15 August 2005
Hackers bypass Mac OS X chip-security
By Tom Krazit, IDG News Service
Instructions on how to bypass Apple's built-in security and install
Mac OS X on any PC have been posted on the Net.
Apple recently announced that its operating system will run on
Intel's x86 architecture chips from next year. It has been working on
a version of Mac OS X for Intel's chips since 2000, even though Macs
currently use PowerPC chips from IBM and Freescale Semiconductor.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs told developers in June that a switch was
necessary to take advantage of the low-power chips Intel is expected
to release in the future. Apple execs insisted that Mac OS X would
only run on x86 chips used in Apple-developed hardware. Intel PCs
distributed to Apple developers with the x86 version of Mac OS X used
a security chip to prevent developers from copying Mac OS to other
Intel PCs.
However, several enterprising hackers have figured out ways to bypass
the security chip and run the developer's version of MacOS for x86 on
any x86-based PC, according to a posting on the website of The OSx86
Project. Posters on that site as well as other sites within the Mac
community claim to have used the instructions to run Mac OS X on
their Intel or AMD PCs, with some posting pictures and videos of x86
PCs booting Mac OS X.
The process requires a copy of Mac OS X version 4 (Tiger), VMware's
virtualisation software, the PearPC emulator that can run operating
systems written for PowerPC on any architecture, Apple's Darwin 8.0.1
software, an x86 processor that supports SSE2 (Streaming SIMD
Extensions 2), and two files created by an independent developer that
can be downloaded using the BitTorrent file-sharing system.
As of Friday afternoon, detailed instructions were available in a
wiki created by The OSx86 Project. Another site, Xplodenet.com - has
posted instructions for installing Mac OS X without using VMware's
software.
Users must be willing to download pirated software, as the two files
have been modified to get around the security technology in the
developer PCs, according to The OSx86 Project. The site insists that
it does not support the use of illegal software but wishes to offer a
forum for users interested in running Mac OS on x86 chips.
Aside from a brief flirtation with licensing the operating system in
the mid-1990s, Apple has maintained control over its operating system
by restricting it to hardware made and developed by the company.
However, there is a sizable group of PC users that like to build
their own systems using hardware from Intel and AMD, and many users
in that group have itched for a way to run Mac OS on these low-cost
machines.
Dell chairman Michael Dell also expressed interest in selling a Mac
OS X Dell PC after Jobs announced the switch to Intel's chips.
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