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Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

martinhering.me

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Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#21

Post by ynniv »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #4

I'm still using the tower version of Mac Pro with High Sierra and it rocks. I upgraded RAM to 32 GB and the Xeon processors handle everything I throw at them. Opening it and changing drives is a pure pleasure. I really, really don't understand why Apple gave up on these towers and came up with something as inflexible as the current design.

From the beginning...

"[Steve Jobs] decreed that the Macintosh would remain perpetually bereft of slots, enclosed in a tightly sealed case, with only the limited expandability of the two serial ports."

https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor...

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#22

Post by komali2 »

cortesoft wrote: post #13
iBelieve wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I've been in your boat so many times, and I similarly thought good performance was impossible.

Just out of curiousity, did you spend much time tweaking the VM? Out of the box, for example, a Debian VM on my fast hardware does not perform very well. However, if I tweak the amount of RAM it gets (not too much, not too little, juuuuust right), the number of processors, amp up the video memory, try switching on/off 3d acceleration, and mess around with the actual Debian settings as well, I now have near perfect performance on it.

There's usually big threads out there on stackoverflow and forums with performance tips for your given host/guest/VM software.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#23

Post by BillinghamJ »

komali2 wrote: post #16
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 w…

I think that's one of the key things about using Apple products. If you want to have a good time, you need to embrace the way Apple wants you to use the product. And then generally, you'll find that it really does "just work", most of their decisions were right and you can get on with just using the thing.

For the more "power users" who prefer to customise things to a fine degree and make particular choices a typical user doesn't want/need, Apple products aren't always the right option.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#24

Post by dljsjr »

gnufied wrote: post #20
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.

Because keeping a Hackintosh up and running is a hobby. It requires maintenance. macOS point release comes out? Better hit the forums/subreddits and start looking for driver compatibility/kexts/other hacks etc. Hackintoshes are crazy fragile. I had a Hackintosh during the Snow Leopard years and when Lion came out I just gave up.

Parent comment was simply saying that macOS on Apple hardware doesn't require maintenance, and if the poster was interested in an OS that did then Linux would be better than macOS on a Hackintosh.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#25

Post by wjdp »

collinf wrote: post #7

Couldn't help but notice the irony behind this post in your "Previous Posts" section: https://martinhering.me/post/0/everything-thats-wrong-with-h... Also, I've always been curious what the process for upgrading to new OS versions on a Hackintosh is like. Is it expected that once you get the machine in a working state, you are better off not to touch it?

I used to image my boot disk before each update, saved me a few times when I needed the machine to just work again.

Then moved to Linux in 2013, never needed to go back.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#26

Post by komali2 »

jarcane wrote: post #17
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 s…

I can't for the life of me understand why Thinkpad doesn't nuke Mac in sales, other than I guess marketing? Or just maybe people prefer the "simplicity" of MacOS? Because Apple hardware is pretty?

I must be neckbearding, because from an objective standpoint, it doesn't make any damn sense. Swappable batteries (on some models), universally better keyboards (at the very least, more robust!), usually far cheaper for far better internals, ability to swap hardware out, before-market and after-market customization options...

This whole "but it just works" thing doesn't make sense to me, because my latest job gave me a macbook pro and it didn't "just work" - desktop config was weird (fullscreen opens in some random ass place and desktop locations were completely randomly assigned), nothing was configurable like I wanted, I couldn't dual boot well (windows/ubuntu on my thinkpad)... No yea, I am definitely neckbearding here, my argument basically boils down to "but it's not Linux wah!"

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#27

Post by spork12 »

collinf wrote: post #7

Couldn't help but notice the irony behind this post in your "Previous Posts" section: https://martinhering.me/post/0/everything-thats-wrong-with-h... Also, I've always been curious what the process for upgrading to new OS versions on a Hackintosh is like. Is it expected that once you get the machine in a working state, you are better off not to touch it?

You can upgrade like you would on normal mac hardware

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#29

Post by organsnyder »

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.

I've been running Linux for about 20 years. My previous two employers furnished me with Macs, so I got used to MacOS over five years of usage. But I still found Linux easier to use: MacOS doesn't "just work" nearly as much as advertised, in my experience (especially for dev workflows).

My new company is a Windows shop, and I'm actually finding it surprisingly pleasant—to the point that I'm seriously considering using Windows 10 full-time for personal use as well. I don't come to this decision lightly: I'd been anti-"M$" for a number of years, to the point of writing a paper in high school advocating for them to be broken up (back around year 2000).

Looking at the trajectory of recent OS releases from my experience:

- Linux: Still tends to lag behind a bit in hardware compatibility (as is expected), but quite pleasant to use—especially when staying on the stable/LTS releases.

- MacOS: Not sure if I can identify the last release that actually made my life easier.

- Windows: I see a fair amount of real innovation, and they seem committed to reducing paper cuts.

Re: Why You Should Build a Hackintosh

#30

Post by mbell »

dljsjr wrote: post #24
gnufied wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Because keeping a Hackintosh up and running is a hobby. It requires maintenance. macOS point release comes out? Better hit the forums/subreddits and start looking for driver compatibility/kexts/other hacks etc. Hackintoshes are crazy fragile. I had a Hackintosh during the Snow Leopard years and when Lion came out I just gave up. Parent comment was simply saying that macOS on Apple hardware doesn't require maintenance…

> Because keeping a Hackintosh up and running is a hobby. It requires maintenance. macOS point release comes out? Better hit the forums/subreddits and start looking for driver compatibility/kexts/other hacks etc. Hackintoshes are crazy fragile. I had a Hackintosh during the Snow Leopard years and when Lion came out I just gave up.

They aren't particularly fragile anymore, it's been quite awhile since an update broke something major. Even the upgrade to High Sierra which switched to APFS went off without a hitch on my machine. The only thing I have to check on before upgrading is if nvidia's drivers are supported.

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