General Apple question

[ManBearPig]

Why do Hackintosh computers have to be built using specific hardware, and are even then not fully compatible? Basically, why can't I run OS X on whatever hardware I want? Ive always wondered this. Is it because they build the software to run only on certain hardware (yearly refreshes and all that)?

 

[Eug]

Apple controls both the hardware and software. So, the software is built around very specific hardware releases. There are no drivers for unsupported hardware, and there is no troubleshooting for unsupported hardware even if existing drivers work.

Furthermore, Apple has a short cycle for end-of-life-ing old hardware with new software and OS releases. For example, even though my G4 iMac has a GPU that is supported by OS X, it is only officially supported by older versions of OS X, up to 10.4. I can hack the installer to install 10.5 Leopard on my G4 iMac, and for the most part it runs perfectly, but because of the old GPU I sometimes get weird visual artifacts after sleeping the computer. Obviously Apple won't do anything about it because it's simply not supported.

Now, extrapolate that to Hackintoshes. If Apple won't even support some of their own older hardware with current OSes, don't expect completely foreign hardware to work. You usually have to have very specific hardware that either is identical to what is in the Mac, or is very similar. This often means specific motherboards and chipsets that just happen to work with the OS.

So, why deal with all these disadvantages? Well, there are advantages too. The biggest advantage is that you spend a lot less time fighting with driver issues, etc. I find I spend more time troubleshooting my Win 7 installs than I do with my Macs, although both have their issues.

 

[mmntech]

OSX more closely resembles embedded system software in some respects. It's not so much OSX can't run on any x86(-64) system, it's the availability (or lack there of) of drivers to make various components compatible.

 

[Eug]

Think of it like trying to run Windows in a world with no 3rd party drivers.

 

[Emulex]

windows 95 didn't come with many drivers remember?

 

[Eug]

windows 95 didn't come with many drivers remember?

Yes, in fact, if you just ran Windows 95 alone, it'd be fairly useless and wouldn't work with so many variations of hardware.

However, (eventually) Windows 95 had a bazillion drivers, that each came with every piece of hardware you bought. Install a sound card? Install a driver. Install a modem? Install a driver. Install a printer card? Install a driver. Etc.

 

[Nothinman]

OSX more closely resembles embedded system software in some respects. It's not so much OSX can't run on any x86(-64) system, it's the availability (or lack there of) of drivers to make various components compatible.

And on top of that Apple puts a decent amount of effort into making sure that OS X only runs on their approved hardware. So the lack of drivers hurts and Apples own "protective" efforts make it that much more painful.

 

[alent1234]

i was going to build a hackintosh back when Mac's had weak GPU's, but after reading about it i decided not to. mostly because you are still limited in your choice of GPU's.