Think Different: How to Build Your Own Hackintosh

Tonymac takes voluntary donations, but otherwise, both of them appear to be in it for the non-fiduciary mix of renown, bragging rights, dedication and pure curiosity that drives many of the best open source software projects. Elsewhere on the web, the forums at insanelymac. And beyond these, many other communities and install methods abound, but Tonymac's MultiBeast is what we'll cover here.

Hackintosh Diaries, Part One: It's Never Been Easier to Build a Hackintosh

Individuals, as well as companies like Dell and HP, have been using component PC hardware to build Windows and Unix-based computers for centuries in computer years. So long, in fact, that the phrase "IBM Compatible" is still sometimes used to describe this class of machine, long after IBM sold their personal computer business to Lenovo. As the IBM Compatible Wikipedia page sagely points out, even though the power of today's computers would have seemed wholly inconceivable to most IBM PC users in , a remarkable level of backwards compatibility remains.

That's because the foundational structure of a Windows PC has not significantly changed in 30 years.

Today, running macOS on PCs isn't just a way to avoid paying Apple's prices.

The relevant legacy bit here for us is the BIOS--the software pre-loaded onto a PC's motherboard that's responsible for recognizing installed hardware and launching the operating system. Which is why it's easy to throw together a Windows PC from a variety of different parts from hundreds of different manufacturers. So even though the hardware inside your Mac Pro, from the Intel processor to the Nvidia graphics card, could be exactly the same as parts found inside a Windows PC, the two operating systems remain incompatible at the BIOS level.

So the first step in any Hackintosh configuration is tricking the OS X install disc into installing on a machine that doesn't have EFI. In the MultiBeast method I'm covering here, this first trick is accomplished by a burned boot CD called iBoot, which does the emulation and sleight of hand necessary for your plain-old store-bought Snow Leopard install disc to think it's inside the friendly confines of an EFI-based system.

How To Build Your Own Hackintosh

Once Snow Leopard is installed, there's still a fair amount of tweaking necessary if you want the machine to boot without the help of your magic CD and have all its hardware natively supported. Hardware support is handled by installing and configuring the necessary device drivers called kernel extensions, or "kexts" in OS X parlance for everything from your video card to your on-board audio chipset. In the method we'll be using, this second step is covered singlehandedly by MultiBeast, a handy Mac application that bundles and installs the large number of necessary drivers and kernel extensions a Hackintosh might need.

In addition, MultiBeast installs a special bootloader called Chimera, which sits between the PC's BIOS and the operating system and has a lot of hardware recognition built-in. If not, don't worry. We'll go into more detail in the next two installments. The good news is that all of this software is free, and unlike many other hack-y apps of its kind, it's very well-designed for maximum ease of use. Coming up tomorrow is a guide to choosing your hardware components—probably the most important and potentially confusing step in the entire process.

From there, we'll put the whole thing together, install OS X, and configure everything for maximum performance. It's going to be great.

• Modern “Hackintoshes” show that Apple should probably just build a Mac tower | Ars Technica.
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• [Apple] "Think Different: How to Build Your Own Hackintosh" free makeuseof guide.

But before we begin, a word of caution. Apple is, legally speaking, not a fan of this process. Installing OS X on non-Apple hardware is a violation of the license agreement.

A brief history of the Hackintosh

In the past, setting up a Hackintosh potentially involved an illegally pirated and tweaked OS X install disc, which was even less savory. But now, most current processes work with an officially purchased OS X But this is still a "proceed at your own risk" scenario, despite a fairly uncontentious environment currently. As Tonymac told me via email, "Sure, it's always a possibility that Apple finally gets fed up with the scene and pulls the plug.

But after almost five years of Intel Macs and the scene developing I don't think that's a real possibility at this point. He also makes the good point that the Hackintosh process will by its very nature bring more people to the Mac platform, and while I think the process will be fairly easy for you , PopSci reader, it's still a bit too complex to make anything resembling a tiny dent in Apple's hardware sales bottom line. But, as with anything hack-y, proceed carefully and be prepared for the potential that a software update from Apple could end the whole party.

Check out part two of the series on choosing and assembling your hardware here. Hackintoshes are PCs that run macOS, which means you can do whatever you want with the design. Designer Sebastiaan de With's triple-monitor setup uses actual Apple monitors. Right now, Apple doesn't even sell its own monitors, though that will apparently change with the next-gen Mac Pro.

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Some people go to the trouble of hollowing out a real Mac Pro case to enhance the illusion. Many Hackintosh users also happily buy and use other Apple hardware. A portrait of the author's most recent Hackintosh experiment. Apple could serve many of these users by making a reasonably flexible Mac tower. A dual-monitor Hackintosh, once again accompanied by genuine Apple hardware—many people we spoke to own a Hackintosh plus a MacBook of some stripe, possibly because laptops make awful Hackintoshes.

Further Reading Picking up the pieces: John Siracusa mourns the Power PC. Andrew Cunningham Andrew wrote and edited tech news and reviews at Ars Technica from to , where he still occasionally freelances; he is currently a lead editor at Wirecutter.