In case you forgot... The "Hackintosh" lives. When Apple first announced their move to the intel platform, voices were loud that this would mean hacked versions of OS X running on anyone's PC. And while this actually _happened_ (the developer transition kit machine's version of 10.4.1 was the first version hacked to run on plain vanilla PCs), the whole movement became stealth - in that it's too complicated for most users, too insecure for the average Joe etc., a little how most Windows users feel about linux: Interesting, but too much hassle to move away from Windows.
For me as an avid Mac user who has done his share of installing operating systems since 1987 and doesn't shy away from a couple of problems, it was an interesting proposition. I wanted a backup machine to fall onto, should my MacBook ever go on strike.
This is, of course, exactly what happened last week, so I was forced to give it a shot while my MacBook was being repaired. I bought a 300 dollar PC with stuff in it I knew should work rather well (i.e. hardware similar to, say, a Mac mini or iMac), installed the only OS I had lying around, downloaded Kalyways "version" of 10.4.10, burned it to a DVD and gave it a shot.

Well: Here I am, running Mac OS X 10.4.10 on a plain vanilla PC (actually it's alu/black with a corny white Apple-sticker on its front). It's got a Core2Duo processor running at 2.4 GHz (a 2.0 GHz E2180 overclocked), 2 GB of RAM, a 160 GB harddrive and onboard-graphics, GMA 950, just like a MacBook or Mac mini. It took some patches to get everything running (one for the on-board sound was the only one not included in the basic installation DVD!), but right now it's simply a Mac that starts from an ugly BIOS. All the software I need to run while the MacBook's being repaired runs on it. Maybe the time for an open Mac OS X (open as in: buy it and run it on any PC) will come one day. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 16:59 [article link]