digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

Building the $200 OSx86 Mac

i-hacked.com — "...In the following article I will discuss how to build a Intel based computer that comes very closely to meeting the specs of the OSx86 Development machines. We will discuss exactly WHAT hardware you want, WHERE to find the software, and HOW to install it..."

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 1, 2005

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

41 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • tryferos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2eh...got my Mac Mini refurb out the door for around double that. No instability to worry about nothing but plug it in and turn it on. Cool concept but just doesnt seem like that big of a deal.
  • JustMatt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I cares.
  • Dgen_X, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I like seeing more and more articles with links to digg in them...it makes my heart warm
  • anthony1124, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1/.grayapple- it's still fun just tinkering with. i think that's the general interest and purpose of this article, and the people who dugg it. that's why i dugg it, i own an iBook.
  • veritech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1OSX86 never gets boring :)
  • J5o1h8n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1 about 3 months ago BestBuy had a one day sale on Wd 120Gb drives not for $20.00 but for $40.00. All 5 are running very well as usb/firewire backups. Do not have to check basement or E-Bay
  • JzLosman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1nice tut, i think i might have to try that, but I know I'd end up spending much more than $200.
  • utch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0nice writeup I-hacked
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Will a Micro ATX motherboard really fit properly into an ATX tower case?
  • burnt1ce85, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Awesome. Great Digg.
  • foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0one error i found to be quite annoying was the benchmarking. the two links take you to the same results (for the $200 intel system). i'd like to see how much of a hurting the intel box put on the mac mini.

    all in all. very nice tutorial. very, very simple instructions on how to get the non-vm (non-vm--thank god) hack working. thanks for the md5 checksums! nice pics, too.
  • williamp0044, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Is there an updated version tut guide?
    -one that doesn't require VM
  • foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0aaalbert...are you "hevnsnt?" :P
  • thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0baaad aasssss
  • bluehouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I love the line: "20 GB 7200RPM Hard Drive (Check Ebay, or your basement)". I bet we could all check our collective basements for old hard drives and have enough space to last us the rest of our lives
  • anthony1124, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0really good write up.
  • EnzanBlues, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is awesome. This is by far the easiest tutorial I have read for getting OSX86 to work. Especially without using blasted VMware. That just seemed like too much work.
  • BlueStarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Enjoy it while it last. I wonder if these knuckle heads will be able to hack the countdown to destruction mechanism that Apple uses with all Dev kits.
  • foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"this was posted before months ago wasnt it...."

    no, it wasn't. just look at the publisher date. there were plenty of other tutorials (most of which required vm) out there hosted on many, many sites before this one. however, this is, by far, the simplest tut out there right now. it even gives you a search query to find the 10.4.1 to 10.4.3 update (i think--see my previous post).
  • foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0as long as we're on the subject:

    http://torrents.to/search/225/OSx86+Update+-+10.4.1+to+10.4.3.html

    who thinks this is real? it IS a tar file, but who knows if it's specifically for osx86. maybe it's just all the updates that came out for 10.4.2 macs.

    (if the search isn't available, just hit the refresh button)
  • defylogik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0anyone know a mobo that will work with this mod that has dvi. i refuse to use standard vga on my flat panel.
  • smedrick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I used that image to install OSX on my external hard drive. Got it running and the damn thing didn't recognize my usb keyboard. It was cool...but I couldn't do a damn thing. I think at the time they said it didn't work with network cards, too...so all I could do was play with Dashboard.
  • foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0'"who thinks this is real?"'

    "I installed it, 2 gig install, works great. I'm on my X86 box right now"

    jesus. when you quote somebody, at least know what they're talking about! i'm talking about the 10.4.1 to 10.4.3 update for osx86.
  • cshepherd76, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0thats awesome
    digg+
  • manfesto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think you could use DVI if you use the generic VESA driver and a generic video card (basically, anything not the GMA900) - but resolutions are capped at 10 by 7 and no video acceleration, making it a bit pointless. Using VGA on a flat-panel isn't that bad, really, after using SuperCal to Calibrate it and adjusting font smoothing.

    Anyhoo, this is a very concise tutorial chocked full of goodness - but I do remember an old website that did the $200 OSx86 Mac before the Generic Install DVD came out (a shame I can't remember where). I myself will never enjoy the joys of hacked OSx86, thanks to my damn SiS chipset.
  • defylogik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0and to that comment, i own two macs. two very expensive macs with fully licensed software. who doesnt want to tinker though, its just fun!
  • anagami, on 07/02/2008, -0/+0"I love the line: "20 GB 7200RPM Hard Drive (Check Ebay, or your basement)". I bet we could all check our collective basements for old hard drives and have enough space to last us the rest of our lives"

    Not if we start archiving HD videos ;)
  • foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Enjoy it while it last. I wonder if these knuckle heads will be able to hack the countdown to destruction mechanism that Apple uses with all Dev kits."

    lol. yeah, don't open that program called "nitro!"
  • ignorantcow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"who thinks this is real?"

    it is, just installed it yesterday, xbench score went up to 70 from 60+.

    don't install it if your proc is SSE2 though. makes textedit, mail etc, break.
  • grayapple, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Or put that $200 in a bank, put another few sets of $200 in the bank...
    THEN BUY A ***** MAC YOU CHEAP BASTARDS.
    uhh, that feels better.
  • sufferingant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"'"who thinks this is real?"'

    "I installed it, 2 gig install, works great. I'm on my X86 box right now"

    jesus. when you quote somebody, at least know what they're talking about! i'm talking about the 10.4.1 to 10.4.3 update for osx86."

    so am i...
  • Rice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm the OSx86 digger around here. Meh to you.
  • saggygrandma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you havent done this already, get onto it! see why people say osx is so much better
  • sufferingant, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0"who thinks this is real?"

    I installed it, 2 gig install, works great. I'm on my X86 box right now
  • nacs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Just buy a Mac losers.
  • anjinash, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@grayapple: Well then give me the obscene amount of money to buy one, you Steve Jobs' Kool-Aid drinking mofo.
  • ProAm500, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0this was posted before months ago wasnt it....
  • zakharm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Linux, yawn.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0WinAMD > MacTel
  • mooninite, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Who cares? Run Linux.

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...

© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.