I picked up the kids a set of Disney edutainment games for Christmas. We're talking 6 CDs of learning fun. The box said it works on Macintoshes (classic mode, whatever that means), and Andrew was so excited by the idea that he basically shredded the box getting in.
Of course, because its a Macintosh, we stick the game into the machine, and it doesn't work. Apparently "classic mode", which I have never heard of, means "we're too lame to have written this game in the last five years, and it only works on OS 9". This is despite the box saying the game works with OS X. Apparently PowerPC macs can reboot into OS 9, but Intel Macs can't?
So, questions. Is there a PowerPC emulator for Intel Macs? Is it expensive? I also happen to have a PowerPC mac lying around, how do I reboot it into classic mode? It doesn't seem to be an option in the reboot dialog...
I am so disappointed in Disney at the moment...
Update 1: Disney tech support is closed of course, because its Christmas. Andrew is quite sad about it all. I'm being unfair on Apple in the text above, this is entirely Disney's fault for selling games which are so hideously out of date. To give you an idea of how out of date these games are, Intel Macs have been sold since January 2006 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Intel_transition), and OS 9 was discontinued in 2002 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_9). These games are really out of date.
Tags for this post: macintosh(
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posted at: 05:24 | path: /macintosh/osx | permanent link to this entry
Jonathon
The only PPC emulator I found that was quite good was the PearPC project. You can find it on the sourceforge website (pearpc.sourceforge.net) and it works on any architecture similar to the way Bochs does.
benley
You need:
1) a powerpc mac running OSX, but _not_ Leopard. 10.4 is fine.
2) the system folder from an installation of MacOS 9, but _not_ the one from the OS9 install CD. I have no idea where to find this anymore. Ask the apple nerds at work.
Use finder and drag the system folder to the root level of your hard drive. Use the "Classic" prefpane and tell it to use that system folder. Now try running your classic app. Good luck.
Cafuego
The PowerPC mac will be able to run the games just fine provided Classic is installed on it.
If there is a "System Folder" in the disk root, it's installed. If not, you'll need your install media and add classic.
You'll then have a new Control Panel icon, for Classic. Tune as needed... when you then double-click a classic app, it'll just run (or boot the classic emu fist, then just run).
If you want an emu for Intel macs, perhaps see how the PearPC project is going.
Stephen Still
Re. the PowerPC Mac you have lying around, you shouldn't (possibly cannot depending on the age of the computer) need to reboot into Classic mode at all. If Mac OS X is installed, and there is also a valid OS9 system on the computer, Mac OS X will automatically launch the Classic environment when you attempt to open a OS9 binary. The process is usually so seamless that you may not actually realise that it has happened - the only way you can tell is that when the Classic program is in the foreground, menus etc take on the OS 9 appearance. There is a "Classic" item in the System Preferences which you may like to have a look at. If it is not there, there is no valid OS9 system folder, and you will need to install one - see below for a link to instructions on that.
Re. bootability, Apple stopped providing boot support for OS9 in about 2004-ish. However, there should still be a Classic environment on the computer, probably.
So... try launching the OS9 program directly on the PowerPC. With any luck, it will Just Work. If not, read this Apple Support article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh763.html
I should note that I haven't actually used Classic in about 3 years. You're right, Disney is hopelessly out of date with these games.
Stewart Smith
I think Apple deserves a lot of blame here too... 2002 isn't *that* long ago... and January 2006 certainly isn't... basically, an app that ran fine on a Mac purchased in Jan 2006 can't run on one purchased post Jan-2006.
They completely killed off backwards compatibility for any software released before 2002.
As a consequence Microsoft looks like the goodies.. if I had written all the I software I wrote when I was young to a Windows platform... odds are today I'd be able to buy an Operating System that would run them. Seeing as I wrote them on a Mac, today I *cannot* buy an operating system that will run them.
You may also want to try SheepShaver and run MacOS 9 in it.... although it's pretty bad of Disney to still be selling Classic only software - and by pretty bad I mean *AWFUL*.
Kenneth
Classic mode should appear once you open the application on the PowerPC based Mac (running OS X).
You can usually tell if Classic mode is installed by looking for a Applications (Mac OS 9) folder (or something similar to that name) on the Mac's HD.
Oscar T Grouch
There's a Classic option in System preferences.
"System Preferences|System|Classic"
I seem not to have installed macos 9.x and it therefore doesn't run on my PowerBook(PowerPC). But the description is encouraging, (once you have classic running) it will start automatically if the application requires it.