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Build a Mac?

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It is possible to hack the Mac OS software to install onto a PC, but it's not for the average joe so the short answer is NO.
 
You could well build a generic copy but not having access to the Mac's firmware you will have big problems running the OS. Anyway, by the time you built your 'mac' to the same quality as Apple build them it would cost more than the real thing. Quality ain't cheap.

waveney
 
The biggest issue is you can only buy a "Mac" spec mother board from Apple. Everything else in the computer is pretty much standard issue stuff. However, how it all is stuffed into the cabinet is genius.
--
Only my opinion. It's worth what you paid for it. Your mileage may vary! ;-}
http://www.dougwigton.com/
 
We took the panel off an associates Quad Xeon when it arrived. I think we sat drooling is awe for about 20-minutes before we actually started touching things... like taking out the removable "motherboards" the RAM is nested on!

Mike
 
The answer is no, you can't. You could theoretically buy parts of an older model and cobble together a Mac, but it would cost you much more than just buying an old Mac on eBay.

Macs aren't like PCs--there aren't a hundred companies making Mac motherboards and BIOS's. Only Apple does that, and because of that you're locked into buying an Apple Mac.
William Stewart said:
With complete ignorance, I ask this forum is it possible to build a
mac pro desktop computer? I only ask since it is possible to build
a homemade pc...

thx
--
http://www.wstewartphotography.com
Click to expand...
--
It's not about the gear. It's about what you do with it.
 
Possible? How so? A friend of mine who is a PC fanatic told me he saw an Acer running a earlier version of OS X 10.4. Problem is even if someone hacked a PC to run just that one version it would be quite limited in actual usage and never upgradeable. PC users are now faced with Vista and wondering if it will really be worth all the hastle and having to upgrade their existing PC or buying a new one that will better run Vista. Soon, Apple will be releasing MAC OS X 10.5 Leopard which will take the Mac to the next stage. INstaed of buying another PC why not consider a new Intel based Mac which will also run Windows? Here is an article you might want to read. This article appears on DIGIT (a non Mac oriented site):

Windows Vista: why Mac OS X will win

http://www.digitmag.co.uk/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=225&blogid=2&#commentsform

Ken
pprior said:
It is possible to hack the Mac OS software to install onto a PC,
but it's not for the average joe so the short answer is NO.
Click to expand...
 
Well let's just say it involves hacked OS software but it clearly has been done - just google and you'll find results. Bittorrent has the files available.

Having said that I see no purpose - a large appeal of the Mac is the integrated hardware/software and by the time you factor in all the time it would take to make it work I think it's more of just a project for those who enjoy doing that kinda thing rather than actually making a computer that you're going to use.

I love my (new) Macs and despite the higher costs, they are worth every extra dollar.
 
William Stewart said:
With complete ignorance, I ask this forum is it possible to build a
mac pro desktop computer? I only ask since it is possible to build
a homemade pc...

thx
--
http://www.wstewartphotography.com
Click to expand...
No, definitely not possible. We thought about the same thing before.

Mac OS is unix based, however, Apple have their own firmware, their own GUI, their own hardware, sometime, you cannot even put your own hard drive in and expect you can install Mac OS to your own drive, again, Apple has their own firmware on seagate drive or WD's. (sometime you can do that, but sometime you cannot)

If you really want to build your own Mac equalivent machine, the easier way is to find a motherboard company that is compatible with Unix, get better RAM, better graphic card, better monitor, load unix to it and use X-windows. But you do not have any multimedia application like iphoto, final cut pro, imove...etc. so again, building your own mac machine is impossible. apple will go after you if you do so... because somebody might relase firmware info to u...
 
Doug Frost said:
Macs aren't like PCs--there aren't a hundred companies making Mac
motherboards and BIOS's. Only Apple does that, and because of that
you're locked into buying an Apple Mac.
Click to expand...
In Mac, we do not call it as BIOS, but Open Firmware.

Similar to a PC's BIOS, Open Firmware is stored in ROM and is the first stored program to be executed upon power-up, people like Firmtek's SATA card or Apple's firewire is using open firmware to make external drive bootable.

And open firmware is totally gone when Apple migrated to Intel which uses
EFI. :(
 
.Sam. said:
It is possible, and many people are doing it.

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Click to expand...
Yes its possible, but illegal under Apples software EULA. The site you linked to has a nice disclaimer:
.Sam. said:
"The OSx86 Project and its subsidiaries (referred to as "OSx86") provides an unmediated medium for the > communication of information related to Mac OS X for Intel based machines. OSx86 does not in anyway > condone the piracy of copyrighted material that may or may not be related to the information found on this > website and/or related services"
Click to expand...
In other words it's not illegal to discuss or even demonstrate to someone the feasibility of installing OS X on a plain vanilla PC but it is illegal to actually obtain OS X and do it.

Many people knowledgeably breaking the law and pointing out to others how to do so doesn't seem right (to me)
Mark
--
http://www.photo-utopia.blogspot.com/
 
Legal or not, for 99.99% of everyone it's simply not practical. Unless you have way too much time on your hands, it isn't worth the effort. And in the end you'll have a system that's too buggy to be of much use. Recommended only for masochists.
Mark Smith said:
.Sam. said:
It is possible, and many people are doing it.

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Click to expand...
Yes its possible, but illegal under Apples software EULA. The site
you linked to has a nice disclaimer:
Mark Smith145430 said:
"The OSx86 Project and its subsidiaries (referred to as "OSx86") provides an unmediated medium for the > communication of information related to Mac OS X for Intel based machines. OSx86 does not in anyway > condone the piracy of copyrighted material that may or may not be related to the information found on this > website and/or related services"
Click to expand...
In other words it's not illegal to discuss or even demonstrate to
someone the feasibility of installing OS X on a plain vanilla PC
but it is illegal to actually obtain OS X and do it.
Many people knowledgeably breaking the law and pointing out to
others how to do so doesn't seem right (to me)
Mark
--
http://www.photo-utopia.blogspot.com/
Click to expand...
--
It's not about the gear. It's about what you do with it.
 
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