Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Can OSX run on a PC?

fstigre

fstigre

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 12, 2008
158
1
Hi,
I don’t know how I found this but last night looking for some videos about OSx I found a few web sites that show you how you can install OSX on a Dell mini 9 and they said that it runs great and of course it's cheaper.

Is this possible? Is OSX designed to run on PCs (standard hardware)?

Can someone be so kind and explain this a little bit more?

Thanks
 
Since OS X is designed to run on intel machines, you can find some PCs with hardware that matches what OS X needs.

However, your not getting the full apple experience, and it is violating the EULA.

-Omi
 
Its called a hackinstosh and there are plenty of directions and stories about this. Since it breaks the EULA and strickly forbidden, there's not much to talk about it.

My $.02 is that you lose one of the most important things with running OSX on non-apple hardware. The Mac, its a better designed much better looking machine then anything out there. You need to hack the os to run on non-apple hardware so there's always issues cropping up where as OSX on a Mac runs smooth as butter :)
 
Google "OSX86" go look there, people get a bit etchy about talking about it here, so it's prolly not wise to ask too many questions :p
 
p.g said:
yes you can. one of my classmates was running mac os 9 on a acer netbook running xp. were you wanting to run tiger or leopard or panther?
Click to expand...

Hahaha, I'm sorry, but there is not a chance in hell they got Mac OS9 natively running on a netbook, not... a... chance... Emulation would be dog slow on a netbook, defeats the point.

OP, the only versions of Mac OSX you'll get to run on a PC will be Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard. All other versions were solely written for PPC (intel and AMD are X86, so they won't even begin to work).

The best bet is running Leopard as SL is still buggy, Leopard has been refined a lot by the OSX86 crowd, making it easily accessible, there is lists of hardware available easily on insanely macs site, and they list compatible versions of software (something you can't really ask here)
 
Thank you all for your comments, in reality I'm not interested in doing something that is not 100% legal, I just thought it was something legal to do.

Thanks
 
Ironically enough, it was using a Hackintosh which allowed me to experience Tiger :D and, subsequently, convert me to a hardcore Mac user. At first I HATED the UI... but I was used to Win/Lin way of doing things, so I could be forgiven, hey!.

I do not use Hackintoshes for the simple reason that:

A) You will NEVER EVER be considered a Mac user, nor experience the whole delight of Mac, from choosing & buying, through to unpacking (and that LOVELY "new Mac" smell :D) , setup and usage

B) They suck

C) The cause negative pressure (see B)

D) They are ugly, cheap, temporamental, detract from the whole Mac experience, give people NOT in the know, a bad impression of Apple at times & are for cheapskates

E) Did I mention their tendancy to SUCK?

F) 101 random modded distros of OS X to fiddle with, tear your hair out with, and find oddball kexts for, which almost always fail

G) All of the above



Hackintosh == FAIL!

Schtumple said:
Hahaha, I'm sorry, but there is not a chance in hell they got Mac OS9 natively running on a netbook, not... a... chance... Emulation would be dog slow on a netbook, defeats the point.

OP, the only versions of Mac OSX you'll get to run on a PC will be Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard. All other versions were solely written for PPC (intel and AMD are X86, so they won't even begin to work).

The best bet is running Leopard as SL is still buggy, Leopard has been refined a lot by the OSX86 crowd, making it easily accessible, there is lists of hardware available easily on insanely macs site, and they list compatible versions of software (something you can't really ask here)
Click to expand...

There is EVERY chance, actually. Sheepshaver doesn't require massive specs.
 
glossywhite said:
Ironically enough, it was using a Hackintosh which allowed me to experience Tiger :D and, subsequently, convert me to a hardcore Mac user. At first I HATED the UI... but I was used to Win/Lin way of doing things, so I could be forgiven, hey!.

I do not use Hackintoshes for the simple reason that:

A) You will NEVER EVER be considered a Mac user, nor experience the whole delight of Mac, from choosing & buying, through to unpacking (and that LOVELY "new Mac" smell :D) , setup and usage

B) They suck

C) The cause negative pressure (see B)

D) They are ugly, cheap, temporamental, detract from the whole Mac experience, give people NOT in the know, a bad impression of Apple at times & are for cheapskates

E) Did I mention their tendancy to SUCK?

F) 101 random modded distros of OS X to fiddle with, tear your hair out with, and find oddball kexts for, which almost always fail

G) All of the above

Hackintosh == FAIL!

There is EVERY chance, actually. Sheepshaver doesn't require massive specs.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of sheepshaver, but still, I doubt the guy I quoted was telling the truth in his post tbh...

Of note, my OSX86 machine (search for "My xMac Project" on these forums) has run perfectly since stumbling across a lovely little distro. You can't speak for the entire community saying that OSX86 "sucks", in my experience OSX86 was brilliant, it was the reason I switched to Mac in fact, because I found OSX86 to run so perfectly on my ageing PC... Some of your "reasons" for not getting a OSX86 machine are seriously laughable...
 
if you don't have the dough to shell out to buy a $1500 computer, i would see a hackintosh as a viable step to transitioning to mac if you can't afford the real thing yet. it's not really illegal, it's just not recommended and you won't get any support from apple. it's like if you buy a vacuum cleaner and attach it to your fridge; it voids the warranty.
 
glossywhite said:
Ironically enough, it was using a Hackintosh which allowed me to experience Tiger :D and, subsequently, convert me to a hardcore Mac user. At first I HATED the UI... but I was used to Win/Lin way of doing things, so I could be forgiven, hey!.

I do not use Hackintoshes for the simple reason that:

A) You will NEVER EVER be considered a Mac user, nor experience the whole delight of Mac, from choosing & buying, through to unpacking (and that LOVELY "new Mac" smell :D) , setup and usage

B) They suck

C) The cause negative pressure (see B)

D) They are ugly, cheap, temporamental, detract from the whole Mac experience, give people NOT in the know, a bad impression of Apple at times & are for cheapskates

E) Did I mention their tendancy to SUCK?

F) 101 random modded distros of OS X to fiddle with, tear your hair out with, and find oddball kexts for, which almost always fail

G) All of the above



Hackintosh == FAIL!



There is EVERY chance, actually. Sheepshaver doesn't require massive specs.
Click to expand...

LOL!!!! So it was ok for YOU, but anyone else that builds a hackintosh is a loser. Very nice.

I have two netbooks running 10.5.7 just fine, these in addition to an iMac and a Macbook Pro. Apple doesn't make netbooks, it doesn't look like they're going to any time soon so screw 'em, make your own. It's simple and runs great! Oh, and if you want the oh-so-precious "Apple experience", take 15% of whatever you paid for your computer and throw it away. There ya go. FYI, there are a million sites that describe how to install OS X on a PC. Do some reading before actually trying anything and be prepared to spend a lot of time experimenting before finding a stable, useful install.
 
Glossywhite,
I would respond to your post but you look like an idiot well enough on your own and dont really need my help.

yoyo5280 said:
Since OS X is designed to run on intel machines, you can find some PCs with hardware that matches what OS X needs.

However, your not getting the full apple experience, and it is violating the EULA.

-Omi
Click to expand...

Yes. You need the apple on the case for the "full apple experience." You'll also need to lighten your wallet a little if you want to be 100% authentic.
 
i was also one running hackintosh on my dell inspiron laptop which taught me the gut work in OS X. i was dual booting xp and Tiger. i learned a lot under Tiger and how to navigate around the system. i also learned a lot of Terminal codes which i probably would never learned if i went straight to MAC.

OSX can definitely be installed into a netbook, in fact it runs quite well. its perfect for traveling.

hackintosh is what got me where i am now. i now own a 2009 unibody mbp 15".
 
Whilst running Mac on a PC is illegal. I would say that, because of the expense of Apple computers, if you definitely no way ever can afford the whole package, you should look into it, as Mac OSX is, In my own opinion, better the Windows. I doubt that it could be as stable as it would on a mac computer. And then it would look as good.
You'll be known as a cheapskate by a few Mac people.
And Apple won't support you, if they know.
And no apple logo on the back! or any of the cool stuff. (no disk tray FTW!)

so. Possible yes. Should you, up to you. But I would convince you to buy the whole Mac experience. A mac mini is £499. (I thought it used to be £300?)
My macbook was around £850 with student discount. And a free printer. (and, if your a student, you can get an iPod touch for free)

One thing everyone has forgotten, with every Apple product (at least, what I've brought) You get Apple Stickers! :apple:
 
fstigre said:
Thank you all for your comments, in reality I'm not interested in doing something that is not 100% legal, I just thought it was something legal to do.

Thanks
Click to expand...
yoyo5280 said:
Since OS X is designed to run on intel machines, you can find some PCs with hardware that matches what OS X needs.

However, your not getting the full apple experience, and it is violating the EULA.

-Omi
Click to expand...

Against the EULA != illegal. You're voiding the warranty and ineligible for support at the worst, and if you're installing OS X on a PC you probably don't need support from Apple anyway.


greatmaju said:
Whilst running Mac on a PC is illegal. I would say that, because of the expense of Apple computers, if you definitely no way ever can afford the whole package, you should look into it, as Mac OSX is, In my own opinion, better the Windows. I doubt that it could be as stable as it would on a mac computer. And then it would look as good.
You'll be known as a cheapskate by a few Mac people.
And Apple won't support you, if they know.
And no apple logo on the back! or any of the cool stuff. (no disk tray FTW!)

so. Possible yes. Should you, up to you. But I would convince you to buy the whole Mac experience. A mac mini is £499. (I thought it used to be £300?)
My macbook was around £850 with student discount. And a free printer. (and, if your a student, you can get an iPod touch for free)

One thing everyone has forgotten, with every Apple product (at least, what I've brought) You get Apple Stickers! :apple:
Click to expand...

I find it amazing how uninformed people seem. Some are saying you won't be counted as a "Mac use", still others can talk endlessly about how unstable these hackintosh setups are; how they'll never match the stability and performance of a regular Mac. How about doing even the tiniest amount of research before making such claims? I've had my "hackintosh" running Snow Leopard for almost two weeks now without a single crash. Everything works great, I even installed from a retail disc (purchased) with the help of a small boot disc. I've got all the benefits of a PC (I can upgrade the farm, so to speak) and all the benefits of a Mac (the operating system).
 
I guess hackintoshes made much more sense with Vista than they do with Windows 7.
I have tried both and W7 is as good as SL or even better in certain ways. Seriously, right now I wouldn't go for all the trouble cause I don't think there are significant differences between W7 and SL.
Also, I have both a Mac and a PC, so I don't have to be a fanboy just to justify that I spent a lot of money on my computer and I can do whatever anyone can do on their single systems.
Also, when I hear those stupid arguments about viruses, registry, fragmentation, etc., I can just laugh knowing that I know what I'm talking about because I DO use a PC, not just reproducing what I heard on Applefanboy.com
 
I ran a Hackintosh on my quad core PC for quite a while. Now I own a Macbook Pro 13" so I feel I'm pretty qualified to talk about the "full Apple experience".

In short, the Hackintosh gets 99% there, if you have the right hardware. Mine was almost the right hardware, just the crappy Abit mobo would never have working sleep and sometimes required a few boots to start, especially if I had been using my Windows 7 partition previously. Startup was also a bit slower than on a real Mac.

I installed mine using boot-132 with like 4 or 5 additional kexts. Yes, I ended up learning quite a lot about the inner workings of OSX in the process and yes there was a fair bit of troubleshooting to deal with. But when I got it all figured out the system ran faster than most quad core Mac Pros. It also updated nicely via software update and all programs ran just like they do on my Macbook Pro. There is always a possibility that some update breaks the Hackintosh temporarily so a real Mac is easier in that respect.

I wanted to stop using the clunking desktop PC at work so I got myself a Macbook Pro. I also use it at home with a FireWire audio interface for audio, 30" 2560x1600 external display, Apple wired small keyboard and a Microsoft mouse. The only real difference compared to my Hackintosh is that the MBP runs a bit slower and Snow Leopard has some problems with a few animations but I think that's just software bugs talking since most people seem to have these problems.

Since getting the MBP I haven't booted my Hackintosh, instead chose to use that machine with Windows 7 for games and movies mainly. It's nice being able to switch between the two just by picking up a different keyboard and mouse and switching the input from Displayport to DVI on my monitor.
 
Obviously you've struck a nerve on the topic.

The Dell Mini 9 has been pretty successfully hackintosh'd. There's a pretty big support community for them. If you have one, go buy a disk and follow one of the guides out there to get it running.

I have a couple of Mac's, but I have a Hackintosh as well. My Hackintosh requires a little care and feeding every once in a while, but overall it's rock solid. Despite what some may say, your not missing a whole lot there.
 
greatmaju said:
Whilst running Mac on a PC is illegal.
Click to expand...

kagaku said:
Against the EULA != illegal.
Click to expand...
This.
pilotError said:
The Dell Mini 9 has been pretty successfully hackintosh'd. There's a pretty big support community for them. If you have one, go buy a disk and follow one of the guides out there to get it running.
Click to expand...

I've noticed a few threads on Dell's own forum. It makes me wonder if Dell built the Mini9 with the intent of easy hackintoshing. I know they have sold quite a few of the mini 9's to people who just want it to run OSX.
 
maflynn said:
Its called a hackinstosh and there are plenty of directions and stories about this. Since it breaks the EULA and strickly forbidden, there's not much to talk about it.

My $.02 is that you lose one of the most important things with running OSX on non-apple hardware. The Mac, its a better designed much better looking machine then anything out there. You need to hack the os to run on non-apple hardware so there's always issues cropping up where as OSX on a Mac runs smooth as butter :)
Click to expand...

Whats non apple hardware? I'm pretty sure that in my MBP the screen is made by Samsung, processor by Intel, GPU by NVidia, HD by Hitachi...


Theres lots of stupid posts in this thread (in my opinion of course!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back