The world of Intel-based PC emulation is being changed at a breathtaking pace; Microsoft has won the battle for the title of fastest, most compatible commercial PC emulator by buying Virtual PC from Connectix, but now a number of Open Source emulators are catering to niche DOS and Windows emulation environments.
 | the Virtual PC 7.0.2 updater for OS X. |
 | the Virtual PC home page. |
Virtual PC is a popular commercial emulator now developed by Microsoft, running Windows well enough for office applications, web browsing, and many older PC games (although the emulated video card is quite basic). The latest version requires a fast G3, G4 and G5 processors and Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later. Microsoft has not announced yet an intel version.
 | a rather dated review of Version 1.0 of Virtual PC. |
| the GuestPC 1.7 updater for OS X. |
GuestPC is another commercial (US$70) x86 emulator by Lismore Systems, the people who brought us Blue Label for the Classic Mac OS. This emulator is about on par with Qemu in performance, but is ready to run out of the box, like Virtual PC.
| Lismore Systems GuestPC home page. |
| MacBochs 2.1.1, Carbonized for Mac OS X. |
| MacBochs 2.1.1, for Mac OS 9. |
| the source code for Bochs 2.1.1, which can be compiled for OS X. |
MacBochs is an open-source PC emulator. It can run natively on Mac OS X, and is capable of booting Linux and Windows 95. It is very hard to use, though, requiring lots of configuration and setup to get anything accomplished at all. Also, performance is very low compared to the commercially designed emulators.
| the home page of MacBochs. |
| the MacBochs Frequently Asked Questions. |
| iEmulator 1.7.6 (purchase required). |
iEmulator is a commercial emulator based on QEMU, listed below. This version has the advantage of an easy to use front end, and OS X optimisations already done for you. iEmulator requires OS X 10.3 or later to run.
| the iEmulator home page. |
| Petit dosbox 0.4 (beta 1). This includes DOSBox 0.63 for OS X. |
Petit dosbox is a DOSBox Emulator front-end launcher. It is NOT the emulator itself; however, a binary of DOSBox is included in the package.
| the Petit dosbox homepage. |
| an OS X universal binary of DOSBox 0.70. |
| an Altivec-enabled version of DOSBox 0.61 Final. |
DOSBox emulates a 286- or 386-class PC with DOS, a VGA card, and a SoundBlaster. It is intended for running old DOS games on modern hardware. Currently, performance is not stellar, but it can handle many games.
| the DOSBox 0.70 source code (compiles on OS X). |
| the DOSBox Home Page. |
| dOSboX Launcher (CVS), a compilation of the latest DOSBox CVS source complete with a front end. This version will run games that require Protected Mode. |
| the dOSboX Launcher Home Page. |
| Radnor 1.0, DOSBox 0.62 with an OS X Aqua front end. |
| the Radnor home page. |
| the Radnor source code. |
| Radnor 1.0, DOSBox 0.62 with an OS X Aqua front end (now statically linked to avoid libpng problems). |
| John Lunney's home page. John stuffed DOSBox 0.62 into the Radnor front end. |
| QEmu 0.6.0 for OS X. |
QEMU is a fast processor emulator which uses dynamic translation to achieve its emulation speed increases.
For OS X, QEmu provides full system emulation. In this mode, QEmu emulates a full system (for example a PC), including the CPU and various peripherials. It can be used to launch multiple operating systems without rebooting the PC, or to debug system code. QEmu can currently emulate the Intel x86 architecture, and the Apple PowerPC architecture.
QEmu is used in DarWINE, which aims to enable software compiled for MS Windows to run natively under OS X.
As QEMU requires no host kernel patches to run, it is very safe and easy to use.
| the QEmu 0.6.1 source code. |
| the QEmu homepage. |
| QEmuX 0.14, an aquified QEmu for OS X. |
| the QEmuX homepage. |
| FreeOSZoo, which hosts the QEmu software, as well asa some OS images to run on it. |
| iEmulator 1.7.5 (after purchasing online). |
iEmulator is a commercial emulator based on QEmu. It has been hand tweaked for the OS X platform.
| the iEmulator home page. |
| DarWINE 20040408 preliminary build for OS X 10.3+. |
| the DarWINE home page. DarWINE is an ongoing project to design a Windows compatability layer for OS X -- when it is finished, many Windows-based programs will be able to run from within OS X! Read their website for information on how this project is progressing. |
| the Blue Label home page. |
Blue Label is an inexpensive PC emulator for the Macintosh. Although it seems to be two to three times slower than Virtual PC or RealPC, the price is only $19.95. If you need really basic PC emulation and don't care about the speed, Blue Label could be right for you.
Currently, Blue Label runs under classic Mac OS, but a Mac OS X version is under development.
| the version 1.8 update for Blue Label. |
| the RealPC information page, from FWB, the former developers of RealPC. |
RealPC is a discontinued PC emulator released by FWB Software, and originally designed by Insignia. RealPC attempted to deliver a full-featured emulator that provided good results in Windows 95 and in DOS games. This product was competing directly against Connectix's Virtual PC.
| the emulation.net review of RealPC. |
| PCx 1.1b5. |
PCx is another freeware PC emulator for the Macintosh. It has only basic VGA video support and no sound capabilities. However, it should be enough to do simple tasks.
 | to Joseph Fenton, who developed PCx. |
| the (very dated) emulation.net comparison of Virtual PC 2.0 and RealPC 1.0.3. |
