Emulators and compatibility layers for old software


This page lists tools that I have built (or contributed to) that may be useful for running obsolete MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, and "classic" Mac software on modern Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. I am not the author of any of the actual emulator applications used by these tools (vDos, DOSBox-X, otvdm, SheepShaver, BasiliskII, or dosemu2) but the pages listed provide relatively easy ways to use them.

This page also includes a selection from my utilities for creating or managing PDF and similar files.


DOS emulators for Windows, macOS, and Linux

DOSBox-X-App - DOSBox-X, with built-in ability to print and create PDFs from DOS applications (for Windows and macOS)

DOSBox-X-Print - a less complex variant of the DOSBox-X-App, modified only to support printing and PDF creation (for Windows and macOS)

vDos for the Mac - runs vDos in a Wineskin wrapper under macOS

vDosWP - uses vDos to run WordPerfect for DOS under Windows

DOSBoxWP - uses DOSBox-X to run WordPerfect for DOS under Windows

vDosWP for the Mac - uses vDos to run WordPerfect for DOS under macOS

DOSBoxWP for the Mac - uses DOSBox-X to run WordPerfect for DOS under macOS

dosemu2 - instructions for running WordPerfect for DOS in dosemu2 under Linux

XyWrite for Windows - an installer for modern Windows that runs the 16-bit Windows version of XyWrite

XyWrite 4 under macOS - two methods for running XyWrite 4 for DOS under current macOS


16-bit Windows (Windows 1.0-3.11) emulator and compatibility layer

otvdm - an installer for otvdm/winevdm, which lets 16-bit Windows programs run under 64-bit Windows and ARM-based Windows. See also NTVDMx64 by Leecher1337 for an NTVDM for 64-bit Windows

Win31DOSBox - uses DOSBox-X to emulate Windows 3.11 under Windows 7, 8, and 10

Win31DOSBoxMac - uses DOSBox-X to emulate Windows 3.11 under current versions of macOS


32-bit Windows (Windows 9x) emulator

Windows 98 SE - uses DOSBox-X to emulate Windows 98 SE under Windows 10 and 11 and under macOS


Classic Mac OS emulators

SheepShaver Wrapper - an easy-to-use application for setting up the classic SheepShaver emulator under macOS

Mac OS 9 for OS X/macOS - a complete Mac OS 9.0.4 system that runs under current versions of macOS (the same page also offers a System 7.6.1 emulator and other less-supported versions for System 7 and 8.1) 

Self-contained System 7 and Mac OS 9 apps for macOS - customized versions of BasiliskII and SheepShaver that contain System 7.6.1 and Mac OS 9.0.4, without the AppleScript-based printing and file-transfer features in the apps listed in the item above this one

Mac OS 9 for Windows - a complete Mac OS 9.0.4 system that runs under current versions of Windows  (the same page also offers a System 7.6.1 emulator)

WPMacApp for macOS - a complete Mac OS 8.6 system that runs WordPerfect for the Mac under current versions of macOS

WPMacApp for Windows - a complete Mac OS 8.6 system that runs WordPerfect for the Mac under current versions of Windows (link available on the same page as the macOS system).

AUXrunner - an AppleScript wrapper that runs the A/UX 3.1 operating system on macOS


Printing, PDF, and conversion utiltiies

PrintFilePrinter for Windows for printing from other emulators

You may also find useful PDFtoPrinter for printing PDF files from the Windows command line, and WinTextToPDF for sending text files to a printer or a PDF file under Windows.

Other related software includes PCLtoPDF for Windows and macOS for creating PDF files from PCL output and PostScript to PDF (or SVG) for creating PDF files from PostScript in recent macOS versions that no longer support PostScript. WinPostScript to PDF is similar software for Windows.

PDFtoWord is a Windows utility for converting PDF to DOCX format, the only freeware utility of its kind that I know of

EnvoyViewer for macOS seems to be only existing way to read old Envoy documents in current versions of macOS

LegacyFileConverter for Windows uses the old WordForWord DOS software for converting between old file formats. LegacyFileConverters macOS uses the old MacOS version under current macOS


Edward Mendelson (edward [dot] mendelson [at] columbia [dot] edu).