How can I run Freehand on a 2013 iMac?

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Legally, you can only virtualize Mac OS X Server, and OS X Lion and Mountain Lion.

OS X Lion and Mountain Lion aren't compatible with PowerPC applications, so you can use VMware Fusion, VirtualBox or Parallels to virtualize Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. To do this, you have to buy Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server on Amazon > http://www.amazon.com/Mac-Server-v10-6-Snow-Leopard/dp/B001AMPORG

Then, after installing VMware Fusion or Parallels, select the option to create a Mac OS X virtual machine, selecting your Snow Leopard Server disc as the startup disk, so the virtual machine will start and you will be able to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server and Freehand, after installing it

EvanMH wrote:

...f anyone has a way to run Freehand on a new Mac, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

With all due respect to Mende, who works hard on this forum to post important information, he has it mostly wrong on this one: Doh!

Your solution is indeed to install Snow Leopard Server into Parallels or VMWare Fusion.

However, instead of paying $169 at Amazon as Mende suggests, the Apple Store now offers it (at least in the USA) for $19.99 + sales tax & shipping. Telephone sales only:1.800.MYAPPLE (1.800.692.7753). Apple Part Number: MC588Z/A.

He also repeats the common Urban Myth that Snow Leopard client may not be virtualized in Lion or Mt. Lion on a Mac; but that misinformation is now mostly a footnote in history, due to Apple's 95% reduction in the price of SLS (they used to sell it for $499+ when it was previously available from the Apple Store):

Freehand MX must be updated for Snow Leopard and the patch can be downloaded here:

http://helpx.adobe.com/freehand/kb/cant-launch-freehand-mx-mac.html

It will look something like this (note that you can open the Snow Leopard windows to full screen; it is made smaller here to show, in my case, Lion running concurrently with it):

[click on images to enlarge]

Also note that Adobe now allows free downloads of its Creative Suite 2, which includes Illustrator. You may want to experiment with some of your Freehand docs and see if they can be imported into Illustrator, which still has an upgrade path:

http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html

As with all PowerPC software that requires Rosetta, CS2 will not run on your new iMac and must again be used in virtualized Snow Leopard Server, as is Freehand MX.

Here is an example of CS2 Photoshop running in SLS in Parallels:

NOTE: You may be able to install SLS into VirtualBox. I have no experience with VirtualBox, so I cannot advise you in this regard.

However, since you own it already, it is worth the experiment to attempt to install SLS into it.