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OS X Operating Systems Portables Hardware Technology

OS X On the MSI Wind 219

Ruler of Planets writes "PlanetX64 has just published an article on loading OS X on an MSI Wind, effectively creating a machine that is smaller and lighter than a Macbook Air. The exercise was done solely for academic purposes and doing so voids all kinds of warranties, but hey, now you can slip a Mac into a lab coat pocket!"
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OS X On the MSI Wind

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  • by BoldAC ( 735721 ) * on Monday September 29, 2008 @04:31AM (#25191837)

    I read and saw the videos about triple booting with MSI wind [tech-recipes.com] back in August. He's got a video there and a bunch of hard to grab OS X drivers. If you are going to purchase a MSI wind, please note the issues with the non synaptics trackpads in some circumstances.

    You will need an extra stick of RAM, DVD drive, and WLAN card as well. This hack will get you up to OS X 10.5.4. The hackint0sh community is usually a point release or two behind.

    The planetx64 version also has problems with the internal mic, the microphone port and the headset port.

  • I wonder what the world would look like if Apple would sell software as well. I know they'd get a worse reputation because people would blame the OS for hardware / driver issues but it would certainly be neat to use OS/X on hardware other than that sold by Apple.

    They would not have the margins they currently do, but it is very well possible that they'd take huge marketshare from microsoft.

    And it would mean an instant end to the microsoft tax on new hardware.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      I wonder what the world would look like if Apple would sell software as well.

      Apple will never sell software sans hardware. They've got a control obsession. Their greatest strength & weakness as a company.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Uberbah ( 647458 )

        No, WATB, they have an obsession with not going out of business. They don't have an OS monopoly and can't lock in Dell or HP into selling OS X on their machines. They can't make the $$$ on volume like Microsoft can, so they'd have to charge much more money for their operating systems - inviting rampant piracy.

        Stop drinking the anti-Apple Kool Aid.

        • Except... hackintosh-ing invites rampant piracy. So does selling your os, in general. Look to the linux community - very little piracy going on there...
          • by Uberbah ( 647458 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @07:30AM (#25192587)

            Except... hackintosh-ing invites rampant piracy.

            No, because getting OS X to run on a vanilla PC has some technical hurdles, and the number of pirates goes down with each hoop that needs to be jumped through. If Apple releases a version of Leopard that installs (if not runs) on PC's without trouble, goodnight Shirley.

            One thing that Apple does actually do to encourage piracy is the fact that they don't have a mid to low end tower. I'm considering doing a Hackintosh after Apple adds ZFS support, as I want a tower with four terabyte hard drives but want my total cost to be less than $1000, not start out at $2800 (base Mac Pro) before I even add the drives.

        • In reality, if Apple wanted to go into business as a software vendor, they wouldn't be undercutting MS to do it. They would gain market share, not on price but because people would be convinced through marketing that MacOS will work better with their Ipods.
          Apple does not want to get into supporting their OS on any hardware, because, frankly, it might be worse than Windows at doing it. If they took that step and failed, they might never recover from it. Like you said, they want to stay in business and rig

          • by wiz_80 ( 15261 )

            Back in the late 90s I worked for UMAX, which made Mac clones when this was (briefly) legal. The business was successful, and was quickly killed by Apple, for exactly the same reason. Namely, UMAX could sell a more powerful machine than Apple did, for less money. Remember this was when Apple chipsets used the PPC 603 and 604, not x86 CPUs.

            Nowadays, if things opened up and the beige-box makers could bring their enormous x86 economies of scale to bear, Apple's hardware market would change drastically. The Mac

            • Back in the late 90s I worked for UMAX, which made Mac clones when this was (briefly) legal. The business was successful, and was quickly killed by Apple, for exactly the same reason. Namely, UMAX could sell a more powerful machine than Apple did, for less money. Remember this was when Apple chipsets used the PPC 603 and 604, not x86 CPUs.

              I remember them - we bought uMax machines do do our paper layout for the very reasons you mentioned - more powerful machines for less money. When we bought them we wondered how long it would be before Apple killed their OS license business.

        • >No, WATB, they have an obsession with not going out of business.

          Opening your platform to more hardware is a good way to expand your market and create new profits.

          The GP is correct. Apple's corporate philosophy is to deliver an all-in-one highly controlled solution. This has big advantages for the technophobic home market. Maintaining a 'it just works' reputation is important to them, but arguably an more open approach would be better, at least in dollars in the long run.

          This is also why they wont let m

      • Apple will never sell software sans hardware.

        Just wait, one day they'll start giving it away. Everyone will use OSX. Then Steve (who will reveal himself to be a highlander) will then use the internal kill switch to eliminate the entire population of computer using highlanders. And the few other people brave enough to use OSX for anything other than iMovie.

      • by Wooky_linuxer ( 685371 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @07:49AM (#25192687)
        You can buy a boxed version of Leopard anywhere. Sure, their EULA forbids one from installing in anything that is not Apple hardware. Not sure how would that hold up in a court if, say, Apple sued someone who installed OS X in his MSI Wind. BTW, how is the Psystar lawsuit going on?
        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by cp.tar ( 871488 )

          You can buy a boxed version of Leopard anywhere. Sure, their EULA forbids one from installing in anything that is not Apple hardware.

          Wasn't that "Apple-branded hardware"?

          And they do give you those quaint stickers you can use to brand any piece of hardware...

      • Well, you would too if you'd been fucked over from lisencing your products previously... remember the Mac clones and that huge fuck up?

        No, I don't own a Mac, I just see why they do things the way they are. Frankly, most users are too stupid to own a computer, let alone be trusted to install the OS on their own random bits of hardware. Hell, even with driver disks and Windows they seem to still fuck it up.

        The way I see it if you want Mac OS you should be more than happy to fork out the extra cash for one...

        *

    • by MrHanky ( 141717 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @04:59AM (#25191933) Homepage Journal

      And how, exactly, would this change "the world"? Just because you have your head so far up Steve Jobs's arse that you can see the light doesn't mean the world in any way revolves around Apple's business plans. It's just you.

      And re "the microsoft tax on new hardware": it doesn't exist. You can buy MSI Wind without Windows. You can buy whichever component you want without giving a cent to Microsoft. Perhaps you're confusing it with the Apple tax, the extra money you have to pay for an Apple approved version of graphics cards and some sound cards.

      • by aliquis ( 678370 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @06:06AM (#25192189)

        If I had my 10 mod points I would have wanted to give you them all.

        Wtf is up with the special mac graphic cards for real macs when hacks run BIOS cards? If the EFI connection in the OS is so loose can't they somehow make it possible to just use regular video cards? Or just skip EFI totally since it's not like they have released lots of EFI cards anyway and the world don't seem to move on to EFI just yet anyway.

        Geforce 8800 GT 512MB Mac Pro upgrade kit: $279.00

        Same card for a PC on newegg: $110.99

        (Not to forget it's a shitty card anyway compared to some other options, but those aren't options even on a hack since all cards isn't supported anyway. Though I guess it can't be hard for Apple to get support for HD3000- and HD4000-series if they wanted to as well.)

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by aliquis ( 678370 )

          ... Or just sell they card at market price and not at some remarkable markup.

      • by sgant ( 178166 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @06:23AM (#25192261) Homepage Journal

        We're talking about computers here. This isn't a religion. This isn't anything life altering or anything like that. These are computers.

        Where does the "Just because you have your head so far up Steve Jobs's arse" vitriol come from?

        Come on...

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by MrHanky ( 141717 )

          Exactly. Which is why I flame these people who see life-changing circumstances in Apple's schemes, and complain about "Windows tax" as if their own idol wasn't the biggest of all offenders. I wish the fanboy idiots could just shut up and leave the discussion to someone else. Especially when what they have to say isn't even remotely true.

        • Where does the "Just because you have your head so far up Steve Jobs's arse" vitriol come from?

          Because it is fun teasing fanatics - religious or not, they're still a bunch of crazies.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by CountBrass ( 590228 )
            That's true. I take great joy in pointing out to rabid atheists that they're a bunch of religous nut jobs.
    • by apodyopsis ( 1048476 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @05:13AM (#25191995)
      I thought about that a while back.

      Suppose they did it this way...

      1. published a list of exactly what hardware they supported, ie. a restricted driver model not the windows model of anybody can create anything they want and sell it for windows.
      2. allowed OEMs to choose that supported hardware and display a "Apple Ready" sticker
      3. allowed home builder to choose from that list and be "Apple Ready"
      4. then anybody could buy and install Apple OS - if during boot up it detected unsupported hardare it would either refuse to install or warn the user that some hardware would not be support

      I would expect them to release a free tool that would allow you to confirm if your platform was supported.

      If this was done then OEMs could sell apple OS PCs, you'd see PC with "ready for windows" and "apple ready" label you'd know you could dual boot.

      But let's face it, this is pure fantasy. Apple restrict the OS because they want money from the HW and they want to enforce a beautiful uniform image for their equipment. They very last thing they was is an ugly square chinese box proclaiming to be an apple.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by aliquis ( 678370 )

        Except knowing Apple they'd ask for an insane price for the benefits of having that sticker on your box or part of the profit since soooo many mac users would buy their cards, of which the OEM would say fuck that and things would remain as they is. =P

        For half the price and same specs I'd for sure take the chinese box :)

        • by KGIII ( 973947 ) * <uninvolved@outlook.com> on Monday September 29, 2008 @07:08AM (#25192471) Journal

          I dunno. I bought a Macbook Air just for the hardware alone. It boots to Windows. I don't use their OS but I really REALLY like the laptop. I'd have considered a netbook but I really wanted something with a full size keyboard and screen as well as plenty of power.

      • A more practicable (but only slightly more likely situation) would be to allow OEMs to license the ability to install Mac OS X for hardware which doesn't compete w/ hardware made by Apple ---consider he following form-factors which Apple doesn't address:

        - netbook / smaller than MacBook Air machines
        - slate-style pen computers
        - convertible pen computer laptops
        - full desktop replacement laptops
        - mid-size tower w/ just one or two slots
        - larger than 1U rack server

        W

        • Apple will never do that because it will cut into the sales of their overpriced hardware bigtime. Why shell out $3000 for a Macbook Pro when you get a midsize tower from Dell for $400 ?
    • I suggest you act like/simulate that you are a top of line Mac Pro workstation owner and shopping for a new GPU (graphics card).

      They run Intel right? Industry standard port too... Check how many GPU choices you have and their prices, support. Also simulate that you bought the device and have low FPS and look to ATI/NVIDIA support site. Don't waste so much time on that since they will eventually send you to Apple.

      Sound is similar too...

      This is a Wintel puppet IT scene and even having unheard (for Apple after

    • "I wonder what the world would look like if Apple would sell software as well."

      Apple sell plenty of software. What they don't sell is their OS for use with generic hardware, but they sell plenty of other stuff, some of which runs on platforms other than OS X.

      • Apple sell plenty of software...but they sell plenty of other stuff, some of which runs on platforms other than OS X.

        You could have provided a list.

        I keep hoping that they'll offer Logic for Windows.

        • Uhhh... iTunes? Safari? Sure... it is only two applications. But they're revolutionary. And really, if you believe everything that apple tells you, you don't need much else. iLife has everything you'd ever need... according to them.
        • Apple sell plenty of software...but they sell plenty of other stuff, some of which runs on platforms other than OS X.

          You could have provided a list.

          I keep hoping that they'll offer Logic for Windows.

          "You could have provided a list."

          A list of Apple software, or Apple software that runs on platforms other than OS X?

          "I keep hoping that they'll offer Logic for Windows."

          I agree it would be nice if they did, especially the new Logic Studio Pack, which contains a lot more stuff than Logic Pro did, is a much nicer to use, and sells for less than 1/3 of the old price.

          NB: the "pro" Apple software I know runs on non-OS X systems is the Shake movie production suite, which is also available for Linux at no less tha

    • by aliquis ( 678370 )

      Yeah, because the Apple tax is much better ..

      (I know that's not what you mean, in any case it's easy to get a PC without paying Microsoft as well, if nothing else just buy the parts.)

      No need to blame the OS for any such issues if they said what hardware is supported, if you use unsupported parts then you got no one else to blame than yourself.

      I'm not sure if would be such a huge success though, I have a mac now but it's not that awesome. FreeBSD + KDE works for me if only there was some commercial apps to.
      B

    • by larry bagina ( 561269 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @06:13AM (#25192209) Journal

      The mid 90s called. They have the answer to your question. But here's a reminder:

      • Other companies eat away at Apple's hardware sales and Apple heads towards bankruptcy
      • NeXT sells OpenStep for x86 computers. It's at least a decade ahead of everything else (except maybe BeOS). It's very expensive.

      The fact you don't remember/know those two pieces of history suggest it wasn't really a stunning success.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by timmarhy ( 659436 )
      it would mean they would end up in the same boat as MS, and everyone would suddenly realize windows isn't evil and that MS is just a software company, not the devil.
    • I agree. I would actually use OS/X if it didn't mean I'd have to buy new hardware (I currently have no need to upgrade my hardware).

  • Any chance? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MrZaius ( 321037 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @04:47AM (#25191899) Homepage

    Any chance that this could spur something on Apple's end? The Air is a joke of a machine, with its sole (count 'em - one) expansion port, just begging for failure. It'd sure be nice to have something more Mac Mini & Eee inspired, or the holy of holies - A Fujitsu Lifebook P8240 or Gigabyte M912-inspired Mac.

    On a related note, any sign of new Mac Minis?

    • Re:Any chance? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Ilgaz ( 86384 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @05:47AM (#25192137) Homepage

      Macbook Air is a concept machine designed to fit a specific lifestyle and usage style.

      If you have a "Mac Pro" or high end iMac running on top of line ISP line with 811.11N network installed at home and live in industrial city with top of line 3G coverage, you will buy and like Macbook Air.

      See the Apple Japan store top 10 sellers if you don't believe me.

      While speaking about Japan, Casio watches now even come with "atomic time sync" and they are cheaper than $200. Does it make Rolex a failure as it can only display time and date for $3000?

      • It's not a concept machine. Concept machines are not production items...they are prototypes/proof of concept that may later become a production item.

        • by Ilgaz ( 86384 )

          Sometimes even car companies ship cars which were supposed to be concept. They aren't ordinary and doesn't have all features same class car has but people buy them.

          Here is example for you. If you compare it to a WV Golf, you will ask "which moron would buy it?"
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_TT [wikipedia.org]
          They buy it and they are happy.

          • The Bugatti Phaeron is another example. It costs VW ca &pound;7M to make one, and they sell them for &pound;800K.
      • Macbook Air is a concept machine designed to fit a specific lifestyle and usage style.

        Please tell us more about this "specific lifestyle" so we can go smack the poncy fruit in the head. With love, I mean.

        I'm feeling a little lower-class today because my Conde Nast care package hasn't arrived yet.

        • by Ilgaz ( 86384 )

          Macbook Air is for people with already working high end desktop and ordinary laptop having high end Apple 811N "time capsule". It costs a lot but it doesn't make buying or shipping one a crime.

          Would I buy a Macbook Air? Hell no. I am not even a laptop user. Nokia E90 and Sony Ericsson P1i (which has FRACTION of Air CPU speed and RAM) is good for my usage. They cost more than laptop and I guess I am another guilty filthy rich.

      • Does it make Rolex a failure as it can only display time and date for $3000?

        Now that you mention it...

      • Macbook Air is a concept machine designed to fit a specific lifestyle and usage style.

        Yes, the MBA is used to make you look trendy and cool, as you carry it around. It appeals to people with more money than brains. That is the MBA lifestyle.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Re:Any chance? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by qubex ( 206736 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @06:44AM (#25192363) Homepage

      I'm an Apple pundit, but I jump at the opportunity to vent my hatred of the MacBookAir.

      You're right: it's a disaster waiting to happen. A friend of mine has one and wrecked the USB port (the manner of failure being essentially irrelevant). Once the port died, the only way of getting information in or out of the machine was the wireless network interface. Digicams and DVDs became off-limits, as did 3G cellphone coverage. In short, it became a stylish paperweight.

      Suddenly, my friend understood the concept of "robustness under single failure".

      • A friend of mine has one and wrecked the USB port (the manner of failure being essentially irrelevant).

        Yes, no matter how many times I warned steve (our mutual friend), he was adamant - That MBA was totally hot, and totally into him. After that first night of passion, he was ready for more - but she was ruined.

        So, on one hand, Steve was upset because his new GF wasn't able to put out anymore. But on the other hand, he now thinks he's god's gift to women.

    • by Average ( 648 )

      One could hope that Apple might expand a little from the MacbookAir.

      A lot of its compromise are exactly the compromises I've always preferred. Over the years, I've had old Powerbook Duos, Toshiba Porteges, Dell "X" series, and now, a couple of generations of IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad "X" series. I keep coming back to 12" screen, one-spindle laptops. They're perfect, especially since WiFi.

      But, the MBAir is too far. Give me even two USB ports and a docking port, and it might very well be my next laptop. Apple

  • This is not the first and only OS X installation attempt on a UMPC. There is a short survey of installation guides for MAC OS X on (small) laptops and notebooks [tuxmobil.org] provided by TuxMobil. There are guides for the ASUS Eee PC 701, the OQO e2, the Lenovo ThinkPad X61 and others. More submissions are welcome though.
  • Another Vibrant site (Score:4, Informative)

    by argent ( 18001 ) <(peter) (at) (slashdot.2006.taronga.com)> on Monday September 29, 2008 @05:15AM (#25192001) Homepage Journal

    And here's another site using Vibrant's in-text ads, with the "disable" tab turned off.

    Vibrant's in-text ads are the most annoying online advertising scheme since X-10. But bad as they are you used to be able to turn them off... now increasingly often the "disable" tab doesn't show up when you try to do that. Sites that use this technology should not be supported by Slashdot eyeballs any more than spammers should. And just because you can use adblock to hide them doesn't excuse this abusive advertising trick... ignoring it because adblock works is like ignoring spam because you have a good spam filter: we know where that leads.

    • by Fumus ( 1258966 )
      If everyone in the world had a good spam filter, and/or adblock, do you really think there would be annoying ads or spam any more? Spam and annoying ads exist because of the minuscule percent of society who actually click the links and buy stuff.

      If everyone had adblock by default, I believe it would be banned by the government.
      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by aussie_a ( 778472 )

        I view ads (and sometimes even click them) to support the websites I view and enjoy. Its called paying for what you use (in this case paying with your attention, however brief).

        • by Fumus ( 1258966 )
          Oh, but you are talking about buying indie games to support the producers. I'm talking about boycotting DRM-infested games which deny to run in I have some software which the publishers find questionable.
          • I'm talking about boycotting DRM-infested games which deny to run in I have some software which the publishers find questionable.

            Sounds more like to me your downloading the DRM-infested software from piratebay and applying a crack.

            Boycotting would be not visiting the website. You're advocating visiting it with adblock.

          • by argent ( 18001 )

            Your analogy is like instant coffee.

      • by argent ( 18001 )

        If everyone in the world had a good spam filter, and/or adblock, do you really think there would be annoying ads or spam any more?

        If you assume a false statement, you can prove anything. This argument has been used to ridicule active anti-spam efforts for over 15 years now, and it's no more likely now than when the "Green Card" ads were first run.

  • I can't see Apple being well pleased with this. They have a reputation to sustain! [today.com]

    In any case, OS X on netbooks is old hat. You can put it on an original Eee, for instance. [uneasysilence.com]

    OS X really does work fine on general hardware. If your hardware is something Apple has a driver for. So, a bit like Linux without anything like as broad a support base, then.

    (I personally prefer FreeBSD, but Linux supports my laptop immaculately.)

  • The point? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Ilgaz ( 86384 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @05:30AM (#25192059) Homepage

    Yes, as OS X Intel runs on same x86 CPU, it can work. No need to run a lab for that.

    When will people understand that OS X and hardware in total gives "Apple experience" and FreeBSD 6 with WindowMaker/WINE is a way better choice for such portable?

    OS X is not only a X86 OS. It becomes meaningful when hardware matches too.

    I bet Sony Vaio can run OS X too but I would run Windows or Linux on that machine. It will work way better than a hacked OS.

    Therotically as it runs same CPU and most of mobile chip manufacturers are common, my Nokia and Sony Ericsson smart phones can run iPhone OS rather than Symbian they come with. If someone spent needless time for such a hardcore hack and shipped, would I install? Hell no. iPhone experience is broken right when hardware part is gone and smallest hack has to be applied.

    Can't they work on meaningful things such as enhancing the linux/bsd support and performance rather than making people joke with MSI?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by Ilgaz ( 86384 )

        I am a Symbian user. I am not defending their scheme of doing things but one gotta admit it is a unique concept in smart phone and can't be copied.

        It is mix of hardware and software. In fact it is hardware designed by a software company to run their software.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by marcuz ( 752480 )
      i dont care about apple experience. i agree that running osx on some ee pc is ridiculous but for example using it installed on some generic desktop computer does perfectly makes sense. i wouldn't trade my perfectly tuned rig for any crappy mac hw. my rig is way cheaper, more silent, easily upgradable etc... i really love my osx and i really hate apple's marketing (necessary evil).
  • by YourExperiment ( 1081089 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @05:37AM (#25192091)

    I think I must have misunderstood the summary. In what way does installing a piece of piece of software onto something "create a machine smaller and lighter than the MacBook Air"?

    Also, does installing software on a machine really void the warranty? If you reload the original OS from recovery disks before sending it back, how would the manufacturer even know?

    It's strange, /. summaries are usually so clear and well-written.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by diesel66 ( 254283 )

      Opening the case to swap out the wifi card is what voids the warranty.

      I agree that slashdot summaries are occasionally sub-optimal, but this is usually solved by RTFA. :)

      No, I am not new here.

  • by paiute ( 550198 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @06:16AM (#25192221)

    "OMG, I would totally buy OSX in a second and run it on my box. Why doesn't Apple become a software company? Everyone would drop MS in a second. Apple would make a lot of money on volume."

    etc
    etc

    This is why few boards of directors come to Slashdot looking for their next CEO.

  • by Average ( 648 ) on Monday September 29, 2008 @06:21AM (#25192243)

    My thought is that, just maybe, Apple should consider a license of Mac OS for Virtualizations. Pick one platform... VMWare, xVM, whatever.

    This would solve the "but there are a billion network cards and a billion video cards out there" argument. Inside the VM, there is only the one configuration.

    Sure, it wouldn't be the world's speediest thing. But, it would get a lot of people thinking about Mac OS part-time. Some of us Linux people who have a Windows window in the corner (when absolutely necessary) would ditch it most of the time for a legit copy of Mac. If I had to run a shrink-wrap app, I'd buy the Mac version if it ran well. I'd also be more willing to develop and test for Mac.

    Too cannibalistic of their hardware sales, though?

  • doing so voids all kinds of warranties

    I am not very familiar with the MSI Wind myself, but it sounds to me like these guy have may just broken some wind?

    • It is the wind - as a clock is wound, this computer winds up. Kinda like a little toy for big kids. Calling it the wind (as the wind blows) would be asking for detrimental name calling.
  • but hey, now you can slip a Mac into a lab coat pocket!

    You're living in the past. Modern day lab coats can handle atleast 2 big macs, no problems (no void of warranty, either).

    (The experiments conducted to verify these results were done for purely academic purposes, of course).

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