Emulators
Before true clones were available, the Atari ST could be converted into a Mac by adding the third-party Spectre GCR emulator, which required that the user purchase a set of Mac ROMs. The Amiga could also be converted into a Mac with similar emulators.[citation needed]
Since Apple Computer never manufactured a 68060-based Mac, the fastest way to run native 68000 Mac OS applications on real hardware was to run it on an Atari or Amiga with a 68060 upgrade.
There was also a software emulator for x86 platforms running DOS/Windows and Linux called Executor, from ARDI. ARDI reversed engineering the Mac ROM and build a 68000 cpu emulator, enabling Executor run many (but not all) Macintosh software, from system 5 to system 7 with good speed.
The migration from 68000 to PowerPC and the difficulties to emulate a PowerPC in x86 platforms killed the continuity of the project.
The first Macintosh clones
Apple's strategy of suppressing clone development was successful. From 1986 to 1991, several manufacturers created Macintosh clones, including the portable Outbound; however, in order to do so legally, they had to obtain official ROMs by purchasing one of Apple's Macintosh computers, remove the required parts from the donor, and then install those parts in the clone's case. This resulted in very expensive, relatively unpopular clones.
Apple could safely say that its share of the Macintosh computer market was not in danger and even granted value-added reseller status to the creator of the Colby Dynamac portable clone.
A Brazilian company called Unitron is thought to have developed a Macintosh clone with 512KB of RAM and some custom chips made by National Semiconductor.[5] The clone was not widely sold because Apple pressed the American government to create commercial sanctions preventing international sales of this computer. To this day it remains a mystery whether the Unitron Mac's ROMs were reverse-engineered or merely copied.[6]
That’s not the clones we’re talking about. I’m talking about the authorized clones, made 95-97.
Nice of you to leave out the Wiki URL, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_clone#Official_Macintosh_clone_program
That was true for a year or so. It didn't take too long for the PowerPC in emulation to run faster than the fastest native 680x0. Daystar, for one, offered 68060 upgrades for Macs, but they never really caught on; developers had moved on to PPC, and the need for fast 680x0-native execution was a shrinking niche.
There was also a software emulator for x86 platforms running DOS/Windows and Linux called Executor, from ARDI. ARDI reversed engineering the Mac ROM and build a 68000 cpu emulator, enabling Executor run many (but not all) Macintosh software, from system 5 to system 7 with good speed.
I think Executor evolved into SheepShaver, a 680x0/PPC emulator for Mac on Mac. Since Apple didn't port Classic over to Intel (and dropped it from 10.5), it's the best way out there to run really old Mac code. I fire it up occasionally for old games when I'm feeling nostalgic.