Classic & Intel Macs

True — there's no support for Classic on Intel Macs.

Couldn't Apple just plug the existing Classic emulation software into Rosetta and get it working by 2nd order emulation ?

Speed isn't much required for these old OS 9 applications we PCC users still like to use. Just getting them runing is what counts.

The fact Classic doesn't work on Macintels is a major drawback (in my case) for upgrading to Intel machines.

Hi xApple;

Exactly, what do you have to run that requires "Classic"?

Allan

Its really not a big deal to me, and chances are that some third party developer will make something to use classic.

The fact Classic doesn't work on Macintels is a major drawback (in my case) for upgrading to Intel machines.

It is for me too, xApple, but time marches on, and we are in a shrinking minority that Apple is betting will eventually find ways to get our work done in OS X. Or perhaps some third party will provide a solution for running Classic apps on Intel processors. Until one thing or the other happens, it's up to us to watch out for our interests and needs by 1) keeping our old Macs that can run our Classic software, even if we do buy Intel Macs; and 2) staying abreast of progress in the development of emulation software for Classic on Intel Macs. Apple isn't going to look backward to oblige us; that much is quite clear.

as a Mac user since 1985...I have owned many software titles and Macs that have carried the high cost of obsolescence and inconvenience. The timeline of mediums for recording information favors pencil and paper for centuries of accessibility. I would like to see Apple enable long standing customers that were willing to pay a higher price to "think different" to continue to access work created on the platform. I would buy a new Intel Mac laptop in a hot second if Apple could emulate the classic environment. Meanwhile, at the office, KVM lets me switch instantly between the environment that I need, be it Mac OS 1, 3, 6, 9, 10 or Windows. It seems that a really speedy Intel Mac could emulate anything at a reasonable speed.

I hear you, Thomas: I bought my first Mac in Febrary 1984: the original Macintosh with 128K of RAM, no hard drive, and an 8MHz processor. It cost $2500. I paid $500 for an external 400k floppy drive and $500 more for a 72dpi ImageWriter printer. Two years later I paid $775 for my first hard drive, a 45MB Jasmine monster that I thought would never be full. (That was a real steal: Apple was still getting over $1000 for a 40MB drive at the time). I've bought twelve more Macs since that one. Each has provided a quantum leap in performance and capability over the one before, and at every step of the way it has been clear that for a small "extra" expenditure, I've always had a better-made, easier-to-use, less troublesome, more secure, better thought-out computer and operating system than the Windoze crowd had — even though I've never owned the top model in any Mac line while it was currently in production or upgraded to the latest Mac OS version until well after it wasn't the latest any more.

You and I have had it pretty good all these years, thanks to Apple. It's not like we weren't getting anything of value for the money we spent. It would be nice if Intel Macs ran Classic, and with a little help from third parties, maybe they soon will. But I don't feel Apple owes me any further consideration for OS 9. I've gotten my money's worth all down the line.

I could not agree more

I still depend on some tried and true apps that I don't want to retire, just to be new and fancy. Things are running quite smoothly on my iMac with OS 10.3.9 thank you. No I don't need one piece of new software to do what I am doing, but don't want to give up some really important old-time apps.

I am hording up old Macs from people getting outta' the Mac business altogether. I fear this will be a big trend. I guess I need to start learning how
to run an Intel powered machine again...sigh. I guess I am one of those Old time IBM-PC user that switched in 1987, and now must switch back...(SIGH)

"Learn how to run an Intel powered machine again"????

What is there to learn, if you already know the OS? As far as I can see there's very little different in the actual use-ability with the computer. Its not even remotely close to having to "Switch back" to a PC. The comments are a little dramatic.

As a user who only began using macs when OS X came out (OS 9 and before I just found plain horrible) I am of the (somewhat un-sympathetic) view that OS X has been around for a good 5 years now, and if Apple are moving away from it, then hopefully people have found programs that will run in OS X to replace the old Classic programs.

Being a youngen in the Mac world compared to most of you, you'll probably have my ear off for saying such things but thats my view, coming from someone who has had to support both environments and trying to get my users to find alternatives since the fact is that Classic just plain won't be around anymore.

One solution (I think someone has already mentioned) is to find a nice old box (g3 blue and white will do!) and put the classic programs on there, and then I guess just hope it doesn't die.

Does anyone know if I can connect an old mac running classic apps to an Intel mac so that the classic app will show up as a window on the new mac?

If anyone cares, the classic app I can't give up is Microsoft Word 5.1, the best word processor I've ever used. It's now 14 years old, I think.

Finding and using an old machine without the Intel chip is exactly what I am doing. That won't help Apple's bottom line though will it?

I hope some 3rd party gets clever with an emulator. How hard can it be?

Hi Andy;

You said; " That won't help Apple's bottom line though will it?

I would have say it probably will help indirectly. What I mean is if you buy an older machine then that user can probably buy a newer machine from Apple. So any traffic in older machine would be helping Apple indirectly.

Allan


If you are interested in donating your spare CPU cycles to science, please try
http://teammacosx.homeunix.com/index.html

Well, I obtained a used Mac from a friend that has converted his office to completely Intel based machines. He was getting rid of his old Macs and gave them to me. No money changed hands, so I don't see this helping Apple financially, do you?

What would help Apple is if they produced a machine that was still backward compatable - and I bought it. That was my point.

Hi Andy;

Personally, I think you are flogging a dead horse here. Basically, Apple has said the OS 9 is dead as far as they are concerned. I take that to mean that they have written it off of their bottom line. Probably because OS 9 was adding less to the bottomline then it was taking to support it. If you have a serious need for OS 9 then about your best bet will be one of the third party emulators.

Allan


If you are interested in donating your spare CPU cycles to science, please try
http://teammacosx.homeunix.com/index.html

I'm currently making this post from Mozilla 1.2.1 running on OS 9.0.4 in Sheepshaver 2.3 running on OS X 10.4.6 on a 17" MacBook Pro.



Works fairly well...



Dual 2.7GHz PowerPC G5 w/ 2.5 GB RAM; 17" MacBook Pro w/ 2 GB RAM - Mac OS X (10.4.6)