The Sinclair QL Forum

Does anyone know how QPC2 can run on macbook air with silicon M1 cpu?

Thanks
Mike

This is a question I asked in an earlier post. I imagine you either have to use WINE (if it works on a macair) or instead of QPC, you try and run Qmulator. After some help from Norm et al. I managed to get Qmulator to run on a Pi400 that also uses an ARM processor.
I would also like an answer to your question.

Thank you for the answer but Qemulator does not run on the M1
Michael

mhanias wrote:Thank you for the answer but Qemulator does not run on the M1
Michael

Hi ,
I exactly asked for this to XorA in another topics, and the answer was YES. The topic was Qdos IRC. Qpc2 works using Rosetta2 emulation layer, no other program needs.
I am very interested on this subject because i am the process to replace my old trustful Intel Mac Book pro with a new M1 based and I need to be sure that QPC2 works......
Fabrizio

mhanias wrote
Thank you for the answer but Qemulator does not run on the M1
Michael

I did not mean Qemulator. The software that runs on my ARM based Pi400 is SMSQmulator. It runs under Java.

There is a non-zero chance that I will buy a M1 Air for my wife, so that could be an incentive to check it out in more detail. For best compatibility I fear that I would have to exchange the current emulation core with something written in C and get rid of the remaining assembler files, which fortunately are not that many since I already got rid of most in v5. I think there are suitable open-source 68020 cores around, I will definitely not develop my own again, but it might still be a lot of work to adapt one. We'll see.

mk79 is the expert and he seems to be saying no to QPC-on-Air

You might be able to execute QPC on an M1, by installing Rosetta2, then Wine and lastly QPC.

So:- (and I may have this all wrong) Rosetta emulates x86, WINE translates Windows calls to macOS calls and QPC emulates a 68???? processor.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/11 ... le-silicon
"I can't tell you how cool that is; there is so much emulation going on under the covers. Imagine — a 32-bit Windows Intel binary, running in a 32-to-64 bridge in Wine/CrossOver on top of macOS, on an ARM CPU that is emulating x86 — and it works!"

Add to this 68000 emulation and it then seems rather complex. I think the Java/SMSQmulator installation might be simpler but what do I know, I don't have a Macair M1. When my son buys one I will ask him to try the Java route

Rosetta does not work for 32bit x86 code. Crossover from codeweavers will run 32bit windows programs.

Tinyfpga wrote:mk79 is the expert and he seems to be saying no to QPC-on-Air

Nooooo, I said no such thing. I just said that I have no personal knowledge and that in the long run I might have to make QPC2 at least 64-bit if not ARM compatible for best results. In the meantime the mentioned Crossover seems like a good choice.

I think the Java/SMSQmulator installation might be simpler but what do I know, I don't have a Macair M1. When my son buys one I will ask him to try the Java route

Java is never simpler

So I just checked and I had QPC2 working on my M1 Mac, but my license to Crossover has now expired so I cannot post a screenshot.

So you can do it, but you need to spend an extra amount of money as Crossover is not free!