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OS X on a PC - it has been done

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dlisle20

Guest
i have a freind who managed to install os x on his pc. He wiped the whole pc, did some wierd programing stuff and put in the cd and he could use os x on his pc. This is good cause pc hardware is cheaper - so you can get a powerful pc with os x cheaper than a mac mini! any comments?
 
OP
M

meltbanana314

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Err... no. He did not offically put OS X on his PC. That would require getting to the source code to change just about EVERYTHING about OS X - and only Apple has the source code to everything above Mach/XNU.

What he probably did was use a program called PearPC (http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/) which emulates the PowerPC architecture that OS X runs on. It's *very* slow and not worth using except for the "because I can!" factor.
 
schweb

schweb


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hmmm....

I don't really know if this stands up....
 
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M

meltbanana314

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dlisle20 said:
are you sure cause it only had os x and not windows
Click to expand...

It's not possible. It would require rewriting hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lines of source code by hand, illegally! Aside from the Mach/FreeBSD core OS X is probably *very* dependent on the PowerPC architecture for its operations, and even if it was possible to rewrite everything for PC, Apple is the only place you could get the source code.

Either your friend is playing some slight of hand with PearPC or he's a programming god with good connections to Apple.
 
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mynameis


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Either it is emulation, which is going to be ridiculously slow even if you have a really fast PC, or he has a OS X theme for Windows, I have seen some that look really convincing.
 
MacAddikt

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dlisle20 said:
He wiped the whole pc, did some wierd programing stuff and put in the cd and he could use os x on his pc.
Click to expand...

this is true, but only if you replace:

the whole pc = his brain
programming stuff = drugs
put in the cd and = while tripping thought
 
OP
D

dlisle20

Guest
MacAddikt said:
this is true, but only if you replace:

the whole pc = his brain
programming stuff = drugs
put in the cd and = while tripping thought
Click to expand...

i promise you he did it
 
schweb

schweb


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Well why don't you ask this friend to come here and explain the magic he used to do it?
 
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X

xthisisRomancex

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hey man... .there is not one resonable way to get OSX to run on a X86 chip.... unless u have an emmutor
 
OP
K

Kokopelli

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dlisle20 said:
i promise you he did it
Click to expand...

I can say with some certainty that you are mistaken or have been hoodwinked.

Even if the epic feat of porting OS X from PPC to X86 could be done by a single user without the source code, he would not be able to install it from an original OS X install disk. This is absolutely not possible, without any argument or possibility for error. It can be done through emulation on top of the underlying hardware, perhaps with a shallow emulator that does nothing but bootstrap OS X. Nothing like that exists that I am aware of though, all emulators out today require a full X86 OS. Unless your friend is one of the top 10 programmers in the world he sure as heck did not write such an emulator alone in his spare time.

Performance on all known PPC emulators for X86 capable of running OS X is awful, this not a cheap and economic solution that would give you a good user experience. I have never tried it so this is just a guess but i would not expect anything resembling reasonable experience on under a 2.8 GHz PIV. Probably not even then.
 
Benjamindaines

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Here's what i think he did, bought a mini and put it in his pc box hooked everything up turned on the mini then the pc so you think its the pc running it and is lauging his *** of right now at how gullible u are.
 
MacAddikt

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dlisle20 said:
i promise you he did it
Click to expand...

and i promise you that you have no proof, except your word. which as of now has no validity.
 
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J

Jefe3223

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I feel for dlisle20 (dang my compassion). There are desktop things (like shapshifter) for pc that can make your desktop look like mac dasktop. I'd say: HOODWINKED!
 
D3v1L80Y

D3v1L80Y


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Whatever he used to make it look like OS X,..WindowBlinds, PearPC, etc. the simple fact is that it looks like OS X. It is on a PC, it is not OS X.

Now the suggestion that benjamindaines had, that it may be a Mac inside a PC case is likely. I have seen numerous links and sites that explain how to do this using a PC case and the guts of a G3 iMac. I was actually thinking of doing it myself, as one of my iMac's CRT is looking fuzzier and grainier every day.

But even if this was what the OP's buddy did, he only made the proverbial "wolf in sheep's clothing".....and even though it may be in some ugly PC case, it is still a Mac.
 
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Graphite


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well actually, I just found out this great site which shows you how to do it. This kid is not the first nor will he be the last to do this.

I read over the page very carefully and scarped together the most important components:
"...find the r3 r5 and r6 prongs on the main CPU, weld them to the opposite sides. r3 becomes r4 r5 becomes r7 and r6 becomes r8..."
"...load osx on your mac, and rip open the source with a program called 'source ripper'..."
"...find lines 3563 and 3567, those are the most important involving keeping the pentium chip from reading the OS properly. Change all the numbers to "01" example "laksdjf1 = laksdijf01"..."
order a macmini
"... buy a case large enough to fit a large external harddrive..."
"... slip a macmini inside, and connect the monitor into the computer, and connect your USB keyboard and mouse to the mini..."
"...boot up mini, and turn the LED on the case on..."
"...invite a friend over who has complete faith in you..."
from there im guessing you can go what ever way you want, they leave the rest open ended.
 
OP
X

xthisisRomancex

Guest
Graphite said:
well actually, I just found out this great site which shows you how to do it. This kid is not the first nor will he be the last to do this.

I read over the page very carefully and scarped together the most important components:
"...find the r3 r5 and r6 prongs on the main CPU, weld them to the opposite sides. r3 becomes r4 r5 becomes r7 and r6 becomes r8..."
"...load osx on your mac, and rip open the source with a program called 'source ripper'..."
"...find lines 3563 and 3567, those are the most important involving keeping the pentium chip from reading the OS properly. Change all the numbers to "01" example "laksdjf1 = laksdijf01"..."
order a macmini
"... buy a case large enough to fit a large external harddrive..."
"... slip a macmini inside, and connect the monitor into the computer, and connect your USB keyboard and mouse to the mini..."
"...boot up mini, and turn the LED on the case on..."
"...invite a friend over who has complete faith in you..."
from there im guessing you can go what ever way you want, they leave the rest open ended.
Click to expand...
lol that was awesome.
 

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