"Run Mac OS X on an Eee PC"... ok, but why?

[macrem]

Excuse me if I have already missed the bandwagon on a similar discussion: I was checking out Delicious links where today there is a popular link to a Wired article describing how to install OS X on a Eee PC...

Oh, BUT:
. its in violation of Apple's EULA
. sound does not work
. Flash does not work
. Ethernet does not work
. Software Updates would likely break the hacked installation
. need to modify BIOS and install third party wifi support, etc.
. it appears the author describes on Wired.com how to steal an illegal copy of OS X

What is the point of it all? All the effort & the best possible end result is a horribly crippled OS X experience. With less effort and for the same or maybe even lower price as the Eee, why not simply find a used Mac, or shell out a few extra hundred and get a real, brand new Macbook? The h/w is a fairly major part of the overall Mac experience. Am I missing the point?

 

[kalex]

Yep you are. Its mostly for fun and guess what that's how the whole x86 scene started out in the beginning. barely anything worked and it wasn't fun. Look where it is now, you have fully supported systems being built and used with great success. I for one would be happily using eeepc if people can get everything working on it. would be great little gadget

 

[spaceballl]

some people enjoy tinkering w/ computers for fun - Apple designed their OS to not be run non-Apple machines - making it work on the hardware it's designed to not work on is a geek-feat.

Plus, Apple doesn't exist in the netbook form factor. What if you want a netbook and Apple as well?

Personally, I think netbooks are dumb, so this hack's not for me - but i do think it's a great idea!

 

[Cadium]

I'm not going to lie... I tried Mac OS X on an HP Pavilion notebook for two days (out of boredom, really) and Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and the built-in card reader was completely useless, not to mention it didn't recognize that it was a notebook and would just shut off when the battery died.

It introduces people to Mac OS X in a way that makes them want more; for everything to "just work". For most people, the visual effects and the interface itself will win them over.

Needless to say, two weeks later I purchased my MacBook Pro and haven't looked back once. A lot of people do the same after tinkering around with OSX86. Each to their own, really.

 

[r0k]

I've looked at EEE pc several times in MicroCenter. It feels cheap in every way. I do like the netbook form factor. I don't mind carrying my Macbook but I'm sure I'd carry a smaller OS X device if I had one, though the EEE wouldn't be my first choice. Sony, Toshiba and HP all make small notebooks. I might consider one of those with OS X if it "just worked". But I wouldn't waste a second dealing with x86. I popped an Ubuntu Live CD into my old Dell notebook. It booted up just fine. Sound worked. Wireless worked. I even got connected to one of my printers and sent a test page. All of this without installing a thing. I could live with Linux on an EEE rather than try to shoehorn OS X on the thing.

There's a company out selling a usb device that allows you to install OS X on certain rather limited x86 hardware. I don't think I'd want a solution where I had to keep up with a usb "key" for my machine to work. Now if it was tiny, like one of those nano wireless mice, I'd think about it. But that huge thing they show on their web site is begging to get broken or lost.

Having followed Linux since the bad old days where an install meant a trip to text mode disk druid, I understand the allure of getting an OS working on hardware it isn't designed for. But in the end, I want a trouble-free experience and Ubuntu is much better suited to putting an old windows box to good use.

 

[PowerFullMac]

Actually, the author of the article said it offered performance very close to his MacBook, which is very impressive!

Also, as the author also said, this is like a demo of what Apple could do if they wanted to go for that market, which I hope they do coz that would be cool!

(Although I doubt they will )

 

[dukebound85]

Excuse me if I have already missed the bandwagon on a similar discussion: I was checking out Delicious links where today there is a popular link to a Wired article describing how to install OS X on a Eee PC...

Oh, BUT:
. its in violation of Apple's EULA
. sound does not work
. Flash does not work
. Ethernet does not work
. Software Updates would likely break the hacked installation
. need to modify BIOS and install third party wifi support, etc.
. it appears the author describes on Wired.com how to steal an illegal copy of OS X

What is the point of it all? All the effort & the best possible end result is a horribly crippled OS X experience. With less effort and for the same or maybe even lower price as the Eee, why not simply find a used Mac, or shell out a few extra hundred and get a real, brand new Macbook? The h/w is a fairly major part of the overall Mac experience. Am I missing the point?

Well I have a hackintosh and everything works perfect. Only thing that didn't was sound but that was fixed easily.flash, network, everything works perfect.

I also installed it from a retail leopard DVD, not by using a downloaded hacked copy. Look up boot-132 as that is how you use a leopard retail DVD

 

[macrem]

I see the point better now, nonetheless:
- for demo, it's not really proving much as Apple already did it years ago long before Apple x86 hardware existed. Its not rocket science esp. when you have the source code like Apple
- I doubt you would get similar performance with lower end h/w, such as a Celeron-M chip compared to a dual-core chip with higher clock speeds

I'm an occasional tinkerer myself but would rather try, for instance, getting compiz effects to run smoothly in Linux on a PPC Mac. In fact I tried that with no luck, still it was interesting to try so I get that part. But in this article it is just a matter of following a simple set of instructions, then no sound, no flash, etc... and no source code to tinker with.

 

[tfox2k8]

Hackintosh

I'm one of those people. I am running OSX 10.5.4 on both a desktop and likely soon on my Dell Mini. All this hype surrounding a Mac and the challenge are what got me interested in a Hackintosh project.

I went to an Apple store and realized I would be paying $2100, for about $1200 in PC parts. So on my second box I decided to turn it into a Hackintosh. I did it by installing OSX on an external USB drive.

Really nice set up, because if I turn the external off it boots into Vista, without having to change the bios or any other settings.

My impressions of OSX. First it really is a beautiful OS. The layout and user interface are both far superior to Vista. OSX is far more efficient with system resources. I run on 3 gigs, in Vista that 3gigs (6 gigs on my main PC) is used up with just a few programs open. 3 GIGs of RAM is plenty in OSX.

Everything worked, with minimal changes. Had to add a USB sound card, otherwise got everything functioning perfectly. So basically I have a high end Mac Pro for $1200.00. I updated all programs except the OS via the update tool. Everything worked fine.

Now the negatives. I was looking for useful software for the Mac. I got Office, definitely not as nice as running on a PC. I checked Amazon for the top software. Seems everything is either video, photo, or music editing software, or five year old games. Yes I know there is more, but definitely not the extent of the PC.

There are minor issues, but they add up. Like shutting down, you can't disable the count down timer (well hold down command) but I don't want a timer. Lots of other little things, basically I don't have much flexibility with OSX to do things how I want, only how Steve says I should.

Expensive, everything costs money. I paid $50 for a Mac keyboard looks really nice, but would have cost $25 if built for a PC. Software, all very expensive and very little freeware. Every program seems to cost $20 or more as Shareware.


I do enjoy using OSX far more than Vista, but once I get into the program I actually intend to be using, I prefer to run it under Vista.

The MAC tax on hardware, is way out of line.

If I want to run in an Unix environment for speed and better use of system resources, I prefer Ubuntu over OSX. Far more flexibility in Ubuntu Linux and even more efficient of an OS than OSX.

If I want something to put on a glass table in a high tech office and take beautiful photos of I would definitely pick the MAC. Just looking at the keyboard or the desktop I realize they are works of modern art. Unfortunately IMO to get any real computing work done, I'm staying with a PC in either Windows or Linux.

I can see the draw to a Mac, but I think Mac users tend to want a fashion accessory more than they want a computer.

 

[costabunny]

I went to an Apple store and realized I would be paying $2100, for about $1200 in PC parts. So on my second box I decided to turn it into a Hackintosh.

The MAC tax on hardware, is way out of line.

I can see the draw to a Mac, but I think Mac users tend to want a fashion accessory more than they want a computer.

Ok That maybe true for the iMacs but not on the higher end (You just try and build a hardware like Mac Pro 8core for less than the actual Mac Pro (and Ill bet it wont look as nice or be as easy to work on).

The MAC TAX: well I agree that some of Apples line up seem a little high compared with say Dell or HP; But who else gives you an experience out-of-the-box like Apple? no one. The OS, The Hardware and the package is just awesome. Having all from the one suupplier can seem restrictive, but its what we Mac users like. We feel comfortable knowing the hardware will work 100% with the OS. (trust me I have 16years experience building PCs professionally and often there are problems marrying some components with the OS and driver combinations).

I disagree that Mac users want a fashon accessory. I dont - I chose to drop PC's for the Mac as I was fed up with the constant maintainence and driver issues. I love my Macs and yes I will say they do look so much better than any of the PC's Ive owned. But so what? I pay money for a product - If I care about its asthetics I buy a nice looking Mac, sleek and simple for the most part.

I dont disagree entirely with hackintosh, but I really do feel the users are missing a big part of the Apple experience. Whether Apple should ever licence Mac OS for standard hardware is a tricky question, but if they did I still think most OSX users would buy Apple hardware.

(Oh and I will be trying out OSX on my flatmates eePC 901 soon but just to prove I can and cos he hates Mac OS! lol )

 

[funkyc]

ok i have an eeepc and if i could, i would have OSX on it in an instant!
if ppl found out how to put it on with all the features working then it would be my favourite little laptop!
don't get me wrong, i'm all for supporting apple, i already own TWO apple laptops but sometimes the macbook is just too heavy and big to take around (i carry the eeepc around with me in the car or wherever just coz i can).
if apple were to release a smaller lighter laptop than the air, i'd be all over it in a heartbeat!
but i guess until that day comes, ppl will still make their own ultra-portable macs....and good on them for giving it a go!

 

[iMacmatician]

Actually, the author of the article said it offered performance very close to his MacBook, which is very impressive!

Close performance when word processing or when using iLife?

 

[thechidz]

there is now a device called EfIX which allows you to dual boot you PC to osx and windows, like bootcamp. no need to hack and you can use full retail version. updates work too.

 

[The Awesome]

I guess it's just fun doing geeky stuff like hacking one's eee for OS X.

The eee doesn't look cheap if you buy the black variant (looks a bit like a ThinkPad).

The laptop I'm using now is a dual-boot Compaq running Vista and Tiger. I haven't the time to make some of the things work like Core Image and AirPort, and yes, I do think MS Word is much better under Windows.

All I can say is that even Tiger beats the crap out of Vista and that OS X is so much more intuitive... even in my handicapped hackintosh.

I did the whole hackintosh thing so I don't have to borrow my friends' Macs to familiarize myself before being bought my 1st Mac; because relatively speaking, I'm one of my year's (senior high) PC geeks so I don't want to look like a total fool when I abruptly switch to Macs.

 

[tfox2k8]

Get the Dell Mini. Extremely high quality build, easily comparable to any Mac notebook. Under $500. Hackintosh will run on it with minimal changes.

 

[nadyne]

What is the point of it all? All the effort & the best possible end result is a horribly crippled OS X experience. With less effort and for the same or maybe even lower price as the Eee, why not simply find a used Mac, or shell out a few extra hundred and get a real, brand new Macbook? The h/w is a fairly major part of the overall Mac experience. Am I missing the point?

I haven't done this, but I've been sorely tempted to. I've got a MBP at work, and a MB at home. I travel all the time, so I'd love an ultra-lightweight laptop. I've considered the MBA, but it's not lightweight enough. Compare the weight of an MBA with an eeePC, and you'll see what I mean.

I'd absolutely love for Apple to come out with a teensy laptop like the eeePC. The MBA isn't that laptop. It's a good machine, but it's not the machine that I want for the kind of travelling that I do. I'm hoping that the next rev brings in a smaller form factor (yes, I'd really love a 10-inch or less screen on it) and a much lighter weight (1.5 pounds max!).

Until Apple does that, I read articles like that one and try to restrain myself ...

 

[macrem]

tfox2k8: OS X sounds cool on your system.

I bought a new HP PC which came with Vista to use as a Linux box. After about a week, completely unimpressed by Vista I removed the entire NTFS partition. It is an average Vista machine, meanwhile Linux screams on it & I'm sure OS X would too.

Regarding Office, I would suggest trying OpenOffice. The 3.0 RC-1 Aqua build is available.

 

[PowerFullMac]

Close performance when word processing or when using iLife?

Word processing on OpenOffice aint that but on most netbooks so it should be fine on OS X but will most likely lag a bit on iLife... However the guy did use Photoshop on it so it cant be that bad!

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

Now the negatives. I was looking for useful software for the Mac. I got Office, definitely not as nice as running on a PC. I checked Amazon for the top software. Seems everything is either video, photo, or music editing software, or five year old games. Yes I know there is more, but definitely not the extent of the PC.

<snip>

When I first started out with the Mac I had the same impression. However, mostly it is due to the fact that there are other tools and programs available for OSX that have no direct counterpart on Windows and Linux.

You should visit www.macupdate.com and http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/ to find freeware apps for OSX.
www.mupromo.com often run discounted versions for many useful tools. Every so often they bundle a dozen apps and sell them off for 50$. That can be quite a good deal.

Fink http://www.finkproject.org/ and MacPorts http://www.macports.org/ bring you most of the open source tools from the FOSS world to your Mac.

So give yourself some time to get acquainted and search these forums.

 

[gixxerfool]

I'm gonna throw in my two cents here. Being a mechanic by trade and hardcore in to hot rods and motorcycles, I can say that making something work where it's not supposed to is just plain cool. Like a Viper motor in a '73 Challenger (seen it) or a twin turboed big block Chevy motor in a Mustang (seen that too). If nothing else you can say that you did. Maybe even start something new and open up possibilities for yourself or maybe even inspire someone to do something new they normally wouldn't have. There may be reasons as others have stated to suit there needs better than what the market has offered thus far. For me, it's always about doing it cause you can, if I can justify it for an actual application...all the better.

 

[KurtangleTN]

I think violating a EULA is the least of people's concern. If Apple offered more choice you wouldn't see people violating it to put it on classes of computers they just simply do not offer.

Sure some have there fair share of problems but I think if people work together on a couple of computers of classes or hardware they can get it done really well. I remember the MSI Wind going along very well, another popular Netbook.

If Apple offered a laptop for under a $1000 or maybe one under $1,300 that had a DVD Burner (lol), or a notebook that had a video card that didn't cost $2,000+. Maybe a mid range tower with some good video card options. I think I could go on but there wouldn't be such a demand if there was a good supply.

 

[tfox2k8]

I suspect there are people who never bought Windows, but run it on their Mac. Just as there are people who never bought OSX, but run it on their PC.

Running OSX on anything but a Mac is a violation of the EULA, actually encourages piracy because if you purchase a legitimate copy it could get disabled for running on unauthorized hardware.

 

[PowerFullMac]

I think violating a EULA is the least of people's concern. If Apple offered more choice you wouldn't see people violating it to put it on classes of computers they just simply do not offer.

Sure some have there fair share of problems but I think if people work together on a couple of computers of classes or hardware they can get it done really well. I remember the MSI Wind going along very well, another popular Netbook.

If Apple offered a laptop for under a $1000 or maybe one under $1,300 that had a DVD Burner (lol), or a notebook that had a video card that didn't cost $2,000+. Maybe a mid range tower with some good video card options. I think I could go on but there wouldn't be such a demand if there was a good supply.

Very good points. I spent £700 on a computer with no DVD burner... A few days later I saw one for £300 with about the same specs... With, guess what... A DVD burner, too!

No one really cares about EULAs... According to the EULA on Vista, you need Premium to install it on visualization software... Guess what, I installed Basic on Parallels and apart from a few standard Vista BSODs (man this thing sucks) it runs fine.

If Apple dosent lower the price of MacBooks and give them better specs as the rumours suggest I will go ahead and build a Hacktosh next time 'round.

Running OSX on anything but a Mac is a violation of the EULA, actually encourages piracy because if you purchase a legitimate copy it could get disabled for running on unauthorized hardware.

Thats not true, there is a new BIOS/kernal solution for OSx86 which makes installing from a retail DVD easy.

 

[ajthomason]

Excuse me if I have already missed the bandwagon on a similar discussion: I was checking out Delicious links where today there is a popular link to a Wired article describing how to install OS X on a Eee PC...

I've actually done it, I run OS X on an Eee 1000H and use it every day for note taking - my MacBook Pro is too big and the MacBook Air is too expensive. For £350 I bought a 10" laptop that runs the best OS in the world.

. its in violation of Apple's EULA

So was installing the windows version of Safari on a windows computer until recently.

. sound does not work

Built-in, no and that is a problem, but I can live with it - I use a USB sound card that I've had for years at home.

. Flash does not work

erm... yes it does. Flash works fine, I can watch full shows on BBC iPlayer without any problems at all.

. Ethernet does not work

Again, true, but with 802.11n, I can cope.

. Software Updates would likely break the hacked installation

It's possible, yes, but updating the iPhone that I've jailbroken would likely break it, and yet it hasn't stopped me from doing it.

. need to modify BIOS and install third party wifi support, etc.

Hacking the 1000H's BIOS only makes it boot a bit faster, you can easily get away without doing it. Most hardware requires drivers, have you ever used a windows computer? Either way, I switched it out with a Broadcom card I got on ebay for £16 and have genuine AirPort Extreme support.

. it appears the author describes on Wired.com how to steal an illegal copy of OS X

It's the only way to install it - I have a genuine OS X licence for it, but I still had to use a hacked installer.

What is the point of it all? All the effort & the best possible end result is a horribly crippled OS X experience. With less effort and for the same or maybe even lower price as the Eee, why not simply find a used Mac, or shell out a few extra hundred and get a real, brand new Macbook? The h/w is a fairly major part of the overall Mac experience. Am I missing the point?

You really have never used one; the experience is far from 'horribly crippled', the only noticeable problem with it is that you can't play sound through the on-board speakers. Everything else works fine, I even run Windows XP using VMWare on it and can't notice the difference between running it there or running it natively, it's powerful and reliable. If you'd prefer to spend over double on a MacBook that is bigger and heavier, be my guest - but I would much rather have my 10" Eee.