[vbetts]

Same goes with peoples general knowledge of a PC. Yet, there are still so many people that do know, and do build their own computer. A lot of people work hard on a hackintosh like this, and most are willing to learn how to build one.



But, they don't like to have to do it. I do. I'm not them, they're not me. I'm not saying because I enjoy it, everyone else will. That's just one of my reasons for a hackintosh.

[wrecklass]

Odd rationale. I'm a pretty typical "Home computer builder". I have never ever called Microsoft, Intel or any other manufacturer for support.

I think you'll find the people who are competent at building and/or upgrading their machines are also the people who don't call much for support. Preferring to do their own support.

It goes hand in hand with the concept that knowing what I put into my machine makes it easier to support my own machine, and a lot less expensive to replace when I need a fix or upgrade.

[blecch]

Rob, could you be clearer about what version of the OS you were able to install on the machine, where you got it (and how much it cost), and what the installation procedure is like?
Also, does it handle software (e.g. security) updates correctly?

[vbetts]

The most common peice in an Intel PC running Osx86, is the Vanilla kernal, which enables Osx86 to run without any modded kernals. Right now, it only works on core 2 duos and quads, and I think some Pentium 4s, but this make it so you can run normal updates like a real Mac. As for installation, I'm on AMD, so mine took about 6 hours. Torrents are right now the only real place to get it, illegal enough already, charging for it would be worse. But the installation process is generally the same, except you have to chose your own things to install, like chipset kexts, gpu kexts, efi strings, kernals and what not, platform, etc. But it's pretty easy, just troubleshooting it is what is kind of long. But it handles software nice, even some motherboards has a bios hack to show the apple logo starting up. Not all though. Some dells also have it.

[HalanR]

Rob, this was a great project and a great article. Thank you for doing it.
BUT... in the companion podcast for this, when asked why you did it, you sort of said you just wanted to do it. Be honest, didn't the Psystar’s entry into this market inspire you to do this? I mean the timing was pretty coincidental don't you agree?
Why not just be honest with your readers and say Yeah, Psystar inspired me! It wouldn't reflect badly, heck it made me think about it also. But I felt you really weren't honest in your answer.

[griffman]

{quote:title=HalanR wrote:}BUT... in the companion podcast for this, when asked why you did it, you sort of said you just wanted to do it. Be honest, didn't the Psystar’s entry into this market inspire you to do this? I mean the timing was pretty coincidental don't you agree?{quote}

Honest answer: Psystar didn't even exist when I built FrankenMac. My parts receipts are dated March 11th, 2008, and the Psystar press release came out on April 14th. The coincidental timing is just that -- coincidental. It took time to build and test the machine, then to write the article, create the screenshots, and go through the review and edit process -- all of which explains why the FrankenMac article didn't appear until April 18th. But honest, I did just sort of want to do it, and I'd never heard of Psystar at the time, because they didn't exist.

regards,
-rob.

[Peter Cohen]

Rob:

Well, they existed. You just hadn't heard of them. Nor had much of anyone else. :)

[griffman]

Point taken; I'm sure they were incorporated, and maybe they even had a business plan. But they definitely hadn't made their existence public when I was scraping my knuckles inside the FrankenMac's case. :)

-rob.

[aceshelman]

Scraping your knuckles?! Come now, be honest, you pre-wrapped your knuckles with first-aid tape, knowing you'd be in for some scrapes if you didn't. Be honest and stop playing for sympathy points! I'm sick of this sensationist journalism!

]:)

[HalanR]

"But honest, I did just sort of want to do it, and I'd never heard of Psystar at the time, because they didn't exist."

Well Rob, accept my apology! (really!) ... and congrats for being ahead of the pack, ha-ha!

[heisetax]

I'm one that really liked your article. I believe that there are many Mac or would-be Mac User's out there that would like to build there own Frankenmac, I'm one that beleive that many have already done that. Many of those have been quiet because they may be afraid that Apple would sue them over the use of OS X with their equipment.

When I have time I want to read all of the posts to see where others have found the needed information for the needed hardware & software to do an Intel Mac Clone. Everything that I have Googled came to no useful end. If anyone has a list of where to look I'd be very grateful.

I've put together some Macs back when the Mac IIfx was new. But they had to be made from Apple supplied motherboards. The new Intel Mac Clone now includes the all important non-Apple motherboard.

Everyone's help is needed & requested.

Thank you Rob & everyone else,

Bill the TaxMan

[micxmac]

N8Mac - I am not a Mac basher and have been a long time advocate, I have probably bought a dozen macs over the years. My G5 Powermac has in fact been unplugged since I built Frankie last January. That G5 was only 4 years old and is now worthless as a primary workstation, too darn slooooow. I am now considering sparing the landfill and using it as a music server, but will nail it into the basement ceiling to avoid the noise it would make in the listening room.

You're right the over clocked 4ghz E8400 dual core screamer soon wore thin, I just tore it apart ("old" components went to an office PC) and built a new one based on a quad core Q6700 over clocked to 3.4ghz. Frankly, I don't seem to do much video rendering to use all those cores, but had to try it out. The main benefits of the new configuration allowed me to add more memory and it accepted a really cool 3 bay hot swap SATA RAID rack - I can now swap in and out raw drives without even opening the case. (http://www.kingwin.com/product_pages/kf3000-bk.asp) I also put a flash card reader in one of the other empty bays. It has evolved into an amazing Aperture/Photoshop workstation.

Never mind 2014, I only lasted 4 months. This is really a lot of fun. To think the heavy cost Powermac made me wait for 4 years to get a decent upgrade and allowed absolutely no customization. All that creativity suppressed.

For the Taxman, once you are fully recovered from April 15th, here is the best site for you to look ===> www.insanelymac.com

[bjcasey33]

Why not just use the education discount she can get as a teacher, and for the same price buy a MacBook, or for a small bit more an iMac? Both with full support and not hacked together. I could see doing this project if you absolutely needed to customize the hardware or if there was a big price difference, but why Mickey-Mouse it?

[rbw98465]

Excellent work and article. Macworld continues to improve. Congratulations.