14 DAY TRIAL // The developers over at the iSoft team were able to run Windows 95 on an iPhone with the help of the Bochs emulator and a Windows 95 disc image. A video showing the hack is available. The demonstration takes place on both the actual iPhone, as well as on the Mac OS X iPhone simulator provided for free with the Apple iPhone SDK (software development kit).
The video shows that performance is ridiculously slow, starting with five- to ten-minute-long boot times, while mouse movement is literally a drag. A copy of Windows XP was also tested, although performance was even worse (obviously). The developers say they are anxiously awaiting to test Windows XP on an iPhone 3G S. The device, as fans should know, boasts a 600 MHz processor, and double the RAM of its predecessor, which may just enable the hack to run Windows to the point that it can be used for... well, use. Four screenshots depicting Windows 95 and Windows XP running on the iPhone can be found below. The video demonstration is just under the screens.
About Bochs
Bochs is a highly portable open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator written in C++ that runs on most popular platforms, the people behind the Bochs IA-32 Emulator Project say. Bochs was written by Kevin Lawton and is currently maintained by this project. It includes emulation of the Intel x86 CPU, common I/O devices, and a custom BIOS. Currently, Bochs can be compiled to emulate a 386, 486, Pentium/PentiumII/PentiumIII/Pentium4 or x86-64 CPU including optional MMX, SSEx and 3DNow! instructions. The tool can efficiently run most Operating Systems inside the emulation. Operating systems include Linux, DOS, Windows 95/98, Windows NT/2000/XP and Windows Vista.
“Bochs can be compiled and used in a variety of modes,” the developers explain, “some [of] which are still in development. The 'typical' use of bochs is to provide complete x86 PC emulation, including the x86 processor, hardware devices, and memory.” “This allows you to run OS's and software within the emulator on your workstation, much like you have a machine inside of a machine,” the Bochs description reads.
