Dual Boot Windows And OSX On Intel Machine

Justin Camerer · 2006-04-01T16:16:54-06:00 (Saturday)

A few weeks ago I decided I really wanted a mac and have been trying to convince myself otherwise since, because I do a lot of .NET developing and that wont exactly work on a mac. I dont do anything else that i could only do in windows so thats my only loss.

THEN, i discovered that its possible (or so i hear) to install osx and windows on the same machine, and then choose which to run at start up.

Does anyone know if this really can be done, if anyone here or anyone you guys know have done it, and if you know of any resources for me to check out?

I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to this stuff and i hate it with a passion, but id love to get to run osx.

Gracias.

Brad Nunnally · 2006-04-01T19:46:18-06:00 (Saturday)

I have only heard of it being windows booted on a Mac. And that was for a cash prize, and took alot of hacking.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/15/xp-on-mactel-the-movie/

Justin Camerer · 2006-04-01T20:55:02-06:00 (Saturday)

your mother took a lot of hacking.

raptor · 2006-04-02T00:46:14-06:00 (Sunday)

Let It Be Known,

Mac OSX can be installed on a PC. You need a copy of OSX for x86 that has been hacked for PC use. I do have a copy of this and am trying to get the install to work. I almost had it finished the other night, but ran out of hard drive space (talk about embarrassing). As soon as I get it installed and dual booted I'll post an update.

Scott

P.S. Alternatively you could emulate OSX with a program called PEAR PC.

Here is a link with some directions and a few of the things you need.

http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2005/01/18/PearPC.html

Justin Camerer · 2006-04-03T16:05:49-05:00 (Monday)

Awesome, let me know for sure if you get it all going.

raptor · 2006-04-05T18:23:06-05:00 (Wednesday)

Ok, small update. Aparently there are two ways to do this. My way is using an actual install disc. The PC i'm installing it on also has ubuntu and i intened on just adding antoher boot option to the grub boot loader.

But, after donig some research this fella has a way where an entire disk image is copied over. This method seems like it would be much easier. The only downfall is you need a seperate drive for the installation. I plan on attemping to do it on a partition.

I'll keep you posted.

Here is the link
http://www.uneasysilence.com/os-x-proven-hacked-and-running-on-an-ordinary-pc/

Matthew Thomas · 2006-04-05T18:47:24-05:00 (Wednesday)

I know this is probably a little late, but if you do decide to get a Mac and want to do .Net programming, look into the Mono framework.

Justin Camerer · 2006-04-06T11:44:03-05:00 (Thursday)

Yeah, Ive heard of the mono framework, but havent looked into it. Ill check it out and see if its worth anything.

Has anyone on here used it before?

If nothing else, I imagine ill keep a windows machine for software development, and try to do all my web stuff on OSX.

Peter Motyka · 2006-04-06T11:48:37-05:00 (Thursday)

Windows on Mac, sanctioned by Apple..
.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

Bryan · 2006-04-06T13:55:33-05:00 (Thursday)

Only problem is that only works to install Windows on an intel Mac. People are trying to get OsX on any intel box

alep85 · 2006-04-08T20:01:45-05:00 (Saturday)

Unless you have a 1.83 MacBook Pro like me :)

You can find a pre-hacked version of OS X running around on ISOHunt or other torrent trackers (although this is obviously illegal), obviously I cannot provide the links here but you guys are smart, you'll find 'em. I had it running on my parent's HP Media Center at home, it worked, but wasn't near as reliable as it is on a true Mac. What makes me laugh though are the people with their crappy 400 dollar dells that complain that it doesn't work right with certain components (Audio, Network, etc). Well, duh, Apple didn't exactly design OS X with your cheap old black box PC in mind! OS X works well not only because it is based off Darwin's open-source core, but also because Apple has control over both the software they make and the hardware it runs on (unlike Windows, which must support so many different configuration combinations). Also, Software Update does not work (imagine that?). Some hackers have added patches to OS X to increase compatibility (for example, the no SSE3 patch that allows it to run on P3 processors, and the BIOS patch to have the EFI-based OS run on the BIOS most PC's have), but it still has trouble with many video cards and other components. Just a warning ahead to those that think they'll get the exact same experience on OS X hacked on every black box PC compared to an official Intel Mac.

alep85 · 2006-04-08T20:11:06-05:00 (Saturday)

BTW I've used the Mono framework on my old iMac G5 back in the day, I think I needed it for the Fairkeys application (the program that removed the DRM from iTunes 5 Music Store Protected AAC files, doesn't work in iTunes 6 though). It works decently, but if you're gonna do Windows programming but want the advantages of OS X too, for god's sake, just dual-boot XP on an Intel Mac. Enjoy the Mac for its ease of use and safe web surfing, and enjoy Windows for the games and loads of spyware it brings on :-P