Mac OS X Intel

The Mac OS X Intel app is a third Mac, on a node that runs Linux on an x86-64 processor: Mac OS X 10.4.11 for Intel Macs, on this machine's own processor under KVM rather than emulated, with a 100 GB hard disk of its own. It is the Mac OS X app's Tiger as Apple sold it on the first Intel Macs, and it runs at the speed of one core of this machine. On a node of another kind the app is not there.

What it gives up beside the PowerPC Mac: Classic, so no Mac OS 9 programs inside it; sound, Quartz Extreme and Core Image, which need drivers Tiger has for no device QEMU offers; and the agent, whose Chat works in the PowerPC Mac. What it gains: speed, and Rosetta, which runs PowerPC Mac OS X programs. The two Mac OS X apps are separate machines and can run at the same time.

What it needs

• KVM, and this account allowed to use it (/dev/kvm, the kvm group). Tiger for Intel does not start under QEMU's software emulation.
• QEMU for x86 and OVMF's 32-bit firmware. On Ubuntu 24.04 setup fetches them; elsewhere install them (qemu-system-x86, ovmf-ia32).
• Room on this node. The install DVD is a 2.2 GiB download and OpenCore, which starts Tiger on a machine that is not a Mac, 10 MB. The hard disk takes 3 to 5 GB after installation.
• Memory. The Mac has 2 GB while it runs.

Set it up the first time

1. Choose Special → Mac OS X Intel; it is also among the built-in apps. Setup checks KVM, prepares the emulator, downloads Apple's Tiger 10.4.11 install DVD for Intel Macs from the Internet Archive and OpenCore from GitHub, checks both against their checksums, creates the hard disk and starts the Mac from the DVD.
2. Follow the guide above the Mac's screen. Choose a language, then Utilities → Disk Utility…. Select 100.0 GB QEMU HARDDISK, open the Erase tab, name the disk, click Erase and confirm: Tiger for Intel gives it the GUID partition table an Intel Mac starts from. Quit Disk Utility.
3. In the Installer click Continue, agree to the license, select the new disk, click Continue, then Install. Copying takes about four minutes. At its end the Installer restarts the Mac, which closes the screen. Click Installation finished — start my Mac.
4. Tiger's Setup Assistant first asks to identify the keyboard, as it does for any keyboard that is not Apple's: click OK and press the two keys it shows. Then it asks for a country, a layout and your account.

The window

The window is the Mac OS X app's, without Agent and with no sound: the same 1024×768 display, Mac keys…, CD… and Full screen. The pointer is where your browser's is, from the Installer on: Tiger 10.4.11 leaves the edges of a tablet's range unused, and the window allows for it from the start. Restart and Shut Down in the Apple menu work as on the PowerPC Mac.

The Mac reports itself as a Mac Pro with one Core 2 processor. It has one core because Tiger 10.4.11 does not start on more than one virtual processor.

A shell and screen sharing from this machine

Remote Login and Apple Remote Desktop's VNC, once turned on in System Preferences → Sharing, are reachable from this machine and no other, as on the PowerPC Mac: Setup details shows their ports. The Workspace mounts the same way, from Setup… → Mount Workspace.

Clock and network

The clock is today's, kept in universal time, and Tiger shows it in the time zone you choose. The installed Mac has an Intel PRO/1000 Ethernet adapter, which Tiger's own driver takes, with outbound NAT and DHCP over IPv4; networking is off while the Installer runs. Software Update still finds Apple's Tiger updates. They replace parts of the system OpenCore starts; installing them is untested.

Where it is kept

The emulator, firmware settings, OpenCore, installer, setup progress and disk live in ~/.exe/mac-osx-intel/ (or $EXE_HOME/mac-osx-intel/), outside app-data sync.

The API is the other Macs' under another name: GET /v1/macosxintel, POST /v1/macosxintel/start, /cancel and /finish, the binary WebSocket at /v1/macosxintel/console, and for the drive GET and POST /v1/macosxintel/cd and POST /v1/macosxintel/cd/upload.