How to run legacy Mac code on a faster, remote machine?

Question

We've inherited some legacy software that we need to run quite urgently. It was written in Lisp and we don't have the source code (developer is dead), only runs on Mac OS 9 (some bug seems to prevent it running on anything newer) and requires a license dongle to run.

We have an old machine that will run the software, but it is a dinosaur. Ideally, the solution would also provide for remote access as well.

My first thought was to use some kind of emulator on a newer machine, or even a VPS. But I have concerns about how these will work with the USB dongle. Can anyone suggest a solution better than accepting that working with old code sucks and getting on with it?

Answer 1

The most recent hardware I can think is a PowerPC Macintosh, with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). It is the last version of Mac OS X to have the Classic Environment, that will let you run this legacy software.

Alternatively, if you don't have a PowerPC Mac in house, you can look into SheepShaver, a PowerPC emulator, however you'll need a Mac OS install CD.