# Why Mac with power pc processor not support windows



## abubakar_119 (Apr 5, 2006)

Hello,
Actually i want to know why i can't install a XP OS or other operating system on Mac computer. I means what is the difference between the operating system those are using in PC and the Mac OS.
Why XP not compatible with MAC computers.
If some one Understand my question. Plz Answer me.


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## linskyjack (Aug 28, 2004)

I'm not going to go into details but they are very different. And you can load XP on a Mac with
Intel chips (a new Mac)---go to Apples site and download what you need.


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

Yes, there is a _completely_ different hardware architecture on (pre-Intel) Macs. The question is not unlike asking why diesel fuel will not work in a gas-powered car. I don't intend to make light of your question, mind you.

Think of the Windows OS as diesel and the Mac OS as gasoline. A diesel internal combustion engine is designed to burn diesel fuel. A gasoline internal combustion engine is designed to burn gasoline. Neither will work in the other.

Without going into specifics that would bore most people to tears, it just wasn't built to work that way.


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## Leiki (Jul 15, 2005)

Also, I heard that Mac doesn't use BIOS to register hardware when starting up, which Windows does. If anyone has any more info on this, please share.


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## abubakar_119 (Apr 5, 2006)

Thanks, to all of those who read my question and give me the answer, actually i need a technical answer of this question. I mean, for example "Window operating system's rigistry are not compatible with Macintosh computer" or some thing like else. Any why i will search answer of this question on internet if i got the answer i will share it on forum.


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## abubakar_119 (Apr 5, 2006)

Leiki said:


> Also, I heard that Mac doesn't use BIOS to register hardware when starting up, which Windows does. If anyone has any more info on this, please share.


:up: Mr. Leiki

When the microprocessor starts, it begins executing instructions it finds in the BIOS. The BIOS instructions do things like test the hardware in the machine, and then it goes to the hard disk to fetch the boot sector.This boot sector is another small program, and the BIOS stores it in RAM after reading it off the disk. The microprocessor then begins executing the boot sector's instructions from RAM. The boot sector program will tell the microprocessor to fetch something else from the hard disk into RAM, which the microprocessor then executes, and so on. This is how the microprocessor loads and executes the entire operating system. So Bios just read The FAT 32 and NTFS format of Hard disk.
But in Apple using Firmware that is recognize just HFS format.

Thanks for reading this boring topic. if you have any other information about it. plz share.


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## tedwinder (Sep 7, 2005)

so basically, because Windows computers have Intel chips, the windows OS can't run on a non-intel based computer?


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## [email protected] (Nov 11, 2005)

No basically if you don't have x86 hardware such as motherboard, graphics cards, chipsets and so on you can't run x86 software like Window or OSX86 (the Tiger for the Intel machines). PowerPC hardware is not x86 hardware therefor it can not run x86 Windows. X86 hardware like the new macs and everyone's favorite Windows boxes (i.e. any computer other than PowerPC) are x86 hardware, they can run the OSX86 and Windows. Get it?

There are OSX x86 communities poping up all over the place on the net the goal. Run Apple's OS on hardware that costs less than half the price than Apple's. I love this! I love America! Thank you Steve Jobs!


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## pmalaquias (Mar 24, 2002)

So, then on the new iMac's with the intel chip, how does it work with the "Boot Camp", software?.....which allows you to run WindowsXP on the Mac, but not at the same time...you have to reboot each time and choose which OS to run...

http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20060406.html


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## [email protected] (Nov 11, 2005)

Yes that's how it works. It was reported that when the licensed version rolls out with Vista's arrival date, you would be able to boot both OSs and be able to toggle between them. 

As of now Boot Camp is a BETA version and was only put out because Apple knew the hack was out. Boot camp is nothing more than an automated version of the hack that was passed around on the net. It makes drivers for your machine, writes them to a disc and then formats a partition of your hard drive as NTFS and installs a sort of boot loader that allows you to choose your OS. Only only x86 Intel machines.


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