{"id":43159,"date":"2026-04-10T04:31:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=43159"},"modified":"2026-04-10T04:31:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:31:35","slug":"a-maverick-hacker-got-mac-os-x-running-on-a-wii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=43159","title":{"rendered":"A maverick hacker got Mac OS X running on a Wii"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">You may already know that emulators can run Wii games on a Mac. But one developer has flipped the script. Bryan Keller now has an ancient version of the Mac&#8217;s operating system running on Nintendo&#8217;s 2006 game console (via Kottke). Why? Because they said it couldn&#8217;t be done.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The developer first had the idea in 2013 while a sophomore in college. However, they found renewed motivation five years ago when Redditor u\/CussdomTidder posted, &#8220;There is a zero percent chance of this ever happening.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Michael Jordan in an interview for The Last Dance. Subtitle: &quot;It became personal with me.&quot;\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"fig-image-round\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/LrxCLj4TAF2fPQSdueNqXQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/michael_jordan_took_it_personally_0-7_screenshot_0551.png\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;expand&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;image-lightbox&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;lightbox-open&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"common.MODAL_DIALOG_A11Y_LABEL\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-[4] size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] figure-caption mt-1 line-clamp-2 mt-2.5 md:mt-2 pr-2.5\">\n<p><span class=\"[&amp;_p]:inline\">Developer Bryan Keller took it personally.<\/span><span> (YouTube \/ ESPN \/ Netflix)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Keller used that as fuel to begin plugging away, &#8220;feeling encouraged&#8221; by the anonymous contrarian. Thus began the process of porting Mac OS X 10.0 (Cheetah) onto a device designed to play <em>Wii Sports<\/em> and <em>Super Mario Galaxy<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">&#8220;Last year, when I saw that Windows NT had been ported to the Wii, I felt a renewed sense of motivation,&#8221; Keller wrote. &#8220;Even if my lack of low-level experience resulted in failure, attempting this project would still be an opportunity to learn something new.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Photo of an airplane, where a Wii sits next to a MacBook with code on its screen\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"fig-image-round\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/ZabtSIAzd7a7zhbE4QDPag--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/wii_2_7691.jpg\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;expand&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;image-lightbox&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;lightbox-open&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"common.MODAL_DIALOG_A11Y_LABEL\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-[4] size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] figure-caption mt-1 line-clamp-2 mt-2.5 md:mt-2 pr-2.5\">\n<p><span class=\"[&amp;_p]:inline\">Keller didn&#8217;t allow something as trivial as a flight to get in the way of the task at hand.<\/span><span> (Bryan Keller \/ GitHub)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Keller noted that the Wii is a phenomenally hackable console, with other enterprising hackers porting Windows 95 and NT, Linux and NetBSD onto it. Nintendo&#8217;s system also runs a PowerPC chip similar to those found in older Macs. &#8220;Given this close lineage, I felt confident that the CPU wouldn&#8217;t be a blocker,&#8221; they wrote. From there, Keller wrote a custom boot loader, patched the kernel and wrote new drivers. They even got the Wii&#8217;s USB ports working for mouse and keyboard input.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Tthe developer found the process &#8220;deeply satisfying,&#8221; especially given the initial doubt. (I&#8217;m talking to you, disparaging Redditor.) &#8220;In the end, I learned (and accomplished) far more than I ever expected,&#8221; Keller wrote. &#8220;And perhaps more importantly, I was reminded that the projects that seem just out of reach are exactly the ones worth pursuing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">For the technically minded, the developer&#8217;s blog goes into extensive detail about the process. And full-on madlads can visit Keller&#8217;s GitHub to try it for themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/computing\/a-maverick-hacker-got-mac-os-x-running-on-a-wii-200800027.html?src=rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You may already know that emulators can run Wii games on a Mac. But one developer has flipped the script. Bryan Keller now has an&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[19316,4147,20113,2214,13589],"class_list":["post-43159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-hacker","tag-mac","tag-maverick","tag-running","tag-wii","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}