Photos: Running Apple's OSX on a PC
A normal Shuttle PC boots up, showing the start-up info for the graphics card. A Logitech USB keyboard is used, as is a wireless Microsoft mouse.
The graphical boot screen. The Shuttle SD30G2B is based on the Intel 915 chipset. Still very PC.
Wait ... what? Apple?
OSX 10.5.1 has loaded, working perfectly with a vanilla kernel thanks to an EFI emulator. This means it can install all the updates from Apple without worry -- unless Apple starts bugging its update code to check for hackintoshes.
Using an Intel Core 2 Duo as a CPU means not having to install extra hacks to get things working. The sound, network and graphics hardware needed extra drivers to get working properly, which required some copying of files and a bit of Unix command line know how.
The unsuspecting PC that has become a hackintosh. The DVD drive is a standard IDE Pioneer DVR-109.
The back of the machine with the usual bevvy of ports. Everything works. We had to use a USB keyboard during the install -- while a PS2 keyboard is possible, it requires more hacks. Sound also works, although only stereo at this stage. 5.1 should be possible with a little more tweaking.
A view through to where the Core 2 Duo E4500 is hidden. The corner of a Foxconn 7600GT enters from the left, the chosen graphics card. With help from the NVInject 2.0 driver, this enables both the Core Image and Quartz Extreme processing that gives OSX its visual pizzazz.
Just like using a Core 2 Duo, using a SATA hard drive as the install drive makes life a lot easier. IDE is possible, but once again requires more hacks, depending on your hardware.
The cheapest Mac you'll ever buy. The owner promises to replace the horrible white DVD drive so it can live up to the aesthetic appeal Mac users have become accustomed to.