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Hackers boot a Dell with Mac OS X (Intel)
Macwindows.com ^ | 3/24/06 | Unknown

Posted on 03/24/2006 4:53:26 PM PST by 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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: apple; dell; intel; mac; macintelosh; osx
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To: Vermonter

very cool! I want


21 posted on 03/24/2006 5:49:03 PM PST by ezo4
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To: Vermonter
Perhaps I'm just an odd man out, but as much as I dislike the Windows OS, I like mac's even less.

I simply replace explorer.exe with litestep.exe and viola!

22 posted on 03/24/2006 5:49:12 PM PST by the anti-liberal (Hey, Al Qaeda: Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent)
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To: Petronski

I'll take my chances with Linux. That's basically the world's operating system vs the best one company can do, easy choice.


23 posted on 03/24/2006 5:51:22 PM PST by tomzz
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To: Petronski

I guess they are not interested in making money.


24 posted on 03/24/2006 5:52:44 PM PST by Echo Talon
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To: Echo Talon

I think you're right.


Goodness knows, if I could run OSX on my current hardware, I'd be placing the order now.


25 posted on 03/24/2006 5:57:18 PM PST by Petronski (I love Cyborg!)
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To: Petronski
Goodness knows, if I could run OSX on my current hardware, I'd be placing the order now.

A lot of people would! MS would lose marketshare to Apple and OS X.

26 posted on 03/24/2006 5:59:12 PM PST by Echo Talon
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To: NativeNewYorker

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


27 posted on 03/24/2006 6:02:31 PM PST by MD_Willington_1976
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To: Echo Talon

Can you imagine the OEM race to write proper drivers?

It would be a smashing bestseller, even if Ballmer tried to throw a chair at everyone who bought it . . .


28 posted on 03/24/2006 6:04:03 PM PST by Petronski (I love Cyborg!)
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To: Vermonter

SSE3 emulator... lol

5x0, 5x5, 5x9, 5x0j, 5x5j, 5x9j, 5x1, 5x6, 6x0, 6x1, 6x2 etc all have SSE3, the emulator is for Willamette, Northwood, and early versions of the Intel P4 Xeon and Xeon MP CPUs (often refered to as Foster, Prestonia, and Gallatin)

The newer AMD processors have SSE3... since Dell owns Alienware now, the OS will work on those too.

Nothing special about "Core Duo" or whatever marketing crap they use to trick the unwashed masses with...


29 posted on 03/24/2006 6:06:40 PM PST by MD_Willington_1976
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To: Vermonter
Understandable since the source code of OS X is *nix* based. So it was a matter of time before hackers managed to get it to run on other than Apple computers.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

30 posted on 03/24/2006 6:08:04 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Petronski

The drivers would be the hard thing, would need to get hardware manufactures to make drivers for their products and have Apple test them, like MS does.


31 posted on 03/24/2006 6:09:00 PM PST by Echo Talon
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To: 1234; 6SJ7; Action-America; af_vet_rr; afnamvet; Alexander Rubin; anonymous_user; ...
Hmmmmm... OS X on your Dell? It's possible... it's been done... PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.


32 posted on 03/24/2006 7:08:45 PM PST by Swordmaker (Beware of Geeks bearing GIFs.)
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To: Vermonter

MUCH more interesting than booting Windows XP on an Intel Mac!!!!!!!!!!


33 posted on 03/24/2006 7:14:44 PM PST by Phsstpok (There are lies, damned lies, statistics and presentation graphics, in descending order of truth)
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To: Vermonter; HAL9000; Bush2000; Lazamataz

Caring about the OS is so 1990's.

The world does its business on-line now...in browsers. It's the browser that matters, not the OS.

34 posted on 03/24/2006 7:22:10 PM PST by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Vermonter

Just more proof that the world is ready for an entirely new OS.

Working on it. Coming up (and with less crapola than windows "Vista"...)


35 posted on 03/24/2006 7:23:57 PM PST by Philistone (Turning lead into gold...)
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To: Vermonter

Somwhere in Cupertino, an Apple employee is being chewed out.


36 posted on 03/24/2006 7:31:31 PM PST by birbear (You know what? This is crap. We're going to stop this.)
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To: NativeNewYorker
I bought my daughter and her family a 20" iMac PPC from Costco. didn't save a lot as far as I can tell but it only took my grandson 4 steps to get on line and it's been humming along vs their custom PC that caught every virus out there because of the teenagers surfing habits.

I'm tempted to buy one for myself to replace my 17" goose neck iMac...
37 posted on 03/24/2006 7:39:51 PM PST by tubebender (BIG REWARD for my missing tag line. Please advance a security deposit to enter...)
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To: tomzz

Linux or FreeBSD, either way it's a dialect of Unix. And Unix really is the world's operating system.

When you run Linux, you'll be running KDE or Gnome to have a GUI.

When you run FreeBSD on Apple hardware, it comes with a really nifty GUI, called OS X (and cool aps, too).

(I've got a guild loyalty to FreeBSD, since it was written by another category theorist--my branch of mathematics, though I'm happy with Linux, too, since Torvald started with Minux--also written by a categorist. My household is standardized on Macs and my office desktop runs Linux.)

And, no, I don't buy Apple hardware out of any loyalty to Apple hardware, I buy Apple hardware because as of now, that's what Mac OS X runs on.


38 posted on 03/24/2006 7:42:55 PM PST by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)
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To: Michael Barnes
I just have to wonder; does Apple actually support this in some sort of flavor?

Absolutely not. They've even tried to shut down (without much success) sites that have posted correct instructions on how to get OS X working on non-Apple hardware. (They didn't seem to care that much before anyone got it working, heh heh.)

Steve Jobs appears to remain very much convinced that when it comes to computers, the real money is in the hardware, not the OS. OS X DVDs don't even come with any sort of copy protection on them. You can dupe them all you want. (Well, not legally, but there's certainly nothing put in place to even attempt to stop you from doing it, and Apple's never shown any real interest in preventing such copying.)

39 posted on 03/24/2006 7:47:31 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (This tagline is false.)
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To: tubebender
I'm tempted to buy one for myself to replace my 17" goose neck iMac...

I think it's time. At this point, the 17" goosenecks are showing their age; I know mine is. Personally, I'd go for the 20" Intel iMac instead of the closeout 20" PPC; it's a close call at the moment, when not too many programs are Intel-native, but within a few months, most of them will be, and it'll probably be worth the couple of hundred extra bucks for the latest-and-greatest speed.

40 posted on 03/24/2006 7:50:23 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (This tagline is false.)
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