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Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" Q&A - Updated September 1, 2011
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Does Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" support the "Rosetta" environment for PowerPC applications? If not, are there any "hacks" or workarounds to run "Rosetta" within Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion"?
Unfortunately, Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" does not support the "Rosetta" environment for PowerPC applications. Consequently, no PowerPC Mac OS X applications will operate on Mac OS X Lion.
As a result, many "old school" Mac users officially will have to upgrade -- or find replacements for -- some applications should they be interested in running the operating system.
Unofficially, EveryMac.com is disappointed to report that there is not a viable "hack" option to run "Rosetta" within Mac OS X Lion, per se, but there are somewhat viable workaround methods to continue to run Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, which supports Rosetta, as well as Lion.
Officially, it is possible to either virtualize the server version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard within Lion or setup a dual boot Mac for both Mac OS X Lion and Snow Leopard. With both versions of the operating system installed -- on separate partitions -- one can boot Lion most of the time and boot into Snow Leopard when it is necessary to use an older PowerPC application. The well respected hacker netkas also has determined how to run the non-server version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard within Parallels 7 on OS X Lion.
These workaround methods may be suitable for those who need only occassional access to a PowerPC-only application. However, those who are dependent on PowerPC applications for day-to-day use likely will prefer to continue to use Snow Leopard or maintain a separate "legacy" box so booting back-and-forth or other workarounds will not be necessary.
Does Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" support Java and Java applications?
Mac OS X Lion does support Java and Java applications, but the runtime environment is not installed by default.
You can either install Java for OS X Lion manually or the operating system will install it for you automatically when you run a Java applet or application.
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