- A Coder Got an Older Version of macOS Running on a Nintendo Wii
- The project involved a mass of custom code and complex workarounds
- Despite the difficulties, the author said it was “worth pursuing.”
Forget to ask if your PC can work Crisisthe ultimate test of computing abilities these days is whether you can hack a working copy of Loss on a random piece of electrical equipment. But maybe we should add a new test of hacking prowess: can you run Mac OS X Cheetah on a Nintendo Wii?
That’s exactly what programmer Bryan Keller achieved, with the enterprising coder detailing the sometimes convoluted process on his blog. And as you can imagine, running an operating system that was discontinued almost 25 years ago on a games console that isn’t much younger has presented more than its fair share of obstacles.
Keller was inspired by a similar project that successfully got Windows NT running on a Nintendo Wii. And given that the Wii uses a PowerPC 750CL processor – which is an updated version of the PowerPC 750CXe found in Apple’s older iMac G3 and iBook G3 computers – Keller had a feeling his hacking attempt would work. It turned out to be a hunch that was right.
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That’s not to say it was a walk in the park, though. Keller had to create a custom bootloader, patch the OS In other words, the process was as convenient as possible.
“It’s worth pursuing.”
Even after all this effort, Keller still encountered unusual problems. One of them, for example, caused the device to display Mac OS X in the wrong colors. As Keller succinctly puts it, “everything is magenta.”
Fixing this problem was complicated, Keller said, because “it relates to a fundamental incompatibility between the Wii’s video hardware and the graphics code used by Mac OS X.” The solution was to use two framebuffers – one for Mac OS X Cheetah and one for the Wii – and convert the output of one into something the other could understand.
This was just one of many problems Keller encountered (unsurprisingly) in this unusual hack. But despite the setbacks, the venture was a success, with Mac OS X Cheetah (released in 2001) fully operational on the Nintendo Wii (first released in 2006). Keller has released the source code on GitHub for anyone brave enough to take on the challenge themselves.
Reflecting on the project, Keller said, “There is something deeply satisfying about accomplishing something that, at first, you weren’t even sure was possible… In the end, I learned (and accomplished) much more than I expected – and perhaps more importantly, I was reminded that the projects that seem out of reach are exactly the ones worth pursuing.” »
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