Am I crazy for thinking about a Hackintosh?

[Steve Modica]

I think it’s crazy depending on what you’re trying to do.
I can’t use them because if I got a driver built and working on one, I couldn’t be sure it worked on a mac, so I’d have to get macs anyhow.

Steve Modica
CTO, Small Tree Communications

[Bernard Newnham]

“if I got a driver built and working on one, I couldn’t be sure it worked on a mac”

Not sure what you mean by that. All that matters is that FCP – or whatever application – works on the machine. It’s worked twice on two different motherboard/CPU combinations for me, so it probably works on lots more. In fact tonymac https://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/ thinks his method of hackintosh build will work on lots of systems. You do have to remember that OSX is secretly – under the pretty interface – just another version of Linux/Unix, which is why people can make the thing work.

Personally I wouldn’t care at all about this, except that I think FCP is an excellent piece of software and I want to use it for editing.

OSX and Windows 7 – and Linux/Ubuntu for that matter – are very similar, just like getting out of one car into another, really. I have no desire to be ripped off by anyone, and as my box cost 25% of a Mac Pro, I think maybe Apple are charging just a touch over. Did you ever wonder how they manage to run those exotic stores with lots of assistants?

B

bernie

[Steve Modica]

[Bernard Newnham] “Not sure what you mean by that. All that matters is that FCP – or whatever application – works on the machine. It’s worked twice on two different motherboard/CPU combinations for me, so it probably works on lots more. In fact tonymac https://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/ thinks his method of hackintosh build will work on lots of systems. You do have to remember that OSX is secretly – under the pretty interface – just another version of Linux/Unix, which is why people can make the thing work.”

FCP and Aja and a lot of things things FCP will interact with use drivers. Those drivers are built and tested on Macs using the specific Nehelam or Westmere chipsets Apple is using. Using some other system with some other PCIE, USB, graphics or other chipset may lead to unexpected issues.

Even if you match all the hardware, you can still run into firmware/initialization issues because something is brought up slightly differently with firmware XYZ.

As a hobby, I think it’s a great idea. I’d love to have OS X running on lots of old hardware we have kicking around.

Steve Modica
CTO, Small Tree Communications

[Bernard Newnham]

You could try it out then, as you have the hardware. You can do it for the cost of a copy of Snow Leopard.

Although I’m only a tiny user these days, being mostly retired, this isn’t hobby use – and I’ve done several time sensitive projects on it. But I don’t need the AJA cards, as I seem to only do DV and AVCHD these days.

I must admit I didn’t know the name Westmere, but Wikipedia tells me it’s just another Intel processor architecture – a new one every week folks. This one is used for making Core i7 processors and successors, since that’s what they’re making currently. I’ve made a hackintosh on both P35 and P55 chipsets now – the operating system doesn’t appear to be that picky, given a little help from it’s Linux/Unix friends, so it will probably work on others. Macs are much less special than Apple would like you to think….

If anyone wants to lend me an appropriate card I could give it a try.

B

bernie

[Steve Modica]

[Bernard Newnham] “I must admit I didn’t know the name Westmere, but Wikipedia tells me it’s just another Intel processor architecture – a new one every week folks. This one is used for making Core i7 processors and successors, since that’s what they’re making currently. I’ve made a hackintosh on both P35 and P55 chipsets now – the operating system doesn’t appear to be that picky, given a little help from it’s Linux/Unix friends, so it will probably work on others. Macs are much less special than Apple would like you to think….”

Westmere is the server atchitecture. i3, i5 and i7 are the desktop architectures. Both offer the integrated memory controller, but the westmere is 3 channel. I think the i3-i7 are two channel (it makes a difference for networking).

Steve Modica
CTO, Small Tree Communications

[Cade Muhlig]

I’ve been using a hackintosh with FCP for about 5 months or so. I’ll admit, it did take some work to get everything working properly, but I didn’t really build mine using the recommended way, because I didnt know the recommended way at the time. There where a few bumps, and it took enough days of me fixing things in the beginning before I questioned if it was really worth it.

But now, I’m happy to say, everything is working 100% for me with no more crashing or problems of any kind. INCLUDING an Aja Kona lhe. (my main concern before I built it) and the esata card from caldigit.

I’ve built two now almost exactly the same. The one I’m on now has an ATi 5850, i7 930 (@3.7ghz), and 20 gb of ram. This can almost rival the new top of the line Macs costing 4x as much.

And I think as long as it’s possible, I will continue to build them. Even in the last few months, the process to build and install has become smoother and smoother, with more and more people going for them.

For me, there is no reason anymore to pay 3x as much for the same equipment with apple logo. Plus, it’s really upgradeable

And Im using it in a full post-production environment.

I can’t recommend it for everyone, but if you’ve got some patience and a little time, there is a pretty big payoff.

[Bernard Newnham]

My first attempt was difficult to set up. I had learned of the possibility of making a Hackintosh but hadn’t discovered the Tonymac system.

I used a hacked OS called iDeneb – though I did buy a copy of Snow Leopard from the Apple shop. It was tricky to do, and took a number of tries, with a half hour wait to discover I’d done it wrong again. My second try, using iBoot, Multibeast and proper Snow Leopard, took two tries – because I hadn’t read the instructions properly. If I did it again it would take no time at all.

The second system uses an Asus P55 motherboard, Core i5 750 and Nvidia 9600GTX – not the absolute cutting edge, but pretty speedy.

B

bernie