My client then purchased a modern Mac and we transferred the setup to his system. Using Basilisk II configured to emulate a Quadra running System 7.5.3, I was able to install a copy of Imagic and verify it worked. So for over two decades he has been juggling a small stable of Quadras to run this software, which got older and more finicky over time.Īt wits end with failing hardware, he asked me about alternatives. He had created many custom macros to process the data, but the application was long abandoned and would only run on 68k based Macs. My client was using an early 1990s graphics program called Imagic to process satellite weather maps. A side benefit is that old software usually runs much faster on the more current hardware.Ī recent job at the Mac Museum proved the usefulness of emulators again. The emulator is a shell, a “software computer” that interfaces the two and provides a mechanism to interchange files between environments. An emulator allows users to run software designed for one computer environment and processor inside a host system with a different kind of processor.

Vintage computers are getting harder to maintain, or no longer exist, consigning old software to the digital graveyard.Įmulation is a solution for this problem. But with the passage of time running classic software on original hardware becomes more difficult. This may be for historical reasons, for performing current work, or just to play old games. Part of keeping our digital heritage alive is the ability to run software from years past.

Run an emulator on an old mac