Mac in a PC


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Short answer: No.

Long answer: Yes, but with a little difficulty.

You can install and run (upto) Mac OS 8.1 on to a regular Windows PC through the use of a 68k Macintosh emulator, but you need a Mac ROM file, and although this is obtainable on the net without any difficulty, it is illegal. You can also get the ROM from an actual Mac, but you must own this mac and it has to actually work.

If you know how to use Linux, then you can emulate a PowerPC Macintosh (albeit slowly), and run System Software up to version 8.6. Again, this requires a ROM file, but you are able to download this - legally - from Apples website.

A Win32 68k Macintosh Emulator available under the GNU GPL is Basilisk II. You can download the latest Windows release here.

You can also download Mac OS versions up to and including 7.5.3 freely off of Apple's site. Fr more info, click here.

A guide to installing Mac OS 7.5.3 in to Basilisk II is available here. (this asumes that you have a ROM file)

For PowerPC emulation, you can download Sheepshaver for i586 Linux. For more information, go here. Downloads/Help are available here.

Have fun!

Edited by _//_TechTV
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Actually, you can, depending on exactly how you define your terms.

If you simply want an Apple OS, you can run OpenStep 4.2, which is based on the older NeXTStep OS. Kind of hard to find, but it's around. You can also install Darwin, which is the Open Source base of OS X. No Aqua interface though.

Rhapsody was a development version of what became OS X and it has the Mac OS interface, it was released for x86 all the way up to Developer Release 2. It can be found if you know where to look.

Also, you can use an emulator such as Basilisk II to run old versions of MacOS (currently up to 8.1), but it only emulates Motorola 68K architecture, not PPC. There has been some recent progress towards getting PPC emulation running, but it is far from complete yet.

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There are emulators to run MacOS 8 on the PC. Search google for 'mac emulator.'

Darwin, the core of OSX (aka the 'underpinnings' so no pretty GUI) is open source and available for download here http://developer.apple.com/darwin/ I do not imagine or know for sure if this could be compiled on x86 architechure.

Early versions of darwin were compiled and ran on x86 hardware (I do not have the link I once did to back this up) and rumor has it that Apple's supposed internal development Codenamed 'Marklar' is a build of OSX that runs on the x86 architechure. As far as I know there is no proof to substanciate this claim other than the hopes and whispers of the internet.

--EDIT--

we all kinda posted at once there :) roadwarrior offers good advice and more specifics on what I could not provide the specifcs on, meaning the NeXTStep OS and Rhapsody.

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Darwin, the core of OSX (aka the 'underpinnings' so no pretty GUI) is open source and available for download here http://developer.apple.com/darwin/ I do not imagine or know for sure if this could be compiled on x86 architechure.

The install CD for the current version works on both the PC and the Mac, although hardware support is very limited on the PC.

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Hell no.....go to aquasoft.org

Did you even bother to read the other replies here that gave the options that are available? He said he wanted to RUN a Mac OS, not look like one.

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Did you even bother to read the other replies here that gave the options that are available?

Now that would be breaking a time honored tradition harbored by many neowin visitors!

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wow, I edited my post and there were _7_ more posts!

Yep, we all kind of jumped in there at the same time (with varying degrees of the same information).

OT: Yippee, this is my 700th post. I might just make it to 1000 by my one year anniversary here!!

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Just incase you wanted to try out Rhapsody (someone else mentioned it earlier on in this thread) don't bother, it's VERY limited in what hardware it supports, i spent nearly 4 hours trying to get it working in VirutalPC 6, with no success.

Basically if you want to run MacOS you either can use an emulator or buy a Mac.

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Just incase you wanted to try out Rhapsody (someone else mentioned it earlier on in this thread) don't bother, it's VERY limited in what hardware it supports, i spent nearly 4 hours trying to get it working in VirutalPC 6, with no success.

Basically if you want to run MacOS you either can use an emulator or buy a Mac.

Thats because it doesn't work right in VPC 6, use 5 and it works perfect ;)

I also installed it on a 400mhz K6 and it worked perfectly, but I could not get my network card to work :(

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Just incase you wanted to try out Rhapsody (someone else mentioned it earlier on in this thread) don't bother, it's VERY limited in what hardware it supports, i spent nearly 4 hours trying to get it working in VirutalPC 6, with no success.

Basically if you want to run MacOS you either can use an emulator or buy a Mac.

There is an article around (I'll see if I can find the link) that tells exactly how to get it running. If I remember correctly, it won't run in any version of VPC past 4, I think. Maybe 5.

It will run just fine on an older (like PII) machine, so long as it has fairly generic hardware (if it was made after about 1997 or 98, it probably isn't supported).

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I always like coming to these threads just to see the arguements that start

I haven't seen any arguments in this thread, just people discussing the options that are available, and offering solutions to the problems that some people have had.

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I haven't seen any arguments in this thread, just people discussing the options that are available, and offering solutions to the problems that some people have had.

You are right and I stand corrected :)

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