Hack brings 10.6.2 back to Atom processors

Remember last week, when the net was abuzz with the news that the Mac OS X 10.6.2 update broke notebooks with Atom processors? Well, given the first syllable of the word "hackintosh" it's little surprise that that state of affairs has changed. The release of a newly-hacked kernel claims to allow the Snow Leopard to roam freely off of the Intel steppes.

Netbook hackers take note: this is not a point-and-click operation; you'll need to roll up your Terminal sleeves for a few simple steps here. And, of course, replace the kernel of your operating system--the fundamental code that underlies everything else in Mac OS X--with a file you've downloaded from the Internet. Written by a guy whose blog is in Russian. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I just wanted to point out the Frankenstein allegories involved here; this is "new brain" stuff.

I'm looking forward to Apple's response in 10.6.3. There are two schools of thought about the Great Atom Smashing of 2009: 1) Apple deliberately broke Atom processors because, hey, they only ship on Intel, or 2) Apple accidentally broke Atom processors because, hey, they only test on Intel. When Apple broke the Palm Pre's syncing with iTunes, they meant it, as was proved by the subsequent whack-a-mole they played when Palm tried to unbreak it. If the next release of Snow Leopard breaks a swath of notebooks again, Apple's intentions may become a bit clearer.

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Remember last week, when the net was abuzz with the news that the Mac OS X 10.6.2 update broke notebooks with Atom processors? Well, given the first syllable of the word "hackintosh" it's little surprise that that state of affairs has changed. The release of a newly-hacked kernel claims to allow the Snow Leopard to roam freely off of the Intel steppes.

Netbook hackers take note: this is not a point-and-click operation; you'll need to roll up your Terminal sleeves for a few simple steps here. And, of course, replace the kernel of your operating system--the fundamental code that underlies everything else in Mac OS X--with a file you've downloaded from the Internet. Written by a guy whose blog is in Russian. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I just wanted to point out the Frankenstein allegories involved here; this is "new brain" stuff.

I'm looking forward to Apple's response in 10.6.3. There are two schools of thought about the Great Atom Smashing of 2009: 1) Apple deliberately broke Atom processors because, hey, they only ship on Intel, or 2) Apple accidentally broke Atom processors because, hey, they only test on Intel. When Apple broke the Palm Pre's syncing with iTunes, they meant it, as was proved by the subsequent whack-a-mole they played when Palm tried to unbreak it. If the next release of Snow Leopard breaks a swath of notebooks again, Apple's intentions may become a bit clearer.

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