PearPC
(Updated February 24, 2010)
Description
PearPC emulates a PPC Macintosh inside of Windows and Linux. It emulates a machine capable of running OS X versions up to 10.4 (Tiger). PearPC does not emulate a Machine capable of running OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or greater. The emulated machine can also run Darwin and Linux.
The most current official release of the emulator is version 0.4.0 from December of 2005. There is also an unofficial 0.5 release from 2008 called PearPC Quad-IDE build (aka “redscorp”).
Getting Started
The easiest way to get started with PearPC might be to check out our Windows setup guide.
A better way (for somewhat more advanced users) is to consult the official documentation and the online config file generator.
Visit our PearPC forum for support.
Latest Version
- PearPC .5pre (redscorp). From 2008.
- PearPC 0.4.0. From 2005.
- PearPC for OS X (experimental)
Helpful Downloads
- PearPC Control Panel (modified for use with the redscorp build)
- PearPC Control Panel (for the original 0.4.0 release of PearPC)
- Blank 6 GB disk image (this is bootable when OS X has been installed on it)
Documentation and Help
- PearPC for Windows setup guide (using the “redscorp” build)
- PearPC Control Panel (download and information)
- PearPC.net Redscorp discussion (check for updates to redscorp)
Historic Versions
Check the official site.
History
The first release of PearPC was made in May of 2004. The emulator quickly developed a loyal and enthusiastic user base, much larger than those of earlier Macintosh emulators like Basilisk II or Sheepshaver. The emulator's development, lead by Sebastian Biallas, happened at a rapid pace at that time, but progress has been very slow since December, 2005. One possible reason for this is suggested in PearPC's Wikipedia article:
“On June 6th, 2005, Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, announced that Apple will begin switching their computers' architectures from IBM's PowerPC to Intel's x86 platform. The transition was completed in August of 2006. The news raised a lot of questions about the future of the PearPC project, because although the project itself is a PowerPC emulator, it is used primarily to run Mac OS X on x86 machines. If Mac OS X will run natively on the x86 platform, PearPC's emulation may possibly be replaced by VMware Fusion or other virtualization products.”
Those interested in the history of PearPC might want to read about the controversy regarding CherryOS, a knock-off of the emulator that was “developed” for several months in 2005.
Screenshots
