using mac os x86 as main operating system

[punkrockml13]

I've done my share of fooling around with mac os x86 and id much rather use it as a main OS and ditch windows, but id like to know how many people are actually running 10.4.x as their main or only operating system. are there any definite pros or cons to doing this? and can they catch you and prosecute you for running it by using checks or something through the system? it would be great to run it as my OS but i cant afford to be caught doing it.

 

thanks for any replies that i might get

[fOZf8]

I use it for my main OS on my family PC (the one everyone shares). There are a few slight problems for me with it, but I just like it so much, and most of those problems won't be solved by have a real Mac (although I'll likely buy one anyway).

 

For me the biggest issues are...

 

1. No way to transfer music to my Nomad Jukebox.

 

2. Quick and dirty video editing in Final Cut is like pulling bear teeth, always end up rebooting to XP to use Vegas.

 

3. Games...ouch. At least my Sims2 addiction has been conquered by staying in OSx86.

 

4. RDC is at least 50% slower than the XP RDC...something I've learned to deal with though.

 

5. PPC audio apps don't like to play with unibin audio apps whatsoever.

 

None of these are the fault of being on a hackintosh directly, but like I said, I like it too much, I'll likely buy a Powermac when the desktops arive.

[Rammjet]

For me the biggest issues are...

 

1. No way to transfer music to my Nomad Jukebox.

 

Might try these:

 

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26992

 

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26624

 

Also, is Mac RDC a Universal Binary or still PPC? If PPC, Rosetta emulation will take a big hit.

 

Edit: RDC 1.0.3 is from 2004 and is NOT Unibin. Might want to look into the freeware solution of VNC where ChickenOfVNC on Mac is Unibin.

[dr.funk]

I have it as a "play around" os.... Since I cant get pci or audio to work, its eye candy for me right now.

 

X64 is the way to go. All my audio apps work, plugins and its smooth as butter...

 

Maybe Ill buy a mac, but the osx interface isnt that much of a draw for me.....if I could just get sound to work...

[node64]

I use it as my main os, its great most of the time!

 

Problems are mostly only photoshop speed althought the worst part is how long it takes to load the photoshop app! once its loaded itsquick enough not to drive you crazy.

 

I do alot of home recording on my computer but just now i reboot into a trimmed down, audio app only version of xp. I did that b4 i changed over to osx so thats no biggie!

 

For everyday web browsing and universal apps, osx is great imo.

[SLy CaT]

i use osx 10.4.5 as my primary os. i think i've found all the counterpart os x applications that i needed... and i just find os x to be a lot faster and productive than my windows xp.

 

however, my sata hd cant be seen, so thats annoying... i cant access my 250 gb hd (i have the os's on separate hd's. also, my video card doesnt have a completely compatible driver using macvidia (watching videos in fullscreen frameskips).... but resolution is fine.

 

though, i'm stilll a bit cautious of os x screwing up, so i'm constantly backing stuff up onto another hd.

[jtwh20]

main OS - i specifically bought this PC for osx - everything works 100,000 times better than my g4 tower

[Colonel]

I've been using OSx86 as my primary OS since 10.4.1. After using it all of this time, I start wondering if it really is a hackintosh. It works great for all of my daily things. My hackintosh works alot better than my iBook and it scores just as good as my old iMac G5 in Xbench.

 

I have always had all supported hardware so it has been easy for me. 10.4.6 works great.

[Icebreaker]

2. Quick and dirty video editing in Final Cut is like pulling bear teeth, always end up rebooting to XP to use Vegas.

Do you use the universal version of Final cut?

 

FCP is the main reason why I was thinking of a hacknintosh tower. I´m mainly going to use Windows and if FCP won´t work well, I think it´s just best to pick the best hardware for my needs instead of making compromises so that Tiger will work, like Intel instead of AMD, ATI instead of Geforce etc.

[dr.funk]

Yeah..You have to build a box for this...Dont even bother with an amd setup....

[xandiztxu]

I'm planinng on buy a Hackintosh =p

 

I bought this motherboard MSI-975PL

 

anyone knows if its a good motherboard for OSX86?

 

THX!

[zu1u]

i'm using osx86 as a main os myself, i learnt to live with most 'bugs' and disadvantages of a real mac, the only things that really bother me still are

 

No nVidia graphics support

Not enough UniBin applications

 

but i'm sure all of these are going to be solved, in time, if not... i might just buy a mac

[Jeezoflip]

i dont really understand the point in building a computer for hackintosh...like yeah, its cool to like be able to run OS X on a reg computer...but, if your gonna go buy a new computer for it, might as well just buy a real mac. If its running windows as well that your worried about, just get an intel mac, and get boot camp. Unless you have some fetish for waisting money... I mean if you think about it, your spending alot of money for nothing. First of all, its illegal to even be running it. Second, you dont have any customer support what so ever, you have to rely on these forums for help. And 3rd, so much regular pc hardware is unsupported.

[dr.funk]

I have now tried it on 3 computers..osx x86 is {censored}.

 

I'd like to know what you guys do with it... Surf?

 

I'm comparing this to my SX 3 (legit) box, it needs to do that or this is a toy. I.e....use of pci slots..us of ANY usb device...use of SOUND.

 

this thing is a joke to be honest.

[gr4y]

i dont really understand the point in building a computer for hackintosh...like yeah, its cool to like be able to run OS X on a reg computer...but, if your gonna go buy a new computer for it, might as well just buy a real mac. If its running windows as well that your worried about, just get an intel mac, and get boot camp. Unless you have some fetish for waisting money... I mean if you think about it, your spending alot of money for nothing. First of all, its illegal to even be running it. Second, you dont have any customer support what so ever, you have to rely on these forums for help. And 3rd, so much regular pc hardware is unsupported.

 

as for me it's definitely not 'cool' thingie, it's all about money, in here mac mini costs about 1100 USD (1.66GHz Core Duo/512/80/SD), for a 700USD i can purchase pc like P4D930 3Ghz, 1Gb ram, 250hdd, dvdrw. and you say 'a lot of money for nothing'?

if mac's were cheaper i would buy one with no doubt.

[fOZf8]

Might try these:

 

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26992

 

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26624

 

Also, is Mac RDC a Universal Binary or still PPC? If PPC, Rosetta emulation will take a big hit.

 

Edit: RDC 1.0.3 is from 2004 and is NOT Unibin. Might want to look into the freeware solution of VNC where ChickenOfVNC on Mac is Unibin.

 

Dang, thanks for that heads up on the Jukebox info mate...very nice!

 

You're right about RDC though...I really should try a unibin VNC, considering M$ RDC on the mac really is just a relabeled vnc.

 

Do you use the universal version of Final cut?

 

FCP is the main reason why I was thinking of a hacknintosh tower. I´m mainly going to use Windows and if FCP won´t work well, I think it´s just best to pick the best hardware for my needs instead of making compromises so that Tiger will work, like Intel instead of AMD, ATI instead of Geforce etc.

 

Yeah, I'm using the unibin of FCP...the program itself is fast enough, even on my GMA900, it's the entire interface and methodology of the program that drives me crazy...so, if you're already keen on that you'll be fine. I'd LIKE to use it since it's such an industry standard, and I do occasionally do commercial work, but it seriously just cuts my workflow down to a crawl due to it's strings of complications involved just to do a simple task. In Vegas I can drop in a huge DV file and have 20 completely different chunks of it rendered out to seperate files in a matter of minutes...for FCP that takes me closer to a few hours!

 

In the end though, I'm sure more and more things will get better once the full mactel desktops come out (I hope!)

[JaS]

I run it as my main os for everyting from dvd ripping to playing Games like Quake 4 and Doom 3.

 

I still use windows for playing Obivon

[Icebreaker]

i dont really understand the point in building a computer for hackintosh...like yeah, its cool to like be able to run OS X on a reg computer...but, if your gonna go buy a new computer for it, might as well just buy a real mac. If its running windows as well that your worried about, just get an intel mac, and get boot camp. Unless you have some fetish for waisting money... I mean if you think about it, your spending alot of money for nothing. First of all, its illegal to even be running it. Second, you dont have any customer support what so ever, you have to rely on these forums for help. And 3rd, so much regular pc hardware is unsupported.

 

How upgradable are the iMacs? Can you put a x850 because it can be softmodded to Firegl? X1600 is not good enough graphics card for e.g. 3D programs like Maya and current powermacs don´t run Windows, which I need.

 

Yeah, I'm using the unibin of FCP...the program itself is fast enough, even on my GMA900, it's the entire interface and methodology of the program that drives me crazy...so, if you're already keen on that you'll be fine. I'd LIKE to use it since it's such an industry standard, and I do occasionally do commercial work, but it seriously just cuts my workflow down to a crawl due to it's strings of complications involved just to do a simple task. In Vegas I can drop in a huge DV file and have 20 completely different chunks of it rendered out to seperate files in a matter of minutes...for FCP that takes me closer to a few hours!

 

In the end though, I'm sure more and more things will get better once the full mactel desktops come out (I hope!)

That´s nice to hear. We have a DVX100BE and my wife is going to do the editing and needs a new program. She has been using iMovie so far, but it´s just too limited and I was adviced to take a look at FC and Vegas since they offer the best support for progressive footages.

[moseschrist]

i'm using it as a main os two...

altough this reply is written from windows (shame on me...)

at the moment i only use windows when i need to connect to wireless networks... other than that its all OSX all the time...

[Victor Gil]

I use it as my main OS, the only thing I do in Windows is playing Lineage 2, and some Visual Foxpro Programming. Designing Webpages, browsing the net and everything else I do it on Mac.

[Korrupted]

I use OSX as my main OS now. I only switch into windows for gaming. Parallels Desktop takes care of any non-game apps I might need otherwise.

[jpolster2005]

I use it as my main OS. I have a 2nd windows computer for the rare time i need windows. I dont dual boot cuz its too hard to set up (and screw up)

[CyberdogX86]

i can use it for everything. runs like a dream. only issues i have are; having to shutdown and start up instead of restarting, and no dual displays yet. both of these will eventually be solved.

 

you don't mention what you tried it on, or what your issues were. i suspect that your machines were at the far end of the compatibility spectrum, and that you lack the technical knowledge or patience to solve your problems. therefore you call it a joke rather that take responsibility for your own inability to get it to function.

 

bad sport.

 

I have now tried it on 3 computers..osx x86 is {censored}.

 

I'd like to know what you guys do with it... Surf?

 

I'm comparing this to my SX 3 (legit) box, it needs to do that or this is a toy. I.e....use of pci slots..us of ANY usb device...use of SOUND.

 

this thing is a joke to be honest.

[zu1u]

i can use it for everything. runs like a dream. only issues i have are; having to shutdown and start up instead of restarting

 

did you edit the mach_kernel.. that worked for a lot of people, including myself.. search the forum.. the thread is here someplace

[aberracus]

Mine is prymary OSX, and near only one. I use mine for FCP, Motion, web developing, Design and playing games, i really keep a 20Gb winxp partition for installing thing in my Dell Pocket PC.

 

I don't have any problems everything is 100% compatible, adn works superb, i prefere MAC OSX over Windows 1000 to 1, and i built mine to be 100% compatible but more powerfull than every MAC in existence now.

 

O, and i was forgeting, to make it upgradeable, MACs really aren't.

 

Its awesome, in FCP it can beat a G5Quad, and any other MAC ever built.

 

Regards

Aberracus