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Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 3:24 pm Post subject: PearPC

OSX10.3 on x86?

Cant be done?

Introducing PearPC 0.1

Here is a guy with Panther running on an Athlon 1600

Its early on and it is a very slow emulation but hopefully it will mature quickly. Can't wait to be able to tri-boot between Winblows/Linux/OSX

EEps · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 8:40 pm Post subject:

I'm sure Apple will find a way to squash it flat... Sad Smile

It looks promising though... Big Smile

Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 9:32 pm Post subject:

It would be hard for the lawyers to convince the judge though. There's no compelling evidence that this software was designed to circumvent any of Apple's attempts to lock-in their OS to their hardware.

They'd have to go after all the other PPC emulators too (ahem, N64 emu anyone?) PearPC also runs other PPC OSes, like the obvious Linux, and I myself will be happy if it can run MorphOS because I can't get my hands on a Pegasos system.

I peeked into some of the Mac forums and of course reading the comments on OSNews, seems like a lot of Mac zealots do hope Apple shuts this down. But PearPC is NOT like the PlayFair project, which is a direct break-in of something Apple sought to protect.

Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 10:49 pm Post subject:

I can't understand why Apple would want to keep their hardware so locked down (other than the insane prices they get) Surely if Mac OS could be ported to x86 architecture it would open up a HUGE market for their OS. Far more to be gained there than what they would lose on the hardware side.

Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 11:07 pm Post subject:

farmboy wrote:
I can't understand why Apple would want to keep their hardware so locked down (other than the insane prices they get) Surely if Mac OS could be ported to x86 architecture it would open up a HUGE market for their OS. Far more to be gained there than what they would lose on the hardware side.

I talked to one of the Apple engeneers and OS X was first developed on x86 machine because the kernal had not been ported to the risc chip early in developement, it could be ported back real easy............

Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 6:59 am Post subject:

farmboy wrote:
Surely if Mac OS could be ported to x86 architecture it would open up a HUGE market for their OS.

http://developer.apple.com/darwin/

its been available for free download almost as long as OS X has been out. now if you want the windowing system and other OS X APIs you're out of luck, but the core OS is there. it even says "Welcome to Macintosh" when you boot.

i don't think i'd consider myself a mac zealot (i just think its the best commercial platform currently availble, RIP BeOS), but i'm glad to hear about projects like PearPC. hopefully i can get it running on my linux box while i'm home this weekend.

like people commenting on OSNews pointed out however, i'm sure this will lead to the increase of pirated copies of OS X, and due to its lack of speed which i'd guess makes the system pretty unusable, not lead to a lot of mac converts.

and it was never a case that the PowerPC couldn't be emulated on x86, it was more of a "its slow as a dog" argument. hopefully they'll be able to pull out some good code and speed things up though.

i don't think there's any way apple could shut down this project, just like it can't shut down PPC hardware manufacturers.

Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 7:20 am Post subject:

My roomate got it installed I believe. But it ended there for being a little to slow. But I mean this si the FIRST public release. I think 6 months from now this could be be hella amazing.

Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 7:34 am Post subject:

How will PearPC lead to more pirated MacOSX? Right now I can just borrow an OSX CD, and install it on another Mac that didn't come with OSX (or an older version of it).

To tell you the truth, if I could get a hold of an OSX install CD, I'd totally go for setting up PearPC with OSX and wait for it to get better or see how my PC handles it. I've been thinking about getting back into OSX programming, but kinda tough without the $$. Hell I'll buy a copy of Panther just in the mean time if it meant I can do some coding. $130 is pretty much my spending limit these days so I can't even afford a cheap used Mac.

Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 1:29 pm Post subject:

Lycander wrote:
How will PearPC lead to more pirated MacOSX? Right now I can just borrow an OSX CD, and install it on another Mac that didn't come with OSX (or an older version of it).

how many windows users do you think will purchase OS X to check out PearPC? i mean how many windows users do you know who actually own their copies of windows (in my experience in the last 5 years it hasn't been many)?! at least with putting it on a mac you've purchased the base Mac OS licence (all other OS purchases are technically upgrades).

Lycander wrote:
To tell you the truth, if I could get a hold of an OSX install CD, I'd totally go for setting up PearPC with OSX and wait for it to get better or see how my PC handles it. I've been thinking about getting back into OSX programming.

in its current state i don't think that would be the most optimal way to get back to the mac, but it would be interesting. if you really want to try it, i have a copy of jaguar that i'd be willing to donate if you're interested. i don't have multiple copies of panther lying around though.

Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 2:50 pm Post subject:

saw this project this morning.. and was like W00t.. grabbed my install dvd of panther and headed off to work.. i got 10.3 up and running.. it is really cool.. but still needs some work.. i love the idea and hope they continue going hardcore on this..

I think the more people who play with it, and get a chance to play around w/ OS X will only help apple.. apple has a bad steriotypical reputation.. and the more people who actually play with it, is only going to make them want to play w/ it on it's real hardware..

Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 8:23 pm Post subject:

hohlecow,
I'm starting to fall in love with Gentoo again, so it might be even tougher for me to get back into the Mac scene Very Happy

My $$ is going towards buying a rock right now.