Why You Should Build a Hackintosh • Hacker News Board

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#11

Post by mprev » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:11 PM UTC

I moved to a Mac after a decade of Linux on the desktop. After years of fiddling with drivers, crappy trackpad behaviours and so on, I wanted a computer that got out of my way and just worked. MacOS is far from perfect but it works perfectly with Apple hardware.

If I wanted to go back to seeing my operating system as a hobby then Linux would be mostly a better option.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#12

Post by eanzenberg » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:12 PM UTC

ironjunkie wrote: post #6

I really don't get it. The biggest appeal of Apple is their wonderful hardware. I dislike MacOS and it has been worse over the last years. It seems to me that a Hackintosh is the worst of both worlds. If you spend that much time hacking around the hardware anyways, why not use Linux ?

Really, that's interesting. I actually love MacOS and consider it the best desktop/laptop OS by multiple margins. My guess is the OS is the reason people keep buying expensive Mac hardware, and that includes the phones and tablets as well.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#13

Post by cortesoft » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:15 PM UTC

iBelieve wrote: post #10

ironjunkie wrote: post #6

I really don't get it. The biggest appeal of Apple is their wonderful hardware. I dislike MacOS and it has been worse over the last years. It seems to me that a Hackintosh is the worst of both worlds. If you spend that much time hacking around the hardware anyways, why not use Linux ?

One reason would be to use non-Mac hardware and Windows or Linux as your primary OS, but still have access to macOS for the times that you need it, for example to do iOS development. I do some iOS development and primarily use a Dell XPS 13 with Linux on it, and have to switch computers any time I need to work on an iOS project. And specifically about the Mac hardware - I agree MacBooks are the best available, especi…

Man, I would so love to be able to run MacOS in a VM on my non-mac machine.

I have a crazy powerful desktop, better than any mac hardware I could buy, so that I can run all the different things I want in a VM. I can kind of run a MacOS vm, but the performance is garbage. I just want to be able to run all the operating systems on a single machine, so I can not be limited. Is that too much to ask?

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#14

Post by peatmoss » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:16 PM UTC

Most people invoking a moral imperative to not make hackintoshes are coming from the angle that it’s stealing from Apple.

I look at it another way. Apple, as a company is failing to meet the needs of some of its users:

- You can’t get an upgradable pro machine

- you can’t get a good keyboard (for some definitions of good)

- macOS gets more iOS-ified with each release and some people don’t like that

Every Hackintosh continues to add momentum to that platform ecosystem, enriching it so that Apple can continue on more or less as they want.

I use Linux (and OpenBSD occasionally) these days, and I do so in part so that I can sometimes be the guy who sands off a rough corner or two. Even by using the platform and occasionally submitting bug reports, you’re enriching a platform that may be the last un-nerfed general purpose computing platform standing. If we lose general purpose computing to a world of app-store enabled iPad Pros and Windows Store-locked Surfaces, we will have lost something important I think.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#15

Post by fredley » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:16 PM UTC

ironjunkie wrote: post #6

I really don't get it. The biggest appeal of Apple is their wonderful hardware. I dislike MacOS and it has been worse over the last years. It seems to me that a Hackintosh is the worst of both worlds. If you spend that much time hacking around the hardware anyways, why not use Linux ?

I hate MacOS and the way it's getting worse every release, but I don't hate it nearly as much as Windows, and how much Windows is getting worse every release.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#16

Post by komali2 » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

mprev wrote: post #11

I moved to a Mac after a decade of Linux on the desktop. After years of fiddling with drivers, crappy trackpad behaviours and so on, I wanted a computer that got out of my way and just worked. MacOS is far from perfect but it works perfectly with Apple hardware. If I wanted to go back to seeing my operating system as a hobby then Linux would be mostly a better option.

Funny, I'm the opposite. I was tired of jumping through insane hoops for years to get Mac to have good window management, or make keybindings the same in all apps, or have my desktop look the way I wanted, so I switched to Ubuntu 18. I actually scheduled a PTO day for it because I thought it would take like 18 hours to get drivers config'd and all that (my last try was like Ubuntu 14 or something), but it literally worked out of the box, other than needing to mess with getting s2idle to not drain battery (a single line into the GRUB config).

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#17

Post by jarcane » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

ironjunkie wrote: post #6

I really don't get it. The biggest appeal of Apple is their wonderful hardware. I dislike MacOS and it has been worse over the last years. It seems to me that a Hackintosh is the worst of both worlds. If you spend that much time hacking around the hardware anyways, why not use Linux ?

Their “wonderful” hardware costs a lot of money, is chronically underpowered compared to the competition, basically doesn’t exist in some form factors, and regularly comes with unnecessary and user hostile features.

Frankly, I can get the same or better hardware in a Thinkpad, which was designed with actual users in mind rather than aesthetics, is more durable, has better battery life, still has a real keyboard, is still upgradeable and repairable, and also for less money.

I have loved Macs all my life, but they have been coasting hard on reputation over delivery for awhile now.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#18

Post by komali2 » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:25 PM UTC

ironjunkie wrote: post #6

I really don't get it. The biggest appeal of Apple is their wonderful hardware. I dislike MacOS and it has been worse over the last years. It seems to me that a Hackintosh is the worst of both worlds. If you spend that much time hacking around the hardware anyways, why not use Linux ?

I think the article isn't really talking about laptops, and I haven't heard anybody singing the praises of Apple desktop solutions recently.

Seems like the author depended on MacOS for their workflow?

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#19

Post by bumholio » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:26 PM UTC

fredley wrote: post #15

ironjunkie wrote: post #6

I really don't get it. The biggest appeal of Apple is their wonderful hardware. I dislike MacOS and it has been worse over the last years. It seems to me that a Hackintosh is the worst of both worlds. If you spend that much time hacking around the hardware anyways, why not use Linux ?

I hate MacOS and the way it's getting worse every release, but I don't hate it nearly as much as Windows, and how much Windows is getting worse every release.

This generalized hate towards change is typically a symptom of age, not technology. It happens to the best of us.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#20

Post by gnufied » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 6:26 PM UTC

mprev wrote: post #11

I moved to a Mac after a decade of Linux on the desktop. After years of fiddling with drivers, crappy trackpad behaviours and so on, I wanted a computer that got out of my way and just worked. MacOS is far from perfect but it works perfectly with Apple hardware. If I wanted to go back to seeing my operating system as a hobby then Linux would be mostly a better option.

Umm - how is that relevant? OP is still running Mac.