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Mac OS 8 Emulator Available as a Downloadable App
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This brings back memories... of just how crashy those Macs were. I even couldn't last day on the OS 8 machines I had to use, before requiring a reboot. Even Windows 98 was more stable than OS 8, and that's not saying much, whereas Windows 2000 was in a completely different league.
I had no interest in Macs until OS X was released in 2000. Bought the first iBook that shipped with 10.1 (although it came as a dual boot machine, with OS 9 as the default boot OS).
I had no interest in Macs until OS X was released in 2000. Bought the first iBook that shipped with 10.1 (although it came as a dual boot machine, with OS 9 as the default boot OS).
I always have to laugh when people say computer are expensive today. I did a lot of upgrades from the 128k Mac to the 512k Mac in 1985 in my Inacomp store repair shop. 
That is deep! Considering that Big Sur is actually an emulator already as it needs to mimic that ancient Intel stuff from the old days
That is deep! Considering that Big Sur is actually an emulator already as it needs to mimic that ancient Intel stuff from the old days
25 years from now we will be all talking about how we made the transition from OS X to OS 11 and how we used Rosetta II and that will be the good old days
These are some great, er, interesting memories. These were not the days of "It just works." It seemed like there was a lot more complex tinkering to do just to keep things running – extension conflicts, etc. We didn't have the daily software update download, but it seemed like it might've helped.
I remember getting the OS 8 install disk on Day One. It was pretty exciting. I installed it on my machine at work, too, and the first email that came in afterwards was from IT, telling people not to install OS 8 because it caused huge problems on the network. It was really the beginning of the end for Macs in that company anyway, but if I remember their reasoning was so flawed I was blown away.
Even through the OS 9 days, "Save!" was a pretty common rallying cry anywhere I worked. When I was in an IT support role keeping 3 platforms - Windows, OS 9 and O X - all running smoothly was a bit of a juggling act.
Interesting times, those.
I never updated my quadra 840av beyond 7.1
Didn’t know how to and no internet in those days
Fond memories of the old os’s though 👍🏻
Didn’t know how to and no internet in those days
Fond memories of the old os’s though 👍🏻
Very cool. I think I still have some backups that go that far back, will have to give it a try with MacDraw II.
Electron also looks pretty cool, have been doing a lot of work with Javascript recently so I should check that out.
Electron is cool, but it’s performance-intensive and Electron apps are big files. Because it has to embed an entire instance of Chromium and run it underneath your app. So while it’s an awesome API and framework, it’s not practical for large-scale apps.
My largest Apple computer sale at the store was to our main heart surgeon in our town in 1983.
2 Apple LISA computers $20,000
2 Apple Profile 5mb external hard drives $7000
2 Apple Imagewriter printers $1300
$260,000 in today dollars and people think the new Mac Pro cost a lot of money
2 Apple LISA computers $20,000
2 Apple Profile 5mb external hard drives $7000
2 Apple Imagewriter printers $1300
$260,000 in today dollars and people think the new Mac Pro cost a lot of money
Rescue, the Star Trek game was the only thing other than Freecell that I played on my LCII.Dark Castle for me
In my experience, MacOS 8/9 was all that and a bag of chips. I still remember how fast and helpful was using shortcuts only (mouse-less) to navigate the system structure, switching apps, etc.. Really fast and responsive UI, no hiccups, no glitches, no slow downs... You did had to install RAM to your Mac's maximum capacity to avoid crashes, since you had to manually allocate memory amounts to each app depending on your experience with file sizes and the workflows at hand. But if you got the hang of it, you were in crash-less-fast-paced heaven. I used my personal iMac DV Graphite SE for architecture school running ArchiCAD, Lightwave 3D and Pro Tools Free/LE (had at one point an MBox audio I/O at home, and a Digi001 at work too) and PowerMacs G3s and later G4s at work for Photoshop, Lightwave and Pro Tools. Damn, I miss the simplicity. Mac OS really was about you running your apps and hardware for your specific workflow as fast as the computer could. Installing and un-installing anything was truly drag-and-drop: just drag the app anywhere, one or two extensions (that looked like puzzle pieces) within the Extensions folder and one preference file in the Preferences folder (if applicable.)
I know they weren't true multitasking environments, but man, you wouldn't notice that at all if you knew what you were doing.
I loved that word processor. Having the cursor be fixed at the center of the screen was a great idea at the time.
I remember now the Quadra 900 was my desk computer in my computer lab at GM/EDS IT headquarter in Michigan. This machine was a monster at the time.