OS X On the MSI Wind

Ruler of Planets writes "PlanetX64 has just published an article on loading OS X on an MSI Wind, effectively creating a machine that is smaller and lighter than a Macbook Air. The exercise was done solely for academic purposes and doing so voids all kinds of warranties, but hey, now you can slip a Mac into a lab coat pocket!"

Comments

Re:Every time I read an article like this

[MrHanky]

And how, exactly, would this change "the world"? Just because you have your head so far up Steve Jobs's arse that you can see the light doesn't mean the world in any way revolves around Apple's business plans. It's just you.

And re "the microsoft tax on new hardware": it doesn't exist. You can buy MSI Wind without Windows. You can buy whichever component you want without giving a cent to Microsoft. Perhaps you're confusing it with the Apple tax, the extra money you have to pay for an Apple approved version of graphics cards and some sound cards.

Re:Every time I read an article like this

[apodyopsis]

I thought about that a while back.

Suppose they did it this way...

1. published a list of exactly what hardware they supported, ie. a restricted driver model not the windows model of anybody can create anything they want and sell it for windows.
2. allowed OEMs to choose that supported hardware and display a "Apple Ready" sticker
3. allowed home builder to choose from that list and be "Apple Ready"
4. then anybody could buy and install Apple OS - if during boot up it detected unsupported hardare it would either refuse to install or warn the user that some hardware would not be support

I would expect them to release a free tool that would allow you to confirm if your platform was supported.

If this was done then OEMs could sell apple OS PCs, you'd see PC with "ready for windows" and "apple ready" label you'd know you could dual boot.

But let's face it, this is pure fantasy. Apple restrict the OS because they want money from the HW and they want to enforce a beautiful uniform image for their equipment. They very last thing they was is an ugly square chinese box proclaiming to be an apple.

Re:Every time I read an article like this

[aliquis]

If I had my 10 mod points I would have wanted to give you them all.

Wtf is up with the special mac graphic cards for real macs when hacks run BIOS cards? If the EFI connection in the OS is so loose can't they somehow make it possible to just use regular video cards? Or just skip EFI totally since it's not like they have released lots of EFI cards anyway and the world don't seem to move on to EFI just yet anyway.

Geforce 8800 GT 512MB Mac Pro upgrade kit: $279.00

Same card for a PC on newegg: $110.99

(Not to forget it's a shitty card anyway compared to some other options, but those aren't options even on a hack since all cards isn't supported anyway. Though I guess it can't be hard for Apple to get support for HD3000- and HD4000-series if they wanted to as well.)

Re:Every time I read an article like this

[Uberbah]

Except... hackintosh-ing invites rampant piracy.

No, because getting OS X to run on a vanilla PC has some technical hurdles, and the number of pirates goes down with each hoop that needs to be jumped through. If Apple releases a version of Leopard that installs (if not runs) on PC's without trouble, goodnight Shirley.

One thing that Apple does actually do to encourage piracy is the fact that they don't have a mid to low end tower. I'm considering doing a Hackintosh after Apple adds ZFS support, as I want a tower with four terabyte hard drives but want my total cost to be less than $1000, not start out at $2800 (base Mac Pro) before I even add the drives.

Well, they do sell it.

[Wooky_linuxer]

You can buy a boxed version of Leopard anywhere. Sure, their EULA forbids one from installing in anything that is not Apple hardware. Not sure how would that hold up in a court if, say, Apple sued someone who installed OS X in his MSI Wind. BTW, how is the Psystar lawsuit going on?