Installing Leopard on a PC
OS X and Macs are like chocolate and peanut butter, two great tastes that taste great together. However, nowadays OS X is designed to run on Intel processors, which power most of the world's non-Apple make hardware, so it isn't odd that some folks might want to get Leopard running on a PC that Apple didn't make. If you are one of those people this link is for you.The guys at Dailyapps have figured out how to install Leopard on a PC, and it only takes three steps. They also list all the things you'll need to get this going. This isn't a supported configuration, obviously, so some things might not work. You're on your own if you want to run Leopard on a PC, but Apple is more than willing to sell you a Mac with Leopard pre-installed.
[via Laughing Squid]
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
krye said 11:49AM on 10-28-2007
Why would anyone want to ruin Leopard by putting it on a PC? It will run like total crap. You have Windows for that.
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Raul said 1:46PM on 10-28-2007
I don't mean to be disrespectful or offensive to anyone but I'm surprised to see how uptight and strait jacketed some of the posters appear to be.
This is not a crack, its a hack; a curiosity. Some people are very curious to check things out and if they can install Leopard on a PC they will, not because they want to pirate Leopard or not buy a mac but just see if the can make it work. For them the achievement will be booting this on their pc, thats it. There is no way this can be used on a day to day basis or an alternative to a proper OS on their systems.
What it does do sometimes though is give people a taste of the apple experience and if they like it enough often give them the push to go get a mac. Believe me for day to day usage nobody likes to have to fiddle around and waste time to get things done, if they want to use it seriously they will go get a mac.
So for Apple rather than a loss the whole hackintosh thing is actually a bit like surrogate advertising not unlike Microsoft and Adobe overlooking piracy cause it will benefit them in the end.
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Big John said 3:01PM on 10-28-2007
Remember: the internets are serious business.
Thanks for posting this. I was going to check out OSX86 later on in the week to get Leopard running on the Dell laptop I have right now. I really want a MacBook (or MacBook Pro) but I 1) can't afford it and 2) wouldn't be able to get used to the single mouse button. I switched from my Dell desktop to an iMac in February. Command-click doesn't make sense to me.
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JD said 3:51PM on 10-28-2007
What is it with you fanboy sycophants? Are you really worried about Apple losing $115 in royalties in relation to the handful of PC's that Leopard might be installed on? Have you seen AAPL's latest financials?
I have 4 different Macs and yet I would love to be able to run Leopard on a Vaio TZ. Why? Because, after years of waiting, I have given up on Apple making a portable laptop. Instead I lug around of my 6lb, lap roasting brick of an MBP. Oh yeah, they were going to release an ultraportable with Leopard - I must have missed that down at the Apple Store...
I will happily pay for another copy of Leopard in order to do this. I have spent enough money with Apple (countless iPods, iPhones as well) that I don't have the slightest qualm about trying this.
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David Chartier said 4:07PM on 10-28-2007
Doesn't this stuff violate Apple's TOS?
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Steve Butler said 5:23PM on 10-28-2007
Hold ya fire.
You are all so desperately against people trying to bring the happiness of Apple to the PC illegally but you were all completely cool when TUAW openly exploited the iPod touch...
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Rob said 5:29PM on 10-28-2007
#15 -- Yes, it is very likely that you will be violating Apple's EULA or License Agreement for Leopard if you placed a purchased copy of Leopard on a non Apple labelled PC.
But breaching a license agreement is NOT illegal. It is simply a breach of contract.
(In the eyes of the law, it is NOT even immoral to breach a contract in most cases. In fact, a properly drafted contract or license agreement often foresees certain breaches and sets out the amout of damages to be paid in case of a breach).
In this case, Apple might be able to sue you for damages it has suffered for this breach -- typically for loss of profits it would have made on the sale of the Apple hardware. Again, I do not know whether Apple would go after individuals. It is probably not worth it. (The legal costs would likely be higher than the damages collected). But if you had a business selling PC's with leopard on them (even if you bought copies of Leopard from Apple), I would think Apple would likely go after you for breach of contract (ie breach of the license agreement) and shut you down. I don't think Apple wants others selling non-Apple hardware with Apple OS's on them.
In any event, I do not recommend you put Leopard on a PC. Software Updates etc likely do not work. Running an unpatched OS is not a good idea from a Security Point of View. Go buy an Mac.
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C said 6:01PM on 10-28-2007
RE: #23 [Big John]
"I really want a MacBook (or MacBook Pro) but I 1) can't afford it and 2) wouldn't be able to get used to the single mouse button."
You can enable Macbook track-pad "right-clicking" via the System Preferences. Then all you have to do is put 2 fingers down on the trackpad and click the button like you normally would. No sweat.
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Miguel Dovale said 6:25PM on 10-28-2007
SACRILEGE
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jonathan ober said 8:58PM on 10-28-2007
I think the word you want #29 is sacreligeous
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Russ said 11:06PM on 10-28-2007
"20. > this is Apple related news
This is in so far Apple related, that there is _no_ Apple Computer. I think this should be a no-go-area, a taboo, a holy cow, a red zone. Imagine a Windows newssite posting the instructions for cracking Vista or a linux board encouraging the breaking of the GPL."
I hope this is sarcasm because I'm already ROFL'd out for the day.
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heikkipekka said 3:59AM on 10-29-2007
no matter if it's criminal law or license agreement you're dealing with.
it's the problems you encounter when you ask support for any problem you might have. don't expect customer care if you're not following license agreement about running Mac OS X on apple labeled computer only.
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Liquidmark said 1:58PM on 10-29-2007
#24
After Looking at the specs of a Vaio TZ, I see that Apple already makes a laptop like that. Remember the Regular Macbook?
Plus, the Macbook is cheaper.
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Scott said 9:59PM on 10-30-2007
I understand the Mac purist point of view and actually agree, but... My problem is that I have only recently gotten so absolutely fed up with Windows that I am seriously looking for a viable alternative and Linux just isn't quite there for me.
The issue for me is that I have not one but two perfectly good PCs at home already. I have absolutely NO need to purchase yet another computer at home and the wife would kill me for even bringing it up. However, assuming I pursue this grey area and get this installed and running on one of my home systems, I would then be more than willing to pay the premium to purchase a Mac as my next computer in say 18 to 24 months.
I would go on to suggest that being able to try out a Mac (let's face it, the OS is the computer to a large degree) for a few weeks or months is pretty much a requirement for me before I plunk down $2k+ on a shiny new system. My guess is that I'm not the only person who would have this view. Doesn't it also stand to reason that Apple selling a legal version of OS X for PC users to install would have the potential to dramatically increase the Mac market share. This increase in Mac market share would have the obvious result of bringing even more applications to the Mac platform.
Maybe I'm missing something here, but this is just my 2 cents.
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basscadet said 3:57AM on 10-31-2007
If this hack came out in an easier installation package (and it most possibly will) it will take too many people installing it and asking for Mac drivers for the hardware companies to actually provide them along the win/linux ones. Unless the same hackers start rolling out mac drivers for some popular brands and work it up from there.
Back then I remember my PowerPC was full SCSI compared to the clunky windoze boxes and the price premium was totally justified. Nowadays (hardware wise) it seems all goes to design and nothing much. Port Leopard to a custom made PC along w some basic drivers and I'm there.
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JClarke72 said 11:48AM on 10-31-2007
Well I have a ligit copy of Leopard on the way and my Hackintosh has a nice Apple on it I got with my iPhone so it is "apple-branded" so I'm in the clear right!
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bimmer said 4:50AM on 11-02-2007
Ok cry babies. This might be the stimulus that Apple needs to make a working copy of Leopard for PC users. I think Microsoft is shivering in their boots. Imagine, the fastest beast PC running Leopard. What a dream come true that would be. Hack on my friends. Lets get the big heads thinking of the posibilities.
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arthur kendrick said 1:43PM on 11-02-2007
So I'm a video editor and I hate having to use a mac to use final Cut. They're overpriced, and not as good as everyone makes them out to be. I would just rather build a kick arse PC myself for like 1300 and put OS-X leopard on it and dual boot it with windows on a different partition. You can already load windows on a mac, so why is it such taboo to load leopard on a pc? It's just the next step.
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Jamar said 12:37AM on 11-04-2007
I do this because Macs are way too fragile. I managed to do $1000 of damage to a Powerbook in a single sitting (tripped on the charger, brought it down from a table). The same thing happens to my Panasonic? Everything's fine. (Yes, the Macbooks now have MagSafe- doesn't protect from the laptop itself falling over for other reasons, whereas the Panasonics have tougher cases) So I installed Tiger 10.4.10 (live in China- the EULA doesn't mention anything about Apple-labeled, and even if it did, no one here enforces any of that as people plainly know) and now use it full-time. So what if wireless doesn't work- Everywhere I go that I need internet there's Ethernet and everywhere else my cellphone works just fine as a modem. Everything I need works, and everything else isn't something I really care about. Really, the difference between XP and Tiger is like night and day-Tiger practically flies on my 1.2GHz Core Solo and 512MB RAM. XP? Oh heck no.
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Andrmgic said 2:31AM on 11-04-2007
I don't see this as a detriment to Apple at all. Hell, I ran a hackintosh myself for 3 months or so using OS X as my primary OS.
I learned a lot about OS X and the terminal.. I had to to get the thing working properly. I had a X1900XT 512mb and I remember the sheer Joy I felt when I had QE , CI and rotation working and I was playing WoW at 1680x1050 on my hackintosh at a decent framerate.
Over those few months I learned more about kexts and hardware IDs than most mac users will know in a lifetime. It was a great learning experience, and I started to love OS X.
Fast forward 6 months later and I now own my very first real mac, a 1.83ghz core2duo mac mini.
Using OS X, even on a pc that happens to have compatible hardware is a positive experience and will likely encourage more people to purchase a real mac.
I was fortunate especially because my Netgear 802.11N (WN311B model, if you're curious) was detected as an airport card by OS X.. no driver or kext hacking required.
my PC is an Amd rig, which of course made things even more complicated hehe.
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