Custom Hackintosh

     Here it is: my first blog. My name is Richard and I was thinking of where to start and I thought, Why not just document my most recent project? Coming up with no reason why not, that is what I decided to do.

     First, let's discuss Hackintoshes. I love the idea of a Hackintosh. It is admittedly the best Operating System out there in terms of ease of use and attractiveness and you can put it on any computer you want. In the case that you don't know, there is a group out there called OSx86 at http://www.osx86project.org/. They have a Wiki under that name and a Forum under the name InsanelyMac. There they discuss everything about Hackintoshes from the legalities regarding one down to how to make one yourself. These two topics go hand-in-hand. Depending on how you make your Hackintosh, it can be completely illegal or questionably illegal. There are basically two ways to create a Hackintosh, adjust the OS to run on the PC, or adjust the PC to run the OS. According to my knowledge, it is in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to adjust (hack) the OS. So a better way would be to adjust your hardware to fit the software's needs. The only thing this violates is the Apple End-User Lisence Agreement for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. (You can find that here: http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/) And the reason that that is questionably illegal instead of completely illegal is because Apple and Psystar are actually battling it out to find how that EULA is protected by the law. I know that Psystar had to pay $5000 to Apple, but I am pretty sure that they haven't lost yet, so it's still on the fence.
     My preferred method of Hackintosh-making of all that I have researched (and still don't at all understand) is the Boot-132 method. As far as I know, it is magic. I have yet to learn how it works. Another way is to hack the Mac kernel, (which is the basis for the Operating System), which is actually many methods under one overall action, but for now, we shall call it the "kernel hack method". The final way is to simulate the EFI for a Mac to be able to run on, (which falls under the more legal way of making a Hackintosh along with the Boot-132 method by adjusting your hardware to run Mac OS X on it.) I am pretty sure that simulating the EFI (by using software like Chameleon or hardware like EFI-X), is how Boot-132 works, but again, I have about half of a clue, so I wouldn't know. This is just Hackintoshes in a nutshell and my (future) attempt at building one.
     Of course, I am going to choose the Boot-132 method for my Hackintosh. It is the easiest, (magic, remember?) and it has the least legal issues because actually hacking the Mac kernel would require decrypting some files and that violates the DMCA. And simulating the EFI can get pretty complicated, (visit the InsanelyMac forums for more information: http://www.insanelymac.com/ or the OSx86 wiki for more information: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page). So this magic method is clearly the best choice. Now, what you've been waiting for, how it is done:

1. You insert a disk with the Boot-132 image on it
2. You continue somehow, (by pressing Enter or Escape or whatever corresponding Mac keyboard keys correspond, if you're a bit overzealous,(you know, because you already have a mac keyboard)).
3. You eject the disc
4. You insert the Snow Leopard RETAIL (LEGALLY OBTAINED) disc
5. Boot that shit

     I know, it's magic, right? It just does something simple to make OS X bootable. I don't know.
Either way, here is my configuration:

Barebones System

Component - Name (Amount) - Notable Specifications - Price

• Motherboard - Asus Z8PE-D12X (x1) - Dual Processor, Intel x58 Chipset, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16 - $400
• Processor - Intel Xeon E5520 (x2) - 2.26 Ghz per Core, Quad-Core, 8MB L3 Cache, 1066 Mhz FSB - $750
• Graphics Card - nVidia GeForce GTX 380 (x1) - CUDA Capable, PhysX Capable, 2560 x 1600 Maximum Digital Resolution, 1536-3072 MB GDDR5 SDRAM - $200 
• DIMM - OCZ OCZ3P1333LV6GK (x1) - 2GB RAM per DIMM, 3 DIMM’s, 1333 Mhz RAM Speed, 7-7-7-20 Latency - $100
• Sound Card - Asus Xonar Essence STX (x1) - 124 dB SNR, 24-Bit, 192 kHz Blu-Ray Quality Audio - $200
• Optical Drive - Pioneer BDR-205 (x1) - Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Burner/Player, BD-RE Burn at x8 Speed - $250 
• Solid-State Drive - PQI DK9320GD3R000A03 (x3) - 32 GB Drive, Read at 154 MB/s, Write at 91 MB/s - $250
• Hard-Disk Drive - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS (x1) - 300 GB Drive, 10000 RPM, 16 MB Cache - $225
• RAID Card - Syba SY-PEX40008 (x1) - 4 SATA II Ports, Up to 3 Gb/s - $75
• Power Supply - Thermaltake Toughpower W0133RU (x1) - 1200 Watts, 8 SATA II connectors, 20+4 Pin Main Connector - $350
• Case - Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000BWS (x1) - Front I/O Ports: 1 FireWire 400, 4 USB 2.0, 1 Audio Line-in, 1 Audio Line-out - $200

Total: $3000

Other Components

Component - Name (Amount) - Notable Specifications - Price

• Monitor - Samsung SyncMaster T240 - DVI, VGA, HDMI, 24” Screen Size, 1920x1200 Screen Resolution - $300 
• Speakers - Onkyo SKS-HT750 - 7.1 Surround Sound - $300
• External Hard-Disk Drive - LaCie D2 Quadra 301109U 1TB, 7200 RPM - $125 
• Keyboard - Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad - Wired, USB Interface - $50
• Mouse - Logitech V220 - Wireless, USB Interface - $25
• Fan Controller - NZXT Sentry LX - Controls up to Five Fans - $50
• FireWire 800 Expansion Card - EZQuest A59999 - PCI-X Interface, Up to 800 Mbps Bandwidth, 3 External Ports, 1 Internal Port - $25
• Operating System 1 - Windows 7 Ultimate - 64-bit, 8-core Utilization - $200
• Operating System 2 - Mac Box Set: Snow Leopard Family Pack - 64-bit, 8-core Utilization - $175

Total: $1200

     Some of that pricing was planning for the future, hoping for a discount or something, but it is mostly accurate. I will be documenting every little bit of this computer-building adventure. I will also be making videos to correspond on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/SUM0Prod). Make sure to tune in to that. But for now, as it is nearing the end of October 31st, (yes, I am blogging on Halloween), 2009, I must say goodbye. Remember to comment; leave information about Boot-132, share your Hackintosh, whatever.