Intel based MAC

[kataklinger]

Does anyone have techincal information?
Anyone have info about compatibility between new MACs and PCs?

[Candy]

I expect Apple built a default X86 computer with common components but with a sauce that would prevent them from being 100% compatible. The sauce is called EFI.

We have information on EFI and on common components. I think it's mainly USB based, but I can't say which type of adapter is most likely (although their Intel-preferredness makes me expect UHCI + EHCI). You won't get a BIOS though.

[kataklinger]

http://wiki.osx86project.org/ interasting resource

[Kemp]

Apparently they'll still boot XP, so there is some hope.

[kataklinger]

I think WinXP cannot be booted because new MACs have EFI not BIOS, but Vista will have support for EFI, so it can be booted. Beside EFI it looks like it's common x86 system

[Kemp]

A few quotes from an article(dunno about authenticity but was linked at slashdot and things are taken from an Intel Australia report):

However, Intel Australia, while being careful not to comment on Apple?s hardware specifically, says motherboards based on the Intel 945 chipset already support EFI and can boot Windows with no problems.

Some clues on legacy operating system compatibility with EFI might be found in Intel?s EFI mini-site, specifically the part about a new compatibility framework that it created recently. From page four.

?For IA 32 systems, the Framework loads itself above the 1MB real-mode memory boundary to accommodate an optional Compatibility Support Module (CSM). CSM implementations can be tailored to platform requirements [...] and is based on that Vendor?s latest BIOS code base. A contemporary implementation of the Framework on a PC includes a CSM for supplying services to operating systems that do not boot using EFI and for supporting legacy option ROMs on add-in cards. [...]

So, as long as Apple has included a Compatibility Support Module, Intel-based Macs should be able to boot XP.

It seems unlikely that Apple would have left this out. It has already said it isn?t doing anything to prevent Windows from booting on a Mac.

and some of the replies in the article (going both ways on the issue):

Has anyone tried out one of these Intel 945 chipset boards with EFI installed? The prevailing wisdom seems to be that only Windows for Itanium can boot with EFI natively... so has anyone actually booted Windows on EFI with one of these compatibility support modules installed?

What about virtualisation? These Intel Core Duo chips have Intel's "Vanderpool" virtualisation technology built in which theoretically means that you should be able to run more than one operating system at once. With a suitable Hypervisor, you could run "Windows in a window"

If you check the specs, the new Intel CoreDuo does NOT support VT. It's left out of these systems.

So you can't use the virtualisation technology to play around on the new MacTel machines. Future versions of the CoreDuo chip should have it.

Not enough to be conclusive yet, but there's some interesting points there.