A $99 version with PC DOS is slated for release in December, followed by a $199 Windows Me release in January. The $199 package that's currently available includes Windows 98. The read-me file warns that 'Virtual PC is not recommended as a gaming solution for the Mac.' It also notes that Windows Media Player 7 and Movie Maker, a program included in Windows Me, 'have system requirements that exceed the capabilities of Virtual PC.'Ĭonnectix sells the software in a variety of packages bundled with different PC operating systems. Users will need Mac OS 9 to take advantage of the USB support.Īlthough you can run PC games on the system, they won't benefit from graphics acceleration, so performance may be limited. The software allows use of many USB devices, such as CardScan 500, for which there are no Mac drivers (one exception is Wacom Technology Corp.'s PenPartner tablet). As before, users can print to networked PC printers. VPC 4.0 enhances the feature by providing support for DHCP servers, allowing virtual Windows and Linux machines in VPC to share the Mac's DHCP settings. The software's Shared IP technology allows the virtual Windows machine to use the Mac's network settings. In addition, Connectix has enhanced VPC's network support. Interface enhancements include scrollable windows and support for three-button and scroll mice. The virtual machines are displayed as dynamic thumbnail images in a window, which also lists the current status of each (running, not running, saved or paused). Users can run multiple versions of Windows (or Red Hat Linux), limited only by memory and drive capacity. This feature, in turn, facilitates VPC's new ability to run multiple virtual machines simultaneously. With previous versions, users had to pre-set the drive space. The new Windows disk image - a virtual PC hard drive on the Mac - automatically expands to accommodate needed space, up to a maximum of 127GB under Mac OS 9.

Further enhancing performance, users can allocate up to 512MB of RAM to Windows 98 without quitting Virtual PC. The company said that Velocity Engine acceleration will be most apparent when running multimedia applications under Windows. Performance is typically the biggest issue with PC emulators, and Connectix said the new version is up to twice as fast as previous releases, with enhanced support for the PowerPC G4's Velocity Engine. Virtual PC allows users to run PC DOS, Red Hat Linux and various flavors of Microsoft Windows on a Power Mac G3 or G4 system. Versions with other operating systems will follow, Connectix said.

Virtual PC 4.0 is available now with Windows 98 pre-installed. on Tuesday unveiled a new version of its Virtual PC emulation software for the Mac, boasting faster performance and other new features, including the ability to expand the Windows disk image as space requires.

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