>> You could download an Emulator program for your PC that >> simulates a Mac computer > > No, it emulates the hardware (simulation is something quite > different!)
I know, but without getting too technical, I thought that "simulate" was the easiest word to understand for people who might not know what an emulator does. Saying that an emulator is something that emulates isn't really a very good definition. It's like if someone asked you to describe the color red and you said it was kind of reddish. How's this for a better description: A Mac emulator is a program that creates a virtual Mac inside your PC - it allows you to run the Mac OS and Mac software because it translates all the instructions meant for the Mac processor, and converts them into instructions that the PC's processor can understand. It does not replace the Windows OS (although you could make it look that way by running it in full screen mode) it's just another Windows program. >> but I think that the best Mac emulator only supports up to OS 8.1 >> (As it simulates a 68K (non PowerPC) Mac.) > > http://www.microcode-solutions.com/ Well, that's something to keep an eye on, but are there any Power Mac emulators that you can download right now? >> Also, the "computer within a computer" situation that Emulators >> create tends to be slow, buggy, and often incompatible. > > I disagree... If an emulator was perfectly written, and the programs were run on it only used standard programming techniques, then I'm sure it would work perfectly. But it's been my experience (Using Virtual PC and several other emulators) that the emulator will always be missing some sort of functionality of the real system that I need (like supporting AppleTalk) and the software I want to run on it will always use some sort of non-standard trick to do it's thing, that works on the real hardware, but confuses the heck out of the emulator. As far as speed goes, I once heard that you needed a computer ten times faster than the one you wanted to emulate to get comparable speed. I know this is a very rough estimate, but it does make sense for an emulated computer to be slower than a real one, as every instruction has to be translated from an instruction for one type of computer to an instruction for another type. >> Are you not allowed to keep your PC AND Mac in the classroom? >> I would think that giving giving your students access to both platforms >> could only benefit them in the future. (Although comparing a 250 Mhz >> Mac to a 2500 Mhz PC might unfairly slant their opinion of Macs.) > > There are plenty of cheap unobtrusive iMacs around... In their PC-Only school, perhaps the boxy beige 5500 would fit in better than the colorful iMac. =o) -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
