VMAC designs and manufactures the most innovative mobile air compressors and multi-power systems available. As one of the only true air compressor manufacturers in North America, VMAC has earned a reputation for air compressors and multi-power systems with extraordinary build quality, durability, and reliability, and confidently backs its air. VMac was an open source emulator for Mac OS on Windows, DOS, OS/2, NeXTSTEP, Linux, Unix, and other platforms.Although vMac has been abandoned, Mini vMac, an improved spinoff of vMac, is currently developed. VMac and Mini vMac emulate a Macintosh Plus and can run Apple Macintosh System versions 1.1 to 7.5.5. VMac and Mini vMac support CPU emulation from Motorola 68000 to. You can import the ROM (vMac.ROM) and disk images (with.dsk or.img extension) into Mini vMac from other apps (iCloud Storage, Dropbox, etc), using AirDrop, or via iTunes File Sharing. To insert disk images, swipe left with two fingers and the list of disks will appear.
Before macOS, and before OS X, there was just Mac OS. This is often referred to as “Classic” Mac OS. It includes System 1 all the way up to Mac OS 9.x. I started using a Mac with System 6 on a Macintosh Classic. Then I moved up to a Macintosh IIsi running System 7. Finally, after the PowerPC transition, I used a Power Macintosh 8500 which ran all of the later versions of “Classic” Mac OS. I was recently having a conversation with another developer who grew up using Macintosh computers and we were both reminiscing about some of our early development experiences on Mac. While System 6 was the first Mac OS version I used, I didn’t start really writing Mac apps until the Mac OS 8 era. This got me thinking that it might be interesting to spend some time re-learning “Classic” Mac OS app development.
As I mentioned previously I didn’t really start programming until Mac OS 8 and by then CodeWarrior had solidly cemented itself as the IDE of choice for Mac developers. I decided for this exploration that I wanted to stick to early Mac software as much as possible. I chose to only look for tools that were available for Mac prior to the 1990s.
Since I no longer have any physical “Classic” Mac hardware I decided to turn to emulation. I’ll go over some of the more populator emulators and why I chose the one I did.
SheepShaver
This is to easily store, and share, my Mini vMac setup easily - nyteshade/mini-vmac-setup. It should run fine under: Mini vMac To date, Macintosh Repository served 1267013 old Mac files, totaling more than 241920.9GB! Downloads last 24h = 928: 224951.4MB.

SheepShaver emulates a Power PC Macintosh. It was originally created for BeOS back in 1998. Since then, it has become an open source project. It’s capable of running Mac OS 7.5.2 through 9.0.4. If you’re interested in running the more recent versions of “Classic” Mac OS this is probably the emulator you should choose. Mac OS 7.5.2 was released in 1995 and in turn SheepShaver doesn’t fit my criteria of sticking to software and tools available prior to the 1990s.
Basilisk II
Basilisk II emulates a 68k Macintosh. Originally released in 1997 by the same developer as SheepShaver. It’s capable of running up to Mac OS 8.1. This is another very popular emulator and a lot of people looking to emulate 68k Macintoshes choose this one. It is also open source, however it is no longer being maintained.
Mini vMac
Mini vMac is a spinoff of the vMac project. It also emulates a 68k Macintosh. It has a focus on the early Macs with the default build emulating a Macintosh Plus. Mini vMac is capable of emulating up to Mac OS 7.5.5. It’s also open source and unlike Basilisk II is still being maintained.
So what’s the difference between Mini vMac and Basilisk II? The FAQ page for Mini vMac has a great explanation.
The biggest current difference is that Mini vMac emulates the earliest Macs, while Basilisk II emulates later 680x0 Macs. The fundamental technical difference is that Basilisk II doesn’t emulate hardware, but patches the drivers in ROM, while Mini vMac emulates the hardware (with the exception of the floppy drive).
The consequences are that some of the earliest Mac software will run in Mini vMac and not Basilisk II, while much of the later software will run in Basilisk II and not Mini vMac. For software that will run in either, the emulation in Mini vMac can be more accurate, while Basilisk II offers many more features (including color, larger screen, more memory, network access, and more host integration).
Mini Vmac Mac Ii
Mini vMac aims to stay simple and maintainable. So Mini vMac only has compile time preferences, where as Basilisk II has many run time preferences. And Mini vMac uses a rather simple emulation of the processor, compared to Basilisk II, which could make Mini vMac slower.
The fact that Mini vMac focuses on early Macs and ealy Mac software it fit my criteria well. It has a good Getting Started page as well as a collection of other Tutorials to help you get system software and get up and running. I went through all of the tutorials and now have a working emulated Mac Plus running System 6.0.8.
With an emulator up and running I next needed to find software. Luckily, there are a few sites that host repositories of software for old Mac OS versions. The following sites have been some of the most helpful in terms of finding old software:
I mentioned earlier that CodeWarrior was the IDE of choice when I started Mac development but since it came out in the 90s it didn’t fit my criteria for early Mac development. Additionally while C/C++ had become the language of choice for the Mac in the 90s, back in the 80s Pascal was by far more common. I also needed an IDE that supported System 6.
While looking for Pascal compilers I came across two main contenders: Borland Turbo Pascal and THINK Pascal. Both seemed like good potential candidates. They had versions that came out in the late 80s and supported System 6. THINK Pascal seemed to be fairly popular during the era.
An alternative, that I had used a handful of times before CodeWarrior, was the Macintosh Programmer’s Workshop (MPW). MPW was the development environment provided by Apple. In the 80s it was quite expensive. It had a 68k assembler, a pascal compiler, and (new for MPW 2.0) a C compiler as well. This seemed like a fun choice because of the range of languages supported but also because it was the official offerring provided by Apple. After downloading MPW 2.0 from the software links above I had a working development environment.
The last thing I needed were some good programming books from the time period. I found a wonderful resource in the Vintage Apple website.
Here’s a list of the books I’ve found most useful so far:
Inside Macintosh Volumes I - III cover everything you would ever want to know about the early Mac and how it worked. It also covers all of the OS managers and their API’s as well. Inside Macintosh Volume IV covers changes for the Macintosh Plus, which is helpful since Mini vMac emulates a Macintosh Plus. The other two books have some good information about MPW itself and how it works as well as some okay intro to Mac programming.
With an emulated Mac configured and an IDE chosen I’ve started to write some little test programs in Pascal. While I’ve never written a Mac program in Pascal, I have written many Delphi applications on Windows. I’ve also started to search out some old Mac viruses from the 80s to take a look at how they worked. Overall, I find it a nice change of pace to be able to boot into System 6, do some coding, play some old games and remember a time when computers were a lot less complicated to use.
Developer(s) | Philip Cummins Bill Huey Weston Pawlowski (Windows) Yoav Shadmi (DOS) Richard Bannister (Mac OS) Michael Hanni (Linux) David Bacher (OS/2) Paul C. Pratt (Mini vMac) |
---|---|
Stable release | 0.1.9 (vMac), 36.04 (Mini vMac) / April 26, 1999 (vMac), October 28, 2018 (Mini vMac) |
Operating system | Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS, NeXTSTEP, OS/2, DOS, iOS, Nintendo DS, Android |
Type | Emulation |
License | GNU General Public License |
Website | www.vmac.org (vMac, outdated) www.gryphel.com/c/minivmac/ (Mini vMac) |
vMac was an open source emulator for Mac OS on Windows, DOS, OS/2, NeXTSTEP, Linux, Unix, and other platforms. Although vMac has been abandoned, Mini vMac, an improved spinoff of vMac, is currently developed. vMac and Mini vMac emulate a Macintosh Plus and can run Apple Macintosh System versions 1.1 to 7.5.5. vMac and Mini vMac support CPU emulation from Motorola 68000 to 68040, display output, sound, floppy disk insert, HFV image files, and more. Some vMac ports include extra features such as CD-ROM support, basic serial port (SCC) support, Gemulator ROM board support, and various performance improvements. Although the website is still in operation, most vMac development slowed to a halt in 1999, and no official releases have been made since. Many of the developer e-mail addresses listed on the website are not currently working.
Overview[edit]

Mini vMac, vMac's spinoff, is still being maintained and developed by Paul C. Pratt. Currently Mini vMac supports Macintosh 128K, 512K, 512Ke, Plus, SE and Classic, with active development for Macintosh II, Macintosh Portable and PowerBook 100 support. Due to complaints about the rarity of the original II,[citation needed] it also accepts Macintosh IIx and Macintosh SE/30ROM files. The precompiled versions available for download at Mini vMac's SourceForge project emulates a Macintosh Plus with 4 MiB of RAM.
vMac and Mini vMac require a Macintosh Plus ROM file and Macintosh system software to work. Macintosh ROM files are owned by Apple and cannot be legally distributed. However, the Windows and Unix ports of vMac (not Mini vMac) support the Gemulator ROM board from Emulators Inc., which allows users to add genuine MacPlus ROM chips to their x86 machine via an ISA expansion slot. This board can also support ROM chips from other early Macintosh systems, but the publicly released versions of vMac only supported the Macintosh Plus. Macintosh system software is available from Apple's Support Downloads Website (see External links below).
Mini Vmac For Macbook Pro
As mentioned, Mini vMac also requires a specific ROM image for the computer emulation desired. A software application for these 68000 Macs may be downloaded from the Mini vMac website for retrieval of a system's ROM image, along with a complete tutorial for locating an old Mac, retrieving the ROM and working with disk images.
See also[edit]
Mini Vmac For Mac Computers
- Basilisk II, an emulator of later 68k Macs.
- Executor (software), a emulator/compatibility layer for early 68k Macs.
- SheepShaver, an emulator of early PowerPC Macs.
- PearPC, an emulator of PowerPC Macs, can run Mac OS X and various open Unices.
Mini Vmac For Mac Os
External links[edit]
Mini Vmac Mac Lc
- Official website vMac
- Official website Mini vMac
- archive of Apple's Support Downloads Website
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