Can I run Classic thru a virtual machine in Yosemite?

Maybe. You will have to look at the specs for the various VM apps.

Yu have to find a version at will works with both the installed OSX version and a VM of Classic.

A year or so ago I looked for an earlier version of OSX and could find a version of a VM app that could handle that and the then current OSX.

I do not have much faith that yo can find a VM version that can handle both Yosemite and Classic

A little Googling showed this:

http://www.macwindows.com/OS-9-emulator-works-on-Mavericks.html

You have to use an emulator for a Mac using an Intel processor

For VM apps see:

http://lifehacker.com/5714966/five-best-virtual-machine-applications?utm_expid=6 6866090-53.WJHsK0uiTqG2KukuD0irIA.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

I think Parallels is easy to use and I use that. I have also used VirtualBox on a Mac and free/Basic VMWare on a PC

Classic is absolutely ancient and long discontinued, it's death even pre-dates the discontinuation of Rosetta.

See Classic, Rosetta, and 32/64 bit revisited.

I am sorry but you need to face reality. If this is so important to your work you should have long ago taken steps to replace it with an application that continues to be upgraded. Now saying that I too have some favourite old applications that will not work without Rosetta - thankfully none of them are the even older Classic applications, however I at least do not rely on them to earn a living.

(I wonder if we are talking about Claris CAD.)

Such an old application will not benefit from running on a new Mac so keeping an old Mac to use it is an option. This is the approach I use for my favourite old tools. Other than that, the official answer is to run Snow Leopard Server in a Virtual Machine on a real Mac. Snow Leopard Server still included or at least had the option to install Rosetta. Officially you cannot run anything earlier than Snow Leopard Server i.e. 10.6 Server even in a virtual machine. I have as a test successfully run Snow Leopard Server in VirtualBox on a Mac Pro that itself was running Yosemite. In theory VMware Fusion and Parallels should also be able to do that.

Snow Leopard (10.6) won't help him. It doesn't support Classic. The latest OS X version that supports Classic is Tiger (10.4.) I don't know if it's possible to run 10.4 in a virtual machine on a modern Mac running 10.10.

If you can't upgrade the software to something that will run on a new Mac, my suggestion is to simply keep the older Mac hardware and older OS, and use it when you need it.

Király wrote:

Snow Leopard (10.6) won't help him. It doesn't support Classic. The latest OS X version that supports Classic is Tiger (10.4.) I don't know if it's possible to run 10.4 in a virtual machine on a modern Mac running 10.10.

Yes I was aware of that but only Snow Leopard Server (or later) are legally allowed to be run in virtual machines, hence why I said 'officially'.

FWIW, technology has come so far since "Classic" was discontinued that

many inexpensive or even moderately priced CAD programs can blow away

the performance of those older CAD apps. Start shopping!

http://sheepshaver.cebix.net/

John Lockwood wrote:

Király wrote:

Snow Leopard (10.6) won't help him. It doesn't support Classic. The latest OS X version that supports Classic is Tiger (10.4.) I don't know if it's possible to run 10.4 in a virtual machine on a modern Mac running 10.10.

Yes I was aware of that but only Snow Leopard Server (or later) are legally allowed to be run in virtual machines, hence why I said 'officially'.

It was a common Urban Myth that the Snow Leopard EULA prohibits its virtualization in OS X Lion (and hence later in: Mt. Lion, Maverick and Yosemite) on a Mac.

That myth has been debunked.

Also, with the 95% reduction in the price of Snow Leopard Server, the issue has become moot for most who require the virtualization of Snow Leopard.

For the record, only the PPC version of Tiger will run the Classic Environment, but unfortunately only the Intel version of Tiger can be run in virtualization at this time.

Hence, this is not a problem that can be solved with virtualization. I agree with IIIaass' and WZZZ's links to the use of Sheep Shaver if the OP must absolutely use his Classic CAD program on his new Mac Mini.

Here is a post I recently assembled about the use of Sheep Shaver:

With the newer Intel Macs, you have to run a Classic emulator such as SheepShaver, which requires you to extract the Mac ROMs from your older Classic Mac and then install Mac OS 9.

A related program is Chubby Bunny, which comes bundled with all of that included (google the term "Classic-On-Intel v 4.0.1 chubby bunny").

More information on SheepShaver:

http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sheepshaver_mac_os_x_setup

and

http://www.everymac.com/mac-answers/mac-os-9-classic-support-faq/run-macos-9-on- intel-macs.html

and more information about Chubby Bunny:

http://www.macwindows.com/OS9_on_Intel_Mac.html#092408b

and

http://hackthemac.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/chubby-bunny-old-virtual-machine.html

Here is the Classic CD-ROM version of RISK II running in SheepShaver on my Lion Mac Mini:

John Lockwood wrote:

Officially you cannot run anything earlier than Snow Leopard Server i.e. 10.6 Server even in a virtual machine.

FWIW: OS X Intel Tiger running in virtualization:

John Lockwood wrote:

I have as a test successfully run Snow Leopard Server in VirtualBox on a Mac Pro that itself was running Yosemite. In theory VMware Fusion and Parallels should also be able to do that.

For a more detailed discourse on running Snow Leopard in Parallels, see:

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/installing-snow-leopard-and-rosetta-into-par allels-7-in-lion.1365439/