Self build machine and Mac OS - Can I?

Geordi69

Geordi69

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Graham
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I was just wondering if it is possible (more than likely, but not easy) to install Mac OS X on a self built machine using standard components?

Thanks
 
Possible, yes. Legal, no.
 
Yes you can do it but you will need a whole load of hacks and drivers to run stuff like the graphics cards etc. There is/was a mac clone built in the US which I think is now going through the courts as Apple are suing the manufacturers.

It can be done but less hassle just to buy a mac.
 
Edtog said:
Yes you can do it but you will need a whole load of hacks and drivers to run stuff like the graphics cards etc. There is/was a mac clone built in the US which I think is now going through the courts as Apple are suing the manufacturers.

It can be done but less hassle just to buy a mac.
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They went bust before Apple could sue them...
 
Unlikely to get into any trouble for this but there is that ridiculously remote possibility I suppose. Building a Hackintosh, as they're fondly known as, is pretty easy these days. I still wouldn't but it can be done without too much trouble if you buy the right hardware combination.
 
Craikeybaby said:
Possible, yes. Legal, no.
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Possible - Yes, Practical - Yes, Legal - :shrug: is breach of the EULA by installing it on non apple hardware 'illegal'

Edtog said:
Yes you can do it but you will need a whole load of hacks and drivers to run stuff like the graphics cards etc. There is/was a mac clone built in the US which I think is now going through the courts as Apple are suing the manufacturers.

It can be done but less hassle just to buy a mac.
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If you choose the components carefully you can do a full retail install from a RETAIL osx disk. Its what i did.
 
JasonRS said:
It's classed as theft, so yes.
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Thats where the whole EULA gets a little bit muddy (IMO of course ;)

From my understanding and investigations EULA's come under Civil Law and not Criminal Law, and you can be sued for 'breach of contract', nothing more.
 
Apple's EULA requires it to be installed on Apple hardware.

If you haven't purchased Apple hardware and install the OS onto another piece of hardware you have, through breach of contract, deprived Apple of a hardware sale, and in so depriving them of the sale, undertaken an act of theft.

You also breach copyright law, as you're using the software in a manner different to that which the license you have purchased allows.

As an individual, you are unlikely to be pursued but it's still illegal.
 
If you were to ask this question on a Mac forum, you'd be likely to have the thread closed or at least be warned that doing so would be illegal and you'd get no support. They take this that seriously.
 
JasonRS said:
Apple's EULA requires it to be installed on Apple hardware.

If you haven't purchased Apple hardware and install the OS onto another piece of hardware you have, through breach of contract, deprived Apple of a hardware sale, and in so depriving them of the sale, undertaken an act of theft.

You also breach copyright law, as you're using the software in a manner different to that which the license you have purchased allows.

As an individual, you are unlikely to be pursued but it's still illegal.
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youre not taking anything from apple, in fact youre still giving them your money. therefore, not theft by definition.
 
neil_g said:
youre not taking anything from apple, in fact youre still giving them your money. therefore, not theft by definition.
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You're paying for a license to use the software in a particular way.

You're not using the software in that way, and so breach the license,and you have deprived them of hardware sales. It's this deprivation that constitutes the theft btw.

Consider an analogy.

[Analogy]

You are approached by someone to use one of your photographs on their website. You agree a price to license the use of your image, then supply the image.

A month later, your image appears in a national magazine and poster campaign.

You'd be straight after them for copyright theft, breach of license etc.

You'd be after loss of earnings that you were deprived of, in much the same way.

[/Analogy]

With software, you don't own it, you license it, just like an image.

It's pretty simple, if you want OS X legally, buy a Mac.

Look at where Psystar have ended up, they were simply shipping a PC with OSX compatible hardware and a copy of OS X purchased from Apple, and yet they've had to file for bankruptcy due to the legal challenges surrounding a pending court case with Apple.

They ship to the UK though, if you want to buy one...

http://www.psystar.com/



BTW, I work for a large software vendor (>$1.6Bn/yr but not as big as Apple or MS) and I'm quite intimate with the challenges of licensing and EULA's.
 
again your scenario above is talking about extra usage (2 uses for the price of 1 etc).

apple need to update their EULA in my opinion, its outdated and they could make a hell of a lot more money out of it.
 
neil_g said:
again your scenario above is talking about extra usage (2 uses for the price of 1 etc).

apple need to update their EULA in my opinion, its outdated and they could make a hell of a lot more money out of it.
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Convince yourself however you like, but Mac OS on anything other than an Apple is a breach of the license, and I hope you never have someone steal one of your images, because, well, it's not theft.
 
neil_g said:
apple need to update their EULA in my opinion, its outdated and they could make a hell of a lot more money out of it.
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But they would also risk losing their greatest asset; The belief that Macs "just work". If they allow people to make up their own machines, ie like pcs, then you enter the minefield of compatibility problems etc. This could seriously risk their main selling asset, which is people believing that macs just work and don't crash (not always the case, but hey).
 
Messiah Khan said:
But they would also risk losing their greatest asset; The belief that Macs "just work". If they allow people to make up their own machines, ie like pcs, then you enter the minefield of compatibility problems etc. This could seriously risk their main selling asset, which is people believing that macs just work and don't crash (not always the case, but hey).
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The thing is though MK, it's not a belief, it is fact. As much as PC aficionados dislike the statement, they do "just work". Keeping the Mac OS (written and developed by Apple) on their hardware platform (also developed by Apple) is one of the main reasons for this.
 
neil_g said:
again your scenario above is talking about extra usage (2 uses for the price of 1 etc).

apple need to update their EULA in my opinion, its outdated and they could make a hell of a lot more money out of it.
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They make far more out of hardware sales than they currently make with sales of the OS and ever would make from sales of the OS. They'd be taking on a liability with trying to support multiple hardware configurations.
 
It is not theft, infringement and breach of contract yes, but theft, no. Theft is a criminal matter, whereas this would be a civil matter (sueing, rather than imprisonment).

Your example of copyright theft is I think actually officially called copyright infringement and would not involve the police.

The only people that may go to prison for something like this is people who distribute and make a profit on software/photos/images, and they will only be the BIG fish.
 
as above you can always use a osx third party software where it has been patched so if you have an intel processor you can run osx so you can even use normally pc and run the software

look up leo-4-all
 
theMusicMan said:
If you were to ask this question on a Mac forum, you'd be likely to have the thread closed or at least be warned that doing so would be illegal and you'd get no support. They take this that seriously.
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TBH I'm surprised we haven't here, it is pretty much the same as discussing warez etc.
 
Thanks for the answers and interesting debate.
I already own a 24" iMac, but I was just wondering if I could. I was after building a machine to use as a sever / storage system.
 
Me too Geordie69, I asked on a Mac forum and was told I'd be breaking the law.
 
I have seen it done. When I bought our first Imac a chap I know decided he would turn a pc into a mac. He knows what he is doing but it still took him 3 or 4 days to get it working and it was pants. Anyway a mac is just so much more that a fantastic computer they are design marvels to look at. Don't waste your time
 
Geordi69 said:
Thanks for the answers and interesting debate.
I already own a 24" iMac, but I was just wondering if I could. I was after building a machine to use as a sever / storage system.
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Have a look through Cowasaki's tip a day thread, there is a tip about making a server system using a special linux distro, which will probably do the job better than OS X anyway.

Or if it is only for storage etc, get an old Power Mac G4 tower.
 
Imagine the stick that Microsoft would come in for if they had their own hardware and only allowed you to install windows on it.

Apple have branded themselves so well that people will not question things like this or how their iPod is tied to iTunes.
 
i stand by my comment that apple should revise the EULA, hell they could sell it on a limited hardware basis if they really wanted (restrict the install to hardware that is KNOWN to work already) and limited support basis.

to clarify im not defending anything i have done, i briefly had a copy of Tiger installed on VMWare to see if it would work for support purposes but i deleted it shortly after. im mearly arguing that apples EULA is out of date and unnecessary in these "intel times".

p.s - there was a hint of windows vs mac above, lets not go down that road again..
 
artona said:
I have seen it done. When I bought our first Imac a chap I know decided he would turn a pc into a mac. He knows what he is doing but it still took him 3 or 4 days to get it working and it was pants. Anyway a mac is just so much more that a fantastic computer they are design marvels to look at. Don't waste your time
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Have a look at Lian li and Silverstone cases.;)
 
theMusicMan said:
The thing is though MK, it's not a belief, it is fact. As much as PC aficionados dislike the statement, they do "just work". Keeping the Mac OS (written and developed by Apple) on their hardware platform (also developed by Apple) is one of the main reasons for this.
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Unfortunately it is not fact. Yes they make a lot of things simple, and generally they work very well. But they do also crash, have problems and cause random errors, just like pcs. As a Tech at a university, I look after a load of macs and have seen my fair share of problems. That's not to say they are bad machines, but they aren't fool proof or error free like some people would suggest.
 
I'm going to bite my tongue over the mac love, and 'legality of eulas' debate in this thread, and just point you in the direction of

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page which has hardware compatibility lists, installation guides and software download links. Note that it does not provide links to any torrents or similar copyright breaching forms of downloading OSX.
 
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