Today’s Apple continues to distance itself from what it once was: the Cupertino firm’s hermeticism has been broken, mainly due to European regulations that have forced it to embrace the USB Type-C port, accept ‘sideloading’ and open iOS to alternative stores. Now, the App Store has also been opened to emulators.
This opens up a range of possibilities: from playing on old consoles to use operating systems from other devices. This is the case of Windows XP, one of Microsoft’s most beloved operating systems. Despite being out of support, it remains a curiosity to see it running on Apple’s iPad, and that is what they have achieved at The Verge.
The emulator that makes Windows XP possible on the iPad
Image from The Verge
UTM SE is the name of the emulator that allows virtualize operating systems. And it hasn’t been long since it arrived in the Apple App Store, kicking off the possibility of alternative systems on Apple devices. Of course, the last thing we expected to see is Windows XP running on the iPad: it doesn’t really install itself as such, as we said, the system is virtualized, but in essence it works as if it were its own software.
The UTM SE emulator is responsible for bringing retro operating systems to the iPhone, although it makes little sense to do so on a phone and even more so on a larger device like the iPad.
Do you want to try this app? It’s available on the App Store and is free. However, it does have a software requirement: an iPhone with iOS 14 or higher. Also consider that the emulator weighs 1.7 GB. Although it is possible to use it in conjunction with systems such as Windows 7, Linux and macOS, The Verge has opted for one of the most popular versions.
Some advanced knowledge is also required, as well as having an image of the system we want to install. Whatever the case, the experience of the specialized medium is ahead of us. How old Windows XP behaves on Apple’s tablet.
Installing Windows XP on the iPad is just a curiosity to feel nostalgic. Apart from that, it is not recommended for daily use.
The main drawback is that without jailbreak, the emulator does not have a JIT compiler (Just-In-Time, software that translates the code so that the device understands it). This causes performance to decline, even when dealing with a system that is many years old.
The user in question has used his iPad Pro M1 and comments that it is very easy to create a virtual machine with UTM SE. The app is well documented to know the first steps, and allows the RAM and storage configurationbeing able to dedicate the iPad hardware to emulation.
The installation took two hours and half and after finishing, Windows XP makes its presence felt on this device with its legendary startup sound. Once installed, the lack of performance becomes apparent with “new windows” that “took a few seconds to open”.
In the end, it is clearly a curious and nostalgic experiment. Perhaps it also opens the mind to how an iPad can stand out when it has an operating system with real multitasking. Even so, Microsoft’s system is not suitable for everyday use, with many outdated components, and it is also not suitable because it runs on a virtual machine.
Via | The Verge
Cover image | Iván Linares for Xataka (with editing)