Mac Mainboard - Anywhere? How Much?

[Thanh-BKK]

Hello.

I am neither able nor willing to pay the crazy amounts of money Apple asks for their machines, but i want a Mac. To be precise, i want to run Mac OSX.

Yesterday i have informed myself about possibilities - one being a "Hackintosh" which isn't legal because it uses modified versions of the OS to run them on a standard PC.

The second would be building my own.

And for that quest i would need a Mac mainboard (they call them "logicboard"), one of those that takes an Intel CPU. I need ONLY the mainboard because the rest of the parts are fairly standard except the PSU which i can modify myself. Building my own Mac on the base of a genuine mainboard is NOT illegal because it's just like upgrading or downgrading a real Mac - as long as the mainboard is from Apple and OSX is genuine, everything is ok.

So does anyone know WHERE in Thailand to ask for such a mainboard? Apple themselves don't seem to aell them anywhere, i found places in the U.S. that sell such parts but that's no option for me - i have no credit card and hence can't buy online.

Also any idea how much would it cost? Any model is ok as long as it takes the Intel CPU's.

I appreciate any information i can get

Best regards.....

Thanh

[Guest Reimar]

Hello.

I am neither able nor willing to pay the crazy amounts of money Apple asks for their machines, but i want a Mac. To be precise, i want to run Mac OSX.

Yesterday i have informed myself about possibilities - one being a "Hackintosh" which isn't legal because it uses modified versions of the OS to run them on a standard PC.

The second would be building my own.

And for that quest i would need a Mac mainboard (they call them "logicboard"), one of those that takes an Intel CPU. I need ONLY the mainboard because the rest of the parts are fairly standard except the PSU which i can modify myself. Building my own Mac on the base of a genuine mainboard is NOT illegal because it's just like upgrading or downgrading a real Mac - as long as the mainboard is from Apple and OSX is genuine, everything is ok.

So does anyone know WHERE in Thailand to ask for such a mainboard? Apple themselves don't seem to aell them anywhere, i found places in the U.S. that sell such parts but that's no option for me - i have no credit card and hence can't buy online.

Also any idea how much would it cost? Any model is ok as long as it takes the Intel CPU's.

I appreciate any information i can get

Best regards.....

Thanh

Take a closer look at the net and search for OS-X x86 compatible hardware. There is an regular OS-X for Intel Computer available but Hardware which is supported you need to check out to first.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Thanks for the reply. But that is what's called the "Hackintosh" - it's not officially from Apple (the OS i mean), otherwise i'd chose that option. Building a machine to the required specs (specific chipset, CPU and GFX only, rest "what's available") would be no problem at all, BUT the OS isn't genuine and not *really* stable too (lots of features not supported etc, many software not working on it either).

You know, i want to once and for all know what all the hype is about - OSX on Mac hardware certainly beats the Hackintosh, but i don't have in excess of 1.000 us$ to play with to get the cheapest one (MacMini), and a laptop wouldn't be an alternative (me needs a desktop).

Or do you (or anyone else?) know of a Linux distro that comes CLOSEST to Mac OSX? I've got a spare machine that i can abuse - Pentium IV-2400, 512 MB - so i don't mind downloading another distro to slap it on there and give it a go. I heard of some Linux distros being almost 1:1 "copies" of OSX......... just haven't found one by googling.

Best regards.....

Thanh

PS congratulations for becoming a Moderator I've always enjoyed your very informative posts, too

[Guest Reimar]

Hi

Thanks for the reply. But that is what's called the "Hackintosh" - it's not officially from Apple (the OS i mean), otherwise i'd chose that option. Building a machine to the required specs (specific chipset, CPU and GFX only, rest "what's available") would be no problem at all, BUT the OS isn't genuine and not *really* stable too (lots of features not supported etc, many software not working on it either).

You know, i want to once and for all know what all the hype is about - OSX on Mac hardware certainly beats the Hackintosh, but i don't have in excess of 1.000 us$ to play with to get the cheapest one (MacMini), and a laptop wouldn't be an alternative (me needs a desktop).

Or do you (or anyone else?) know of a Linux distro that comes CLOSEST to Mac OSX? I've got a spare machine that i can abuse - Pentium IV-2400, 512 MB - so i don't mind downloading another distro to slap it on there and give it a go. I heard of some Linux distros being almost 1:1 "copies" of OSX......... just haven't found one by googling.

Best regards.....

Thanh

PS congratulations for becoming a Moderator I've always enjoyed your very informative posts, too

Apple has released about 2 years ago the first version of OS-X for x86 . Ok that OS is mainly used by developers but that OS exist and it isn't a "Hackintosh"! But keep in mind that those computer need a lot memory, min. 2 GB and other special Hardware. That's why I was wrote that you need to check to first for the Hardware requirements and compatibility of that OS!

In the USA that verion is available but here in Thailand I don't think so.

Ah, and thanks for the wishes.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Thanks again very much OSx86 is what i was talking about.... i read about it several hours yesterday, there's a site dedicated to it even (right now can't remember it tough.... it's where people use that very OS and talk about their experiences and/or problems. Yeah, "Hackintosh" is based on that developer version which is being hacked so it runs on different hardware (ordinary PCs, even AMD ones etc, and laptops). To use it legit you must be an official Apple developer...... unfortunately At least that's what that site said. 2 GB of ram would pose a problem for me on THAT machine (the one i have to play around with) as that MoBo support only 1 GB... it's one of those cheapo "Vzio" machines which have everything on-board, i've gotten that one for free, non-working and only had to change the PSU, now i have a working computer and no real use for it, xixixi. It's fairly low-spec apart from the CPU (pIV-2400), original it had 256 MB of RAM which i doubled, then there's a 30 GB (!!) hard drive and a dvd writer (which i've put there, original it was a CD writer). Came with genuine XP even, altough i don't have the disk, just what's installed (i will keep that one, to play with that machine and other OS's i just swap HDD's).

I am actually right now downloading some kind of theme called "FlyakiteOSX" which is supposed to make XP look like OSX - including that docking station or what it's called on the bottom. Just for fun, to play with on my office machine and on that one at home (but not my main Vista one).

Kind regards.....

your Thanh

[Deksan]

Hello.

I am neither able nor willing to pay the crazy amounts of money Apple asks for their machines, but i want a Mac. To be precise, i want to run Mac OSX.

Yesterday i have informed myself about possibilities - one being a "Hackintosh" which isn't legal because it uses modified versions of the OS to run them on a standard PC.

The second would be building my own.

And for that quest i would need a Mac mainboard (they call them "logicboard"), one of those that takes an Intel CPU. I need ONLY the mainboard because the rest of the parts are fairly standard except the PSU which i can modify myself. Building my own Mac on the base of a genuine mainboard is NOT illegal because it's just like upgrading or downgrading a real Mac - as long as the mainboard is from Apple and OSX is genuine, everything is ok.

So does anyone know WHERE in Thailand to ask for such a mainboard? Apple themselves don't seem to aell them anywhere, i found places in the U.S. that sell such parts but that's no option for me - i have no credit card and hence can't buy online.

Also any idea how much would it cost? Any model is ok as long as it takes the Intel CPU's.

I appreciate any information i can get

Best regards.....

Thanh

Hi,

There used to be some selling on ebay sometimes. I think you can try to contact some apple shop in bkk especially fortune they might have some pieces but I doubt apple let their apple store sell anything like that. You could try get a mac mini 2nd hand also it s the cheapest machine but it works quite well. Some apple store in bangkok might still have some mac mini G4 that you could get for 15-20k bahts. I d recommend you getting a recent mac mini with an intel processor so you could recycle this mac mini and install windows.

Good luck.

[slackula]

There are plenty of mods out there to get fluxbox or xfce looking and performing like OSX IIRC.

Also, I remember reading somewhere that people have got OSX installed and running on ThinkPads, but it took a bit of work and they didn't have all the special function keys and wifi etc working 100%.

FWIW I bought a brand new 13 inch MacBook for the Mrs late last year for 29,500 Baht in Carrefour in Phuket. It wasn't the latest model, but I upgraded the RAM (very easy to do, takes standard RAM sticks) and she loves it. It was over a year old according to Apple when we tried to register for the warranty but we faxed them a copy of the receipt and they gave us a full year with the option to buy the AppleCare extension anytime within that year. We even got the upgrade to Leopard for US$10 when it was released.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Thanks for that... will try it out on next weekend when i have time to "shop around". Unfortunately i don't have the $$ to get a complete Mac Mini - they're out of my reach so to say, hence me asking for a mainboard only. I have read on that same website (also deals with modifications) that folks were successful in putting faster CPU's in those and even upgraded from single core to dual core CPU's in a Mac Mini.

I have or can get cheaply all other parts to put the computer together (case, PSU, drives etc) and i love the challenge of having to modify things (those mainboards don't exactly "slot in" into an ATX case.....) and i do NOT want to run Windows on it - for that i got my Windows PC So a G4 would be fine too (those do run OSX, yes?) however me thinks that MoBo withOUT CPU would be cheaper - and as i can use pretty much any Intel that fits into the socket i could go with "cheapest available" for i don't need the ultimate in power - again, for THAT i've got my Windows PC I want an experiment platform to get used to OSX, that's all.

By the way that XP "theme" FlyakiteOSX ROCKS! Got it on my office machine now, a lowly Celeron-D.... looks cool and works fine Looks pretty much like a Mac...... but they don't have it for Vista

Best regards....

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

@slackula

Sorry we posted pretty much at the same time so i didn't see your reply in time - thanks for that too, but me needs a desktop machine - and 29k is still wayyyy over what i can afford. 5-10k maybe - hence MoBo only wanted I've got HDD's, GFX, PSU, case, DVD-writer etc... everything minus that MoBo.

OSX on Thinkpad = "Hackintosh" again

Thanh

[slackula]

You're going to have to do some hacking to get OSX to run on any hardware that doesn't have Apple logos stuck on it :-~ but OSX *will* run on a thinkpad:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t...3aea5486a4d8b2f

Why exactly do you want to run OSX? If it's for security then any BSD will be possibly better, if it is for the eye candy then you are going to have to do some work to make your Linux box look better.

Install Slackware and start from there.

[Deksan]

Hi

Thanks for that... will try it out on next weekend when i have time to "shop around". Unfortunately i don't have the $$ to get a complete Mac Mini - they're out of my reach so to say, hence me asking for a mainboard only. I have read on that same website (also deals with modifications) that folks were successful in putting faster CPU's in those and even upgraded from single core to dual core CPU's in a Mac Mini.

I have or can get cheaply all other parts to put the computer together (case, PSU, drives etc) and i love the challenge of having to modify things (those mainboards don't exactly "slot in" into an ATX case.....) and i do NOT want to run Windows on it - for that i got my Windows PC So a G4 would be fine too (those do run OSX, yes?) however me thinks that MoBo withOUT CPU would be cheaper - and as i can use pretty much any Intel that fits into the socket i could go with "cheapest available" for i don't need the ultimate in power - again, for THAT i've got my Windows PC I want an experiment platform to get used to OSX, that's all.

By the way that XP "theme" FlyakiteOSX ROCKS! Got it on my office machine now, a lowly Celeron-D.... looks cool and works fine Looks pretty much like a Mac...... but they don't have it for Vista

Best regards....

Thanh

Hi,

Macmini G4 can run OSX though you wont be able to upgrade the CPU on those easily and it s impossible to upgrade a G4 -> Intel processor. The pin are completely different. Though you could install a more powerful G4 processor but those come at high price... Another solution i didnt mention is to get an appletv, it all depends what you trying to do with OSX. If you want to use it as an everyday machine i believe an hackintosh would be more convenient (it s possible to install OSX on an apple TV), if it s for compilation test purpose that could work maybe. It depends on what you need OS X for, it can also be installed into vmware if your main pc has enough memory that could work too and could be convenient.

Good luck