Macintosh line

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Apple Macintosh
Developer Apple
Type Home computer
Release date 1984
Predecessor Apple II
Emulated

The Macintosh (/ˈmækɪntɒʃ/ MAK-in-tosh; branded as Mac since 1998) 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 has been the mainstay with home computers since the late 70s. Apple sold the Macintosh alongside its popular Apple II family of computers for almost ten years before they were discontinued in 1993.

Macintosh computers came with their own in-house operating system called Mac OS since their introduction, initially known as Macintosh System Software and later as Mac OS; Mac OS X, which had different underpinnings to its predecessor, was introduced for PowerPC Macs in 2000 and is still in active development to this day, albeit now supporting x86 (and ARM especially with its mobile derivative iOS).

Emulators

68k

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version Active Recommended
Mini vMac Multi-platform 3.5.8
Basilisk II Multi-platform 1.0 R5
Ardi Executor Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X 2.1
vMac Multi-platform 0.19

PowerPC

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version Active Recommended
SheepShaver Multi-platform 2.4
PearPC FreeBSD, Linux, Microsoft Windows 0.6.0
Classic Environment Mac OS X (PPC) Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger"
Rosetta Mac OS X (Intel) Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Intel)

Comparisons

Sheepshaver
Hasn't seen significant development in a while, yet runs most if not all Mac OS applications in full speed on any Windows PC. It can interface with and copy files to and from host hardware, but suffers from the lack of memory management unit support, not to mention that it is riddled with hacks and workarounds, which accounts for why some applications such as the default bundled Internet Explorer crashes flat-out, and can only run up to 9.0.4. Like Basilisk and vMac, it needs a firmware image from a working Mac.
Executor
Unlike most other Mac OS emulators, Executor operates more or less like Wine in that it translates API calls to equivalent calls in its host OS and negates the need for any copyrighted ROM file, saving people the legal trouble of hunting for firmware. However, it lacks any kind of networking support and is also riddled with compatibility issues.
Apple Inc.
Apple Computer (1998).jpg
Desktop: Apple IApple II Line (Apple IIGS) • Apple III lineLisaMacintosh lineMacOS
Mobile: iPodiOS
Consoles: Pippin