Re: [Xen-users] Xen and OS X.

[Simon Hobson <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Austin S. Hemmelgarn <ahferroin7@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> The argument here as I understand it is that the firmware is different, thus 
> it's not an Apple platform, and they technically are correct in that respect. 
>  It's running on the same _hardware_, but for an OS, the firmware is an 
> integral part of the hardware these days, and a firmware update does mean 
> you're not running on the same system (especially if you're using SecureBoot).


IIRC the wording in the EULA is "on Apple branded hardware". My argument is 
that my laptop has a 'kin big Apple logo on it which doesn't magically 
disappear if there's a layer of software between the hardware and OS. The CPU 
and RAM is still physically inside a box with a 'kin big Apple logo on it - so 
it's hard to argue that the OS is no longer running on "Apple branded" hardware.

Later versions of the EULA allow for virtualisation - so making the discussion 
moot for newer versions of the OS.


Jason Long <hack3rcon@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Apple Hardware? Apple use PC hardware and in my idea it just a PC with Unix :)

Sort of - it's unique enough to make spares expensive :-(

> BTW, OS X is a useless OS

That's a rather sweeping statement - it's what I've been using as my main 
environment for a looooong time. Ooh what fun it was finding out what did and 
didn't work in 10.0 :-) It "mostly works", there's plenty of native software 
available for it, with the likes of Fink and Ports I can run loads of *nix 
software, with WINE (or Crossover) I can run Windows stuff, and with Parallels 
(or  VirtualBox) I can easily fire up virtual machines for other stuff.

> but support it is a +1 for Xen.

Xen doesn't "support" or "not support" any specific OSs. Not even Linux to be 
pedantic - there's Xen support in Linux, not Linux support in Xen. In any case, 
I could see there being some issues in "officially" supporting OS X as a guest.
To "support" OS X in the manner I think you mean would mean emulating some 
Apple proprietary details - that would almost certainly mean someone signing a 
non-disclosure (even if Apple were prepared to co-operate) and that would be 
orthogonally incompatible with a FOSS (especially GPL) project. Even leaving 
that aside - who would pay for the lawyers that would almost certainly be 
needed.

But as mentioned previously, I strongly suspect that if you can get a 
Hackintosh working, then Xen could run it with the right settings.


_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.xen.org/xen-users