MAC O/S in an ASUS???

This may be a ridiculous question...but I was curious If It would be possible to install and run Mac's latest Operating System (10.3 "Panther" I guess) or any version for that matter on any of ASUS's barebone systems, particularily the M5n or sonoma based M5a?

Are operating systems simply complex software programs, or are there specific compatibility "tie-ins" to a systems hardware and individual components/Bios that allow them to function properly with a specific OS only?

Basically If I bought an ASUS M5N barebone system and installed MACs latest OS software instead of Windows XP PRO, would it be compatible? Would it boot up as If I'd just bought an iBook and run smoothly without any problems? Or will it fail to boot at all and damage internal components? What about vice versa, XP Pro running flawlessly in an iBook?

Again, sorry if this is a really stupid question to some of you, but I'm curious and everyone's gotta learn somehow.

Anyone who can shed some light on if this is possible or not and WHY, would be of great help.

Thanks for your time and responses in advance [8D]

(Justin, If you can wait a while on your Audi purchase, the RS4 is super sweet and coming to US shores!)

 

I'm pretty sure that the Mac OS X binaries are exclusively compiled for PowerPC processors - and since the ASUS notebooks are based on Intel's x86 architecture, you can't use it. Thats also the reason for GNU/Linux developers to distribute different versions for Sparc, IA64, x86, etc.

By the way: There are no such thing as a ridiculous question - only ridiculous answers [ ]

 

take a look at http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/

 

try cherryOS too

 

Can't run Mac O/S for sure - but there are some emulators out there.

haha----- oh how I drool at the new RS4... I've been waiting for our proportable s4 as it will be since November and I get it in about a month. The RS4 would have been worth the wait if it was going to show up here in August like it was supposed to........ but now it's not going to be here till June of 2006..... I'll think about it then.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

I am not 100% sure about running MAC OS X on Asus or any of the PC platform, to my knowledge the only way of doing so is through an emulator. A few years ago there is an application called MAC2PC. Not sure if there are more now.

Also, for those who actually saw MAC OS X on a PC or Asus, there is a large chance it is a skin from WIndows Blind. I have it on mine for awhile.



Laptop: TBD
My Website: http://www.smilepak.com

 

It actually would not be possible to do what you suggest. The Mac OS (latest is the BSD Unix based Mac OSX), would not install on a WinTel machine at all. You wouldn't even get the OSX install CD to boot the WinTel box. Not only is OSX written to run on a different CPU architecture, Motorola/IBM's PowerPC, but the BIOS are incompatible between platforms.

Now you could boot the underlying Unix OS on a i386 architecture, BSD, but you wouldn't get a Panther, OSX 10.3, installation. None of the Apple software would install and run on such a beast..

Now having said that, there are Mac OS emulators available for a WinTel box, such as the open source PearPC project http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/ which can give you a WinTel box that will run through emulation the Mac OSX environment and software. You should try it out to get a sense of speed, most reports are that it is very slow.

BTW, the Cherry OS commercial project has been investigated by various people who have posted their results online. What appears to have happened is that the Cherry OS development people seem to have used parts of the PearPC project code to build their product, without revealing this. There are various discussions threads available to read on this controversy, most notably on http://apple.slashdot.org.

Bottom line is that the simplest and most effective way to run the Apple OS, like OSX, is to do so on Apple compliant architectures, like Apple's computers (and possibly some of the older Mac clones).

 

Ok,
but how about now that we're in 2006 and Apple has released their Macbook computers. If I buy a Asus W3J for example, can I run a new Macintosh Operating System on it? Or are there any other Asus branded notebooks that will run a newer Macintosh Operating System?

 

I thought some ppl already managed to install OSX on Intel based machines? Am I missing something here?

If you do Google on Intel OSX, there tons of results, 3 of them:

http://www.osx86.theplaceforitall.com/howto/
http://www.uneasysilence.com/os-x-proven-hacked-and-running-on-an-ordinary-pc/
http://www.tech-recipes.com/apple_mac_tips964.html

 

yeah I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, its be done with version Tiger i think...

My friend had it on his ASUS A6U Turion Mt30 (SSE3) last year. You just need a processor with SSE3 (SSE2 can work with a mod) and you're sort of away. There is a special way to do it but he had it going no problems except for wireless drivers.

Insane

 

OSX 10.4 can be installed on most machines with newer intel cpu's. I have it installed on my W3J but unfortunately, driver support is severly lacking and thus, my internal lan and wireless are not working. There are also problems enabling x1600 support as it will not use the notebook lcd as the primary display.

 

osx86project.org

I was thinking of installing it but too many bugs and issues such as not getting the wireless working and such.... I decided it's not worth my time.

 

And also its illegal running MacOS on any other Device than a Mac

 

hmm, did i say i installed it on my machine? actually, it was my friend. yeah, that's it.

but seriously though, i own the new mactel iMac and have fallen in love with the osx interface. once you go mac you don't go back!

 

Unless you're an Apple Developor, like freejak13's friend.

 

Hey, if anyone has found video or sound drivers for tiger x86 (or any kind) for the asus w3j - then i'd love to hear about them.

 

Which part of the word illegal don't you understand?

No-one here is going to help you locate drivers suitable for your machine, presuming they even exist... which isn't likely.

 

What makes it illegal?

~ Brett

 

I'm actually curious about this-has anyone tried it and had it work? Specifically with the new X86 versions of OSX.

 

It has been done on a wide range of PCs. Because of the EULA behind OSX, and the relative infrequency of Asus W3J being in the posession of those who fit the criteria for running OSX on a PC, i highly doubt anyone has legally tried it.

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Installation_Guides

The instructions can be found there, but legitimate use is clearly outlined. Use this link at your own disgression.

 

its a shame that most wireless cards wont work on x86 machines

 

2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.
A. This License allows you to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer
at a time. You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable
others to do so.

Straight from the license. Also, in order to get it to work you have to reverse-engineer OS X and it's copyright protection that ties it to Apple computers. That violates the DMCA. You can throw in the fact that since most people cannot reverse-engineer OS X themselves, they would have to download a copy that was ready to install, which is illegal too. So three illegalities right off the bat.

The point is #1 it is illegal. #2, it will not run well on a PC. Since it is not optimized for the hardware you have it will likely run very slowly with lots of crashes. If you want OS X, buy a Mac. If you think it is too expensive or you don't like their hardware then sorry, but OS X is not in the cards for you.

 

Well, I think that makes things pretty clear. Then again there's the whole argument over the legality of EULAs... but that's a debate for another time and another place.

~ Brett

 

I will grant you, Brett, that the legality of EULA's is unclear at best. Courts have ruled both ways on it. However, the DMCA is law. It may not be a good law, but it is still there. With the DMCA in place, even someone who purchases a Universal Binary of OS X at a computer store would be breaking the law because of reverse-engineering. This would not be possible anyway because the only version of OS X for sale is the PPC version, not Intel. So, even with the state of EULA's possibly in question, I don't think there is much argument about the legality of this.

 

It's probably best we close this discussion now. At the end of the day Apple considers it illegal and what needs to be said has been said. If you really, really want to run Mac OS X get a Mac and do it the legal way.