osx86 and a pc.. a brief read...

well, today shamanstears inquired on what it takes to get osx up on a pc so i thought i'd get up a quickie on osx on an amd/intel pc.

first thing you will need to have is a p-ata harddrive.  thus far, you can not install on a s-ata drive since the current builds for pcs of osx86 do not have the driver support....

second thing you will need is a patched install dvd.  you can either patch your own install dvds/cds of os x tiger or download a pre-patched dvd from the vast web. 

the install is prety easy, just boot to your dvd/cd drive and go through the installer.  you may need to format the harddrive using the Disk Utility program under Tools.  if your having problems getting the harddrive to detect, try formatting it to FAT32 and make the partition active.  also remember that osx cannot read ntfs but can read fat32.  while windows cannot read mac filesystem out of the box, however MacDrive will let you read and write to the mac drive (retail app).

also, if possible try to find out if your cpu supports sse2 or sse2/sse3.  if it supports the latter be sure to check those options in the installer.  i usually will try the install w/o any additional drivers besides the sse patch options to see if i can get a good install; once i verify a working install then i try out drivers to see if they help or not. 

you probably will have to tweak the bootloader options, here's another good post on editing darwin boot options: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Tips_And_Tricks#Messing_with_the_boot_options

you can use the darwin bootloader to load xp/vista or use the windows one. i prefer using the vista bootloader and the chain0 method.  

my network adapter was not detected though and your usually better off on either having a mobo w/the proper adapter or buying a pci card one online.  this page has a list of compatible hardware for os x 10.4.3 (so newer builds should also work) so you can get the write stuff if your gonna build a system for it: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.4.3

my setup is a triple boot of xp prof, vista and osx 10.4.8.  my osx runs pretty smooth but the lack of any network drivers hurts experience, can't really have a pc w/o internet.  so until i get a compatible card or someone writes me some realtek drivers, my osx install is mainly just a 'just because i can' and to mess w/my pals.. but i could see it working as a main os if i ever get a proper network card.

so theres my quickie..

feel free to drop some of your notes/experience using osx on your pc in the comments.. peace