Away In A Hack-intosh
Apple reported record sales for 2008, mainly due to the iPod & iPhone, but Apple computers are slowly growing market share also. The Mac is extremely popular amongst musicians, but if the recession is cramping your wallet, you might not have the cash to splash on the Apple hardware. In this case, there may be a way to get Apple OS to run on your PC…
Another Bite Of The Apple
Today, it is possible to run OSX 10.5 (Leopard) on PC hardware – and using Boot Camp or Parallels, it’s also possible to run Windows on a Mac. However, on a spec-for-spec basis, PC hardware is significantly cheaper.
The Empire Strikes Hack
If you want to install OSX on a PC, you may have to stray to the dark side – or the grey side, at any rate.
The license for Leopard states that it can only be installed on “Apple branded hardware” – so if you stick an Apple logo on your PC, you could argue that you’re not breaching this agreement (although I would advise against testing this in court).
Fortunately, despite the name, setting up a Hackintosh doesn’t require any actual hacking – although you will need to tweak your BIOS settings. Lifehacker have a guide to doing just this, which should get you started down the dark path.
If you’re attempting this on a desktop PC, I recommend using a separate hard drive for the OSX install. This will keep your existing OS safe – and you can then switch between Windows and OSX by changing the boot sequence in the BIOS when you start your computer.
PS: On the subject of hacking, you may have noticed that the Podcomplex homepage and OMS database were hijacked yesterday. This was due to an exploit in an older version of Joomla, which I have since updated. This was a disturbing development that reiterates the importance of keeping installations updated, and also for making regular backups…