Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

HOW TO: Convert a Mac into an x86

Posted by timothy on from the apropos dept.

inventgeek writes "With the recent announcements Apple has made regarding its operating environment, Inventgeek.com has a mod that seems rather fitting. They have converted a Mac G3 to an Intel P4 System capable of running Windows or Linux. Full how to is available on there site for those brave enough to bask in what many say could be Apples greatest folly, and a blow to Linux." Update: 06/08 17:53 GMT by T : A few further Mac-OS-X-on-Intel notes, about the new Intel development kit from Apple: Readers jimboman78 and shooflot sent in, respectively, links to (mostly positive) comments on the front page of Accelerate Your Mac and a more skeptical but equally preliminary description at Think Secret.

3 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Don't get the 'blow to linux' issue by filesiteguy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I still don't get the hooplah over this in terms of Linux usage. I see the two as being very distinct. Yes, I know OS X runs a BSD (?) variant, but it is still a vendor product. Even if I could run OSX on a whitebox system I probably wouldn't, since I know the backup and support for is going to be superior to any that Apple (single vendor) will give me.

    Given that one of the major selling points of Linux (aside from the stability and lack of virus attacks) is the ability to be choosy with vendors, I can't imagine someone trading in Vendor M for Vendor A. If I were a network admin or a CIO, I'd be looking at being vendor free as much as possible.

    Just my $.02 - whatever that's worth these days...

    --
    The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
  2. OSX/x86 on bastardized Apple hardware? by allanc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Raises an interesting question:

    1. Apple will not be allowing OSX to run on standard PC hardware. Part of this will almost certainly be because of incompatible hardware, but Apple's had language in its EULAs saying you can only run MacOS on Apple hardware ever since the end of the clone era.
    2. Given that Darwin, the underpinnings of OSX, runs quite well on stock PC hardware, it seems unlikely to me that someone won't figure out how to get OSX/x86 running on standard PCs.
    3. Therefore, would it be against the Apple EULA to run OSX/x86 on a standard PC motherboard shoehorned into an old Mac?

    Of course, this is all theoretical right now since OSX/x86 isn't really shipping yet.

  3. Did you read the article? by Critical_ · · Score: 4, Interesting
    from the article:

    The machines do not have Open Firmware. They use a Phoenix BIOS. That;s right, a Mac with a BIOS. (I asked if the Bios had any tweaks like Memory Timing which is common for many PC motherboards, although Intel OEM motherboards don't usually have any end user tweaks like that.-Mike) They won't tell us how to get in the BIOS. I'm sure we can figure it out when out dev kits arrive.

    They run Windows fine. All the chipset is standard Intel stuff, so you can download drivers and run XP on the box.

    Now this is regarding the DEV machines Apple is handing. I know everyone on slashdot has ASSUMED that Apple will control the hardware based on the CNET article that said Apple would not allow users to install OSX on non-Apple hardware. However, what if this threat is just Apple saying that they'll use the lawyers instead of a technological solution? Think about it, Apple will have limited driver choices out there since it wil be a limited Apple-controlled machine. So either someone writes the drivers or your machines is close enough to run OSX. I think those of us with Pentium M notebooks will have the easiest time with OS X. Now, what I want to know is... if these machines have EVERYTHING any other PC does, why is it not possible to run a copy of MacOSX on a normal white box PC.