With Trotsky as my inspiration, I reveal that I have had in mind for a while making me an Intel-based machine for Mac purposes. It should be simple enough now that Macs are on Intel, with the complication that I must find out how I can implement Extensible Firmware. That, chums, is where you come in. Most of you have more experience with PCs than I do, and some of you are familiar with their inner workings. So tell me: where does the EFI reside when it is part of a system? How do I find parts compatible with it?
A few more questions that no one can probably answer but which are also relevant to my quest: In order to run OS X, do I need a Duo or other Celeron type of processor? Or will there be some other hardware snag-up that gets in the way of my fanciful dream of Mac-making?
I’m running OSX on VMware (slowly) with no major problems. If you’re planning on running it on a regular PC with all the fancies and shmancies, you’ll need an Intel 915 chipset with onboard graphics. Most any P4 or Celeron will due as long as it has SSE3 support (so, any of the newer ones). I believe it may also support some newer ATi video cards, but you should look into that before making any purchases.
Hooray! So OK, are you serious about he on-board video part? Can I ignore it and get a video card anyway? You seem to suggest yes on that, so hooray. Do you have a preferred manufacturer for your motherboards?
I like Asus and Abit brand motherboards, but it’s important to make sure that all the onboard components are supported before you buy the mobo. Here’s a couple websites showing a list of supported hardware:
I heard that there was one by Asus that was almost identical to the Apple developer kits… I’ll see if I can find it a little later. If you see an Intel 915G or 945G chipset motherboard and has a supported sound chip and network chip, you’re in the green.
Also, you can use other video cards, but right now they are not fully supported so you won’t have quartz extreme acceleration with anything other than the onboard graphics. That could change in the near future when Apple releases Intel Power Macs with good cards in them.
From what I’ve read, Apple will lock it down in the final version so you have to use their hardware to run it. So you might be SOL when the final version rolls around. Up until that point though, you could defiently run the betas!