osx on a pc

[-Noodles]

I'm not much of a techie but I'm wondering now that there's no hardware differences between a mac and a pc what prevents someone from installing osx on a pc? I'm sure there are barriers I was just curious about how it works.

[FJ218700]

there have been numerous threads on this subject. Search the wasteland :eek:

[CortexRock]

The rules of this site don't allow discussion of processes that would violate the licensing of OSX, but if you really want to know - try Googling 'Hackintosh' or 'OSX86'

[overanalyzer]

There are technical difficulties but it's not impossible and has been done. It is, however, a blatant violation of the Apple EULA, so it's illegal and therefore also against forum rules to discuss.

[dukebound85]

it has been done. we cant provide the how to or anything like that but i would imagine fairly easy to look it up

[dpaanlka]

now that there's no hardware differences between a mac and a pc

Some debate that also. There are still differences that will cause the technical difficulties mentioned earlier.

[-Noodles]

there have been numerous threads on this subject. Search the wasteland :eek:

Search my posts about what makes this forum valuable - I'll give you a hint its not your remark.

As for my question to the rest:

i wasn't concerned with how to hack osx by any means I was just curious about what prevents someone from installing it on any other pc, in a sort of lose and general way. I'm assuming there's no differences in hardware that prevents this.

[mac-convert]

i wasn't concerned with how to hack osx by any means I was just curious about what prevents someone from installing it on any other pc, in a sort of lose and general way. I'm assuming there's no differences in hardware that prevents this.

Apple Licensing is what prevents this. Go read them.

[dpaanlka]

I'm assuming there's no differences in hardware that prevents this.

There often differences in hardware that make it difficult. Why don't you just go buy a Mac. There are plenty of values in the Leopard-compatible used Mac market.

[GSMiller]

I think one of the great things about OS X is that it's made to only run on Apple computers. That is what kills Windows, because PC makers will use tons of different components in their machines without fully testing and supporting them and you just get an endless amount of problems because of it. The same would probably happen with OS X even if it was made to run on other computers.

[D1G1T4L]

There are technical difficulties but it's not impossible and has been done. It is, however, a blatant violation of the Apple EULA, so it's illegal and therefore also against forum rules to discuss.

Breaking a EULA isn't illegal.

Hacking the iPhone and Touch are against the EULA and oddly those even have forum sections :D

[-Noodles]

There often differences in hardware that make it difficult. Why don't you just go buy a Mac. There are plenty of values in the Leopard-compatible used Mac market.

thanks for the info. i didn't mean to suggest i'm interested in acquiring a pc - I'm actually waiting for the mac pro update and currently use a g4 laptop. I was just interested in this more as an aside.

Apple Licensing is what prevents this. Go read them.

I don't think I will.

your red herring aside, i was speaking about material obstructions. Speaking as a non-techie it was more a generic inquiry into the general relation of an os to its hardware and what makes it unique to such or not as the case may be.

[dukebound85]

Breaking a EULA isn't illegal.

Hacking the iPhone and Touch are against the EULA and oddly those even have forum sections :D

interesting then can we have a forum about how to put osx on pc's with that logic which has been established? say for instance i have a additional licesnes with my family pack of leopard lol

[dpaanlka]

By the way, if you google for "osx pc" there are "about 550,000" results.

[joemama2413]

now i have about 555,000, 5,000 more in 7 minutes, nice

[-Noodles]

By the way, if you google for "osx pc" there are "about 550,000" results.

great, maybe there's a forum there too that likes to discuss these issues instead of pointing fingers in different directions - that'd be valuable ;).

[GimmeSlack12]

great, maybe there's a forum there too that likes to discuss these issues instead of pointing fingers in different directions - that'd be valuable ;).

You really should have explained yourself better from the git-go. Your thread title is terribly misleading. Not that people here want to make things difficult, but believe me, if you give them an inch they will make it pretty tough on you.

[D1G1T4L]

interesting then can we have a forum about how to put osx on pc's with that logic which has been established? say for instance i have a additional licesnes with my family pack of leopard lol

It has been talked about. There have been long threads about OSX on a PC until it crosses the line.

In this end this is a Mac forum to talk about Apple products. There are plenty of places to talk about PC's and what OS's to run on them.

Also to expand on this more.......

I'm sure 99.9% of OSX users here run it on an Apple computer. Now if someone comes asking a question for help about OSX on a PC there isn't much help that can be given here.

Iphone and Itouch are still the same hardware. They are still running the same software. People are just adding to it. Everyone is still got the same basic setup so it is a bit easier to help each other.

Just IMO the best reason why coming here for support for OSX on a PC is a bad idea.

[-Noodles]

You really should have explained yourself better from the git-go. Your thread title is terribly misleading. Not that people here want to make things difficult, but believe me, if you give them an inch they will make it pretty tough on you.

your last point is certainly apparent. as for the first, that's why I prefaced this all with "I'm not a techie." :confused:


Just IMO the best reason why coming here for support for OSX on a PC is a bad idea.

It was just a theoretical question about the workings of osx - not a practical one. You know like mr. wizard or nova. ;)

[D1G1T4L]

It was just a theoretical question about the workings of osx - not a practical one. You know like mr. wizard or nova. ;)

Ohhh I understand :cool:

Have had the discussion many times if Apple should open up OSX or not.

[dukebound85]

It has been talked about. There have been long threads about OSX on a PC until it crosses the line.

what may this be? i ask if hacking the touch violates eula then isnt that over the line? if you have spare liceses availiable, why not discuss putting it on pc's. doesnt make sense that one is ok and one isnt with that logic or is it just me. either be able to talk about both or none is how i see it. maybe someone can enlighten me.

In this end this is a Mac forum to talk about Apple products. There are plenty of places to talk about PC's and what OS's to run on them.

Also to expand on this more.......

I'm sure 99.9% of OSX users here run it on an Apple computer. Now if someone comes asking a question for help about OSX on a PC there isn't much help that can be given here.

but then why do we have a forum on windows on mac as it deals with windows. this would be the flip side of it. i would just like to see some consistency


i personally feel neither hacking iphone or this should be allowed but if one is then both should be...

[soLoredd]

I had OSX on my PC back when and it sucked. All of the steps to get it done were not worth the end result. Seemed like there was always something that didn't work and then I'd fix that and it would break something else.

So, I bought a MacBook, and that has been priceless.

[D1G1T4L]

what may this be? i ask if hacking the touch violates eula then isnt that over the line? if you have spare liceses availiable, why not discuss putting it on pc's. doesnt make sense that one is ok and one isnt with that logic or is it just me. either be able to talk about both or none is how i see it. maybe someone can enlighten me.



but then why do we have a forum on windows on mac as it deals with windows. this would be the flip side of it. i would just like to see some consistency


i personally feel neither hacking iphone or this should be allowed but if one is then both should be...

The last time I started a thread asking about it "arn" give the answer that the line that gets cross most of the time is when people start talking about running OSX on a PC the problem of piracy comes up. Now that is illegal and I 100% agree with the moderation of the thread. It's a fine line and the have a put a line down somewhere.

[dukebound85]

The last time I started a thread asking about it "arn" give the answer that the line that gets cross most of the time is when people start talking about running OSX on a PC the problem of piracy comes up. Now that is illegal and I 100% agree with the moderation of the thread. It's a fine line and the have a put a line down somewhere.

ok true piracy is bad as i have stated many times in this forum.

buuuuuut these forums allow for people asking if a single license works on multiple computers. this is indeed piracy but i have asked why this is allowed and it was because it was all theoretical.

well isnt this as well?

and what if you have spare licenses such as i do with a family pack? that wouldnt be piracy anymore either. just breaking the eula which has been deemed ok by the iphone hacks and the example i just gave about single licenses on more than one comp.

im just confused it appears

[D1G1T4L]

ok true piracy is bad as i have stated many times in this forum.

buuuuuut these forums allow for people asking if a single license works on multiple computers. this is indeed piracy but i have asked why this is allowed and it was because it was all theoretical.

well isnt this as well?

and what if you have spare licenses such as i do with a family pack? that wouldnt be piracy anymore either. just breaking the eula which has been deemed ok by the iphone hacks and the example i just gave about single licenses on more than one comp.

im just confused it appears

Don't worry it doesn't makes sense to me either sometimes. I was kinda upset how a user review of Leopard who clearly download it (pirated) was allowed to make it on the front page. Sometimes things just don't add up :(

[dukebound85]

Don't worry it doesn't makes sense to me either sometimes. I was kinda upset how a user review of Leopard who clearly download it (pirated) was allowed to make it on the front page. Sometimes things just don't add up :(

haha yea i was surprised at that as well. hopefully we will get a good answer to this question.

i dont know why i care too much as i dont even own a pc lol, but the question does intrigue me when other things similar are allowed

[dpaanlka]

maybe there's a forum there too that likes to discuss these issues

There are a whole lot of them, actually.

But here it is, in a nutshell...

Mac OS X is designed to work ONLY with the hardware found in computers built by Apple. Almost all PCs have some amount of hardware in them that is not found in any Macintosh. This can be video, sound, networking, drive controllers, basically anything you can think of. There isn't just one universal set of hardware found in all Macs and PCs, and now that Mac OS X runs on Intel processors it doesn't mean it will happily run on any PC you may have lying around.

Installing Mac OS X on a PC requires you first to spend a huge amount of time just getting the damn thing to boot and install. Afterwards, you have to spend hours and hours hunting down drivers and hacking away at different bits of the system trying to figure out why some obscure piece of hardware you have isn't working at all. In most cases, you'll never ever find a solution, and will have to settle for a PC that is only partially working. Next, every time a software update comes, you have to wait around for a hacked version that will not break everything, or hack it yourself. Any time you apply any updates or install new software, you have to pray to god that your system boots up again. And Mac OS X on a PC seems to have a markedly higher frequency of kernel panics, random freezes, and beech balls than an authentic Mac.

So in conclusion, not only is it against the EULA, against MacRumors, and morally unsavory, it is also a tremendous amount of constant effort that never results in 100% satisfactory mac-like operation. It is completely not worth it at all.

If that isn't good enough for you, then you really aught to go to Google.

[Eric Piercey]

Breaking a EULA isn't illegal.

Hacking the iPhone and Touch are against the EULA and oddly those even have forum sections :D

Excellent point. Score.

edit.. now having read the entire thread I'm sure his spirits are crushed, but he still made a good point. Holier than thou attitudes are so annoying- and people do hack their phones without a moments hesitation- heck just to do it. Making the stand that he should be brushed off based on EULA violations is weak. I'm not saying there "should be" schematics for building a hackintosh, although that would be awesome; only that unless the jailbreak type threads are all removed (which would suck) he shouldn't be getting so much flak.