Think about what these extensions do, and think about how much OS code is still running through the 68k emulator in every cycle.

Here’s the quick list of non-native extensions from Apple – extensions that actually overwrite PPC code with 68k code on every bootup and affect a variety of actions. Unfortunately this only works in the Finder, and it only works if certain functions aren’t used. Starting with Mac OS 8.0, Apple again stated they were making their first native OS ( deja vu), finally made the Finder completely clean from 68k code, so that all kinds of finder operations including copy and search were now performed in pure native code.

Apple, while first claiming a native operating system with Mac OS 7.6, was still dependent on 68k code within the System file to operate all of the Apple machines. I’m still very upset that there is a bulk of system code that requires the 68k emulator 2 just to run the system software. If Apple is going to dump the 68k processors, they need to dump the 68k code altogether. The emphasis was on running two OSes for a while and letting the customers jump ship to the PowerPC (PPC) chip instead of the phase out that took place exactly like this years ago with the Apple II series. 1 The idea was that releases would continue until 2000 – and that the deal was that Rhapsody (later named Mac OS X) would not support 68k.Īs people migrated away from Mac OS to Rhapsody, the customer base would take care of the need for higher Mac OS versions.

Two years ago Steve Jobs stated that the old Mac OS 8.x line would support 68k machines through the year 2000, providing updates ad infinitum as long as Apple chose to support an OS with an 8.x number. I disagree that Apple should dump the 68k code simply because they want to isolate the 68040 machines from modern use. 1998 – Okay, kind of a flame, but really specialized.

Mac 68k emulator