Lismore Software Systems offers an update to its Guest PC emulator software for Mac OS X, and offered some information about plans for an Intel-compatible upgrade. It costs $69.99, and this new update is free.
Guest PC enables Macs to emulate a PC-compatible computer. Once installed, Guest PC enables you to install and run PC-compatible operating system software including Windows. Because it’s not bundled with Microsoft operating system software, Guest PC costs less than Virtual PC, Microsoft’s own PC emulator for Macs.
New to guest PC 1.8 is better support for USB devices. “We did our best to proved [sic] maximum compatibility to support wide range of USB devices. Now you can connect USB devices to a virtual computer and use Windows only applications,” said Lismore. Guest PC supports scanners, USB printers, external USB storage devices, GSP units, PDAs and smartphones, according to the developer.
The new version also sports various bug fixes for OpenOffice, OpenBSD, Java Runtime Environment, InstallAnywhere installers, and smoothed out some CPU and FPU emulation errors.
Support has also been added for .fs floppy disk images; Drag and Drop support has been improved, and the emulator features better stability and compatibility, according to Lismore.
System requirements call for a G3, G4 or G5 processor and Mac OS X v10.3 or later. Processor upgrade cards are also supported.
Lismore Software Systems confirmed that a Universal Binary version of Guest PC is being developed. That version should allow Intel-based Macs to run Guest PC. Lismore said that a release date has not been scheduled, however.