How To Install Mac OS X On An Xbox

October 6th, 2004 at 3:00 PM - News by Bryan Chaffin

The Xbox modding community has taken their art to a new level, figuring out how to install Mac OS X on this Microsoft gaming console. You read that right: Using PearPC, the PowerPC emulation software we covered in May of this year, the folks at Xbox Modification have put together the convoluted process necessary to install Appleis world class operating system on this US$149 gaming console (US$149 - Amazon). From the site:

The Xbox is Microsoftis first console gaming device. Staying with what they know, Microsoft built their gaming system out of parts that are very similar to a desktop system. Its CPU is an Intel Pentium III 733-MHz processor. It has a custom Nvidia GeForce 3 graphics card. It comes with 64MB of RAM, an 8GB or 10GB Hard Disk, and a 2X to 5X DVD drive. In addition, it has an Ethernet port and each one of the controllers is a USB port.

At the time of its release, the Xbox had the components of a mid-range computer for half the price. Because the Xbox is really just an x86 at heart, the Linux community started creating distributions for it immediately. Our goal in this document is to show you how you can take you gaming machine and turn it into an inexpensive computer.

The above introduction doesnit mention Mac OS X, but the site has a dedicated Web page with the very detailed instructions for making this happen. Also not mentioned is the fact that running Mac OS X through PearPC in this manner will be a very, very slow experience. To keep that in perspective, the installation process alone takes 10 hours, and thatis after all of the other steps have been followed.

Linux, on the other hand, runs natively on the Xbox, and the project also offers all the instructions for installing that OS on the unit.

Thanks to Observer Carnagex for pointing us to this project in the TMO Forums.