You can download Mac OS 8 and run it on your PC like a monster
- jul
- 29
What you need to know
- Some people really like Mac OS 8.
- Someone turned it into a downloadable Electron app.
- That means you can run it on anything, including a PC.
Go get macintosh.js.
Some people are big fans of Mac OS 8 and it turns out Slack developer Felix Rieseberg is one of them. So much so that he decided that the best way to spend his time was on creating an Electron app that emulates it. And you can download it, for free, now.
Amazingly, it works equally well whether you're running it on a $300 Windows notebook or a $50,000 Mac Pro.
[It works] ... well, actually - on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Bear in mind that this is written entirely in JavaScript, so please adjust your expectations. The virtual machine is emulating a 1991 Macintosh Quadra 900 with a Motorola CPU, which Apple used before switching to IBM's PowerPC architecture in the late 1990s.
But this isn't just something you can run and look at because it's pretty. You can use it as well – and it'll run your favorite apps. So long as they happened to be on a Macworld demo CD from 1997, anyway.
In fact, you'll find various games and demos preinstalled, thanks to an old MacWorld Demo CD from 1997. Namely, Oregon Trail, Duke Nukem 3D, Civilization II, Alley 19 Bowling, Damage Incorporated, and Dungeons & Dragons.
There are also various apps and trials preinstalled, including Photoshop 3, Premiere 4, Illustrator 5.5, StuffIt Expander, the Apple Web Page Construction Kit, and more.
Ah-mazing!
Unfortunately, you can't connect your new Macintosh Quadra 900 to the internet but you can transfer files to it if that's how you like to roll.
You can learn more about macintosh.js over on the project's GitHub page, too.