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Microsoft sells software, Apple sells hardware with matching software. But make no mistake, they are a hardware company - OSX won't even run without a chip conf

Microsoft sells software, Apple sells hardware with matching software. But make no mistake, they are a hardware company - OSX won't even run without a chip confirming its an authentic Mac. The idea that they would charge for these smaller OSX updates is bizarre, and the price point has been in the "we need this for accounting" range in the past.

foogered 13y ago
I feel the need to point out that you can run Mac OS X on pretty much any recent Intel processor and a wide range of motherboards. It is not locked to Apple hardware.
- revelation 13y ago
  Theres a reason they call them Hackintosh. It's not because that is an officially supported configuration.
  - minikites 13y ago
    There's a giant difference between "not officially supported" and "a cryptography chip locks you out".
    - revelation 13y ago
      I guess you should take a look at what installing a hackintosh system entails. It starts with flashing your BIOS and it doesn't get any better afterwards.
      - Karunamon 13y ago
        You're either running a massively unsupported configuration (even for hackintosh standards) or just plain trolling. I'm posting this from a hackintosh I triboot with Windows and Debian. The difficulty involved reading a HCL when I built the system 3 years ago. The installation involved burning a disc and booting from it.
      - kenrikm 13y ago
        Nope. You burn the disk and install OSX as normal. Depending on the hardware you might need to download a few kext (Kernal Extensions AKA "drivers") Comparable to installing Linux or Windows.
      - MarkTee 13y ago
        > It starts with flashing your BIOS and it doesn't get any better afterwards. Not true at all. Maybe if you're using old or unsupported hardware. At most you'll need to set your BIOS to Optimized Defaults.
    - xentronium 13y ago
      There is a certain working around the official seals involved. Google DSMOS.
  - mladenkovacevic 13y ago
    When I was dabbling with Hackintoshes a few years ago, updating the OS was not supported (regardless of your hardware) and there were a couple of other limitations. Have most major issues like that been sorted out?
    - mattsfrey 13y ago
      Nope, I'm burning a new usb install for Mavericks as we speak lol, have to do a whole new install for a major upgrade like this.
      - dham 13y ago
        Which I did/do for my Macbook Pro anyway. So when I got into the Hackintosh scene, it's second nature. I typically recommend formatting when upgrading anyway. Just doesn't feel right to just upgrade. Maybe it's just left over nightmares from when I was on Windows. Only way to upgrade was to format.
- josteink 13y ago
  Have you seen the docs for what it takes to get that running? Have you seen the docs for what it takes to complete a normal "update"? Trying to run OS X on non-Apple hardware makes the old days of "cumbersome" Linux-systems look like kindergarten-stuff. I'd hardly say it just runs.
  - donwil92 13y ago
    If you spend the time to research and get the parts that are supported by OS X, building a Hackintosh is breeze. I have had no problems with the one I built.
    - tricolon 13y ago
      Could you give us a couple links to kick off our own research? I've been wanting to do this for some time now but have been putting it off.
      - numo16 13y ago
        The OSx86 Wiki [0] is a good place to start. [0]: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
      - josteink 13y ago
        Maybe I was unlucky with my hardware but for me it was an uphill battle all the way and I never got anything near working. The best I had was a system which booted (incredibly slowly) and for which I could never get wifi working. YMMV, but you have been warned. Even with good documentation, there is absolutely no guarantee you'll get anywhere at all.
        mattsfrey 13y ago
        You've really got to just follow the hardware guides to the tee, and I personally recommend using their prebuilt configs. If you go on tonymac or the other hackintosh sites they will have different hardware lists that are more or less guaranteed to work, as all the components will be ones used in mac desktops and have built in support. There is definitely a huge dick around if you try and be adventurous and go off the beaten path, and you will spend hours messing with the loader configs and kexts etc.
evilduck 13y ago
> OSX won't even run without a chip confirming its an authentic Mac. You mean EFI? Because Macs don't have any special hardware inside, and especially not any "authentic Mac" chips.
- lordgilman 13y ago
  They have at least one special chip that must be emulated - the smc. If you havent read the story of the copy protection poem you should check it out.
  - wtallis 13y ago
    And it's worth pointing out that the SMC does more than copy protection. It's also responsible for some power management functions and practically all the thermal management - which is nice because it means you get sensible fan speeds even when running a different OS that doesn't have drivers for the Mac.
- Jasper_ 13y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Controller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Controller
27182818284 13y ago
>Microsoft sells software, Apple sells hardware with matching software. Something Microsoft would love, love, love to change about themselves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface
- yaeger 13y ago
  And according to companies like HP , they are officially a competitor. At least for them. On paper. They have yet to make any real world moves to proof they actually compete in the hardware sector. A 800 million dollar write off with the first device does not really count.
free652 13y ago
What chip? I have a hakintosh with 10.8.4..

foogered 13y ago

I feel the need to point out that you can run Mac OS X on pretty much any recent Intel processor and a wide range of motherboards. It is not locked to Apple hardware.

revelation 13y ago
Theres a reason they call them Hackintosh. It's not because that is an officially supported configuration.
- minikites 13y ago
  There's a giant difference between "not officially supported" and "a cryptography chip locks you out".
  - revelation 13y ago
    I guess you should take a look at what installing a hackintosh system entails. It starts with flashing your BIOS and it doesn't get any better afterwards.
    - Karunamon 13y ago
      You're either running a massively unsupported configuration (even for hackintosh standards) or just plain trolling. I'm posting this from a hackintosh I triboot with Windows and Debian. The difficulty involved reading a HCL when I built the system 3 years ago. The installation involved burning a disc and booting from it.
    - kenrikm 13y ago
      Nope. You burn the disk and install OSX as normal. Depending on the hardware you might need to download a few kext (Kernal Extensions AKA "drivers") Comparable to installing Linux or Windows.
    - MarkTee 13y ago
      > It starts with flashing your BIOS and it doesn't get any better afterwards. Not true at all. Maybe if you're using old or unsupported hardware. At most you'll need to set your BIOS to Optimized Defaults.
  - xentronium 13y ago
    There is a certain working around the official seals involved. Google DSMOS.
- mladenkovacevic 13y ago
  When I was dabbling with Hackintoshes a few years ago, updating the OS was not supported (regardless of your hardware) and there were a couple of other limitations. Have most major issues like that been sorted out?
  - mattsfrey 13y ago
    Nope, I'm burning a new usb install for Mavericks as we speak lol, have to do a whole new install for a major upgrade like this.
    - dham 13y ago
      Which I did/do for my Macbook Pro anyway. So when I got into the Hackintosh scene, it's second nature. I typically recommend formatting when upgrading anyway. Just doesn't feel right to just upgrade. Maybe it's just left over nightmares from when I was on Windows. Only way to upgrade was to format.
josteink 13y ago
Have you seen the docs for what it takes to get that running? Have you seen the docs for what it takes to complete a normal "update"? Trying to run OS X on non-Apple hardware makes the old days of "cumbersome" Linux-systems look like kindergarten-stuff. I'd hardly say it just runs.
- donwil92 13y ago
  If you spend the time to research and get the parts that are supported by OS X, building a Hackintosh is breeze. I have had no problems with the one I built.
  - tricolon 13y ago
    Could you give us a couple links to kick off our own research? I've been wanting to do this for some time now but have been putting it off.
    - numo16 13y ago
      The OSx86 Wiki [0] is a good place to start. [0]: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
    - josteink 13y ago
      Maybe I was unlucky with my hardware but for me it was an uphill battle all the way and I never got anything near working. The best I had was a system which booted (incredibly slowly) and for which I could never get wifi working. YMMV, but you have been warned. Even with good documentation, there is absolutely no guarantee you'll get anywhere at all.
      - mattsfrey 13y ago
        You've really got to just follow the hardware guides to the tee, and I personally recommend using their prebuilt configs. If you go on tonymac or the other hackintosh sites they will have different hardware lists that are more or less guaranteed to work, as all the components will be ones used in mac desktops and have built in support. There is definitely a huge dick around if you try and be adventurous and go off the beaten path, and you will spend hours messing with the loader configs and kexts etc.

evilduck 13y ago

> OSX won't even run without a chip confirming its an authentic Mac. You mean EFI? Because Macs don't have any special hardware inside, and especially not any "authentic Mac" chips.

lordgilman 13y ago
They have at least one special chip that must be emulated - the smc. If you havent read the story of the copy protection poem you should check it out.
- wtallis 13y ago
  And it's worth pointing out that the SMC does more than copy protection. It's also responsible for some power management functions and practically all the thermal management - which is nice because it means you get sensible fan speeds even when running a different OS that doesn't have drivers for the Mac.
Jasper_ 13y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Controller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Controller

27182818284 13y ago

>Microsoft sells software, Apple sells hardware with matching software. Something Microsoft would love, love, love to change about themselves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface

yaeger 13y ago
And according to companies like HP , they are officially a competitor. At least for them. On paper. They have yet to make any real world moves to proof they actually compete in the hardware sector. A 800 million dollar write off with the first device does not really count.

free652 13y ago

What chip? I have a hakintosh with 10.8.4..