What other OS's (other than windows ) can you run on an Intel Mac?

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Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'd like to know what other OS's (besides windows and linux) I can run on my Intel MBP and also which are the best ways (for example, Boot Camp or Parallels or other software).



If anybody has a list of what OS's you can run on these mac's please list them and how you are running them.



Thanks to all who answer.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    Well...there's Solaris that you can run via Parallels or BootCamp. I didn't bother and just clobbered my old Windows box...
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  • Reply 2 of 10
    I think you can do pretty much anything that is out there.
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  • Reply 3 of 10
    sc_marktsc_markt Posts: 1,404member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vinea View Post


    Well...there's Solaris that you can run via Parallels or BootCamp. I didn't bother and just clobbered my old Windows box...





    Cool. I don't want to use it as my primary OS, I just like computers in general and what to mess around a little.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bobmarksdale View Post


    I think you can do pretty much anything that is out there.



    Thanks. I'm trying to find out exactly what other OS's there are (excluding the various Linux versions). I know of another that I want to try and that is the BeOS. But not sure if it'll run on these intel macs.
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  • Reply 4 of 10
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sc_markt View Post


    Thanks. I'm trying to find out exactly what other OS's there are (excluding the various Linux versions). I know of another that I want to try and that is the BeOS. But not sure if it'll run on these intel macs.



    Well there's Haiku which is supposedly a fairly accurate reconstruction of BeOS. I doubt BeOS 5 will run well on a Mac without drivers.



    There's AmigaOS 4. It wont run on any mac...even a PPC one which is a shame really. I have an old quicksilver I wouldn't mind running OS4 just for old times sake but the developers are complete morons. The locked the OS to "official" hardware and then the company that made them stopped making them so now they have an OS no one can use.



    The Amiga is cursed by systematic stupidity of everyone that acquired the rights to it.
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  • Reply 5 of 10
    yamayama Posts: 427member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vinea View Post


    Well there's Haiku which is supposedly a fairly accurate reconstruction of BeOS. I doubt BeOS 5 will run well on a Mac without drivers.



    I managed to get BeOS 5.1 working with VMWare Fusion from an image I built ages ago on Windows. It ran horribly though, lack of drivers being the main culprit. I wouldn't recommend it unless you like looking at your OS in black and white...



    Haven't tried Haiku yet... Sounds like it could be fun.
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  • Reply 6 of 10
    yamayama Posts: 427member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vinea View Post


    Well...there's Solaris that you can run via Parallels or BootCamp. I didn't bother and just clobbered my old Windows box...



    Quick note on Solaris - the x86 version of Solaris won't run certain apps which require SPARC hardware. For example, heavy duty server apps like older versions of WebSphere and WebLogic. But if you're just installing it to have a look and play around with it then there shouldn't be any problems.
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  • Reply 7 of 10
    sc_marktsc_markt Posts: 1,404member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vinea View Post


    Well there's Haiku which is supposedly a fairly accurate reconstruction of BeOS. I doubt BeOS 5 will run well on a Mac without drivers.



    There's AmigaOS 4. It wont run on any mac...even a PPC one which is a shame really. I have an old quicksilver I wouldn't mind running OS4 just for old times sake but the developers are complete morons. The locked the OS to "official" hardware and then the company that made them stopped making them so now they have an OS no one can use.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by yama View Post


    Quick note on Solaris - the x86 version of Solaris won't run certain apps which require SPARC hardware. For example, heavy duty server apps like older versions of WebSphere and WebLogic. But if you're just installing it to have a look and play around with it then there shouldn't be any problems.



    Thanks both of you. And basically, I just want to play around.



    By any chance, can you load the original NeXT OS (or openstep or whatever it is called) on these intel macs (I know OS X is from NeXT). I've always liked the look of the NeXT interface.
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  • Reply 8 of 10
    yamayama Posts: 427member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sc_markt View Post


    By any chance, can you load the original NeXT OS (or openstep or whatever it is called) on these intel macs (I know OS X is from NeXT). I've always liked the look of the NeXT interface.



    You might be able to get the x86 version of NextStep working. I expect you'll have driver problems though, just like with BeOS.



    If you're looking to get older versions of the Mac OS to work, I would recommend downloading Mini vMac or Basilisk which allow you to run System 1 to 7 under emulation on Intel Macs. Fun for the sake of nostalgia.
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  • Reply 9 of 10
    sc_marktsc_markt Posts: 1,404member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by yama View Post


    You might be able to get the x86 version of NextStep working. I expect you'll have driver problems though, just like with BeOS.



    If you're looking to get older versions of the Mac OS to work, I would recommend downloading Mini vMac or Basilisk which allow you to run System 1 to 7 under emulation on Intel Macs. Fun for the sake of nostalgia.



    Actually, I've got a PPC G4 powermac with classic on it.



    Thanks for the info on NeXT and BeOS. I'll scratch those off my list of experiments.
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  • Reply 10 of 10
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sc_markt View Post


    Thanks for the info on NeXT and BeOS. I'll scratch those off my list of experiments.



    Dead OS's tend to want old hardware.



    Heck, you can't get an old linux to run on new machines well. We had to finally abandon RH7 because of drivers. We had some old Kylix build environments for some old crufty code we had to maintain and it doesn't like new Linuxes much.
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