---------- Original message ---------- Subject: Re: Virtual Intel Mac for G multiprocessors Date: Saturday, 23. June 2012 From: Cameron Kaiser <[email protected]> To: [email protected] > > Time to realize that you have to move on, that the PPC is a dead end. > > Well, I don't know about the move on part […]
A dead end? Even DOS still seems to be (a little) alive! There are a couple of enthusiasts and nostalgic people who keep it alive. I do realize that it is easier with a simple system like DOS. FreeDOS has its own open source kernel and its own device drivers and system tools to do things where MS-DOS and DR-DOS left off in the 1990ies. A lot of proprietary development tools (Borland Pascal, some C compilers and stuff) has been released as freeware, so that helps too. On the Mac you really need the Apple Developer Tools for the specific PowerPC- based Mac OS X to keep on going. And it is not freely available. (Either you have it because you downloaded it from Apple while it was available, or… well, you’d need to get a carbon copy of it). But, I forgot: they used to distribute the Developer Tools with Mac OS X! So you can get (an earlier, not updated version) of them second hand with the OS. Anyway, I think it’s only a dead end in terms of taking full advantage of current development. If you’re happy with things that already run well, and this includes Abandonware of all kinds, you don’t really need to move on. You can happily settle in this dead end and be delighted by what’s already there (and is meant to stay, until the hardware breaks that is). It’s also a question of how to define “dead end”. For some older auxiliary devices (scanners and such), a band new Intel Mac can be the dead end too, because drivers for it are no longer developed. On the other hand, band new hardware will most likely not work on older versions of Mac OS, because –again– drivers are not developed (simply due to lack of demand). Hence, it is a limited time frame of hardware devices that will work together. As time passes by, newer hardware will no longer work at all with old hardware. This can be easily illustrated: just look at the options you have to run USB devices on FreeDOS. Or recent sound cards. You’ll find them to be very limited. And Mac OS X on PowerPC will follow that trail, like Mac OS 8/9 did before. > but it is increasingly harder to > port things back to 10.4, and 10.5 will shortly have the same problem. > Still, I still think there is ample life for basic tasks in PPCs as long > as people are willing to put up with the gaps. I am, so I do. And I’m very grateful that you do! Thanks! Cheers, Andreas aka Mac User #330250 -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
