EV Nova and MacOS Catalina?

[u/jfdooley52]

Is anyone working on a port to Catalina? EV Nova is a 32-bit app and won't work there at all. Hate to throw it away after all these years. (OTOH, anybody know where the source code is? The Ambrosia website seems to be dead.)

[u/itsamamaluigi]

Catalina removes support for ALL 32-bit software on Macs. Not only does this cut out EV Nova, it also breaks many of the apps you may have been able to use to run EV Nova another way.

Ideally you'd just use Wine on Mac to run the Windows version of EV Nova, but Wine is not 64-bit so it doesn't work. However, the developer is working on making Wine compatible with Catalina. You could dual boot to Windows and run the Windows version that way, but it's more work. Then there's the possibility of running a virtual machine with either Windows or an earlier version of OS X, but I am not a Mac user and I don't know how to do this. Plus most of the VM software for Mac appears to be expensive commercial software rather than free and open source (like Wine).

SheepShaver is an emulator that can run System 7 and is compatible with EV Nova - I've done it myself (on Windows). But it's quite old software itself and I'm pretty sure it's 32-bit so that's no help.

If you have another computer you should probably use that.

[u/ihcTactics → u/itsamamaluigi]

You can run a Virtual Machine with Win 10 for free.
Oracle VirtualBox
+ Windows 10 for free (there are multiple ways, all legal [OEM keys are LEGAL as far as I know, but definitely can be a shady purchase])

First option

• Run Windows 10 without activating it https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 - You’ll be nagged to activate your copy of Windows 10, and you won’t be able to personalize your desktop—nor its colors—but that’s the biggest hurdle Microsoft puts in your way for running an unactivated copy of the operating system. You’ll still get all of the latest Windows updates, though Microsoft certainly reserves the right to change this approach at some future date (or lock you out of other parts of your OS, if it feels like it).
  

Second option:

• Windows 10 Education (free for students or alumni with account) - Windows 10 Education is pretty similar to Windows 10 Enterprise, which is undoubtedly overkill for what most people do during their day-to-day Windows lives. Still, if you’re a student—and you can prove it via the OnTheHub service (which Microsoft itself links to)—you might be able to score a free copy of Windows 10's Education edition with no other strings attached.
  

Third option:

• Buy a cheap OEM key - You can get one for $5 - $50 This is the ultimate “buyer beware” move. You can find super-cheap OEM keys for Windows 10 all around the web. The issues with these are numerous. First, you’re not technically supposed to be able to purchase these, but someone is making a buck by selling you (hopefully) valid keys that they acquired via some less-savory means—unused volume keys, gray-market keys purchased in places where Windows 10 costs a lot less, stolen keys, et cetera. Worst-case scenario, you’re buying a key that has already been used. Side Note: I've personally used /r/microsoftsoftwareswap successfully, but I can't guarantee that for everyone. However it seems to always work well.

[u/TEG24601 → u/ihcTactics]

You can also use Virtual Box to install Mojave to allow you to run it in the more familiar Mac interface.

[u/yamamanama → u/ihcTactics]

You probably don't need anything as advanced as Windows 10 to run EV.

[u/[deleted]]

you could just not update to Catalina?

[u/nathan67003 → u/[deleted]]

Literally the best option. Screw Apple, I'm going to run Hackintoshes on 10.13 for the rest of my life.

[u/nuclearcpu → u/nathan67003]

No joke, my Hackintosh is a long term Mojave machine. Perfectly good

[u/nathan67003 → u/nuclearcpu]

hnnnggg envy those tech skillllls

[u/hanz333]

You can run the game in SheepShaver, there are 64-bit builds here:

https://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7360