Mac OS X Cheetah Successfully Ported to Nintendo Wii

[MacRumors]

Developer Bryan Keller was curious whether an old version of Apple's Mac operating system was capable of running on the Nintendo Wii after seeing Windows NT ported to the gaming device, so he decided to give it a try. He was able to get Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah to operate on the Nintendo Wii, and he shared a blog post walking through the project.

The Wii uses a PowerPC 750CL processor, which is a newer version of the PowerPC 750CXe that Apple used in the G3 iBook and iMac, which is why Keller had a hunch that the process would be successful. Keller wrote a custom bootloader and eventually managed to load OS X, with the multi-step process detailed on his website.

He had to patch the OS X kernel source code and compile a modified kernel binary, then write custom drivers so the kernel was able to read from the Wii SD card slot to boot into the file system. He also had to write a framebuffer driver for the OS X interface, bridge a color incompatibility between the Wii video hardware and OS X graphics code, and seek out decade-old OS X Cheetah USBFamily source code on IRC to get peripherals working.

Keller was able to get the Mac OS X Cheetah installer running with a functional keyboard and mouse, turning the Wii into a usable system running OS X.

Keller was invested enough in the project that he took the Wii with him on vacation to Hawaii so he could work on it. For those curious about how he solved the myriad problems required to get OS X running on a Wii, his website is worth checking out. Anyone who wants to try setting up OS X on a Wii can get the project source code on GitHub.

Article Link: Mac OS X Cheetah Successfully Ported to Nintendo Wii

 

[MacUserFella]

You’re playing it wrong!

 

[cpnotebook80]

But why😕

 

[locksmack]

I mean sure this is awesome, but some people just have too much time on theirs hands!

I do appreciate the effort however.

 

[skiguy45]

This may be the most geeky story I've read all day. And I read some pretty damn geeky stories.

 

[skiguy45]

oh and based on the view outside dude's window ... he needs prioritize going outside, not putting an out of date OS on an out of date game console.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy52]

But why😕

Why not?

I mean, why port Doom to an Anker charging station? If you can make it happen, do it. Maybe it ends up being of limited practical use, but, for all we know, this project leads to another that gives us Snow Leopard on a PlayStation 3 or something, which leads to something else.

 

[AusMness]

The two USB ports though
I/O hell

 

[CheesePuff]

oh and based on the view outside dude's window ... he needs prioritize going outside, not putting an out of date OS on an out of date game console.

some people have, you know... hobbies

 

[vvvvvv]

oh and based on the view outside dude's window ... he needs prioritize going outside, not putting an out of date OS on an out of date game console.

you’re posting on a forum called MacRumors

 

[skiguy45]

you’re posting on a forum called MacRumors

Posted from outside in nature 😛

 

[AustinIllini]

....the headline is straight out of a random word generator.

 

[ThomasJL]

Good job, Bryan Keller! And thank you for helping keep skeuomorphism alive.

It’s nice to see someone appreciating the skeuomorphism in the UI design of Scott Forstall. It’s too bad that Tim Cook is too clueless and mediocre to appreciate that.

 

[ghanwani]

I miss the good old days. In the name of innovation, everything has been made unnecessarily complicated.

 

[Naraxus]

But why😕

Why not?

 

[DHagan4755]

Some people have interesting hobbies. It's either this or build a WeatherSTAR emulator. I think this is cooler though. Many people have no idea how revolutionary that interface was back then. And, I've often wondered how snappy an old Mac OS X, like Cheetah, would run on modern hardware since the operating system was so much simpler then than it is now. But what do I know? I'm not a programmer.

 

[icerabbit]

Whenever I use one of our G4 Cubes or my older Mac mini jukebox running 10.6.8 ... it really tugs at heart strings how things were simpler, colorful, immediately identifiable and straightforward.

Years into whatever trend, we're still stuck with narrower fonts, grey on grey on grey, monochrome ... then a major shift to " Liquid Glass " ... ugh.

 

[eifelbube]

I wonder if he could port it to the iPad …

Back then, 21 system preferences nicely laid out and visible.
Today, I occasionally have to search for settings.

 

[emulator]

Why not?

Can't answer why so gives an elitist answer. Well played, cowboy!

 

[diblasio]

Hard to believe some of yall weren’t even alive when os9 turned into osx !

 

[TVreporter]

I really wish I had enough spare time to do stuff like this.

 

[Corefile]

Could you take the Wii to the Apple Genius bar and ask them for help installing 10.1?

 

[fredfnord]

Oh man when he started talking about the endian USB driver issue I started hoping he was going to do endian-mode swaps on the CPU, and we were going to hear about crashes that could only be solved by the most majestic of PPC assembly instructions, "EIEIO".

 

[boswald]

That's awesome! Congratulations, Bryan!

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Looks like Apple is no longer offering security updates for this OS. Shame on you, Tim Apple!