Video: Intel's Light Peak running an HD display while transferring files... on a hackintosh

Intel just did a pretty impressive demo of its new Light Peak optical device interconnect, driving a greater-than-HD display while saturating an SSD RAID all over one cable, but we couldn't help but notice the monster Frankenstein test rig on stage was running OS X -- looks like someone's violating their EULA! Video after the break.

[megakilo Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:04PM]

How do u know its hackintosh?? It's next gen Mac!

[michaelwub Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:06PM]

That's cool... I wonder if it can handle running flash on OS X?

[fontendet Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:15PM]

very rude...

[Shunnabunich Posted Sep 24th 2009 10:43PM]

I think it's safe to say that the machine doesn't exist that can make the OS X version of Flash run decently. Or if it does, Adobe has it locked deep in an underground vault.

Somewhere in the asteroid belt. With shark-mounted laser turrets.

Or better yet: shark-mounted laser Tourette's. PEW PEW GODDAMN PEW FUCK.

What was I saying again?

[benahad Posted Sep 25th 2009 11:52AM]

@Shunnabunich - dude, i for real lol'd. that made my day. thanks.

[benahad Posted Sep 25th 2009 10:54PM]

@shunnabunnich - Many hours later.... I had to show the wife your comment. She didn't get it. I'm still laughing my f'n ass off. This is my favorite engadget response ever.

[k2001 Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:18PM]

Could have been a phototype Mac Pro. Your are assuming that Intel wasn't given the permission by Apple to test out new processor on OSX. But remember that Intel is Apple's biggest partner, the odd of Apple not giving Intel that permission is very slim.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 5:38PM]

I hate your video player. Trying to get rid of the ad it went wonky.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:26PM]

Apple has always focused on A/V, prob next gen tech you'll see in a Mac Pro.

[pretol Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:32PM]

Calling a demo a "hack" is retarded, because all tech demos are hacks by definition.

[gletob Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:35PM]

Umh Apple distributes copies of x86 Pc Bios systems to developers.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:35PM]

Apple works with Intel on tons of stuff. Apple probably had their software engineers working on it along with Intel. This is a TUAW-level story,which is to say, it's one that should have never been posted.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:42PM]

Officially speaking, only developers are allowed to run OSX on non-Apple hardware. So there's no problem for intel or really any other hardware/software developers for OSX to run it on a normal PC. They just have to have the proper developer license (which has a subscription fee).

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 9:48PM]

It's a Mac Mini, of course

[perpetual98 Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:47PM]

Headed towards 2 pages of comments and nobody has talked about Light Peak. lol

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 2:56AM]

Comments about the technology are below the TUAW article that refers to this one :)

[Gav Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:49PM]

It looks like the data is being transferred from a Mac onto the thing that you claim to be a hackintosh, which could well be running any OS.

[igeekone Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:52PM]

It love having just one standard connection and this looks like that perfect solution. The hackintosh could mean Apple and Intel are codeveloping it and will most likely replace Firewire.

[fourthletter Posted Sep 24th 2009 4:32PM]

I call balls !
Intel already develop USB which includes an optical standard for USB 3.

[mlayer Posted Sep 24th 2009 5:03PM]

Light Peak could replace all interconnects: USB, FireWire, HDMI, DisplayPort, eSATA. Cables can be as long as 100 m. The best part might be that it supports multiple protocols. So instead of a dozen different technologies at the back of your computer, you might have 6 or 8 Light Peak ports (and maybe Ethernet+USB for legacy) and it won't matter which ones you use. Hopefully they can get economies of scale going quickly.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:53PM]

when did it get cool to play copycat online in web comments on tech sites, sigh, another internet meme that needs to die.

[bolezhinkov Posted Sep 24th 2009 3:58PM]

Big file. BIG BIG file.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 4:47PM]

Have you guys ever considered that it may just be a monitor and a mac pro or something under the table? you can use whatever screen you want. Just cuz it's not a apple cinema display doesn't mean it's a hackintosh.

[nevyn Posted Sep 24th 2009 4:58PM]

What's the difference between Light Peak and USB 3? Universal inter-connect, hotswap, very very fast, optical... (Honest question, not trying to troll)

[mlayer Posted Sep 24th 2009 5:19PM]

Most important is that USB 3 is here. Light Peak is a ways off. Light Peak is faster (10 Gb/s vs. 3.6/4.8 Gb/s), can carry data over longer distances (100 m vs. 5 m), and can carry USB plus other protocols. Intel is working on its first controller/module package for 2010 delivery. We might see it in PC chipsets shortly thereafter - high-end ones to start.

[Enisity Posted Sep 24th 2009 5:39PM]

I'm pretty sure apple doesn't care that its a hackintosh since Intel builds all there cpus anyways.. lol

[geekthree Posted Sep 24th 2009 5:30PM]

I LOL'd.

Thats what i'm sayin here...



Sorry, I couldn't resist that one :)

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 5:31PM]

Next-up:

A version that is wireless, using high-intensity lasers to allow you to transfer files at incredible speeds!

[Android8675 Posted Sep 24th 2009 6:21PM]

i'm late to the party, but that hackintosh looks like a gutted mac pro tower. the blue mobo kindda gives it away.

[denrocks1 Posted Sep 24th 2009 6:59PM]

But can it run Crysis?

No, it can't

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 8:28PM]

Great! now we have the solution for run OS X without legacy problems with Apple. Just get a job at Intel.

[zshift Posted Sep 24th 2009 10:13PM]

...OR...

Considering that Intel hardware does power current Apple setups, who's to say that this won't be running on future Apple computers, basically Intel engineering and writing drivers for OS X...

Come on now, was this really that big of a deal?

[weinerschnitzelboy Posted Sep 24th 2009 11:41PM]

What if it wasn't a hackintosh. What if apple actually made the computer for intel's demonstration purposes only.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 11:37PM]

Yep...

What Im saying here is that I LOL'd

I have doubt that Apple cares

but it was still just sort of funny

[nightalon Posted Sep 25th 2009 12:58AM]

I definitely think it was a Hackintosh: look at the golden drive and the Leopard desktop pattern. The system hasn't compensated for using a non-standard SATA controller, and hence the drive registers as external. On Snow Leopard this could really be an external drive, but on Leopard the boot drive is on the desktop by default.

MacOS is quite good at video presentation, which is likely why it was used for the demo.

What makes this actually LOL-worthy is that Intel probably used Netkas' work on fakesmc, dsmos, and/or the Chameleon/EFI bootloader, since Apple would have to build a custom kernel otherwise. If that were the case, the system would likely be running Snow Leopard.

OMG, can Apple please let people install their OS on standard PC hardware without hacking? Can Steve Jobs write in his will that Apple will release all its source code when he dies? Please? (well, one can wish for the impossible...)

[morissen3k8 Posted Sep 25th 2009 1:03AM]

Intel definitely is using an Apple chassis, looking at the bottom of the case there are 3 columns of drive slots typically found in mac pro cases.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 25th 2009 2:38AM]

Its just a Mac Pro out of it's case. Nothing amazing.

[chipxsd Posted Sep 26th 2009 2:02PM]

Exactly, and you can even see the RAM riser boards

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 25th 2009 4:22AM]

Ouais

C'est juste marrant...

Je pense qu'Apple s'en fout

j'ai "LOL"é, et c'est ce que je dis ici...

[vicmacs Posted Sep 27th 2009 8:54AM]

Sip...

Lo que estoy diciendo aqui es que yo LOL'eé

No creo que a Apple le importe.

pero como sea fue algo gracioso

:P

[skim32 Posted Sep 29th 2009 8:35AM]

who's to say that isn't a frankensteined mac? With mac hardware? If that's the case, then there would be no violation of EULA.

[macboy Posted Oct 5th 2009 5:39PM]

You are wrong. No Mac Pro.

Look deeper in details.
The left PC ist equiped as usual with a mb like Intel DQ43AP. Besides the PCIex-extenderbord with "LightPeak"-router.
The right PC consists of a developer- or modified standard-mobo, sitting verticaly.
This board lacks the ususal raiser-card as well the heatpipes seen in Mac Pro. See a usual heatpipe as used in customer-PC.
The board on the desk is a PCIex-extenderbord, housing the LightPeak-router and the VGA-card.

Look deeper!

Look at "Switch to Mac"-Blog athttp://pc-checkpoint.de/pccblog/index.html
Cheers.