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Apple Approves First Retro PC Emulator for iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro

SanderEvers said:
Apple doesn't allow hardware virtualization, so no.

iPad does not have JIT support. JIT stands for Just In Time debugging. Which basically means your application can compile and run code while it is running. You basically offload a lot of the application into memory and compile it as needed. This is also why some webbrowsers seem to use a lot of memory ;)

(this explanation is oversimplyfied)
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Thanks for answering! Doesn't macOS offer it on M Series processors, which would be the same if I had an M Series iPad?
 
gank41 said:
FWIW I was able to just copy over my existing VM's from my M1 MBP and open them right up on my 2018 iPad Pro.

Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 7 although Win7 is pretty slow. WinXP and Win2K work just fine.
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Win7 was slow ... booted an old laptop recently and was amazed at how slow they are to load anything. Or run stuff.

We forget how bad things were.

Remember when a 1 MB floppy disk too a whole minute to copy?
How long would a BluRay copy take on that machine? (given the hard disk probably was too small to store one BD - I've had laptops with 30MB hard drives. Luxury!!!)

These slow emulators are probably no worse than what many of us used productively for years... :)
 
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SanderEvers said:
It's not about the processor. It's about the OS not suppporting it. MacOS does support JIT. iPad COULD support it, but doesn't because Apple doesn't want to implement it in i(Pad)OS.
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No, you can use this app without JIT on none jailbroken device via side loading (altstore for example)
 
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FRVRandAFTR said:
I have a few questions. When running on an Apple M series processor on iPadOS:

There's no virtualization restriction so it's not just emulation, right? So it's not pure emulation but hardware virtualization too?

Does running it on an iPad with the specs mentioned above, does it have JIT support (not sure what that is or how it affects performance).
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The M-series processor would allow for virtualization but Apple cripples the kernel on iPadOS, so it's not any better than an A-series processor.
 
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FRVRandAFTR said:
I have a few questions. When running on an Apple M series processor on iPadOS:

There's no virtualization restriction so it's not just emulation, right? So it's not pure emulation but hardware virtualization too?

Does running it on an iPad with the specs mentioned above, does it have JIT support (not sure what that is or how it affects performance).

I'm having a hard time completing the install. It's kind of complicated (for me). Any tips that would help? Also, any recommendations for the easiest, most secure way to download Windows 11 for Arm? I'd rather not go the Windows Insider Preview route.

Any advice and knowledge on the matter is appreciated.

Thanks!
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Hey JIT is just a way to compile code at runtime that gives huge benefits to emulators but unfortunately Apple sees it as a security risk, they can’t vet the code ahead of time.

On the Virtualisation, it’s not available even on M1. Unless you get the app from an alt store:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1812704955536674849
 
MacRumors said:
That rule states that apps have to be self-contained and can't execute code "which introduces or changes features or functionality of the app, including other apps."
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Isn’t the whole point of alternate app stores that Apple can’t regulate what’s in the app? What’s the point of they can just say, “no we don’t like it”? Could the app just be sideloaded instead?
 
FRVRandAFTR said:
Thanks for answering! Doesn't macOS offer it on M Series processors, which would be the same if I had an M Series iPad?
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While iPadOS and macOS run on the same processor architecture and share the same core codebase, JiT and similar virtualization features are part of macOS and are not included in iPadOS.
 
Hmm... I still have my old Deus Ex CD for MacOS 9... I ripped the .iso. Any way to use this app to play a little DX on my iPad?
 
I’m interested to see how usable Kali Linux will be in this On an M2 iPad Pro.
MacRumor’s description includes emulating older versions of MacOS. Has anyone tried? That sounds like fun. Maybe an old enough version to support Rosetta (version 1)? How awesome would be be to load up some old PPC apps on here that way :)
 
-BigMac- said:
Because playing retro games is peak productivity
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Or maybe a lightweight (Linux) desktop experience running open/libre office and some other apps. Who knows maybe I can crack out my old Adobe Photoshop CS(1/2/3) disks, rip them and install In windows 2000/XP ;)
 
This is like a dream come true. I would like to run old OS like Windows 95/98/ME/2000 just for the experience, not to run games. Sure, performance is bad, but I don’t care. I just want to look at them.

What’s the catch?
 
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I don't quite understand Apple not allowing JIT support. The same information on my Mac is on my iPad so if the Mac is vulnerable because of JIT support... I would be fine if Apple provided a warning that we have to accept to have JIT support. UTM SE with Windows 7 is soooooo slow. It is a shame... We got this far though, wonder how much longer until Apple allows JIT support.
 
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