As this is a popular topic of discussion, I thought I'd point to a little information about a fun feature of OS X Leopard, which allows and assists you in installing a Windows Operating System (Windows XP Home/Pro Service Pack 2 32-Bit, or Windows Vista 32-Bit) on your Intel Mac, in order to 'get the best of both worlds' without having to use a separate computer or emulation software. I also wanted to talk a little about the possible pitfalls, cautions, and complications in using Boot Camp on a Region 10 computer as well.
Now, let's back that up a second, because I may have lost a few people.
OS X Leopard, is the newest version of Apple's Operating System. Officially it is version 10.5.XX.
If you are wondering what version of OS X you are running on your machine, pull down the Apple Menu in the top left corner of the finder, and select "About this Mac." This will tell you the version of your operating system, and also what kind of processor (PowerPC or Intel) your Mac has in it.
Now, let's back that up a second, because I may have lost a few people.
OS X Leopard, is the newest version of Apple's Operating System. Officially it is version 10.5.XX.
If you are wondering what version of OS X you are running on your machine, pull down the Apple Menu in the top left corner of the finder, and select "About this Mac." This will tell you the version of your operating system, and also what kind of processor (PowerPC or Intel) your Mac has in it.
Unfortunately, if you are running a version of OS X with a version lower than 10.5.0, none of this applies to you. (Boot Camp is not officially supported on OS X 10.4.X, but is available as a beta test. We're not going to get into that here too much, suffice to say that the beta exists) Also, if you are using a Mac with a PowerPC (PPC) processor, none of this applies to you either, even if you are running OS X 10.5 Leopard on your machine. 
Boot Camp, as the feature has been so cutely named, is only available on Intel-based Apple computers. There are very good reasons why it is only available on Intel Macs, but the biggest is due to compatibility. Apple developed a separate version of their operating system specifically for Intel based machines, knowing that some day they would possibly be adding or switching to Intel technology in their machines. Windows has been 'Intel Compatible' for quite some time, all the way back to it's inception, actually. Because the two operating systems were developed for similar hardware, it made things very simple for Apple to allow the user to have an environment on their Mac to install and run Windows natively, as if your Mac was really a PC.
Why? Because your Mac IS a PC, but only if and when you want it to be.
How? Patience, grasshopper, we're getting to that, but we're not going to get too technical on you. Well, okay, maybe a little bit, but I promise to keep the geekiness to a minimum.
Here is HOW it works, in quasi-geek-speak:
Intel Macs use a little something known as an Extensible-Firmware Interface, or EFI. Intel Macs aren't specifically the only machines using EFI, but Apple and Intel worked very closely (actually Intel developed them in an effort to overcome limitations in PCs across the board) to take advantage of the possibilities of EFI both for making OS X 10.4 for their new Intel Macs work, and also for introducing Boot Camp to the world.
I'm sure at this point, you're saying, "But Jay, who cares about this EFI stuff? Isn't that some kind of alternative rock band or something?"
No, that's AFI, and we care about this EFI stuff because not only does it make OS X 10.4 for Intels work, or OS X 10.5 Leopard for Intels, or Windows on a Mac, but it also does some other neat things, that I can't really even get into. It's very neat, geeky, technical, but going by the Apple mantra it allows things to "Just Work."
Here's the low-down:
A lot of Windows PCs have something in them known as a BIOS (Binary Input Output System). Macs have had something that did a similar job, called Open Firmware. The job of both has always been to initialize the hardware of the computer, most importantly for this conversation, is the hard drive. The hard drive contains our operating system, whether it be Windows or Mac OS, Linux, Unix, or an Xbox Dashboard, it is important for the computer to be able to find it's hard drive so that it can then start the OS. EFI does a very similar job to what Open Firmware used to do, but has some nice bells and whistles and updates to bring things into a new era of computing.
For this conversation, one of the most important things EFI let's us do, is play an AWFUL trick on the poor, unsuspecting, and none-the-wiser, Windows XP. Windows XP expects to be installed on a machine that uses a BIOS. Macs don't use a BIOS, so it would be difficult (but not impossible) to force Windows to work on a Mac without giving it a BIOS. Thankfully, EFI (or actually a sub-component of it) allows us to fool Windows XP into believing that it is being installed on a machine that has a BIOS (and wouldn't you know, it's an Intel BIOS) and that makes Windows XP happy to talk to all of the hardware that makes up and is attached to your Mac. EFI prepares and talks to all of the hardware for Windows XP, and Windows XP talks to the EFI thinking that it is a BIOS.
Shhh! Don't tell Windows XP, it would feel betrayed.
Ok, so now we get that EFI is the magic (or a big part of it) that allows us to use Windows XP on our Mac. Windows Vista was actually supposed to have the ability to speak directly to EFI, but as far as I'm aware, that may have ended up on the feature cutting room floor, with a lot of other things.
Here's some quick pitfalls to watch out for, before even THINKING about using Boot Camp, however. Well, actually, it's too late for most of you, since you're reading this article, you just thought about it. If you didn't prior to reading it, I bet you're thinking about it right now- no, NOW-
Boot Camp, as the feature has been so cutely named, is only available on Intel-based Apple computers. There are very good reasons why it is only available on Intel Macs, but the biggest is due to compatibility. Apple developed a separate version of their operating system specifically for Intel based machines, knowing that some day they would possibly be adding or switching to Intel technology in their machines. Windows has been 'Intel Compatible' for quite some time, all the way back to it's inception, actually. Because the two operating systems were developed for similar hardware, it made things very simple for Apple to allow the user to have an environment on their Mac to install and run Windows natively, as if your Mac was really a PC.
Why? Because your Mac IS a PC, but only if and when you want it to be.
How? Patience, grasshopper, we're getting to that, but we're not going to get too technical on you. Well, okay, maybe a little bit, but I promise to keep the geekiness to a minimum.
Here is HOW it works, in quasi-geek-speak:
Intel Macs use a little something known as an Extensible-Firmware Interface, or EFI. Intel Macs aren't specifically the only machines using EFI, but Apple and Intel worked very closely (actually Intel developed them in an effort to overcome limitations in PCs across the board) to take advantage of the possibilities of EFI both for making OS X 10.4 for their new Intel Macs work, and also for introducing Boot Camp to the world.
I'm sure at this point, you're saying, "But Jay, who cares about this EFI stuff? Isn't that some kind of alternative rock band or something?"
No, that's AFI, and we care about this EFI stuff because not only does it make OS X 10.4 for Intels work, or OS X 10.5 Leopard for Intels, or Windows on a Mac, but it also does some other neat things, that I can't really even get into. It's very neat, geeky, technical, but going by the Apple mantra it allows things to "Just Work."
Here's the low-down:
A lot of Windows PCs have something in them known as a BIOS (Binary Input Output System). Macs have had something that did a similar job, called Open Firmware. The job of both has always been to initialize the hardware of the computer, most importantly for this conversation, is the hard drive. The hard drive contains our operating system, whether it be Windows or Mac OS, Linux, Unix, or an Xbox Dashboard, it is important for the computer to be able to find it's hard drive so that it can then start the OS. EFI does a very similar job to what Open Firmware used to do, but has some nice bells and whistles and updates to bring things into a new era of computing.
For this conversation, one of the most important things EFI let's us do, is play an AWFUL trick on the poor, unsuspecting, and none-the-wiser, Windows XP. Windows XP expects to be installed on a machine that uses a BIOS. Macs don't use a BIOS, so it would be difficult (but not impossible) to force Windows to work on a Mac without giving it a BIOS. Thankfully, EFI (or actually a sub-component of it) allows us to fool Windows XP into believing that it is being installed on a machine that has a BIOS (and wouldn't you know, it's an Intel BIOS) and that makes Windows XP happy to talk to all of the hardware that makes up and is attached to your Mac. EFI prepares and talks to all of the hardware for Windows XP, and Windows XP talks to the EFI thinking that it is a BIOS.
Shhh! Don't tell Windows XP, it would feel betrayed.
Ok, so now we get that EFI is the magic (or a big part of it) that allows us to use Windows XP on our Mac. Windows Vista was actually supposed to have the ability to speak directly to EFI, but as far as I'm aware, that may have ended up on the feature cutting room floor, with a lot of other things.
Here's some quick pitfalls to watch out for, before even THINKING about using Boot Camp, however. Well, actually, it's too late for most of you, since you're reading this article, you just thought about it. If you didn't prior to reading it, I bet you're thinking about it right now- no, NOW-
Anyway...
Boot Camp makes some serious modifications to your hard drive, in order to prepare an environment to install Windows into. This is called creating a partition (yep, just like a partition in a room, it artificially separates two areas in the same physicality). I would caution anyone, novice or pro, to be mindful WHENEVER you are creating, modifying, moving, and especially when deleting a partition on a computer that has important data on it.
Back up everything, before you go mucking about with partitions.Let me say that again: Before you interact with partitions, whether in Boot Camp or any other application, BACK UP EVERYTHING YOU WOULD MISS on your computer, in the event that something goes wrong. Leopard has a nice way of partitioning your hard drive for Boot Camp (and for any reason you should imagine, too) even if you have data on it, and even if you are running Leopard from that hard drive. Don't let this lull you into a false sense of security. Things can, and do go wrong. You must always ask yourself if the risk of losing everything or anything on your Mac is worth taking the time to back it up. I can assure you, if you have one digital picture of your kids on your machine with no backup anywhere else, disaster struck, you would be wishing you had just copied it, because you may never get it back. Don't be careful, don't be sorry, be prepared.
Now that I've gone through ALL that:
This article was mostly meant to be informative. I'm not expecting (and actually not hoping) everyone at Region 10 just RUNS out there, sets up Boot Camp, installs Windows, and rock n' rolls. Quite the contrary. If you want to experiment on your own machine, can accept the risks, and can work through any issues you may run into in the process, then I applaud your efforts. However, I don't want to be hearing about lost data, non-booting macs, or things such as these on school owned machines. I would be more than happy to:
- Set up Boot Camp, and Windows XP for you
- Show you as I do so
- Explain how it works in finer detail.
If you do it on your own, with your own version of Windows, I can not help you with the Windows half of your machine. (as in backing it up, storing it on our servers, etc)
While speaking on that note, there is zero tolerance for illegitimate (i.e. illegal, pirated, stolen, & borrowed) software being present on any Region 10 machine. This is ESPECIALLY true of the operating system. So please do not install pirated copies of Windows, or OS X, or applications for either on any Region 10 computers.
I hope this was informative, and not too 'fire-and-brimstone.' While I like to have fun, and talk about technology, I find that it is always important to explain the risks.
Thanks for reading...
-May the Force Be With You-