x86 emulator for PPC Mac OS X?

[Jason Stephenson]

Paul Lussier wrote:
> Does anyone know a virtual environment for the PPC-based Macs?  I have
> a PowerBook G4 that I'd like to be able to play with some stuff on.
> Specifically, I'd like to play around with a couple of the BSDs and
> possibly some different Linux distros.

Have you tried just installing OpenBSD MacPPC and NetBSD MacPPC? They 
will probably work on your laptop, but you should check the 
compatibility matrix, first.

http://openbsd.org/macppc.html#hardware

It looks like OpenBSD will work on your PowerBook, so NetBSD will likely 
work as well.

http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/macppc/models.html#powerbook

You could always partition your drive and install the other OS in a 
multi-boot fashion. I've never done it on a Mac with OpenFirmware, but I 
hear it is easier than on the old NuBus PowerMacs where I have set up a 
dual boot configuration.


> 
> I found QEMU in Darwin ports, but it doesn't support OpenBSD, which is
> the BSD I want to be mucking with right now.  VMWare seems to only
> support the newer Intel Macs, and PearPC seems to not support any of
> the BSDs.

Derek Atkins already mentioned VirtualPC, and I don't know of much else 
that you could try along those lines. I've not got much experience with 
such products other than setting up VMWare on a PC once.

> 
> Am I SOL here?
> 
> Thanks.