SheepShaver

(last updated October 12, 2009)

SheepShaver is an open source emulator of PowerPC based Macintosh computers. using SheepShaver it is possible to emulate a Macintosh computer capable of running Mac OS 7.5.2 through 9.0.4. Ports of SheepShaver are available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. When SheepShaver is installed on a PowerPC based system, applications run at native speeds. When the emulator is installed on other systems, applications run at about 1/8 native speed. SheepShaver is considered a good replacement for the Classic Environment which is not available in the most recent versions of Mac OS X. Please note that SheepShaver requires the use of a ROM image and a copy of Mac OS.

Setup guides for the Windows and Mac OS X ports of SheepShaver are available. A busy support forum is also available.

• SheepShaver for Windows: 30 March, 2009
• SheepShaver for Mac OS X: 19 March, 2009

• SheepShaver for Mac OS X: 21 July, 2009
• Archive of releases for OS X and Windows

• Setting up SheepShaver for Windows
• Setting up SheepShaver for Mac OS X
• Getting online in SheepShaver for Windows
• Official Help Center Documentation
• Using Basilisk II to acquire a PPC ROM image

SheepShaver began life in 1998 as a MacOS emulator for BeOS. At that time, SheepShaver was a commercial product developed by Christian Bauer. In 2002, following the commercial decline of Be, SheepShaver was released as an open-source application. Development since then was been driven by Gwenole Beauchesne, who has ported the emulator to Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Beauchesne suspended his work on SheepShaver in April of 2008, although volunteers have contributed bug fixes and features since that time. Builds based on those contributions are listed on this site and in the SheepShaver forum.