Ask HN: Is there a reliable way to put Mac OS X on a non-Apple notebook computer? - obiefernandez
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shaynesweeney
As a long time macOS developer and user I too went down this road and ended up
pretty frustrated. Even when you get things working perfectly (tackling iCloud
services, driver issues, custom boot options, etc...) you're left with an
installation that feels static.

Updates are slower to roll-out to the hackintoshes, major OS upgrades can be
quite a bit slower to come. This can include security fixes too.

I ended up installing Linux and never looked back. It turns out most of what I
used on macOS was just the unix-like subsystem. Having Linux was just as good,
if not better than being on macOS.

Of course this doesn't help if you're doing iOS development, or need to use
Xcode. I've moved away, myself, but have talked to others who have used a Mac
Mini as a build machine. You could also install OS X in a Virtual Machine
under Linux and use it for development, which requires its own set of hacks
but fewer.

Linux distributions I would recommend:

* Solus, I really like where this project is going and it's my daily driver now.

* Arch, allows/forces a truly custom setup, you end up learning a lot about your system, but might be too distracted with your system to get work done ;)

* Antergos, an Arch alternative w/ batteries included.

* elementary OS, it's the Linux distro made by the folks who loved macOS. It's beautiful and you might like it more than macOS itself.

~~~
anexprogrammer
Broadly matches my experience.

Had Lion on my W520, worked pretty well, after having to change WiFi card to
Apple compatible. GPU was Nvidia only. Couple of other minor niggles.
Somewhere around Mavericks/Yosemite it became more trouble than it was worth.

Having seen announced machine, and the price, I'm going Linux for next laptop.
Might try to get a mini from ebay.

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informatimago
There is no legal way to do it.

The closest you can do, is to install Darwin (opensource), and GNUstep
(opensource).

Then you can develop Openstep/Cocoa applications on your non-Apple laptop
legally and in total freedom.

If you have customers who would want a MacOSX executable, you would then give
them your sources, they would download Xcode, and they would compile them.
This is why the GPL has been invented (or other licenses such as BSD, MIT,
etc).

Now of course, GNUstep doesn't track the evolution of Apple Cocoa very
closely. Your application will be compilable for MacOSX if you take some care
to write it portably, and you won't be able to take advantage of Cocoa
specific features, only the most vanilla and plain Openstep features.
Depending on the kind of application, this may be more than enough.

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runjake
Yeah, it works on a variety of models with variable levels of tinkering
required. Compatibility should substantially improve in the coming months with
these new Skylake Mac laptops.

For a better SNR than browsing Tonymacx86 forums, try
[https://reddit.com/r/hackintosh](https://reddit.com/r/hackintosh)

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LarryMade2
Long time Mac user here (done accelerators, clones, and hacks)

Save your sanity and money - you can get some nice specced refurbished/used
MacBooks that can just run the latest Apple stuff for a good price and save a
lot of frustration with foreign hardware issues now and down the road.

Things will "just work" and you will really appreciate it.

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BoredDev
1\. Linux install for unix goodness. 2\. Dual boot Windows for when you need
it. 3\. MacOS virtual machine. Alternatively, make it easier and vagrant it
up: [https://atlas.hashicorp.com/jhcook/boxes/osx-
elcapitan-10.11](https://atlas.hashicorp.com/jhcook/boxes/osx-elcapitan-10.11)

Doing the whole hackintosh thing has improved from previous years. Before it
was an absolute nightmare. It's still a lot of pain. Just less. So you have
that option as well. Just remember it doesn't play nice with all hardware and
you will have to fiddle a lot. Every update you will have to do your research
and pray to the god of moving bits that it's a smooth transition.

~~~
andrei_says_
How do graphics intensive apps like sketch or photoshop or premiere work in a
vm?

~~~
axonic
With a second GPU you can get near bare metal performance by using PCI
passthrough [1] on UEFI systems. The VM gets exclusive ownership of one
adapter essentially. I am currently running Arch for a host, Photoshop via
Wine and in Win VM. In the VM it runs far better, just like a native Windows
dual boot. I use various Windows and Mac VMs and I routinely game on one
monitor while my spouse plays games on the other, runs great. We've joked that
Windows 10 runs better in Linux and is easier to manage.

[1]
[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PCI_passthrough_via_OVM...](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF)

edit: Less overhead required for quick usage but no super cow powers, thats
why I bother loading via Wine also sometimes. I know someone was wondering...

Also, my Wacom works flawlessly across all OS and seamlessly transitions in a
QT5 virtmanager session from Plasma to Windows. ymmv, consult docs for
configuration options. I've seen people saying you cant do this, bs.

~~~
andrei_says_
This sounds very attractive. Do you have to have a specific gpu chipset for OS
X if you do the pci pass through? Would you consider listing your hardware?

~~~
axonic
Specs and more, but with added storage, cooling, power, and a second gpu now:

[http://hwbot.org/submission/2365111_guiltypixel_cpu_frequenc...](http://hwbot.org/submission/2365111_guiltypixel_cpu_frequency_core_i7_3820_4929.84_mhz)

~~~
andrei_says_
Thank you. The specs list shows one GeForce gtx 660 ti. Do you have two of
these?

~~~
axonic
One 660 and one 260 :)

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semajnekeerv
[http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/](http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/)

then choose your osx version...

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hbcondo714
I used this virtual machine approach to try out the latest macOS on my surface
4:

[http://techsviewer.com/install-macos-sierra-vmware-
windows/](http://techsviewer.com/install-macos-sierra-vmware-windows/)

~~~
andrei_says_
How was graphics performance?

~~~
hbcondo714
It was okay. Running the iOS simulator was the slowest.

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mtmail
Yes, look for 'hackintosh', for example [https://medium.com/swlh/building-
my-1-200-hackintosh-49a1a18...](https://medium.com/swlh/building-
my-1-200-hackintosh-49a1a186241e)

~~~
obiefernandez
Seems like it's a lot more geared towards desktop machines.

~~~
mtmail
First Google result for 'hackingtosh laptop'
[http://blazinglist.com/top-10-best-laptops-
hackintosh-2015/](http://blazinglist.com/top-10-best-laptops-hackintosh-2015/)

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lathiat
Way? Yes. Legal? No. Reliable? So-so.

~~~
mrmondo
Actually i don't believe it's illegal they just claim it is, I doubt it'd
stand up in court.

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atomical
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%E2%80%93Intel_architectu...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%E2%80%93Intel_architecture#Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X.kext)

