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JustinHoMi · Jan 26, 2006, 05:34 PM

Is anyone aware of any projects going that will allow us to run PPC operating systems from within OS X on our Intel macs? Sort of like VirtualPC, but backwards

I have to test 10.3 compatibility for an application I'm working on, so I'm trying to see whether it's going to be feasible on a new Intel mac or not.

- Justin

analogika · Jan 26, 2006, 05:35 PM

What sort of PPC operating systems are you talking about?

JustinHoMi · Jan 26, 2006, 05:37 PM

Like I said, Mac OS X 10.3

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

TETENAL · Jan 26, 2006, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by JustinHoMi

I have to test 10.3 compatibility for an application I'm working on

I think you then should just keep a Mac that is capable of booting 10.3.

Maybe someone will port PearPC to the Mac some day, but as far as I heard it is very slow.

JustinHoMi · Jan 26, 2006, 05:46 PM

I could, but the current Mac is extremely unstable, which makes using it quite difficult. Not to mention, I have to be able to test the PPC version on 10.3 and 10.4, which would require dual-booting. So, it's not the ideal solution.

TETENAL · Jan 26, 2006, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by JustinHoMi

I could, but the current Mac is extremely unstable, which makes using it quite difficult.

If you own a unstable PowerMac G5 1.8 do the firmware update. I'm not aware of any other current Mac that is "extremely unstable".

Originally Posted by JustinHoMi

Not to mention, I have to be able to test the PPC version on 10.3 and 10.4, which would require dual-booting. So, it's not the ideal solution.

At least it works.

JustinHoMi · Jan 29, 2006, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

If you own a unstable PowerMac G5 1.8 do the firmware update. I'm not aware of any other current Mac that is "extremely unstable".At least it works.

The iMac I'm using has hardware problems. It failed the hardware diagnostic test. So, no, it doesn't work.

albook · Jan 29, 2006, 06:54 PM

Perhaps you could team up with two PowerPC users, for them to test your application on 10.3 and 10.4 before you release it?
Since there are no "attesoR <-> Rosetta" application... M)

JustinHoMi · Jan 29, 2006, 07:05 PM

Well, it's not just testing. It's also compiling and packaging. I'm using python and py2app, which offers no backwards compatibility in the packages that it creates. I have to create seperate packages for 10.3, 10.4 (ppc) and 10.4 (intel).

Detrius · Jan 30, 2006, 04:01 AM

Originally Posted by JustinHoMi

Well, it's not just testing. It's also compiling and packaging. I'm using python and py2app, which offers no backwards compatibility in the packages that it creates. I have to create seperate packages for 10.3, 10.4 (ppc) and 10.4 (intel).

You could just do two, since a 10.3 package should be forwards compatible.

Also, I'm going to move this thread to the developer forum, as your actual question is about how to build and/or test your PPC software from an Intel Mac.

Chuckit · Jan 30, 2006, 05:01 AM

I'm not intimately familiar with py2app, but could you use lipo to make a universal binary?

And yeah, PearPC ought to work (in the near future if it doesn't now). Qemu can also emulate PowerPC. I'm not going to make any guarantees as to the speed of either, though. Emulation ain't pretty.

Brass · Jan 30, 2006, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by Chuckit

I'm not intimately familiar with py2app, but could you use lipo to make a universal binary?

And yeah, PearPC ought to work (in the near future if it doesn't now). Qemu can also emulate PowerPC. I'm not going to make any guarantees as to the speed of either, though. Emulation ain't pretty.

Yeah, I've run PearPC on my Wintel (just out of curiosity), and it is very slow indeed. Eg, It took about 2 days to run the Mac OS X installer. But that's what you'd expect when emulating a CPU with a completely different architecture to the real CPU you're running on.

bluedog · Jan 31, 2007, 02:46 AM

You can run PPC OS9 in Sheepshaver. But it sounds like you want to run OSX PPC versions of which I'm unaware of a solution.

A cheap iMac with G4 processor is your best bet. Then compile your Intel, copy over your code to the other machine (or keep it on a network share) and compile and test there.

You could likely get a capable machine for US$500 if you didn't need a high-end machine. Which for testing you shouldn't need any expensive one.

alex_kac · Jan 31, 2007, 02:41 PM

Actually, getting Mac Minis (original) would probably net you under $500 easily since they were $500 new.

arcticmac · Feb 4, 2007, 11:27 PM

I picked up a G3 iMac the other day for 25 bucks. It was slow as hell, but it worked. That plus 20 bucks for a bigger HD should get you a system that's capable of running (with partitions) everything from about Mac OS 8 to at least 10.5 (although installation will require progressively more tricks once you get to about 10.3 - where the OS starts coming on a DVD)