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Comment by semiotagonal | Hacker News Reader

I have a 32-bit application I use regularly to interface with old hardware (which isn't on the list incidentally; I suspect there are many other niche applications like this).

The hardware vendor isn't going to re-write it. As such I have to...

1) Avoid MacOS upgrades forever, or 2) Let the hardware become nearly impossible to use (there are workarounds on the device itself, but it's really painful to use), or 3) Write a new application myself.

If my 6-year old MacBook can last until I find something competitive with Logic Pro on Linux, I won't be buying another Apple machine. There's nothing else I need it for.

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> I have a 32-bit application I use regularly to interface with old hardware

And the relevance of this use case is something that "using a laptop in a coffee shop" Apple users seem to be completely and utterly oblivious to.

Yet that hardware often has a useful life far longer than the computer plugged into it, or the software that runs on that computer. On top of that, there may not even be a suitable/comparable "modern and supported" replacement for that hardware.

Is it possible to virtualization an older release of OS X and run your app? It might be hard to find an image but it can be done. I have a 2011 MBP that bit the dust and I’ve seen been able to virtualize OS X (not sure about MacOS) and load a back up from Time Machine.

Certainly. Proof, ca. 2017: https://jasomill.at/X×X.jpg

Side note: the Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard VMs in this screen shot were running OS X Server to comply with Apple's pre-Lion license restriction prohibiting virtualization of non-Server versions of the OS. I have no idea which hypervisors, if any, enforce this restriction (nor if old versions of OS X Server are still available for purchase directly from Apple and/or available for non-production use through the Apple Developer Program as they once were).

It is possible.

That hardware has software that works on modern Linux kernels?

No, but if it doesn't have software that works on my Mac either, that's one less reason to stay on the Mac. At this point I'm down to one remaining reason to stay on the Mac (Logic Pro) and I'd like to find a feasible alternative.

Have you taken a look at Bitwig Studio? Runs natively on Linux.

Not yet, I'll give it a look.

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