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Windows on a PowerPC ?
- Thread starter Adrianus
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There was only one program I know of for PowerPC users wishing to run Windows - Microsoft's Virtual PC. It's been discontinued, but it did work. It runs Windows at 10% to 20% of native speed, and it does NOT work with versions of Windows after Windows XP was released.
If you must run Windows on a G4, try to get hold of Virtual PC 6, with Windows 2000 Pro.
On a G5 you need Virtual PC 7, but IIRC on a G4 VPC 6 is slightly faster...
BTW, what did you mean with ?
If you mean PowerPC version of Windows.... then you need to search very, very, well... IIRC there is an alpha version of NT 4 for PPC... (back in the day of Copland, BeOS, etc.)
On a G5 you need Virtual PC 7, but IIRC on a G4 VPC 6 is slightly faster...
BTW, what did you mean with ?
Do you mean PowerPC versions of the app you needed? Well, that is the way to go! Get the PPC Mac OS X version!
If you mean PowerPC version of Windows.... then you need to search very, very, well... IIRC there is an alpha version of NT 4 for PPC... (back in the day of Copland, BeOS, etc.)
What windows apps do you want to run? This will be incredibly slow.
It may be less frustrating just to pick up a really cheap PC.
It may be less frustrating just to pick up a really cheap PC.
Why?
I'm running VMWare and it's rock solid. If you have enough free memory, VMWare is a great choice.
Virtualisation is used widely now for big production systems. The only time I'd recommend Bootcamp instead would be for gaming.
Do you think VPC 6 would be good enough to run games like online shooters? I´m pretty sure if its as slow as you say that i won´t but you never know
What, like Quake?
Not a chance. It probably wouldn't even run graphical stuff - let alone at a decent speed.
If you want to do gaming, these days it's probably cheaper to just pick up a console rather than speccing up a computer fast enough to keep up with the latest releases.
Do you think VPC 6 would be good enough to run games like online shooters? I´m pretty sure if its as slow as you say that i won´t but you never know
No way...
The CPU being emulated is already recipe for very bad performance, but to make matters even worse, the grfx is emulated too.
There is absolutely no 3D acceleration. (I do recall one version of Virtual PC (3..?) which supported the Voodoo 1 and 2 cards, to bring some form of performance to gaming....)
I think that even a game like Doom (the original) won't play fluently on VPC 6 with Windows 2000 on a Dual 1.42 GHz G4 with plenty of RAM.
TBO the Virtualisation apps like Parallels and VMware are even struggling to get good performance with DirectX 9 shader support. So, that is on x86 hardware (so, no slow emulation, thus full native CPU speed) and on modern hardware..
Emulating a CPU like Virtual PC does on PPC hardware, and running an x86 OS, like Windows 2000, on emulated hardware really is very slow. Most people used it for Windows-only based financial software, etc. With those type of applications CPU speed wasn't all that important.
So, let's round this up:
-Modern Macs, i.e. Intel based (=x86) to run Windows:
- For maximum performance, full hardware support, is actually a "normal" PC:
Boot Camp.
Run Windows natively on a real hard drive, 100% performance.
Great for gaming, 3D rendering etc.
- For good performance, nice hardware support, run Windows without rebooting:
Virtuaisation.
Parallels, VMware and Virtual Box can all do this. They are apps into which they boot Windows. Parallels and VMware are commercial with far more support and extra's, but Virtual Box is free and does most things you want it to do:
Run Windows apps without rebooting your computer. The Windows OS is on a hard drive image, but hardware support is dependant on your app.
Great for "normal" office use of Windows apps which are not available for the Mac, and for ActiveX based websites only usable in Internet Explorer running on Windows.
-Older Macs, i.e. PPC based (=G4 and G5) to run Windows:
Because Windows is an x86-"language" Operating System, and you own a PPC-"language" computer, the CPU must be emulated, and therefore all actions must be translated from PPC-"language" to x86-"language", making every action take time, which means: slow.....
Emulation.
Only Virtual PC survived. VPC 7 was introduced for G5 support, but for G4's (and earlier) Virtual PC 6 is the best version.
Like the virtualisation apps VPC is an app into which you boot Windows. Because Windows XP needs more resources than older versions of Windows, Windows 2000 Pro is the better choice. It doesn't feel so slow as XP, but better support than Windows 98 (or... ME).
This is really only a "must-use" solution. Old non-CPU intensive apps can be used if necessary, but even then you won't enjoy using it.
Disagree with this.
VMware and Parallels run big programs fine. The problem is with FPS type games/applications. For these, you need to use BootCamp.
Let me put it to you this way. When running programs like Microsoft Word, do you enjoy watching the individual menu bar icons slowly being drawn? That's the speed of VPC 6 or 7 based upon my experience.Do you think VPC 6 would be good enough to run games like online shooters? I´m pretty sure if its as slow as you say that i won´t but you never know
It's really painful to run VPC 6 & 7.
I want to run online shooters and windows movie maker. I guess there´s no hope though. Thanks to everyone
Absolutely none
Woof, Woof - Dawg
Uncle. Uncle. Uncle. Okay, I give. He hasn't mentioned the specific programs yet.Well, what IS he running, then?
With VMware and Parallels, normal office type applications work fine.
And to answer your question, MacDawg gives a succinct answer:
See, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Now you have justification to get your new MB.Thanks to everyone