Mac OS 8 and the following updates brought a promised refresh of Mac OS, but more importantly, the paid upgrade injected much-needed cash for Apple. While Apple was shifting direction to release for its operating system, Apple needed to keep the Mac platform alive until OS X was released four years later. Jobs shoved Mac OS 8 out the door as the first operating system under his return. Running Mac OS 7.x requires a Motorola 68000 based Macintosh, a supported model of Power PC based Macintosh (7. This search resulted in purchasing NeXT and the return of Steve Jobs. Mac OS 7 was a major change from the earlier System Software, introducing integrated multitasking, a revamped desktop, networking, and transitioning the name from 'Macintosh System Software' To 'MacOS.It was followed by MacOS 8.x. These struggles led Apple to look outside the company for its next-generation operating system. The company struggled for years to release a revamped operating system under the codename, Copland.

Mac OS 8 was a pivotal release for Apple in 1997. It seems fitting an emulator for Mac OS 8.1 comes as Apple embarks on another processor shift to ARM-based processors.

Going forward, Mac OS would require a PowerPC processor. Mac OS 8.1 was the final OS to support the original Motorola 68000-series processors. I've got a lot of memories of Civ II and Duke Nukem 3D running Mac OS 8 back on my Performa, I think 6300 if I remember. There's even a bunch of apps and trials preinstalled, including Photoshop 3, Premiere 4, Illustrator 5.5, StuffIt Expander, and Apple's Web Page Construction Kit. Rieseberg has managed to get classic games like Duke Nukem 3D, Civilization II, Dungeons & Dragons, Namely, Oregon Trail, Alley 19 Bowling, and Damage Incorporated running. The macintosh.js app is written entirely in JavaScript, and it uses a virtual machine to emulate a Macintosh Quadra 900 with the Motorola CPU Apple used before its transition to IBM's PowerPC chips. The developer that brought us Windows 98 emulator for kicks has developed an emulator for Mac OS 8.1.

Mac quadra emulator