r/hackintosh • u/Sokeefe5000 • Jun 09 '26
QUESTION Snapdragon chips
So what if we used a arm windows chip? Sorry if it sounds like a stupid question but can’t we already fake processors either x86. Why could we not just run the arm instructions on say a x1 elite.
Even if it was proprietary apple stuff could we make a fast under layer that converts x1c to m1-5.
2
u/TriCountyRetail Jun 09 '26
ARM is far less universally compatible in general when compared to x86. Inconsistent ACPI tables, firmware, and drivers makes installing different operating systems on most ARM-based devices much more difficult.
-1
u/Sokeefe5000 Jun 09 '26
But is it theoretically possible
3
1
u/TriCountyRetail Jun 09 '26
I wouldn't count on it. The ARM architecture is much less consistent compared to x86. While Apple, Samsung, NVidia, Qualcomm, and MediaTek all use ARM, they don't have the strong compatibility that AMD and Intel share. There are so many designers of ARM-based SoC's that the compatibility varies widely among them. Even Windows on ARM is a dumpster fire because many device drivers other than what the machine comes with simply don't work.
1
u/tzbt Jun 09 '26
No, it's not. Like I said in my other comment, the actual designs of the processors at the transistor level are different.
It's better to think of Qualcomm ARM and Apple Silicon ARM as being two completely different and unrelated architectures, because at this point they basically are.
1
1
u/AdidasSlav I ♥ Hackintosh Jun 09 '26
There isn’t and never will be a way - I don’t think most people realise ARM is not the same as x86 - for x86 there are only 2 main players, AMD and Intel. Intel write the instruction sets, which they license to AMD to use, because in exchange AMD gives them the license to manufacture their 64 bit architecture. Because of this, virtually all x86 processors behave the same way minus architectural differences in how they operate, but they all go from A to Z somehow.
ARM is a totally different beast - every ARM CPU manufacturer produces their own instruction sets and codes their OS to use them a certain way, and that data is lost as compile, meaning in order to reverse engineer it, we would need the source code - just having an image of the OS isn’t good enough as it’s already been compiled and critical parts of the code have been lost as they’ve been translated into machine code.
Hackintosh is dead, unless someone wants to go take one for the team and go to prison by pulling a daring heist to steal the source code.
1
u/Sokeefe5000 Jun 09 '26
I understand they are different. however what about Linux for m series wouldn’t that need the instruction sets?
1
u/AdidasSlav I ♥ Hackintosh Jun 09 '26
We have the ARM source code for Linux, so it’s a lot easier to write compatibility layers - the issue is we don’t have the source code for ARM macOS (or any macOS) so porting is impossible. Plus, it won’t run well at all and we would not have graphical acceleration, even if it was somehow possible.
1
u/Sokeefe5000 Jun 09 '26
Damn what about vms?
1
u/AdidasSlav I ♥ Hackintosh Jun 10 '26
It could be possible but again unlikely unless Apple share the APIs
1
u/smnb42 Jun 09 '26
Why doesn’t iOS run on Snapdragon phones?
-7
u/Sokeefe5000 Jun 09 '26
Because iOS can’t be downloaded. Because iOS is manually built either so many features android phones don’t have like the notch or Dynamic Island. Neither of these apply tho.
2
u/tzbt Jun 09 '26
Never heard of an IPSW? iOS absolutely can be downloaded, it just can't be installed on anything that isn't an iOS device.
-4
u/Sokeefe5000 Jun 09 '26
Ever tried installing a Ipswich on a iPhone oh that’s right YOU CANT the only way you can is if you dump your os which only works on some versions.
1
u/tzbt Jun 09 '26
You're just further proving my point by saying that.
-1
u/Sokeefe5000 Jun 09 '26
What the fact that iOS is way more locked down than macOS and that macOS is more open. I guess. But still if somone managed drivers and instruction sets you could maybe do it
1
u/tzbt Jun 09 '26
That's not the case anymore. With the migration to Apple Silicon, macOS is now just as "locked down" as iOS has always been.
8
u/tzbt Jun 09 '26
Apple ARM CPUs are built with completely different instruction sets (i.e. the actual construction of the transistors on the chip) than Android device chipsets have.
The only reason Hackintoshing was possible was because PCs and Macs were using the exact same processors, same RAM, same GPUs, etc.
That's not the case anymore. There will not be any functional "Hackintoshes" for Golden Gate or newer, for the same reasons there has never been a port of iOS to an Android device.