Intel Atom support officially missing from Mac OS X 10.6.2

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Intel Atom support is confirmed to be missing in the final release of 10.6.2, citing multiple prominent Hackintosh sources.



Apple's latest update for Snow Leopard has broken support for Intel's Atom processor line. Mac OS X 10.6.2 was released Monday afternoon, and was Apple's second major update for Snow Leopard.



OSXDaily reported that various netbook and "hackintosh" forums are "blowing up with problems of 10.6.2 instant rebooting their Atom-based notebooks." Systems using the Atom processor will go into a startup-loop if the 10.6.2 update is installed.



Support for Atom fluctuated over the course of 10.6.2 development, and Apple was mum about the subject.



It is recommended that anyone using OS X on Atom-based systems should not install the update. Many believe that a community-generated fix will be developed soon. Prominent hackintosh blogger StellaRola commented, "Just an FYI, this is OSx86 after all and none of the scenes hackers really let down on support. The latest kernel may not be ?officially? supported but that doesn?t mean there won?t be a modded kernel around the corner."



Intel's Atom processor is a low-cost, low-power chip intended for notebooks and ultra-mobile PCs. Although current Apple products do not sport the Atom chips, a dedicated community has formed around the practice of installing Snow Leopard on Atom netbooks.



The 10.6.2 update weighs in at 473MB and fixes a guest account bug which could have potentially deleted a user's account data. It can be accessed direct from Apple or via Software Update.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 100
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member
    Apple haters in 3...2...1...



    On a side note, the update was 200 some odd MB for me. Where do they get this 400MB number from?
  • Reply 2 of 100
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    It’s illogical to think Apple decided to drop support for Atom to dissuade the hackintosh community from building netbooks, which Apple doesn’t even compete with on any level. Nor is it logical to think Apple would purposely do this a couple of point releases in and at the start of a major release when new core foundations and features were added. The lost logical answer is that Apple simply found a way to streamline their code even more and it just happens to be at the expense of Atom-based Hackintoshes.



    PS: I don’t think it will take the OSx86 Project long to add the new bug updates with old support for Atom.
  • Reply 3 of 100
    Can't wait for the hackintosh screed. This'll be good.
  • Reply 4 of 100
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DJRumpy View Post


    On a side note, the update was 200 some odd MB for me. Where do they get this 400MB number from?

  • Reply 5 of 100
    Mine was 157.7 hrm.
  • Reply 6 of 100
    mactrippermactripper Posts: 1,328member
    Leopard got a security update too and it works, on Mac's.



    Wonder if it broke Leopard hackintoshes too?





    Is Apple going down the Microsoft road of insecure/buggy OS in order to cause updates and breaking of hackintoshes?
  • Reply 7 of 100
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member
    Anyone else finding the size of this update to be substantially less than the 400 MB? On all 4 of my Mac's, it's coming in at 200 MB or so.
  • Reply 8 of 100
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    It?s illogical to think Apple decided to drop support for Atom to dissuade the hackintosh community from building netbooks, which Apple doesn?t even compete with on any level. Nor is it logical to think Apple would purposely do this a couple of point releases in and at the start of a major release when new core foundations and features were added. The lost logical answer is that Apple simply found a way to streamline their code even more and it just happens to be at the expense of Atom-based Hackintoshes.



    PS: I don?t think it will take the OSx86 Project long to add the new bug updates with old support for Atom.



    I disagree - I think Apple cutoff support to cutoff the Netbooks. I don't blame them and applaud them for protecting what is theirs. How could they let this slide while Psystar is out there stealing from them and they are fighting it in court. The quicker the get rid of Psystar the faster they will be able to concentrate on the real paying customers (and before someone says it- no buying an OS that is supposed to be for an upgrade is not the same - just cause some don't agree EULA does not mean that was not Apple's intent in selling it with those conditions attached).
  • Reply 9 of 100
    OS X has no reason to support the Intel Atom, any more than it needs to support the Intel 386.
  • Reply 10 of 100
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DJRumpy View Post


    Anyone else finding the size of this update to be substantially less than the 400 MB? On all 4 of my Mac's, it's coming in at 200 MB or so.



    Of course, the Software Updater is grabbing the package for your particular machine so it?s significantly smaller. It won?t work for any other machine.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Damn_Its_Hot View Post


    I disagree - I think Apple cutoff support to cutoff the Netbooks. I don't blame them and applaud them for protecting what is theirs. How could they let this slide while Psystar is out there stealing from them and they are fighting it in court. The quicker the get rid of Psystar the faster they will be able to concentrate on the real paying customers (and before someone says it- no buying an OS that is supposed to be for an upgrade is not the same - just cause some don't agree EULA does not mean that was not Apple's intent in selling it with those conditions attached).



    1) Cutting off netbooks does not cut off the Hackintosh community, which can use non-Atom Intel and AMD processors



    2) Cutting off Atom support at 10.6.2 to supress the Hackintosh community makes no sense because there aren?t wanting by staying with 10.6.1.



    3) If they were going cut off the Hackintosh community they would have done it at a major update and in a way that it makes it harder for all non-Mac HW to run Mac OS X.



    Everything else is irrational.
  • Reply 11 of 100
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Damn_Its_Hot View Post


    I disagree - I think Apple cutoff support to cutoff the Netbooks. I don't blame them and applaud them for protecting what is theirs. How could they let this slide while Psystar is out there stealing from them and they are fighting it in court. The quicker the get rid of Psystar the faster they will be able to concentrate on the real paying customers (and before someone says it- no buying an OS that is supposed to be for an upgrade is not the same - just cause some don't agree EULA does not mean that was not Apple's intent in selling it with those conditions attached).



    Apple is hardly wasting energy with Psystar. Its just another day of business dealing with them.



    On a lesser note, I hope people at least get the facts straight. Its very doubtful that Apple purposefully disabled Atom support with the intent to stall OSx86 netbooks. If you read about the general fixes in the update, you'd notice that much of what's been updated has been in terms of graphics. Nearly all their extensions (kexts) have been updated to support 64-bit, and with the exception of the original Core Duo processor, Apple has no 32-bit chips in their computers.



    Losing Atom support is merely a side-effect of the changes they made. In cleaning up the code for their current computers, they inadvertently broke others. And again, support is only "lost" until someone creates a custom kernel with Atom support built back in. In the meantime, Atom users can still upgrade as long as they revert back to the older kernel.
  • Reply 12 of 100
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DJRumpy View Post


    Anyone else finding the size of this update to be substantially less than the 400 MB? On all 4 of my Mac's, it's coming in at 200 MB or so.



    Yep 157.7MB here. Can't work out what it depends on from reading around. Maybe those with the bigger size got the fix for stack nested sorting that I'm still waiting for; so annoying.



    I'm not surprised re the Atom support but surely it would have been more sensible to drop it right at SL's launch? Not as if they had thought they might want to make machines with those processors and decided in the last two months not to, right?
  • Reply 13 of 100
    the update erased my t v recordings on my eye tv by elgato

    also all my scheduling

    anyone have any help on how to get back my recordings ?

    the memory seems to have stayed the same like it is not erased but hiding lol

    help
  • Reply 14 of 100
    My iMac was 157.7 MB and my Unibody MacBook Pro was 499 MB. Both were at 10.6.1 before.
  • Reply 15 of 100
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by drjjones View Post


    the update erased my t v recordings on my eye tv by elgato

    also all my scheduling

    anyone have any help on how to get back my recordings ?

    the memory seems to have stayed the same like it is not erased but hiding lol

    help



    drjjones, you'd be better off posting in the Apple Support forums. Honestly I can't figure out what your talking about.
  • Reply 16 of 100
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    It?s illogical to think Apple decided to drop support for Atom to dissuade the hackintosh community from building netbooks, which Apple doesn?t even compete with on any level. Nor is it logical to think Apple would purposely do this a couple of point releases in and at the start of a major release when new core foundations and features were added.



    I have to respectfully disagree as well. Your thought process makes some sense. However, the pattern of behavior with regards to iTunes and the Palm Pre suggests a more protectionist tactic. The Palm Pre, nor the Hackintosh community, present a huge competitive pressure on the Apple juggernaut. But, money is money, and if you can hamper the ankle-biters with little effort, why not?



    Personally, I think a better strategy would be to understand the draw of the "Hackintosh" and produce an Apple-quality product that satisfies that market. Why fight when you can capitalize?



    Cheers.
  • Reply 17 of 100
    djrumpydjrumpy Posts: 1,116member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lylehm View Post


    I have to respectfully disagree as well. Your thought process makes some sense. However, the pattern of behavior with regards to iTunes and the Palm Pre suggests a more protectionist tactic. The Palm Pre, nor the Hackintosh community, present a huge competitive pressure on the Apple juggernaut. But, money is money, and if you can hamper the ankle-biters with little effort, why not?



    Personally, I think a better strategy would be to understand the draw of the "Hackintosh" and produce an Apple-quality product that satisfies that market. Why fight when you can capitalize?



    Cheers.



    The only 'market' there is for people who put together home built PC's for dirt cheap, meaning there's no profit for Apple. Makes sense for them to prevent hackintosh from a business perspective. I would guesstimate that a large portion of that community probably didn't even bother to buy OS X, but downloaded it via Torrent.
  • Reply 18 of 100
    bertpbertp Posts: 274member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by yuusharo View Post


    Apple is hardly wasting energy with Psystar. Its just another day of business dealing with them.



    On a lesser note, I hope people at least get the facts straight. Its very doubtful that Apple purposefully disabled Atom support with the intent to stall OSx86 netbooks. If you read about the general fixes in the update, you'd notice that much of what's been updated has been in terms of graphics. Nearly all their extensions (kexts) have been updated to support 64-bit, and with the exception of the original Core Duo processor, Apple has no 32-bit chips in their computers.



    Losing Atom support is merely a side-effect of the changes they made. In cleaning up the code for their current computers, they inadvertently broke others. And again, support is only "lost" until someone creates a custom kernel with Atom support built back in. In the meantime, Atom users can still upgrade as long as they revert back to the older kernel.



    I took a look at the System Profiler and it lists Darwin 10.2.0 rather than 10.0.0. So, it is more than the kernel extensions upgraded. Still, I don't buy into the conspiracy theories about disabling hackers; it is more like that the hackers moved outside of Apple's zone of support.
  • Reply 19 of 100
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by yuusharo View Post


    apple is hardly wasting energy with psystar. Its just another day of business dealing with them.



    On a lesser note, i hope people at least get the facts straight. Its very doubtful that apple purposefully disabled atom support with the intent to stall osx86 netbooks. If you read about the general fixes in the update, you'd notice that much of what's been updated has been in terms of graphics. Nearly all their extensions (kexts) have been updated to support 64-bit, and with the exception of the original core duo processor, apple has no 32-bit chips in their computers.



    Losing atom support is merely a side-effect of the changes they made. In cleaning up the code for their current computers, they inadvertently broke others. And again, support is only "lost" until someone creates a custom kernel with atom support built back in. In the meantime, atom users can still upgrade as long as they revert back to the older kernel.



    ++++++++++++++111111111111111
  • Reply 20 of 100
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MartiNZ View Post


    Yep 157.7MB here. Can't work out what it depends on from reading around. Maybe those with the bigger size got the fix for stack nested sorting that I'm still waiting for; so annoying...



    The combo update is generally always the same size.

    The update through "software update" varies from machine to machine and depends on what updates and software you have previously installed.



    This isn't rocket science.
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