PearPC

[Big Gulp]

Anyone else tried it?

It's a PPC emulator for running OSX on X86 hardware.  They've just released their 0.4 prerelease version, and on a 2.4 Athlon I'm emulating OSX at about the equivalent of a 250-300 MHZ G3.  That doesn't sound too impressive, but they've gone from an absolute crawl (30 seconds for the dock to pop up) to something approximating usefulness in a few months time.  They're working on audio, and with this new build they've got networking going pretty well.

This is all pretty much still in proof of concept stage.  You can play around with the interface, but doing any really productive work would be pointless.  Still, for a young project this is making some great progress.  A screenie of it in action from the official site:

[Paelos]

That reminds me, I need to put it on my calendar to have crazy monkey sex with Lindsey Lohan

[MrHat]

Will Apple ever design OSX that can be used as replacement on a PC?

[Big Gulp]

Will Apple ever design OSX that can be used as replacement on a PC?

No.  They make their money on hardware, not on OS sales.

ETA:  Of course, if emulation goes far enough they could either:

A) Break compatibility (maybe with the upcoming Tiger release), or

B) See that enough people are emulating their OS that they have no choice but to release Marklar (a supposed super-seekret x86 build they have in case of emergency).

[Sky]

Marklar! Marklar marklar.

I heart OSX. Wish it would run on x86. Wish it would run my pc games. But I finally like working at the library, now that OS9, G3s and AppleshareIP are gone. Man did I hate OS9 with a passion, despite some nifty features. Ceeeerash.

[Righ]

The x86 port was seeded to developers back in the Rhapsody days. The not so secret recent internal full build (Marklar) was supposedly a contingency against PowerPC 90nm fabrication problems. Given that the hardware abstraction happens deep down in Mach, and that the Darwin Mach has been ported everywhere, building it on any modern PC is trivial.

I have no desire to see a current port of OS X any time soon. Darwin is available if you want the OS alone. Aqua, you cry? Indeed, Darwin relies on X11, which is a great network tool, but a shitty display interface for hanging a graphic shell from. However, what I get from a Mac with its shiney Aqua glory is a Unix system with good consumer application support. Unless the commitment of Apple is behind an AMD/Intel port enough to woo the application vendors, having a complete OS X on your PC would be a shallow experience.

Edit: as to PearPC, yes, I've tried it, and it works. It's like using a Lombard (PowerBook G3 400MHz, no accelerated graphics support in OS X) when strapped to an AMD64 3200 DTR and a Radeon 9600 Mobility. So it is almost as useful as VirtualPC on the Mac. And I use that for DOS.

[stray]

Sounds cool, but I can't find enough (unique things) to do on my real Mac, let alone an emulator. I get more use out of an old ass 604e machine running System 7, for ProTools, more than I do my iBook.

In other (semi-related) news, the X-Box team has been assigned to work on VirtualPC for native graphics support. Nothing stellar, but running PC games will be a little easier. There's money in that. Emulating OS X on x86? Pointless.

What I'm really hoping for is that since the X-Box 2 and SDK's will be PPC-based (as well as the GC2, and PS3 to an extent), more games will be ported to the Mac in the future. It'd be funny if a resurgence in Mac gaming was Microsoft's own fault.

[Righ]

In other (semi-related) news, the X-Box team has been assigned to work on VirtualPC for native graphics support. Nothing stellar, but running PC games will be a little easier. There's money in that. Emulating OS X on x86? Pointless.

What I'm really hoping for is that since the X-Box 2 and SDK's will be PPC-based (as well as the GC2, and PS3 to an extent), more games will be ported to the Mac in the future. It'd be funny if a resurgence in Mac gaming was Microsoft's own fault.

If you are expecting to play games on the future VirtualPC, you had better buy them from the used and discount sections while they are still available. The article you quoted posits using lots of main processor performance to scale the dizzying heights of GeForce 3. On an iBook, I suspect that would be a 4.77MHz GeForce 3 then.

The only way more games will come to the Mac as a result of the XBox2 SDK will be if Microsoft successfully markets Windows for PowerPC, which sounds like the most unpleasant outcome I can imagine. Although the SDK does indeed run on an Apple G5, it is atop a modified Windows XP.

[Alkiera]

The only way more games will come to the Mac as a result of the XBox2 SDK will be if Microsoft successfully markets Windows for PowerPC, which sounds like the most unpleasant outcome I can imagine. Although the SDK does indeed run on an Apple G5, it is atop a modified Windows XP.

Aye, WinXP for PPC.  Some rumormills state this is MS's way of saying to Intel, "See, we don't really need you...."  That, and the x86 chip's performance seems to be getting close to hitting a wall, so MS has been looking around for alternatives.

IIRC, WinNT4.0 also had a PPC build, to go with the Alpha and other builds.

--
Alkiera

[Shockeye]

That reminds me, I need to put it on my calendar to have crazy monkey sex with Lindsey Lohan

Until the monkey sex happens, you can get some visual candy here.

[WayAbvPar]

I don't see the appeal. She has a decent body, but her face is nothing special (especially in comparison to the dozens of other starlets that are her immediate peers).

[Signe]

Didn't do anything for me, either.  Of course, you people NEVER show any pics that I enjoy, so I thought I'd post one myself.




It's a dead elf.

[HaemishM]

I agree with Way.

[Polysorbate80]

It's a dead elf.

Shoot it a couple of times to make sure.  It could just be faking.

[schild]

After looking at that gallery, I'm pretty sure both Tara Reid and Lindsay Lohan got breast implants. A 2 for 1 deal maybe?

[Shockeye]

Now you can have Lindsay with you at all times.

[Paelos]

I like redheads, natural or otherwise, and I like big boobs.

She's got that covered.

[HaemishM]

Now you can have Lindsay with you at all times.

That reminds me of an Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode.

[Zetleft]

That reminds me, I need to put it on my calendar to have crazy monkey sex with Lindsey Lohan

She's Possessed, I like that.

[WayAbvPar]

Somebody stick a wallet in her mouth before she swallows her tongue! It was probably all the flashing graphics on Fox NFL broadcasts that caused that seizure.

[Alkiera]

That reminds me, I need to put it on my calendar to have crazy monkey sex with Lindsey Lohan

Until the monkey sex happens, you can get some visual candy here.

The most hilarious thing about that site is the comments...  the wars between the people who post badly spelled graphic descriptions of what they'd like to do to Ms. Lohan, and those who reply 'Yur such a perf! She is a lady an U shud respec hur!'

Perhaps if she does respec, she can put more points in balance, so she doesn't fall down like that.  'Ability to pick clothes that don't cause my breasts to fall out in public' might be another useful skill.  8)

--
Alkiera

[personman]

'Ability to pick clothes that don't cause my breasts to fall out in public' might be another useful skill.  8)

I disagree with this statement.  Don't make me get out Bill O'Reilly.... ;)

[Righ]

You named your dick BILL O'REILLY???!!!