# Mac-\>PC emulator. Is this possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202 "2004-08-03T21:53:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/1 "2004-08-03T21:53:02Z")
I have a game that I want to play on my Mac and PC (so Ardred and I can LAN-geek it up). I don’t believe it’s available for Mac, so I’m wondering if I could get some sort of (the freer the better) emulator to play the PC version on the Mac. I’ll pay for a good PC emulator that will allow this, but freeware is better. 🙂 I’m aware I’d have to buy two copies to play at the same time, and I’m certainly willing to do so, if the above is possible. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/2 "2004-08-03T22:01:41Z")
What you want is called [Virtual PC](http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/virtualpc/virtualpc.aspx?pid=virtualpc). [Seems they’ve been “embraced” by Microsoft now.] I am unaware of free alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/3 "2004-08-03T22:14:47Z")
VPC is indeed part of the MacBU now and ships with MacOffice 2004 or can be purchased separately. However, if you don’t want to pay for MacOffice you can use RDC - Remote Desktop Client - for free. (It’s also available if you buy MacOffice but it’s available as a free download from the MacBU’s Mactopia site [here](http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/DOWNLOAD/MISC/RDC.xml&secid=80&ssid=9&flgnosysreq=True). It will allow you to see your PC from any Mac, print from it to an attached Mac printer, copy/paste between the two, and run any Win program. As long as it’s connected and available on a network that can be seen from a Mac (example, one with Terminal Services or Remote Desktop Services enabled) you’re dancin’. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Llama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@The\_Llama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Llama)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/4 "2004-08-03T22:15:50Z")
I’ve searched high and low, but the only real emulator I’ve ever found is the one above. At least one that can handle more than win98. There is no free version out there that I’ve found either. Which sucks because there is a really good 68k mac emulator for the PC that’s free. I wanted to, for the sake of geekatude, emualte a PC on an emulated mac on a real PC. If you do wind up getting Virtual PC, let me know how it works out. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/5 "2004-08-03T22:22:31Z")
My sole reason for posting to this thread is to brag. A few years ago for my friends and I had a contest to see how many layers of OS or machine emulation we could create in a few minutes. (With no repeats). I won with my Mac G3 running Yellowdog Linux running MoL (a virtual machine for booting MacOS under Linux but with native processing) running Virtual PC, running a Mac 512k emulator, running a Commodore 64 emulator, running one of those text adventure games. (I won the bet only after convincing my rival that the text-adventure Z-machine counted as a virtual machine. But I’m not even sure that it does.) ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/6 "2004-08-03T22:57:11Z")
Whoa **friedo** , I may have to co-opt that story to score with the ladies! ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/7 "2004-08-03T22:58:03Z")
What game is this? There are networkable games that work on both platforms. Brian ---
**Author:** ![The\_Llama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@The\_Llama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Llama)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/8 "2004-08-03T23:03:52Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > My sole reason for posting to this thread is to brag. > > A few years ago for my friends and I had a contest to see how many layers of OS or machine emulation we could create in a few minutes. (With no repeats). I won with my Mac G3 running Yellowdog Linux running MoL (a virtual machine for booting MacOS under Linux but with native processing) running Virtual PC, running a Mac 512k emulator, running a Commodore 64 emulator, running one of those text adventure games. (I won the bet only after convincing my rival that the text-adventure Z-machine counted as a virtual machine. But I’m not even sure that it does.) I’m engaged, so I can safely say… that’s pretty damn cool… without fear of female shunning. So, That’s pretty damn cool. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/9 "2004-08-04T00:43:43Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > (I won the bet only after convincing my rival that the text-adventure Z-machine counted as a virtual machine. But I’m not even sure that it does.) I’d say it does. There might not be any physical chips that actually run Z-code, but hey, that’s why it’s a _virtual_ machine. It’s Turing complete and it’s been used for things other than text adventures, such as Tetris and a Scheme interpreter. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/10 "2004-08-04T01:08:36Z")
I’ve run the MacOS “FAT” version of vMac (running System 6.0.8) within the Windows version of Basilisk II (running Mac System 7.5.5) within Virtual PC (running NT Server) running under MacOS 9. Fewer layers than **friedo** , but every single one of those layers does a full-bodied emulation of a different CPU. If I could just locate a copy of Entry-Level SoftPC, a PC XT-emulator that runs MSDOS on Macs dating back to the Plus and SE – I actually owned it once but one of the two installation diskettes is corrupted – I could run MS-DOS 5.0 on an emulated XT in a window in System 6 on an emulated Mac Plus in a window in System 7 on an emulated Quadra running as a process in NT on an emulated Pentium II PC on one screen of a Mac running MacOS 9. (Or OS X for that matter, but VPC is slower under OS X). If SheepShaver could run VirtualPC, I could add a layer that way (run MacOS 9 in a window under MacOS X and then run VPC in SheepShaver and so forth as described above) but unfortunately VirtualPC won’t boot under SheepShaver. Hmm… but the older emulator SoftWindows will, I bet… hang on, I’ll be back… ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/11 "2004-08-04T01:42:10Z")
Wait awhile. VPC, while an impressive product, is not a performance item. It does what it says it does: You can run Windows and Windows apps. on an emulated PC on your Mac. Don’t expect fast. Real-world tests indicate a 1GHz PPC runs about as fast as a 300MHz PII using software 3D graphics; so you’re talking dog-ass slow for games. However, VPC 7.0 will (according to Microsoft, so you have to take it with a few dashes of salt) run faster, take advantage of dual processors to emulate multithreading, and also use the Mac’s GPU to handle graphics. If the software delivers on its promise, it could provide a viable way to play older PC games that don’t need much more than maybe a 450MHz PIII with circa Y2K GPU technology on the fastest G4 system. It’s hard to know how it will perform on a G5, becauses the software had to get a major overhaul to be compatible with the PPC970 (which lacks a way to handle either little-endian or big-endian byte-order-reliant softare on the chip, unlike the G4…as a result, cycle-for-cycle, the G5 might not perform as well as a G4). VPC keeps getting delayed. The most recent excuse is u$oft had to wait until the latest WinXP service pack was out before releasing it. I’m skeptical (couldn’t I run Win2k just fine without the WinXP update? Answer: Yes, yes I could). Preliminary viewings of VPC 7.0 showed it to be buggy as all hell, so it’s probably still getting kinks ironed out. Expect it maybe in the fall. I think it will be worth holding off until then, if games are what you’re interested in. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/12 "2004-08-04T01:48:26Z")
I use wineX, the transgaming version, to run some windows games in linux. I’ve read somewhere that transgaming is now working on the mac. Don’t know how far they’ve gotten. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/13 "2004-08-04T05:46:50Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > so you’re talking dog-ass slow for games. Boy, you aren’t kidding! I bought VPC to run a program on my mac. It was so slow and so painful to use that I ended up getting a pc laptop instead. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/14 "2004-08-04T08:01:24Z")
Virtual PC is fine for running “productivity”-type applications – I was using it for a while to run the Windows versions of MS Office and Internet Explorer on my Mac, to test for cross-platform compatability issues. Most games, though, require bleeding-edge graphics cards and other hardware which can’t be easily emulated, hence the performance hit. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/15 "2004-08-04T19:00:27Z")
The game is the Doom Collection. (Doom, Doom II and Final Doom). I haven’t found it for mac, anywhere. There are pitiful requirements, though, so the aforementioned slow one might work. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/16 "2004-08-04T19:05:41Z")
Well, the copy of Windows95 I installed in SoftWindows (eons and eons ago) is too old to run Basilisk II, seems to be missing some .dll files or something. So [this](http://home.earthlink.net/~ahunter/Upload_Download/EmulatorEmulatorEmulator.jpg) is the best I can do. But as I said, every layer of it is complete CPU emulation run by the environment surrounding it. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/17 "2004-08-04T19:55:38Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > The game is the Doom Collection. (Doom, Doom II and Final Doom). I haven’t found it for mac, anywhere. > > There are pitiful requirements, though, so the aforementioned slow one might work. At least some parts of the Doom series are/were available for Mac… [http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/launchreview.asp?reviewid=283213](http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/launchreview.asp?reviewid=283213) Don’t know if copies can be bought now. If you can find them, I’d go the Mac-native route, but, all the same, it may be possible to play those ancient titles in emulation on a Mac, since minimum requirements are for a 486. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/18 "2004-08-04T20:20:58Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > The game is the Doom Collection. (Doom, Doom II and Final Doom). I haven’t found it for mac, anywhere. If you’ve got the WAD files, go to [Doom Legacy](http://legacy.newdoom.com/) and use the free Doom engine from there. I recently re-played all of **DOOM 2** using the MacOS X Legacy engine, and aside from the lack of in-game music, it was indistingushable from the original. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/19 "2004-08-04T20:31:05Z")
Doom and Doom 2 may be old enough that they won’t work on a modern Mac. (you’d be emulating 68k code in classic mode. While in general this will work, games often do bad things like write directly to the hardware rather than use the OS. OOh I just checked and it does have a PowerPc version, so thats one less layer of emulation. ) I found Doom 2 here: [http://www.themacsmith.com/doom2.html](http://www.themacsmith.com/doom2.html) cheaper than VirtualPC Brian ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-pc-emulator-is-this-possible/258202/20 "2004-08-04T20:38:28Z")
Doom should work using the Doom Legacy port linked by **rjung**. You can get the WAD files off your Doom Collection CD. (I presume you’ve got a CD.)