MAKE | HOW TO – Install Leopard on your PC in 3 easy steps

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By Phillip Torrone
Posted 2007/10/27 @ 6:00 am
Category Computers & Mobile

dailyApps shows you how to install Apple’s new Mac OS X (Leopard) on a PC…

Well its been only a day since the Mac OSX Leopard was released officially by Apple and the hackers have managed to create a patched DVD that everyone like you and me can use to install Leopard on PC’s without having to buy a Mac. Please note the tutorial that I am going to post is still experimental and things might not work the right way simply because it is still early days in hacking Leopard to work on PC’s. Well if you don’t mind your PC getting screwed then go ahead and try out this tutorial.

HOW TO – Install Leopard on your PC in 3 easy steps – Link.

BY Phillip Torrone

Editor at large - Make magazine. Creative director - Adafruit Industries, contributing editor - Popular Science. Previously: Founded - Hack-a-Day, how-to editor - Engadget, Director of product development - Fallon Worldwide, Technology Director - Braincraft.

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3 Responses to HOW TO – Install Leopard on your PC in 3 easy steps

newbill123 on October 27th, 2007 at 11:48 am said:

What’s the legality of this if I own a Mac, and a PC, and buy the Family Pack license? Is this a grey area legally (like making backup copies of disks?) or is putting Leopard on non-Apple hardware just plain illegal

Lack of support from Apple: not a big deal.
Lack of being able to tell people of success: more problematic.

Reply ↓
RingoTheScorpio on October 27th, 2007 at 5:41 pm said:

There is a line in the fine print of the user agreements that says you may not install this on a non-Macintosh. I could not find the 10.5 agreement online, but you can download the one from 10.4 as a PDF file from Apple here:
http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx1044.pdf

Read the first line of section 2.A which reads:
2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.
A. This License allows you to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time. You agree not to install, use or run the Apple
Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so.

*********

Apple may not hunt you down if you purchased the software legally and then broke that particular part about “non-Apple machine” but then again they MAY. However they have put in writing that you are not permitted to install this on a non-Apple machine for a reason or reasons. At the very least they want you to buy their hardware. On the other hand they don’t want you to run it on a PC have it crash then cry to them.

**********

That noted, SHOULD you still wish to try [and perhaps succeed, many people have] you should read the wiki at:
http://www.osx86project.org/

PARTS of OSX are open sourced. In true maker fashion I would recommend you consider installing a Darwin port to your PC instead of hacking the full retail OSX.
http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/

and http://www.xdarwin.org/

should both be helpful.

Reply ↓
RDAC on October 27th, 2007 at 8:54 pm said:

Exactly what Ringo said. Indeed, Apple is in the hardware business, so OSX will never come to the land of PC’s by any other way but this, unless the unthinkable happens.

There’s a huge market they’re missing out on by not having this available, however they don’t care.

Either way, I’ve said since the Macbooks came out that an Apple computer is pretty much the best Windows PC you can buy. Sad but true…they hold their value, and you have choice like no other. Linux, Windows, OSX, it’s all there.

Ok, fanboy-ism aside, I’d love to have one. I guess I’ll just have to settle for a Mac Mini somewhere in the future (or perhaps a hacked AppleTV 2 towards Christmas, you never know).

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