Gun Run Mac OS
I have a MBP with High Sierra. I am thinking to run High Sierra in a VM on that MBP, to have a 'sandbox' where I can visit websites more privately than on the regular system which now seems to have too many apps and persistent cookies that phone home all over the place. (To do my banking, file. Big Sur compatibility. Big Sur is the latest version of macOS. It arrived on some Macs in November.
I love that some people have too much time on their hands. Thanks to Slack developer Felix Rieseberg, you can now run Mac OS 8 on a 1991 Macintosh Quadra 900 without any messing about with separate emulators and OS installs. The whole thing runs on your Mac as a single, standalone Javascript app…
You can also run it on a Windows or Linux machine.
The virtual machine is emulating a 1991 Macintosh Quadra 900 with a Motorola CPU, which Apple used before switching to IBM’s PowerPC architecture in the late 1990s.
Bear in mind that this is written entirely in JavaScript, so please adjust your expectations.
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The underlying emulator is Basilisk II, a 68k Macintosh emulator by Christian Bauer et al, modified and compiled with Emscripten by James Friend.
Rieseberg says it should run most Mac OS 8-compatible apps, and even comes with some supplied ones.
You’ll find various games and demos preinstalled, thanks to an old MacWorld Demo CD from 1997. Namely, Oregon Trail, Duke Nukem 3D, Civilization II, Alley 19 Bowling, Damage Incorporated, and Dungeons & Dragons.
There are also various apps and trials preinstalled, including Photoshop 3, Premiere 4, Illustrator 5.5, StuffIt Expander, the Apple Web Page Construction Kit, and more.
But if you want to load others, you can do that.
Can I transfer files from and to the machine? Yes, you can. Click on the “Help” button at the bottom of the running app to see instructions. You can transfer files directly, or mount disk images.
All you need do is copy files into the macintosh.js folder in your user directory and restart the app. Open the Unix volume on the desktop and you’ll find them in there.
If you want to mount disk images, just place the .iso or .img volume into the same folder and re-open the app. Rieseberg does caution that there is a “considerable” performance hit for each mounted volume, so one at a time might be advisable.
The same also works in reverse if you want to transfer files from the emulator to your Mac: Just open the Unix volume and the macintosh.js folder within it, copy files to that folder, and then quit the app. That will force a sync that copies them to the folder on your own Mac.
One thing you can’t do, sadly, is connect to the web.
The web was quite different 30 years ago — and you wouldn’t be able to open even Google. However, Internet Explorer and Netscape are installed, as is the ‘Web Sharing Server,’ if you want to play around a bit.
Of course, Javascript isn’t exactly the most efficient environment, so I found the app was using around 100% of one CPU core, but it’s certainly a fun trip down memory lane!
You can download the app from GitHub — just scroll down to the Downloads section.
Via the Verge
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We all know by now that macOS Big Sur is the latest and greatest version of Apple’s Mac operating system. It was released in November 2020 and offered some serious advancements, especially on the visual side. If you have an older machine, though, you may be wondering whether your Mac is compatible. Let’s shed some light on macOS Big Sur system requirements and help you check whether your Mac supports the new OS.
Before you attempt to upgrade to Big Sur
There are a couple of things you should do before you upgrade to Big Sur.
- Back up your Mac.
It doesn’t matter whether you use Time Machine or a third-party backup tool, just make sure you backup your Mac immediately before you upgrade.
- Free up some space for the new OS
To get macOS Big Sur running on your Mac, you need at least 20GB of free space. So, if you aren’t sure you have enough, here’s how to check it. Click the Apple menu and select About This Mac. Go to the Storage tab to let your Mac calculate the amount of free space. If you don’t have enough, you can try removing some old junk with CleanMyMac X. This app detects ancient cache, user log files, and other clutter and helps you delete it from your Mac.
- Download the free version of CleanMyMac X and install it, then launch.
- Press Scan.
- Click Run.
That’s all there is to it. I managed to clear 10GB in just a couple of minutes, which saved me hours I would have spent if I were to do it manually.
macOS Big Sur requirements
Here’s the list of macOS Big Sur supported Macs:
- Any Mac Pro or iMac Pro
- MacBook Pro and MacBook Air 2013 and later
- iMac and Mac mini 2014 and later
- MacBook 2015 and later
As you can see, some Macs released as long ago as 2013 can officially run Big Sur. That’s pretty good considering the number of macOS updates there have been since then and the new features they have introduced.
Sadly, a few machines that were supported to upgrade to Catalina have fallen off the list for Big Sur, notably the 2012 MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac.
Mac models that do crash
Immediately after Big Sur's release on November 13, 2020, Mac users started reporting system failures that appeared to affect MacBooks from 2013-2014. The attempted installation resulted in 'bricking some older MacBook Pro models,' according to MacRumors. Notably, those MacBooks are the oldest still supported Macs that can run Big Sur. So if your MacBook belongs to that generation, we advice you to do little research on this before you rush to install Big Sur.
macOS Big Sur compatibility
If your Mac’s model is on the list of “officially supported” Macs to run Big Sur, you will definitely be able to upgrade it to the latest OS. You can be sure the installer will run on your Mac and that if you run into trouble, you can expect help from Apple, either in the form of support documentation or an update to the OS.
But, if your Mac is slightly older and isn’t on the list, there is a possibility you can still update it to Big Sur. Several Mac users have had some success installing the Big Sur beta on Macs that aren’t on Apple’s list. It requires a workaround, and there’s no guarantee that it will continue to work when the final version of Big Sur is released or when updates are issued. But, if you’re determined to install Big Sur on an older Mac, or you want to try it as a fun project, it’s an option.
Things to consider before you try to install Big Sur on an unsupported Mac
Installing macOS Big Sur on a Mac that’s not on Apple’s official list of unsupported Macs isn’t as straightforward as just downloading the installer and running it. How you install it will depend on the Mac you’re trying to install it on, and we’ll come to that later in the article. But there are other things you need to consider.
- Your Mac may not run at all afterwards.
If you get the installation process wrong or something just doesn’t work as it should, you could be left with a Mac that doesn’t boot. For that reason, you should make a bootable clone of your startup drive before you start.
- Even if your Mac boots, parts of it won’t work
Among those users who successfully installed the beta version of Big Sur on unsupported Macs, most reported that either the graphics system (GPU) didn’t work or that Wi-Fi didn’t work. You can get around the wifi issue by replacing the internal Wi-Fi card or using a USB Wi-Fi adaptor, but you can’t replace the GPU.
- There’s no guarantee updates will work
Just as you can’t use the regular installer to install Big Sur on an unsupported Mac, you won’t be able to install updates using Software Update. That could leave you vulnerable to security flaws.
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How to upgrade to Big Sur on an unsupported Mac
As we said earlier, the specifics of how you install Big Sur on an older Mac vary according to the Mac, but there are lots of success stories in this thread.
One example is the user who installed the Big Sur beta on a 2012 15in MacBook Pro, and it ran well apart from Wi-Fi not working. That user got around the problem by using an iPhone as a hotspot (you can use Personal Hotspot by connecting to an iPhone via Bluetooth or USB). Another user reported installing Big Sur on a 2012 Mac mini, but with sound and Wi-Fi not working.
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The question of whether or not your Mac is compatible with macOS Big Sur can’t be answered just by looking at Apple’s list of supported Macs. Those are the machines on which Apple has decided to support installation, but there are others on which Big Sur will run, albeit with a bit of extra work. You should decide for yourself whether you want to take risks associated with installing Big Sur on an unsupported Mac. And, if you decide to go ahead, be sure to back up your Mac and clean it up using Mac maintenance software like CleanMyMac X.