Run old mac OS in OS X?

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rift065

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This may seem like a strange request, but I have a reason to want to run System 7 in OS X. Is it possible to set up some kind of emulation? I have an Intel Mac, a Macbook with the Core Duo 2 GHZ and 1 gig of RAM. If there isn't a way to run an old OS, is there any way to run old mac software from the 90s, such as games, etc? Thanks for any help!
 
Basilisk II - a 68K Macintosh emulator. Will run up to Mac OS 8.1.

SheepShaver - a PowerPC Macintosh emulator.

Both require an actual ROM image from a Macintosh. Sheepshaver will require a ROM from a PowerPC Mac while Basilisk II will require one from a 68K Macintosh.
 
Sheepshaver should work natively on the Intel Macs. Basilisk II I think might run under Rosetta, but it will be running any operating system that a 68K Mac can run much faster than an actual 68K Mac. ;)
 
I keep reading in a lot of different places that my computer should have come with "rosetta", or a copy of OS 9 that runs under OS X. I don't have it on my computer.. why is that?
 
All intel macs come with Rosetta, which "interprets" programs made for the PowerPC processor. OS 9 will not work under intel chips.
 
rift065 said:
I keep reading in a lot of different places that my computer should have come with "rosetta", or a copy of OS 9 that runs under OS X. I don't have it on my computer.. why is that?
Click to expand...

Rosetta is nothing more than a PowerPC emulation/translation environment in order to be able to run PowerPC-based Mac OS X applications. It's only available with the Intel Macs as the PowerPC Macs don't have to emulate a PowerPC environment to run those PowerPC based apps. :) Rosetta is more of a transitionary solution so that your PowerPC based Mac OS X applications aren't instantly obsoleted once you're moved to the Intel Macs. It's basically the same thing that the Classic environment was for those people switching from Mac OS 9 and below to Mac OS X. It allowed them to still use their old Classic applications until newer, native Mac OS X versions of the same software were made available.

Classic and Rosetta are two different things, as you can conclude from my examples in the above paragraph. If you have an Intel Mac and you still have the need to run software for Mac OS 9 and below, the emulators mentioned above are the only ways to run them. Of course, you would be emulating a PowerPC Mac that was capable of running Mac OS 9 and below (in the case of Sheepshaver), or you would be emulating a pre-PowerPC Macintosh that would be able to run Mac OS 8.1 and below (in the case of Basilisk II). Because you're emulating the computer as a whole, you would not only need a legal copy of the operating system but also a legal ROM image from an actual PowerPC or 68K Mac depending on the emulator used. In order to do this, you would need to actuall own a Mac and extract the ROM image from the actual ROM itself on the Mac otherwise it's illegal (there's software that can do this if you own a particular Macintosh...a quick Google search for "Macintosh ROM" should come up with some results).
 
Wow, thank you for that explanation nixgeek, that was very informative. I have a way to get a ROM from an old 68k so I think I will try that. Hopefully it will work out ok. Thanks a lot!
 
OK. I can't seem to get Basilisk to work in any way.

Does someone have a tutorial or something on how to do this?
 
rift065 said:
OK. I can't seem to get Basilisk to work in any way.

Does someone have a tutorial or something on how to do this?
Click to expand...

At what point are you having problems? Remember that you need to create a virtual disk for the OS to be installed in, and you have to load up the ROM once you've created it from your other Mac.

Also remember that the ROM image needs to be extracted with Extensions Disabled, otherwise the ROM image can become corrupted.
 
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