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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,287
30,349



surface_pro_stylus.jpg
Pureinfotech links (via Neowin) to a YouTube video claiming to show a 'Hackintosh' Surface Pro running OS X Mountain Lion. The new Surface Pro tablet, which runs full Windows 8, launched earlier this month starting at $899.

Comments on the YouTube video are largely skeptical, suggesting that it's simply a remote desktop connection to a Mac. However, there's no technical reason why a Surface Pro shouldn't be able to run a hacked version of OS X, and Neowin notes that Wi-Fi reportedly is not working on the machine. One of the main challenges with Hackintosh installations tends to be with drivers for functions like Wi-Fi, so its absence may lend some support to the legitimacy of the claim.

Article Link: Microsoft Surface Pro Hacked to Run OS X...Maybe
 

milo

macrumors 604
Sep 23, 2003
6,891
522
Cool that someone pulled it off but I don't really see the practical appeal when you compare it with say a Macbook Air, in terms of price, battery life, etc.
 

gumblecosby

macrumors 6502
Jun 22, 2010
298
6
If a computer is x86 and fairly modern it has a good chance of running OS X. This shouldn't be a surprise. Methods for running OS X have become simpler as time goes on. EFI emulation , DSDT's and decrypters such as fakesmc.kext make it less painful now compared to the Tiger days.
 

Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,393
30
I hope this is real, i can have the Hardware i want with the OS i want.

Apple, take a note, THIS is what the iPad Air could have been.

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Cool that someone pulled it off but I don't really see the practical appeal when you compare it with say a Macbook Air, in terms of price, battery life, etc.

If a macbook air had a touchscreen, and detachable keyboard/cover you'd be right.
 

Tankmaze

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2012
1,707
351
it does run a bit lag imo. could be using remote connection, but really whats the point in using this as OS X machine if it doesn't run smooth. and no wifi driver.
 

Nunyabinez

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2010
1,758
2,230
Provo, UT
No real advantage here because OSX is not a touch aware OS. I have a Hackintosh that I use at home and it works great, but I have had to do some kludgy things to make it work. Like a Creative USB external sound card, and I just finally found a good wi-fi card for it.

If and when Apple moves to touch as part of OSX, the surface might be interesting, but as it is now, who would want a Surface with OSX? A MBA would be a much better choice.
 

spyguy10709

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,005
644
One Infinite Loop, Cupertino CA
There is, however a technical reason why it can't be done at the moment.

It has a secured bootloader that hasn't been cracked. ONLY Windows 8 is permitted to boot. There hasn't been a crack yet to the bootloader, so this is physically impossible!

Faker than fake.
(MAYBE it's OS X server running in a VM? totally possible. VMWare allows OSX server [not regular OS X] to be installed in a VM.)
 

Nunyabinez

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2010
1,758
2,230
Provo, UT
I posted before watching the video and I call complete BS. Since he is touching the screen there has to be some intermediary software turning the touch into something that OSX understands. You could not just install OSX on a device with touch and have anything happen unless you had drivers (Kext files) for that device to turn it into the equivalent of mouse events. This is almost certainly a remote desktop pretending to be a hackintosh.
 

Rampage Dev

macrumors member
Dec 23, 2012
62
0
There is, however a technical reason why it can't be done at the moment.

It has a secured bootloader that hasn't been cracked. ONLY Windows 8 is permitted to boot. There hasn't been a crack yet to the bootloader, so this is physically impossible!

Faker than fake.
(MAYBE it's OS X server running in a VM? totally possible. VMWare allows OSX server [not regular OS X] to be installed in a VM.)

Its called Clover... know what you are talking about before posting. Thank you.
 

Rampage Dev

macrumors member
Dec 23, 2012
62
0
I posted before watching the video and I call complete BS. Since he is touching the screen there has to be some intermediary software turning the touch into something that OSX understands. You could not just install OSX on a device with touch and have anything happen unless you had drivers (Kext files) for that device to turn it into the equivalent of mouse events. This is almost certainly a remote desktop pretending to be a hackintosh.

Apple does have a generic touch driver in Mac OS X. If this is legit then I would assume that that would be the driver in use.
 

aristotle

macrumors 68000
Mar 13, 2007
1,768
5
Canada
I hope this is real, i can have the Hardware i want with the OS i want.

Apple, take a note, THIS is what the iPad Air could have been.

----------



If a macbook air had a touchscreen, and detachable keyboard/cover you'd be right.
Are you out of your ever loving mind? That hardware has abysmal battery life and you cannot even use it with the keyboards in your "lap". It is a portable desktop as it requires a desktop in order to operate with a keyboard.
:rolleyes:
 

reden

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2006
715
821
I hope this is real, i can have the Hardware i want with the OS i want.

Apple, take a note, THIS is what the iPad Air could have been.

----------



If a macbook air had a touchscreen, and detachable keyboard/cover you'd be right.

I'm sure Apple is taking notes right now thanks to your comment, lol.
 

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
OS X is not a touch aware OS, no, but it is gesture aware, and if you look at features like Mission Control and Launchpad, you can't help but wonder if the next step will be to integrate touch.

I was really impressed with Surface when I had a look at it a while back. But, I think there are still issues. It is clearly not meant to be a touch-screen only interface; if you were to buy a Surface tablet without either the Touch Cover or the Type Cover, you're going to have a very hard time. To me, for regular apps, touching the screen can be a great, tactile, natural input method, but it must augment the keyboard/mouse/trackpad, not replace it. You're not going to get far using Photoshop or Excel using only the touch screen.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
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