OSX upgrades to 10.6.2; Hackintosh works fine, except on netbooks

Posted on 10-11-2009

Apple’s popular OSX operating system has updated to Snow Leopard version 10.6.2. While the update fixes over 40 bugs in the popular Mac OSX, it has left a lot of ‘hackintosh’ users frustrated.

For newcomers, ‘hackintosh’ is the act of loading up OSX on a non-Apple PC or laptop through third-party boot-loaders. Apple does not officially support this, and states that installing OSX on non-Apple labeled computers is against their EULA (End User License Agreement). Still, that has not stopped a large hackintosh community from forming on the Web, with lots of people in India indulging in the same. One of the most popular uses of hackintosh has been on netbooks such as the Asus EEE PC, Dell Mini and the MSI Wind.

However, the new 10.6.2 update seeks to put an end to hackintosh netbooks as it eliminates support for Intel Atom processors. OSX Snow Leopard tries to start, but eventually ends up hanging.

Renowned hackintosh expert StellaRosa wrote: “The netbook forums are now blowing up with problems of 10.6.2 instant rebooting their Atom based netbooks.”

For netbook hackintosh users, it seems the only option is not to go in for the upgrade.

Meanwhile, Lifehacker was quick to note that the new upgrade worked fine on regular PCs with non-Atom Intel processors. “You'll be happy to know that I've tested my build with today's 10.6.2 update to Snow Leopard and it's working like a charm,” said editor Adam Pash. “Just fire up Software Update like you normally would, grab the update, and let it work its magic.”

TUAW summarises the new situation perfectly when it says: “Is this Apple clamping down on hackintosh computers, or just continuing to prune code that it doesn't need? The answer you prefer likely depends on your previous view of Apple.”

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