MacSurf 1.68 Brings Modern JavaScript and HTTPS to Classic Mac OS 9
MacSurf 1.68 – NetSurf on OS 9 Released
I am thrilled to announce MacSurf 1.68, a native browser for Classic Mac OS that finally supports real HTTPS and modern JavaScript via the new macQJS engine. This release fixes critical input bugs, ensures instant startup, and allows you to browse modern sites like 68kmla.org directly on your vintage PowerPC hardware without needing a proxy.
The old engine was ES5-only, so MacSurf carried an in-house ES6-to-ES5 transpiler to pre-chew modern bundles before running them, but that transpiler is now retired.
- mplsllc
The single biggest change since 1.5 is under the hood: MacSurf's JavaScript engine has been replaced. Duktape (ES5) is gone; MacSurf now runs macQJS which is a QuickJS port for Classic Mac OS and executes modern ES2023 JavaScript natively on Mac OS 9.
- LetsGetTechnicl
Writing a JS engine for OS 9 in 2026 is like, genuinely impressive
- mplsllc
Having issues with MacSurf?
I have set up a web page for you to send me MacSurf logs to help with debugging issues and crashes. I also have a version that has much strong logging so we can really see what's going on.
http://macsurf.org/debugs.html - Works with IE 5 or Netscape.