs used System 1-7, and Mac OS 8 and 9 gradually dropped 68k support in favor of PowerPC. When Mac OS X was released in 2001, it required a New World ROM.<ref group=N>Though that didn't stop some programmers from making bootloaders for the very late Old World ROM models that used PowerPC.</ref> Some quick ways to distinguish an Old from a New World ROM is by checking for a built-in floppy drive and/or USB port. Old World ROMs used ADB for keyboard and mouse connectivity, whereas a New World ROM would 2020 have started a USB port and no floppy drive. Mac OS X, which has different underpinnings transition from its predecessor, was introduced for PowerPC Macs in 2000 and is still in active development x86 to this dayARM, albeit for x86 (and ARM for further integrating with its more popular iOS mobile cousin [[iOS emulators|iOS]])spinoff.

Macintosh computers have always included a platform-exclusive operating system that never had a consistent name.<ref group=N> 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 in 2000, and when version 10.8 was released in 2012, it was shortened to OS X and then macOS when version 10.12 was released in 2016. Don't try to make sense of this.</ref> 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,<ref group=N>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.</ref> and ported to x86 in 2006. With version 11 in 2020, macOS is now being ported to ARM (like its mobile cousin [[iOS emulators|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. Apple has strict terms about how their operating systems are usedAs a PC platform in its own right with its own userbase and varying degrees of unique software and hardware features, which forces most major emulators to of other platforms maintain a macOS port , or are ported to some degreemacOS 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.

! scope="col"|Operating SystemPlatform(s)

!colspan="6"|[[Mini vMac]]|Windows, macOS, Linux|[https:PC //www.gryphel.com/c/minivmac/download.html 3.5.8]|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}x86

|[[Basilisk II]]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux|macOS, Linux}}

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|Mini vMac|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}|[https://www.gryphel.com/c/minivmac/download.html 36.04]|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}|-|[[vMacClock Signal]]|Multialign=left|{{Icon|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}|[https://github.com/TomHarte/CLK/releases {{clkver}}]|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}|-platform|<abbr title="PC Emulator">PCE</abbr>|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}|[http://www.vmachampa.orgch/ pce/download.html 0.192.2]|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{TBD}}|-|[[Ardi Executor]]|align=left|{{Icon|DOS|Linux|NextStep|Windows}}|[https://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/executor 2.1.17]|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux|macOS, Linux}}

|{{✓}} ||{{na✓}} |text=TBD|{{✗}}

|<abbr titlevMac|align="PC Emulator">PCE</abbr>left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux|macOS, Linux|FreeBSD}}|[http://www.hampavmac.ch/pceorg/download.html 0.2.219]|{{~✓}} ||{{na✗}} ||text=TBD{{✗}}|-!colspan="6"|Consoles

|[[Clock Signal]]Basilisk II|macOS, Linuxalign=left|{{Icon|PSP}}|[https://github.com/TomHartePSP-Archive/CLKBasilisk-II-PSP/releases /tag/1.1.1 1.1.1]|{{clkver✓}}]||{{✓}} ||{{na|text=TBD✓}}

: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 PSP port (by way of homebrew)PSP port.

:The successor to vMac, an older emulator. Targets the Macintosh Plus(capable of booting Systems 3 to 7.5.5), but is known to support can be built targeting other models(128K, 512Ke, SE, SE FDHD, Classic, or [buggy] II).

:A multi-system emulator. One of the computers Computers it targets is 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.

:A multi-system emulator with immature full-hardware [[Emulation Accuracy#Cycle accuracy|cycle-accurate]] emulation of the Macintosh 512kePlus. ;[[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.

! scope="col"|Operating SystemPlatform(s)

!colspan="6"|PC / x86|-|[[SheepShaver]]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux|macOS, Linux}}

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|[[PearPC]]Classic Environment|Windows, align=left|{{Icon|macOS, Linux}} (PPC)|[https://github.com/sebastianbiallas/pearpc 0.6Mac OS X v10.0]4 "Tiger"|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}

|[[Classic Environment]]Rosetta|Mac OS X (PPC)align=left|{{Icon|macOS}}|Mac OS X v1010.4 6 "TigerSnow Leopard"(Intel)|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows, |Linux|macOS, Linux}}

|{{✓}} ||{{na✓}} |text=|{{TBD}}

|[[Rosetta]]PearPC|Mac OS X (Intel)align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}|Mac OS X 10[https://github.com/sebastianbiallas/pearpc 0.6.8 (Intel)0]|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓✗}}

:An open-source "run-time environment" that includes a PowerPC emulator for non-PowerPC host systems. Originally commercial softwarenamed ShapeShifter, it is the companion app of the 68k Mac emulator Basilisk II, which emulates 68k Macs. It hasn't seen significant development in boots System 7.5.2 through (due to a whilelack of MMU emulation) OS 9.0.4, yet it runs most if not all Mac OS applications in at full speed on any Windows modern PC. It , and can interface with and copy files to and from host hardware, but suffers from the lack of memory management unit support. 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 crashes, and can only run up to 9.0.4crash. Like Basilisk and vMac, it needs a firmware image from a working Mac.

:This emulator had been developed since 2004 , and marketed itself as a is capable of booting OS X 10.1-10.4, but not prior Mac on Windows solutionOSs, nor OS X's Classic environment. However, it encountered It was the subject of controversy when another team announced the a closed-source emulator, CherryOS, which aimed to do the same thing and was revealed to have used [[source code|code]] stolen from PearPC (violating its license). PearPC lacks a usable interface GUI (all that's available is the "Change CD" button), so using a frontend may be necessary.

:Known Best known for its presence 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 [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T0kkk8WpQ-eWBIdxBnXWCfeyClVVLJyXvvF2NED2U6Q/view a specific range of versions] as of 2017. Like PearPC, QEMU is run from a shell.

'''No Intel Mac emulators exist.''' However, using [https{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"|-! scope="col"|Name! scope="col"|Platform(s)! scope="col"|Latest Version! scope="col"|<abbr title="Free/Libre and Open-Source Software">FLOSS</github.comabbr>! scope="col"|Active! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]|-!colspan="6"|PC /DrDonk/unlocker x86|-|Rosetta 2|align=left|{{Icon|macOS}}|macOS Unlocker for VMware]11 “Big Sur” (Apple Silicon)|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}|-|} ==Emulation issues==Currently, for exampleno 3rd-party Macintosh emulators support hardware graphics acceleration, you can patch VMware products due to run macOS in a virtual machine. [https://githubwww.emaculation.com/img2tabforum/okiomov A scriptviewtopic.php?t=8396 certain CPU instructions left unimplemented in their upstream PPC softcores] has also emerged that allows one to install macOS Mojave in VirtualBox. If you want to run modern macOS software without a MacThis means no GLIDE, RAVE, nor OpenGL. Fortunately, those are your though as was generally the case in every platform of the period significant visual and feature differences exist between the two best options outside , the majority of doing a Hackintosh/OSx86 setup. There is Mac-exclusive software using these APIs also the work in progress [[Darling]] [[Compatibility layers|compatibility layer]] for running Intel macOS included software on Linux. This project is similar to [[Wine]] but currently only has experimental support for GUI applicationsfallback renderers.

* [http://macintoshgarden.org/guides#Selecting_an_Emulator 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''.)* [https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/2886439?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=0 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.)