More modern backends such as Vulkan and Metal are superseding it. However in recent times this has changed. For many years OpenGL was the main cross-platform standard for developing graphical software.

Graphical Backend: OpenGL | MoltenVK | MetalĪnother aspect to consider is the graphical backend of the emulator. If you know what CPU your Mac has, the advantage of getting the specific version for your CPU is that it will have a smaller file size than the universal binary. This is very useful for portability, or for people who don't know or care about their Mac's specs. For example, Universal 2 app bundles contain 圆4 and Arm versions of software in one app. While Rosetta performs very respectably for most software, it adds extra overhead which can reduce performance on demanding games and emulators.Īpple also introduced Universal Binaries that bundle software for different architectures into a single app bundle. Rosetta 2 currently facilitates 圆4 software to run on Arm Macs. It was built into 10.4.4 Tiger, but was an optional install in macOS 10.6 Snow Leopard and not available at all for 10.7 Lion. Rosetta was a software emulation layer that helped PPC applications to run on x86/圆4 Macs. Each time there was a hardware transition, Apple provided ways to continue to support older software on the new systems. There have also been minor architectural changes such as moving from 32-bit PPC processors to the 64-bit PPC G5, or from Intel's 32-bit x86 to 64-bit 圆4. MacOS has supported three major cpu architecture changes: IBM PowerPC (PPC), Intel x86/圆4 and most recently Apple Silicon (Arm64). Another major event for compatibility was the dropping of support for 32-bit x86 software in macOS 10.15 Catalina.ĬPU Architecture: PowerPC | x86 | 圆4 | Arm64 The first several releases of macOS up to 10.4 Tiger contained support for Classic applications, but this was later dropped. This Unix base helps with Linux compatibility. Classic was a closed-source proprietary OS, whereas macOS is based on an open-source Unix variant called Darwin. The Mac has had two main operating systems over its history: The 'Classic' Mac OS versions 1 through 9, and Mac OS X (Ten, not Ex) which is now referred to simply as macOS. It is important to understand these changes so you can choose the best emulators for your Mac. The Mac has changed considerably over the years, both in terms of hardware and software. For software that emulates macOS on other hardware, see MacOS. For emulators that run on Classic Mac OS, see Emulators on Classic Mac OS. This page is about emulators that run on macOS (previously Mac OS X). You can help Emulation General Wiki by improving it. This article is a work in progress (WIP).

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