Hackers boot a Dell with Mac OS X (Intel)

Macwindows.com ^ | 3/24/06 | Unknown

[Vermonter]

Hackers boot a Dell with Mac OS X (Intel). March 24, 2006 -- Unidentified programmers have hacked the Intel version of Mac OS X to enable it to boot a Dell PC. A file called the "JaS4.2b patch" can be used to create a customized installer DVD for installing on a Dell PC.

A website called MacaDell describes the patch. The MacDell site has also has a page that describes how to use the JaS4.2b patch to create a customized installer disc for Mac OS X.

Using the hack is illegal because it breaks Apple’s Mac OS X license agreement, which specifies that the operating system be run on an “Apple-labeled computer.”

According to MacaDell, work on the hack began when a Russian hacker known as Maxxuss cracked the encrypted security layer in Mac OS X that usually requires the software to be installed on a certain Mac model. Other hackers added to the work, and a programmer known as JaS put the work together in the JaS4.2b patch.

The hack emulates the EFI boot firmware found in Intel-based Macs. It also emulates an instruction set called SSE3 in order to support processors older than the Dual Core used in the Intel Macs. MacaDell reports that the hack doesn’t work on every computer, and doesn’t support some functions, such as wireless networking and certain audio and video cards.

At this point, the Intel version of Mac OS X is only available with the purchase of an Intel-based Mac.

[HAL9000]

MicroSoft Word and Excel already run inside IE6.

Is that the preferred mode of operation now? Everyone I know uses them as standalone applications.

Caring about the OS is old school. It's the browser that matters now and in the future...because people spend most of their time on-line rather than in stand-alone programs.

I can't endorse that philosophy for most users. If a person want to do things like digital photography, digital music, digital video editing, video conferencing, game playing or word processing, I recommend using the right tool for the job. Compared to a well-integrated suite of standalone applications, a web browser is an inferior tool for those tasks.

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "Tell Jobs he lost a sale. LOL"

Oh my, Steve lost the sale he kept telling you he never wanted. It sure makes one wonder how you ever get through those several hundred page manuals.

I guess that means you're not moving to Cupertino, after all.

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "Now why in the heck would anyone want to run Mac software on a PC?"

Well, Steve Jobs keeps telling everyone that he sure doesn't want to run the OS X on any junk PC boxes, that's for sure. I'm glad you finally got the message. Pass it on...

But, as far as all those Windows users running iTunes on Windows, I'm sure that sounds like blasphemy to you. So, my suggestion ix to tell all those errant "PC" users to dump their junk boxes and get with the program and play their music on the "real thing".

You wouldn't want any of those "turncoats" anyway -- would you? They've already polluted their minds.

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "I can't endorse that philosophy for most users. If a person want to do things like digital photography, digital music, digital video editing, video conferencing, game playing or word processing, I recommend using the right tool for the job. Compared to a well-integrated suite of standalone applications, a web browser is an inferior tool for those tasks."

And I know exactly who makes some of those excellent tools, too. Apple Macintosh. Of course, you knew that, didn't you?

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "Have ever heard of the enthusiast market?"

Yes, I've heard of peanuts. Elephants eat them.

But, Steve Jobs is not buying a circus, today. Sorry....

Regards,
Star Traveler

[antiRepublicrat]

Please don't think Apple has ever made CPUs. First it was Motorola, then IBM, now Intel. This is not a change on the level you imply.

Unlike Dell, Apple was actually part of the creation of its microprocessor. The PowerPC line of chips was designed by the AIM alliance, which stood for Apple-IBM-Motorola. As far as who actually fabbed it, that's meaningless. A lot of companies don't fab their own chips, only design them and send them out to fabs. With logic like that, nVidia doesn't make a thing. IIRC, IBM does some fab for nVidia.

[Petronski]

As far as who actually fabbed it, that's meaningless.

That's precisely the point I was trying to make.

[FreePaul]

Both Dell and Apple recently suffered the same fate... bad capacitors..

So did a lot (maybe all) manufacturers. I've seen a lot of computers which were built a few years ago with bulging or burst capacitors. This includes mother boards sold separately as well as those used by computer manufacturers.

[dennisw]

bttt

[BJungNan]

Well, Steve Jobs keeps telling everyone that he sure doesn't want to run the OS X on any junk PC boxes, that's for sure. I'm glad you finally got the message. Pass it on...

But, as far as all those Windows users running iTunes on Windows, I'm sure that sounds like blasphemy to you. So, my suggestion ix to tell all those errant "PC" users to dump their junk boxes and get with the program and play their music on the "real thing".

Five days a week, 8 or 9 hours a day, I work on a Mac. If I had my way, I drop the thing off a second story balcony and replace it with a PC.

First, there is no justification for two operating systems in the same building. With most the company operating on PC and only a small percentage usin Macs, it only makes good economic sense to do away with the Macs.

Even if the Mac was better (which it is not), it would not be better-enough to justify the added expense and aggrevation caused daily by its presence in an otherwise PC environment.

And, if anyone tells me again that the Mac is a more stable environment, I will surely puke. There is nothing stable about a Mac when it can not handle a font delievered from the outside world without crashing one of more open programs (and worse).

Mac is a fetish. Support of a Mac over a PC is no more justified than is someone's preference of a Ford over a Chevy. Both the Mac and PC will take the user where they need to go. With a PC, however, you no longer need two sets of mechanics around to fix the things when they break down.

Rah Rah, Go Mac? Yuk!

Oh, and the Itunes thing. Do I really need a desk top computer to play music? Seriously.

[BJungNan]

One man's trash is another man's treasure --Folk saying

Ah, the round mouse that was introduced with the original iMac, and was subsequently hated by millions.

Only two people willingly still use the hockey-puck-shaped mouse.

"Do you sell any replacements for this?" "No, sir."

"I love it," he said. "I want to get another one. It is so anti-establishment."

The second person is a lady whose sone bought her an original iMac. She concedes that the mouse isn't the most ergonomic one on the market, but she continues to use it, because "we humans can get used to anything. I'm sure I'll get used to this. Besides, I don't want to hurt my son's feelings."

Everyone other Mac user replaced the Hockey Puck mouse immediately with a better mouse or trackball... (and sometimes, they also replaced the keyboard with equal swiftness).

Eventually, most came to their senses and replaced the whole thing...

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "Mac is a fetish. Support of a Mac over a PC is no more justified than is someone's preference of a Ford over a Chevy."

Ahhh..., I see -- it's no more than a Ford over a Chevy. Okay...

Now, if you want a Chevy, does that mean that Chevy is better for the "rest of us" -- since you say so?

Or perhaps, what you're saying -- instead -- is that we should simply shut down the Ford plant -- so we all have to drive Chevys -- like is "your fetish". Is that it?

Makes sense to me. Your fetish is the best... yeah....

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "One man's trash is another man's treasure --Folk saying"

Then why do you keep wanting me to use your trash PC? That's my question....

Regards,
Star Traveler

[BJungNan]

I did not say that, I quoted it. And you are avoiding the question posed.

Perhaps my message contained an imbeded Arial font and it caused part of the text to drop out. Perhaps you did not see it.

[BJungNan]

Ahhh..., I see -- it's no more than a Ford over a Chevy. Okay... Now, if you want a Chevy, does that mean that Chevy is better for the "rest of us" -- since you say so? Or perhaps, what you're saying --

No, you don't see and that is not what I am saying.

What I said is that it makes no sense for a company to have a fleet of Macs and a fleet of PC's in the same building. It should be one or the other to save money since both do the job equally well enough.

"The rest of us" are free to buy whatever brand they choose - but buying it just to keep it alive seems a questionable goal.

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "I did not say that, I quoted it. And you are avoiding the question posed."

I know you didn't say it (and anyone else that reads it, knows it, too.

The real problem here is that you want me to buy your trash PC, as if that's a better deal for me. I'm just getting to the point.

I don't want your trash PC because Apple has made a more elegant and refined solution for the "rest of us" -- with Mac OS X and the Macintosh computer. It works, it works great and it works for the mass of people in their daily lives. That's where you need to get a clue.

And you can talk all day long about how garbage smells so sweet -- but that doesn't mean I want that garbage...

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Star Traveler]

You said -- ""The rest of us" are free to buy whatever brand they choose - but buying it just to keep it alive seems a questionable goal."

Well, that's what I think, too.

So, you can imagine my amazement that people keep Microsoft alive, for so long, when they produce such a sick operating system, infected by so many viruses and barely able to boot up -- without being infected in the first 30 seconds by another virus.

The Mac hasn't had a virus outbreak in so long that most users (of Mac) don't think a virus even exists anymore. Well..., that is until they get on a Windows system and find that all 60,000 of them went over there....

The last one I had was back in 1991. From 1991 to the present -- 15 years -- have never had even a *hiccup* of a virus. Amazing.... 15 years of peace...

Why anyone would fight to keep that Windows alive with so much vermin attacking it and screwing it up -- shows that those viruses have transmutated from their machines to their brains...

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Swordmaker]

Apple buys hardware rebrands it as Apple and puts it in a "cool" package. Again they could keep up this marketing strategy even if they move in to the PC market. Are they afraid of losing their 2% market share?

Whose name and patents and copyrights are on the Mother Board? Apple's.

[Swordmaker]

LOL! you have no idea what you're talking about. Have ever heard of the enthusiast market? Maybe you should do some research.

Hmmmm... Maybe YOU should do some research. Let's be generous and grant that your "enthusiast market" is composed of 2,000,000 people (quite frankly, I don't think it is anywhere close to that high) who are wiling to go the extra mile and assemble their own computer... and compare that to the overall computer market of 180,000,000. That "enthusiast market" is only 1.1%... hardly a "mass market". It is large enough to support niche retailers such as Frys and internet suppliers that sell components, but it is not even in the running as a market force.

Yep Jobs is good at one thing, cornering 3% of the market and holding on for dear life! LOL

That 3% canard is MARKET SHARE, a picture of current sales, not installed base. The last reported Quarter, Mac Market share was 6.2% of computer retail sales and growing. But that is not the whole story. Macs have a longer useful life than PCs... Consumer Reports and Popular Science and several other magazines have done scientific polls of computer users and found that ~14% of computer users have Macs... and that comports well with the reported ~25,000,000 Mac users out there.

[Swordmaker]

MicroSoft Word and Excel already run inside IE6. Adobe's Acrobat runs on just about every browser, too.

Excuse me... but demonstrate to me how Microsoft Word or Excel runs "inside IE6" if it is NOT INSTALLED on the computer. If you have not purchased Microsoft Word or Excel for YOUR OS and installed it as a stand alone application, then IE6 can do diddly and squat with internet Word or Excel files. Just because Word and Excel can output their display to a browser window means nothing without the operating system that runs them.