A hobbyist developer reports successfully booting classic Mac OS on a Nintendo Wii, marking the first time since the CHRP clone era that someone outside Apple brought classic Mac OS to the desktop on new PowerPC hardware. The author discusses the technical challenges of the project, their motivation rooted in porting Windows NT to the same ArtX chipsets, and notes the entire effort was done without AI assistance starting from June 2025.
Background
Classic Mac OS was Apple's operating system from 1984 to 2001, originally for Motorola 68k and later PowerPC processors. The CHRP (Common Hardware Reference Platform) was a 1990s initiative to create open PowerPC hardware standards beyond Apple, making this the first desktop-class Mac OS boot on non-Apple PowerPC hardware since that era.
- Source
- Lobsters
- Published
- Oct 30, 2026 at 12:32 AM
- Score
- 6.0 / 10