OS X 10.6.2 is out: Intel Atom support not included

Apple pushed out OS X 10.6.2 today, and while the latest Snow Leopard update fixes a whole slew of bugs, it introduces one major problem for netbook hackintosh builders: It doesn’t seem to work with the Intel Atom processor.

It’s not clear whether Apple would have intentionally broken Atom support in this release to discourage people from installing the operating system on netbooks. But Atom compatibility is clearly not a high priority for Apple since the company doesn’t make any products that use the processor.

There had been some reports over the past week or so that pre-release builds of OS X 10.6.2 did or didn’t work with Atom. But it looks like the final build that was released today falls into the not-working category.

It’s very possible, (perhaps even inevitable) that sooner or later a hacker will figure out some way to modify the OS to support Atom powered netbooks. But for right now, if you have OS X installed on your netbook, you’ll probably want to hold off on downloading the update.

Update: In case you were wondering what kind of errors you would get if you did try installing OS X 10.6.2 on a netbook, MyDellMini forum member Crisu reports that the computer fails to boot and then tries rebooting… over and over again. Sounds like fun, no? via OS X Daily

Update 2: And now you can see the endless reboot cycle for yourself thanks to molder. The video is embedded after the break.

Posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009, 6:40 pm by Brad Linder

moldor

Yep – updated my sacrificial ASUS 1000HE this morning and posted the video to Youtube – gets to a certain point, and then just vanishes. Video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s04_3iYxXIE
Pingback: Apple Snow Leopard : mise à jour Mac OS X 10.6.2 dispo, l’Atom plus supporté… LaptopSpirit.fr - PC Portable, Ultraportables, Netbooks, UMPC et mobilité
hackintosh

i'm a hackintosh user. fake mac pro. i purposely bought hardware nearly identical to an imac or maybe a real mac pro. my stuff works perfectly almost all the time.

why are you either surprised or annoyed to have problems on a completely unsupported architecture on a completely unsupported platform? part of the fun is solving these problems yourself.
OpNickC

Why does every article on this reverse position? Originally everyone said support was dropped, then I read the newer build brought back atom compatibility, then I read it was just some dumbass who messed up his hackintosh install in the first place and atom compatibility was never lost in the first place, and now this. WTF?

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/11/05/211…

Also, to add to hackintosh's post – while apple has no legal right to stop an individual from making a hackintosh, an individual has no legal right to make apple support it. If apple can do something to break compatibility with non-supported hardware, they have every right to (and if you can find a hack or mod that brings support back or works around it, you have every right to). If you want a hackintosh safe from being broken in an update (and that you know will have drivers, etc.), then use the same hardware that apple uses/has used. If you want a fully supported Mac system, then buy it from Apple. If you don't mind saving some money and making a custom system at the cost of having to use hacks and be wary of updates, then build a hackintosh. That's the trade-off – just like with my hacked Wii; I have every right to hack my system, but I can't then expect Nintendo to support it and I must to wait on updates until I can confirm they're ok. That's just how it works, and I see nothing unfair about it: I can do whatever I want with my stuff, but the companies that make my stuff have no obligation to provide support and working updates for uses and modifications they never intended.
hackintosh

i'm a hackintosh user. fake mac pro. i purposely bought hardware nearly identical to an imac or maybe a real mac pro. my stuff works perfectly almost all the time.

why are you either surprised or annoyed to have problems on a completely unsupported architecture on a completely unsupported platform? part of the fun is solving these problems yourself.
OpNickC

Why does every article on this reverse position? Originally everyone said support was dropped, then I read the newer build brought back atom compatibility, then I read it was just some dumbass who messed up his hackintosh install and atom compatibility was never lost in the first place, and now this. WTF?

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/11/05/211…

Also, to add to hackintosh's post – while apple has no legal right to stop an individual from making a hackintosh, an individual has no legal right to make apple support it. If apple can do something to break compatibility with non-supported hardware, they have every right to (and if you can find a hack or mod that brings support back or works around it, you have every right to). If you want a hackintosh safe from being broken in an update (and that you know will have drivers, etc.), then use the same hardware that apple uses/has used. If you want a fully supported Mac system, then buy it from Apple. If you don't mind saving some money and making a custom system at the cost of having to use hacks and be wary of updates, then build a hackintosh. That's the trade-off – just like with my hacked Wii; I have every right to hack my system, but I can't then expect Nintendo to support it and I must to wait on updates until I can confirm they're ok. That's just how it works, and I see nothing unfair about it: I can do whatever I want with my stuff, but the companies that make my stuff have no obligation to provide support and working updates for uses and modifications they never intended.

OS X 10.6.2 is out: Intel Atom support not included

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