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Assuming success, will AMD be possible?


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Assuming that in the next few weeks someone gets Tiger running nativley on a standard x86 intel based PC, and assuming that it is running at a reasonable standard.

 

Would it be crazy to think that it will run on an AMD machine? Are the intel 86 vs the AMD 86's so different?

 

If not possible natively, do any of you see it running on VMWare on top of an AMD based system?

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I'm only guessing here, but I think the issue is hardware drivers - AMD chips AFAIK use different motherboard chipsets, which may or may not be compatible with the drivers supplied. At the least, the dev version will probably {censored} out when it fails to detect the right chipset - nothing to do with the CPU plugged into it.

 

As far as I understand it, VMWare doesn't do any emulation, it simply 'partitions' your machine so you can run several OSs simultaneously. In other words, no, it's unlikely that you'll be running 'native' OS X on an AMD machine for some time.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong :?

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VMWare creates a virtual machine layer within an operating system. It DOES send code directly to the processor; however, it does not access the video card, bios or other hardware directly. VMWare supports some access to devices; however, most of it is through the operating system, not low-level access. Therefore, running the Mac OS on VMWare is highly significant. First of all, it confirms that it WILL indeed run on an AMD processor. Why? Because VMWare doesn't have an "Intel" or "Amd" chipset in their virtual machine--it may be identified as an intel processor, but that's because that's what it says it is-not because it's a requirement of the software. That means at least what we have running already will eventually work on any x86 processor (maybe with a bunch of hacking, but this shows there's no "special sauce" in the x86 implementation that apple's using for dev machines- the only thing is the TPM, which we seem to have made some progress on). In addition, that means it'll work on the lowest-end hardware out there, really. VMWare does not give you an impressive virtual machine. Its graphics capabilities are particularly limited. Mac OS X may be slow in VMWare, but if it can boot natively on VMware, it can be made to run on anyhing (IMHO). Just a little clarification on how VMWare works.

James

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I don't see why it couldn't work on an AMD, given that you have enough support to get to the point where WindowServer and loginwindow start. I've gotten that far with an Athlon 64 (not in vmware either!), but I just don't know how to get past the blank loginwindow with the never progressing progress bar.

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Sportmankid: The dvd release is not worth your while yet, as it will not install on your machine. With the TPM and all, plus SSE3 and hardware support, your best bet is to get the mactel base. Where, I can't say, but google is your friend. But if your bandwith allows it, get the DVD too....It will most likely come in handy.

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mr bond is it realy worth it to download the mactel base as "my friend" has that dev thingy already. In your opinion do you think that once or even before apple release the intel based macs. that some one will make a working version of the dvd that will work on none sse3 cpus. ?

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