B
baggeh
Guest
Just got a new Ibook g4 and was wondering if there is any way that you can install exe files onto it. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2005
- Messages
- 1,229
- Reaction score
- 75
- Points
- 48
- Your Mac's Specs
- 2.6GHz Core i7 15" MacBook Pro - 8GB DDR3 SDRAM - 750GB 7200 RPM HDD - GeForce 650M GT 1GB VRAM
No, there isn't. Your only hope would be to acquire software like Virtual PC or iEmulator, both of which are very slow solutions for running Windows on your Mac within an enclosed application environment. However, when Darwine gets all finished up, you should presumably be able to run Windows software on your Mac without Windows.baggeh said:
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2004
- Messages
- 726
- Reaction score
- 11
- Points
- 18
- Your Mac's Specs
- Black Colorware PowerBook 1.67 GHz G4, 2 GB DDR2, 100GB 7200 RPM
To elaborate for the original poster, there are two obstacles to running Windows .exe files on your Mac. One is that it was compiled for a different operating system. It doesn't just require a different "reader," if you will, like a .doc file, or a .jpg file. Application files are different animals, and in this case they are OS-specific. Second, the much bigger obstacle: they are designed for different processing architectures. Your iBook uses what's called a PowerPC processor. That's what G3, G4, and G5s are. Windows PCs use AMD and Intel processors, which are on the x86 processing architecture. Even if the .exe files were just like any other file, and just needed a "translator," they still would not work on your iBook. It would be something akin to putting Diesel fuel in a car designed to take regular gasoline.
The newest generation of Macs are now using Intel processors, so sometime in the near future, we may be able to run Windows programs on Macs at near-native speeds with either a dual boot scheme (where you can just log out of OS X and log into Windows, and use it like normal), or in a window, like VirtualPC is now. The way VirtualPC currently works, is it emulates an x86 processor; this is why it's slow. In the future, it won't have to do that anymore. Unfortunately, though, the iBooks do not have Intel processors, so that won't be an option for them. I would recommend simply finding a replacement program for whatever Windows apps you wanted to use, or if there simply is not one anywhere, get VirtualPC.
The newest generation of Macs are now using Intel processors, so sometime in the near future, we may be able to run Windows programs on Macs at near-native speeds with either a dual boot scheme (where you can just log out of OS X and log into Windows, and use it like normal), or in a window, like VirtualPC is now. The way VirtualPC currently works, is it emulates an x86 processor; this is why it's slow. In the future, it won't have to do that anymore. Unfortunately, though, the iBooks do not have Intel processors, so that won't be an option for them. I would recommend simply finding a replacement program for whatever Windows apps you wanted to use, or if there simply is not one anywhere, get VirtualPC.
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.