Doom on an Apple Network Server – Image credit: Old VCR/Cameron Kaiser
The classic first-person-shooter game “Doom” has been ported to an unexpected Apple product, with the three decade old Apple Network Server the latest hardware to be added to the compatibility list.
The Apple Network Server is a piece of hardware that, until May 2025, was not able to run ID Software’s Doom. Thanks to an enterprising blogger, the game can be played on it.
Sold from 1996 until 1997, Apple Network Server was separate from the Macintosh lineup, as machines designed instead to run IBM’s AIX operating system, not Apple’s operating systems. Sold for over $10,000 at the time, they were the last non-Macintosh desktop computers that Apple made.
In a blog post from May 2025, Cameron Kaiser writes about the work needed to get the game running on the old hardware. The effort was also to get the game running as natively as possible, which meant that there wasn’t any “cheating” by using Linux, NetBSD, or NCommander AIX Doom.
Indeed, NCommander AIX Doom could not be used, as that uses AIX 4.3. Apple Network Server supports only AIX 4.1.5, an older version that makes the game uncompatible.
Mammoth effort, ancient hardware
To get the game running on the Apple Network Server, a 500/132 model with a 200MHz PowerPC 604e, 512MB of parity RAM, and 1MB of DRAM for video, Kaiser started off with Doom Generic.
After installing AIXPDSLIB as the compiler, he formed a version of Doom Generic with a Makefile to run over remote X. After much work, the game could be played using Apple Remote Desktop.
Eventually, a working version of Doom was running on the Apple Network Server’s CRT, though that was later changed for an LCD panel.
Kaiser has released the source code and precompiled builds for 24-bit and 8-bit color on GitHub, if you happen to have access to an Apple Network Server and wish to try it out.
Doom all the things
Getting Doom to run on an Apple Network Server is part of a well known trend of running the game on hardware that doesn’t traditionally support such endeavors.
This has included getting it to run on everything from a Kindle Touch to a Husqvarna Automower, from Google Sheets to an airfryer. Many of these exploits are detailed on the website Can It Run Doom.
On Apple’s hardware, the porting efforts have included a MacBook Pro Touch Bar, a port of Quake to the Apple Watch, and in February, the Apple Lightning to HDMI Adapter.
