Infinite Mac, a browser-based site for experiencing classic Mac OS versions from 1984–2005, now runs BeOS — the multimedia-focused, multi-threaded OS that Apple once considered acquiring. The author, who once spotted a Be Box in Akihabara and dual-booted BeOS on a Power Macintosh 8500, integrated it using the Dingus PPC emulator.
Initial setup on a Power Mac 7300 configuration worked, but bugs quickly appeared: ADB emulation made the boot loader think modifier keys were held, screen-depth notifications arrived in the wrong order, early BeOS versions used little-endian video memory unsupported by Dingus PPC, and BeOS proved stricter than Mac OS about HFS partition structures. Most fixes were upstreamed to Dingus PPC, improving its hardware accuracy.
The author also got Sheep Shaver (a Power Mac emulator that originated on BeOS) running, requiring a ROM-mapping fix. Adding an independently developed OS exposed Mac OS-centric quirks, making Dingus PPC likely the only emulator that can run PowerPC BeOS. This work may also ease future support for MkLinux and Rhapsody.
On the Infinite Mac side, UI updates include a BeOS-themed appearance for custom controls.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing