Mac Mini on Ebay, sold as "dual boot"
 

Check it out.

Some guy's selling an Intel iMac, claiming it boots XP and OSX. Even says he's including legal copies of both OSes. Wants $1,000.

Is this BS?

His copy of Windows is for "distrubution with a new PC only"
So it's not a "legal" copy of Windows by installing it on a Mac.

Then look at the CD - it says XP Home while the ad is for Pro.

The legal distribution is very loose; you can use the OEM version with the sale of a hard drive, so the sale of a computer is no issue. In fact many people sell Windows OEM with a CD-ROM audio cable as "hardware." It apparently is enough for MS, since they cancel auctions that don't include that, and leave them alone if they do. I know, I've tried it both ways.

I'd say so.. mainly because narf "officially" won the Windows on Mac prize this morning, and this mini went on sale yesterday. So if this guy DID figure out how to do Windows on a Mac, why no submit it for the $13,000 prize?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060316-6393.html

While it seems unlikely, the guy does have a high feedback. Doesn't make much sense all around.

I wonder if he includes the modified XP disc to boot?
Which also makes me think, will Apple go so far as to take steps and say "If you run Windows on a Mac you will void your Apple Warrenty" ?

While this seems harsh, how do you control Windows not damaging your Mac, in whatever fasion?

The Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act makes it illegal to void a warranty for doing service yourself, even replacing components. Apple cannot void your warranty for simply opening the machine and replacing a HD, for example, even though some claim they can.

I'm curious about how much of the thermal protection in Intel Macs is software based. If any of it is controlled by OS X, then installing Windows on it could fry it. I know there were (perhaps still is) distributions of Linux that didn't master the PowerMac G5's fan control, and subsequently would cause the thing to roar non-stop -- that would be a deterrent to doing this as well.

However, with the Intel switch I think all of that has moved to the logic board.

If you had a thermal meltdown, and Apple could prove it was "obviously caused by" the change, you'd lose the warranty. The warranty act referenced above has specific language on how it applies. It was originally meant to address the issue of car warranties which said you would void the warranty if you don't get dealer service, but applies to most products in the same way.

The Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act is US Law, Canadians are protected by section 77 of the Canadian Competition Act.

I guess the question is. Is installing a OS not designed for the Hardware, Service or Modification?

I would call it modification, and while it likely wouldn't actually harm a Mac by putting Windows on it, I don't think it would covered if it was determined to be the root cause of failure or damage.

Narf wasn't the ONLY person to complete the challenge, just the first. Narf used an iMac (if I'm not mistaken) so this Mac Mini might be from one of the other testers who verified Narf's acheivement.

Of course. In the US law, anything you do to cause the failure is not covered. This includes "maintenance" or service if done wrong or with incompatible components. You can do your own oil change, but if you use Crisco and the engine blows up, you're on your own. For a while there were even arguments about synthetic oil, but the courts ruled in favor of the consumers on that one.

I wasn't implying that he was.. however, you would think there would be a lot more fanfare if this person was also working on it and completed it and then sold it.

Personally, I'd want some verification before I plopped down cash for this.

Boy, you said it! And the warranty concerns are valid even if true, I believe.

You'd think if it were legit the poster would go to a good deal of effort to prove it's a legit offer. The pic of the WinXP Home disc is quite questionable.

The cd vs packaging mistake is what we see often here in our pirate-heaven, known as Pantip Plaza. Serious purists shouldn't go there, you would have a heart attack seeing what is on sale and how little for. Generic PCs have been selling for some time with Vista preinstalled.

Two bad feedbacks from only a 46 rating??? Mine is 100% after over 500. Some of his 18 buyers describe their goods and he is clearly not a specialist seller and activity-wise is mainly a buyer.

Mais non!
:-)

Just my two Bob.
Gavin.

Well if you look at the feedbacks, only one is negative and was recanted by the person who put it. I am also at 100%, but the fact is that if somebody clicks the wrong button it can only be corrected in the comments, but your stats are gone.

I am not saying that this offer is legit, I could care less and I don't think so, but there is only ONE negative not two as you stated, and that was recanted.

Maybe this person is offering the mini, throwing in an XP install disk, and assuming that you are going to read the hack on how to get it to dual boot. This person could also already have implemented the hack that is now proeven to work. I do agree that more proof should be offered.

OK, fair comment about his fb. I was simply doing the sums. How can 1 negative equal the % eBay quote??? My other comment still stands though, he is not a specialist seller of this kind of kit.

Still no bids...
Gavin

Well, may be his name is Narf, or Blanka. According to the BBC, hackers have successfully managed to get XP to boot on a Mac.

Already linked at the start of this thread.

I had sent him a message asking him how this was possible since (at the time of the posting) no one had yet won the Windows on Mac prize and here is his response:

Interesting...although i do not know enough about what he's saying to know if that'd actually work

It still begs the question of why he didn't claim the $13k prize though.

Check this out ...
 

MacBreak

Leo Laporte from TWiT and
Ben Durbin from the PixelCorps
demo a dual boot machine ...
:eek:

Cheers,
Brian

http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-Macbook-Pr...QQcmdZViewItem

MacBook Pro with XP Pro.

I might would do this to make some profit if i wouldn't have to wait 3 weeks to get another MBP. I love this thing.

97.x% feedback is quite low actually in the eBay community, in fact many long time eBay users stay away from such sellers and recommend others do so too, it's recommended that if a eBay seller has feedback of 98% or lower that business is not conducted with them...however granted that this person only got one negative feedback which apparently as the person who left it admits, was wrongly given it seems he may be a reliable seller...this auction definetly is questionable though IMO

oh...and of course if you read the sellers replies to some eBayers questions, he states the those pictures were taken from the Internet which is definetly something that would at least for me raise some suspicion about the legitimacy of this auction...he claims he'll be posting his own real pictures of this in action "soon"...probably won't happen though...he also claims he hacked the macs ROM/BIOS in order to allow it to multiboot both Windows and MacOS X...this auction just keeps getting better and better....http://forums.macosxhints.com/images/icons/icon13.gif

oh and yellow, no need to blur out his office number, he posted that answer with the number publicly in his auction :P...now what would really be fun is if someone took him up on that offer, called him, asked him about this and recorded the conversation ;) :P

Yeah, I noticed that a little while ago while looking at the auction. What a dumbass. :rolleyes: :D

He's got new pics up. Looks like the original pics weren't his, which explains the WinXP Home disc.

I'm certain he has got WinXP on a Mac Mini. I don't neccesarily think he's got all the drivers to work on it, as he claims. Non-VGA Video and Audio are current issues with the Mac Mini (as of last night's reading of the onmac.net forums).

An aside: I think the Mom & Pop computer shops (if any still exist) will have a little fanfare with putting together dual-boot macs for the consumer who doesn't want to tinker.

Well, I'll be . . .

Very, very interesting! And you know the performance will only get better.

Now the cat-and-mouse game between the hackers and Apple begins in earnest.

http://www.ami.com/support/doc/CSM-spec.pdf

I have no clue what "CSM (compatibility support module)" is, but i found this by doing a google search. Think he copied it from there?

Maybe you could call him up, and talk about 'how it works'.

So it looks like my suspicion of overheating and non-existent fan drivers has been confirmed. From Engadget:

Hot Diggity!