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.
