OSx86

lastmod 2018-08-17created 2016-05-045 edits

OSx86 is a hacking project to install Apple's OS X operating system on non-Macintosh environments. OSx86 originated from Apple's announcement at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2005 that it would transition from the PowerPC it had been using to Intel microprocessors.

The first attempt was the leak of the DVD from the Developer Transition Kit that Apple sold for $999. The first OSx86 patches focused on bypassing the Trusted Platform Module mounted on the logic board included in the Developer Transition Kit. The TPM is based on Rosetta, which lets PowerPC programs run on Intel-based Macintoshes; once Rosetta was removed, OS X could be installed on non-Macintoshes. Rosetta requires SSE3 instructions, and this patch emulates the SSE2 state and supports installation on CPUs that do not support SSE3.

In October 2005, when Apple updated the developer kit to 10.4.3, it made a microprocessor supporting the NX bit a requirement. Patches that work around this update were released again.

A computer running OS X this way is sometimes called a Hackintosh, a term that originally also referred to a Lisa 2/10 modified to run the Mac system.

Favorite site

sitemap

OSx86

See also

Favorite site