2011-03-04, 03:15 PM
Back in middle school, my family bought a minimac because my school used Macs and I thought it might be a good idea to have one. We ended up installing XP on it and never using the OSx half. 5 or so years later my Dad dug it up and wanted to update the system. Slight problem: the computer sucks. So he has an OSx disk laying around. He said he bought it 8 or so months ago, but we're not entirely sure what version it is. Going to check later today.
He can't / doesn't want to install it on the minimac anymore, so he asked me if I would be interested in it. This sounds fun, so I want to try and install it on my machine. My machine currently has Windows 7, and a few Ubuntu Kernels (10.4 and/or 10.10). I've heard things here and there about Mac not wanting their software to run on anything but a mac, so I went and tried doing some research on the subject. Wikipedia and guides to hackintoshes did not bring much insight. I only have a mild understanding of Macs in general. Glimpsed over the Intel transition a bit, and saw a video that said it's technically illegal to install OSx on non-Mac hardware. (how...?)
So I'm a lost. Can Mac OSx be safely installed on my Windows 7 - Linux Dualbooting machine? By 'safely', I mean with little to no bugs on any of the operating systems, and preferably without having to reinstall everything on the computer. I really don't want to install half a dozen programs and re-arrange everything if it isn't necessary. Linux was a relatively easy install: Run CD, partition drive, ???, profit. There are so many sites that all say different things, half of them for Mac computers running Windows and half of them for building a new PC and adding OSx first.
I have a Gigabyte motherboard, a Radeon HD graphics card, and an Intel i7 processor. Not sure how limiting hardware is for this.
So, in short, (how) can I install OSx on my computer without fucking everything up?
He can't / doesn't want to install it on the minimac anymore, so he asked me if I would be interested in it. This sounds fun, so I want to try and install it on my machine. My machine currently has Windows 7, and a few Ubuntu Kernels (10.4 and/or 10.10). I've heard things here and there about Mac not wanting their software to run on anything but a mac, so I went and tried doing some research on the subject. Wikipedia and guides to hackintoshes did not bring much insight. I only have a mild understanding of Macs in general. Glimpsed over the Intel transition a bit, and saw a video that said it's technically illegal to install OSx on non-Mac hardware. (how...?)
So I'm a lost. Can Mac OSx be safely installed on my Windows 7 - Linux Dualbooting machine? By 'safely', I mean with little to no bugs on any of the operating systems, and preferably without having to reinstall everything on the computer. I really don't want to install half a dozen programs and re-arrange everything if it isn't necessary. Linux was a relatively easy install: Run CD, partition drive, ???, profit. There are so many sites that all say different things, half of them for Mac computers running Windows and half of them for building a new PC and adding OSx first.
I have a Gigabyte motherboard, a Radeon HD graphics card, and an Intel i7 processor. Not sure how limiting hardware is for this.
So, in short, (how) can I install OSx on my computer without fucking everything up?