Mac OS 8.1 on a $60 ESP32 tablet: A retrocomputing leap that's surprisingly portable
Running Mac OS 8.1 on a $60 tablet sounds like a retrocomputing fever dream—until you remember this is real, open-source hardware.
Developer amcchord ported Basilisk II Mac emulator to the ESP32-P4-powered M5Stack Tab5 ($59.99), enabling the device to run Mac OS8.1 with a virtual MC68040 CPU.
The ESP32-P4’s dual-core RISC-V CPU (400MHz) handles the 68040 interpreter, achieving performance comparable to mid-90s Macs.
The 5-inch touchscreen replaces mouse input, though USB peripherals remain compatible.
Despite the 16MB memory limit (half of the 32MB total), the device supports basic productivity tasks but struggles with games due to its 15fps refresh rate.
SD card storage is required for HDD/CD images and boot ROMs. Hackaday noted: “This represents a major step forward in performance on one of these tiny SoCs.”
A browser-based 68K Mac emulation option via the Infinite Mac project exists but is presented here as a complementary footnote rather than a replacement.
