Take a trip down macOS memory lane with these web-based retro versions of Apple’s operating system - and yes, they can run Doom

Old school cool

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If you were a Mac user in the 80s and 90s, you got the opportunity to use the classic versions of themacOSwe know and love today. Now, I’ve got good news for anyone who’s feeling nostalgic: you don’t have to go digging through eBay or your attic to search for an old Mac to use a retro iteration of macOS.

A website called Infinite Mac, designed by Mihai Parparita, allows you to use every classic Macoperating systemfrom 1985 to 2001. Once you head over to theInfinite Mac websiteyou can scroll through your options, find the one you want to try out, and click Run. Then, like Marty McFly, you’ll be magically transported back through time to the macOS of your choice!

Blast from the past

You won’t have to install anything as it’s all contained within your browser, and you’ll be guided around the macOS setup and use it as you would a regular computer! You can create new files, explore the setup, and even play a few old-school games - including the full versions ofDoom II, Quake,andMyst, although they’re unsurprisingly a little bit janky to play in an emulated in-browser OS.

You can also access a saved hard drive that will back up any files you create on your computer locally, and drag any files from your desktop into the web browser, creating a file called “Outside World”. You’ll be able to try out a collection of CDs, old games, and even some software that came bundled on floppy disks with magazines at the time.As a modern-dayAppleuser born in the year 2000, I think it’s pretty cool that I can take an educational trip down memory lane and see what older versions of the current system look like. It really makes you appreciate not just how far we’ve come in the world of computing - but also showcases how far we’ve yet to go! I can’t wait to see what macOS looks like in 10 years, or 20 - probablyloaded up with AI, if recent news is anything to go by.

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Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison.

Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she’s joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you’ve got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you’re in the right place.

Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook’s Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).

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