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Executor

(Last updated around January, 2009)

Description

Executor is a software application for Windows and Linux systems that allows users to run older Macintosh applications. It's not a true emulator - so it doesn't require a ROM image or need an Operating System. It resembles an emulator, however, as programs are run via a GUI designed to mimic Mac OS. On an x86 Machine, Executor can run many (but not all) applications designed for System 7.0.0 or System 6.0.7. Users running Executor in Linux on a PowerPC machine can run some PowerPC applications.

Executor is currently a “dead” project. Its lead designer, Cliff Matthews, has moved on to other projects. In 2007 Matthews published a serial number on his website to allow interested users to use the full version of Executor (previously a commercial software package) without any future expiration. ARDI's website is presently offline, though an archived version is available over here (note that the serial number there is no longer valid… check below for a download link and a working serial number).

In October of 2008, Matthews released the source code of Executor.

History

Clifford Matthews incorporated his company ARDI (Abacus Research and Development, Inc.) in 1989 in Delaware. Since 1986, he had been developing an application called ROMlib, a tool used to port programs written for the Macintosh. According to Matthews, “we had difficulty persuading people that ROMlib could indeed be used with large programs, so in-house we wrote some “glue” that would read a Mac program into memory and then start running it, calling ROMlib routines whenever OS or toolbox traps were encountered. That was the birth of Executor.”

Executor 1.0 was released in October, 1993. Version 2.0 shipped three years later. The software was pricey then, retailing for about $295.

Development continued until 2002, when the final version of the program, 2.1pr16, was released. Matthews has since founded a company called Stolen Bases.

Documentation

Screenshots

executor1.jpg executor3.jpg

executor.1231603266.txt.gz · Last modified: 2009/01/10 08:01