OS X as supplied is compiled and built to run on PPC as a big-endian architecture (opposite from x86) though most OS X code should be end-agnostic. To run the non-Darwin parts of OS X on x86 you'd need a layer of PPC to x86 emulation, which handled any swaps needed, and handled all other emulation mappings.
This is not trivial. Ryan's XPostFacto isn't doing emulation. Instead it's conning the OS X installer to believe the physical hardware is slightly different from the reality, and Ryan supplies some missing or legacy drivers to help this along. This is a far, far cry from trying to run a PPC build of OS X on a completely alien architecture like x86.
In general, I find no more problems keeping hardware matched to my vintage PCI Macs as I do to my vintage PCI PCs. But I don't need the raw power you need, and for newer kit, I guess this might be different.
GWW
On Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004, at 11:17 Europe/London, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Okay, I've been keeping an eye on this list since OS X came out, I think,
and haven't noticed this one: I want to put OS X on one of my PC's.
Since OS X is based on BSD + MachKernel (to boot on Macs in the first
place), and I have some introduction to what is involved porting *nix
from x86 to PPC courtesy of Debian Linux, I think this has to be
do-able. BeOS was available in binary for compilation on IA32 or PPC
processor formats, and seems to represents the third underpinning of OS
X, by the way in which OS X handles processing (CPU and GPU and
pre-emptive fetching).
Has anyone tried? The Darwin Project is interesting, but limited, and
you really don't end up with OS X in a number of respects.
As to why do this, it is because I like the way OS X looks and handles
on my B&W G4/400; but I have much more powerful processing in my
existing AMD 2.2 GHz CPU and NVidia FX5200-128MB AGP8x GPU and PC100 vs.
DDR266, and cannot afford to get a G5 anytime soon. What really kicked
this off was finding a pair of 200GB Maxtors on sale, taking them home,
and finding I would need yet another card upgrade before I could use
them on my Mac; and would still be stuck with 400MHz vs. 2.2GHz for
processing DV; and finding that a new DVD-RW for my PC would be <$70
versus >$100 for a slower and less-capable Mac compatible.
Why thow out the baby with the bath-water?
TIA,
David
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