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Windows 95 on an Apple Watch

Windows 95 on an Apple Watch
Nick Lee managed to install Windows 95 on an Apple Watch. The process was not straightforward but he succeed after a few tweaks to the WatchKit app. The Apple Watch take about an hour to boot Windows 95 due to the reason that it’s an emulated version and not a virtualized one. Apple Watch runs it’s processor at 520 MHz, has 512 MB RAM and 8 GB of internal storage.

Here’s an outline of the steps involved:



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  • Copy symbols and headers from Xcode’s iphoneOS and iphoneSimulator platforms to the watchOS and watchSimulator platforms, respectively.
  • Build your “normal” UIKit-based iOS app inside a framework, rather than in your WatchKit extension.
  • Use install_name_tool to point your WatchKit app’s _WatchKitStub/WKbinary to your framework instead of SockPuppetGizmo. SockPuppetGizmo is the framework that (to my knowledge) runs WatchKit and interacts with normal WatchKit extensions that developers write.
  • Jury-rig the iOS port of the Bochs x86 emulator into your framework. “Easy!” “How hard can it be?” read: Pretty hard. In my case, Xcode crashed whenever I tried to use lldb. Your mileage may vary.
  • Copy a Windows 95 disk image in to your app’s bundle, write the config file, and boot ‘er up.

*Optional: hot glue a motor to the watch’s crown to keep it from falling asleep.

 


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