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TIP: using vintage OrangePC cards to run Windows on PPC Macs

Wednesday, February 19, 2009

Matt Zehe wants to run Windows on his older PowerPC Power Mac using an old OrangePC coprocessor card from the now-defunct Orange Micro. These long-discontinued cards put an Intel or AMD processor with RAM in a PCI slot in a Mac. Zehe found a card, and located a web site with the original software:

I just bought an OrangePC 620 card on eBay, which I want for my Power Mac G4 Sawtooth. But the eBay entries are always card only. I actually think I found the software at a web site. I'll know when the card gets here whether the link has everything that's needed.

We also did some googling, and found a site called Vintage Mac World that has the OrangePC manuals and technical support documents about the cards and the software. The original Orange Micro web site disappear years ago.

In case anyone is interested, we have a list with the technical specs of all of the coprocessor cards from Orange Micro, Apple, and other vendors. (Please note that the links are live, but no longer point to Orange Micro.) We also have an older report from 1998 about benchmark tests comparing one of the cards to software emulators, as well as another benchmark test report comparing two other cards.

The OrangePC coprocessor cards originally included drivers and an application used to launch Windows. This software was designed to run on Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9, and never ported to Mac OS X. Classic mode is unlikely to work, so Zehe will probably need to boot his Power Mac G4 into OS 9 in order to run the Windows card. (Older Power Macs had the ability to boot in Mac OS 9 as well as Mac OS X.)

Some of the OrangePC cards also came with a copy of Windows included: Windows 95, Windows 98, and, in the latter models, Windows NT. The top speed of the processor on the cards was 300 MHz, but they were user upgradable in several models.

If you're still using an vintange Orange Micro or other coprocess card in a Mac

Comment below

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