Infinite Mac adds browser-playable BeOS, improving PowerPC emulation
A developer integrated multiple BeOS versions into Infinite Mac, fixing emulator bugs that now make it the only system to run PowerPC BeOS.
What to know
- BeOS, a multimedia OS that Apple once considered acquiring, is now playable in browsers through Infinite Mac with full disk streaming and Internet Archive CD-ROM support.
- Integrating BeOS exposed and fixed multiple emulator bugs, making DingusPPC the only known emulator capable of running PowerPC versions of BeOS.
- The work improves hardware emulation accuracy overall and creates a foundation for supporting other alternate OSes like MkLinux and Rhapsody.
ecliptik Infinite Mac developerDingusPPC maintainers PowerPC emulator developers
How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts
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DingusPPC becomes only emulator to run PowerPC BeOS
The developer claims that with these improvements, DingusPPC is now the only emulator capable of running PowerPC versions of BeOS. The work also lays groundwork for supporting other alternate OSes like MkLinux and Rhapsody.
“I believe that, with this work, it's the only emulator that can run PowerPC versions of BeOS.”
— ecliptik -
Infinite Mac: BeOS "You can now run many BeOS versions in the browser at Infinite Mac" https:// blog.persistent.info/2026/10/i nfinite-mac-beos.html # RetroComputing # mac # BeOS
2 more of the top 3 · 22 posts in this stretch
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Some former Be employees have commented here in the past saying that Apple made the right decision to buy Next and not Be from a technical perspective, as BeOS had poor code quality and was far behind NEXTSTEP in important areas like networking and printing. They also implemented the OS API directly in C++, which tied them to a specific C++…
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Infinite Mac: BeOS L: https:// blog.persistent.info/2026/10/i nfinite-mac-beos.html C: https:// news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5 0309029 posted on 2026.10.30 at 15:30:09 (c=1, p=7)
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background
Emulator debugging improves DingusPPC's PowerPC accuracy — Integrating BeOS exposed multiple edge cases in DingusPPC, the PowerPC emulator. Fixes included ROM memory mapping issues and compatibility adjustments. The work reveals that emulators become dependent on OS-specific quirks, and adding an independently developed OS improved overall hardware emulation accuracy.
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Developer adds BeOS support to Infinite Mac browser platform
Multiple BeOS versions are now runnable in browsers through Infinite Mac, allowing users to boot instantly, access pre-installed software, insert Internet Archive CD-ROMs, and save work. BeOS, a multimedia-focused OS that Apple once considered acquiring, can be experienced as "the road not taken" in Apple's OS history.
“You can now run many BeOS versions in the browser at Infinite Mac, my site where you can experience the Macintosh Cinematic Universe from 1984 to 2005.”
— ecliptik -
1 outlet Infinite Mac: BeOS
first by HN Frontpage, 13d ago
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What people are saying 19 voices from 2 sites · best of 22 · verbatim
- Oct 31
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Cool as hell! https:// blog.persistent.info/2026/10/i nfinite-mac-beos.html
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Very nice write-up about # BeOS , it’s history and specialities, and how you can now run it in your browser. https:// blog.persistent.info/2026/10/i nfinite-mac-beos.html
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I have been supporting Haiku financially for years, but sadly, it won't boot natively on any of my computers :(I really need to dedicate some time to understand why. I'd love to contribute with apps and drivers.
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For those who like BeOS, please check out V OS - https://v-os.dev/ - it's a Linux distro that is porting Be GUI and SDK to run on the Linux kernel. It's quite light on the resources. With enough support, it could one day be a really great alternate to Gnome and KDE on Linux.
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To me BeOS was and is still the best looking desktop OS ever, and it was so fast, it felt so good. I think in 2000ish (when it was released freely) I used it on my PC pretty much exclusively for a few months.
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I occasionally spin up VMs with this and OS2. I miss the era of operating system options. But but linux. It has it's place, I run FreeBSD, but for desktop, options dimish. I like apple hardware, I like apple hardware trackpad support. Running Linux on a MacBook is not something I would ever do. I used FreeBSD on stinkpads for years.
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Why do people want to look at old os's like this and Amiga what is the fascination? Just curious.
- Oct 30
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Designed in California has been a very entertaining (video podcast) watch that covers this era:https://www.youtube.com/@designedinca(Specifically they talk about Be beginning:
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Infinite Mac: BeOS Link: https:// blog.persistent.info/2026/10/i nfinite-mac-beos.html Discussion: https:// news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5 0309029
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I ran BeOS for a bit, and it was the best OS upgrade experience I've had, besides the Windows 95 to NT 4.0 upgrade.One of the few upgrade experiences that was a discernable improvement and completely revised experience.
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It would have been a disaster, BeOS was significantly different from a NeXT/BSD-like unix type base that made it relatively easy for software to be developed on MacOS in the 10.0 to 10.4 era. Early versions of MacOS X like 10.0 were clearly just an evolved NeXT with a cute MacOS finder like skin on top.
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I used a BeOS inspired GNOME extension or hack for tabbed windows, signature yellow color, about 20 years ago. Loved it.I was installing GNOME pieces compiling from source, on top of Sun Solaris. So it was a weird configuration. But FWIW I relied on the tabs a lot.
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Haiku is actually pretty usable these days, someone has a draft nvidia driver that's not completely terrible (as of maybe a month ago? still very DIY but neat), and there's a surprising number of retro games and shareware in their package manager catalog these days.
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> The distinctive tabbed window titles look neat, but they have a reduced draggable area, so I’d have to think harder every time I wanted to move a window.Now imagine macOS progressing to the point where title bars have been replaced with toolbars, and buttons no longer have borders, so you have to guess what part of the window will drag it.:-|
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They probably would fail to recover and be another historical company by now.If not, desktop computing would be taken over by C++ as main systems programming language, and UNIX like computing relegated to servers.
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I would be very interested in a writeup that talked about the likely trajectory of Apple's OS if they had bought BeOS instead.
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I loved my BeBox, but what would be the modern equivalent of the GeekPort? I've been using esp32/nRF52/etc boards for uart/spi/i2c/i2s/pwm-type work... it feels like hardware hacking on a desktop is a lost art.
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Claude built me a meta web/notes/code search engine with IOS and MacOS apps, and for fun I asked it to make a Haiku version [1], which it did in under 20 minutes.With AI I feel like a lot of these bygone-era OS's could see a whole new ecosystem of modern apps within a very short period of time.1.
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To anyone who hasn't already: I really recommend checking out Haiku OS [1], the FOSS successor to BeOS. It's so pleasant to use and supports a surprisingly large catalog of software.[1]: