Now go get a 20MB hard drive 'blank' from here if you want to install more software. Mount one of those disks in MinivMac and you'll be in business. You can get old versions of the Mac system software from Apple's official site, where you can download System 6.0.3, 6.0.5, 6.0.8, 7.0, or 7.5.3. The ROM (titled 'vMac.ROM') is the annoying part, because it's technically illegal to download, although you aren't hurting anyone by downloading a ROM file from a 25-year-old computer. It's easy enough to download and install, although it then needs a few things to work properly: a Mac Plus ROM, a copy of the Mac system software, a blank hard drive image, and whatever apps you want to run. But for a low-impact Mac experience, this simply can't be beat.Įmulating a Mac Plus with System 6 via MinivMac The current state of the art in emulating early Macs is the freeware app, MinivMac which runs on Macs, Windows machines, and Linux.

The only down sides, of course, are that you can't save files and can't add anything to his system. Friend's virtual Mac has a bunch of memorable, classic apps, including Microsoft Word and Excel, MacPaint, the Orion astronomy app, Stuffit, HyperCard, and Risk. Loading up this page threw me right back to ninth grade. System 7 In Your BrowserBy far the easiest and most impressive way to check out an old-school Mac is James Friend's PCE.js, a Mac Plus with System 7 emulated in a browser window (click left).

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