A Macintosh clone is a computer running the Classic Mac OS operating system that was not produced by Apple Inc. The earliest Mac clones were based on emulators and reverse-engineered Macintosh ROMs. During Apple's short-lived Mac OS 7 licensing program, authorized Mac clone makers were able to either purchase 100% compatible motherboards or build their own hardware using licensed Mac reference designs.
During Apple's switch to the Intel platform, many non-Apple Wintel/PC computers were technologically so similar to Mac computers that they were able to boot the Mac operating system using various combinations of community-developed patches and hacks. Such a Wintel/PC computer running macOS is more commonly referred to as a Hackintosh. Apple's transition to Apple silicon made Mac clones considerably harder.
Background The Apple II and IBM PC computer lines were "cloned" by other manufacturers who had reverse-engineered the minimal amount of firmware in the computers' ROM chips and subsequently legally produced computers that could run the same software. These clones were seen by Apple as a threat, as Apple II sales had presumably suffered from the competition provided by Franklin Computer Corporation and other clone manufacturers, both legal and illegal. At IBM, the threat proved to be real: most of the market eventually went to clone-makers, including Compaq, Leading Edge, Tandy, Kaypro, Packard Bell, Amstrad in Europe, and dozens of smaller companies, and in short order IBM found it had lost control over its own platform.
Apple eventually licensed the Apple II ROMs to other companies, primarily to educational toy manufacturer Tiger Electronics in order to produce an inexpensive laptop with educational games and the AppleWorks software suite: the Tiger Learning Computer (TLC). The TLC lacked a built-in display. Its lid acted as a holster for the cartridges that stored the bundled software, as it had no floppy drive.
Emulators , the only legal Macintosh clone was an Atari ST with Mac ROMs. The ST can emulate a Mac by adding the third-party Magic Sac emulator, released in 1985, and, later, the Spectre, Spectre GCR, and Aladin emulators. The first three of those emulators requires that the user obtain a set of Mac ROMs sold as system upgrades to Macintosh users. Later, multiple emulators were released for the Amiga.
Starting with the sales of the Power Macintosh line in 1994, a CPU emulator to run 68000 applications was built into the Mac OS. By the time 68060 processors were available, PowerPC Macs became so powerful that they ran 68000 applications faster than any 68000-based computer, including any Amiga, Atari ST, and X68000.
Connectix also released another 68k emulator for Macs, replacing the original, called Speed Doubler, supposedly reported to be even faster than Apple's. As the years went by, the emulator was not updated to work with later versions of the original Mac OS, however, supposedly because Apple's own 68k emulator eventually surpassed it in performance, and the OS itself relied further on native PowerPC code with each new Mac OS update.
There was also a software emulator for x86 platforms running DOS/Windows and Linux called Executor, from ARDI. ARDI reverse-engineered the Mac ROM and built a 68000 CPU emulator, enabling Executor to run most (but not all) Mac software, from System 5 to System 7, with good speed. The migration from 68000 to PowerPC, and the added difficulties of emulating a PowerPC on x86 platforms, made targeting the later Mac OS versions impractical.
Unlicensed clones Wary of repeating history and wanting to retain tight control of its product, Apple's Macintosh strategy included technical and legal measures that rendered production of Mac clones problematic. The original Macintosh system software contained a very large amount of complex code, which embodied the Mac's entire set of APIs, including the use of the GUI and file system. Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, much of the system software was included in the Macintosh's physical ROM chips. Therefore, any competitor attempting to create a Macintosh clone without infringing copyright would have to reverse-engineer the ROMs, which would have been an enormous and costly process without certainty of success. Only one company, Nutek, managed to produce "semi-Mac-compatible" computers in the early 1990s by partially re-implementing System 7 ROMs.
This strategy, making the development of competitive Mac clones prohibitively expensive, successfully shut out manufacturers looking to create computers that would directly compete with Apple's product lines. However, companies like Outbound Systems, Dynamac and Colby Systems, were able to sidestep the Mac cloning process by targeting high-end, high-profit market segments without suitable product offerings from Apple and offering Mac conversions instead.
In the early 1980s, Brazil's military dictatorship instituted trade restrictions that prohibited the importation of computers from overseas manufacturers, and these restrictions were not lifted until 1993. A Brazilian company called Unitron (which had previously produced Apple II clones) developed a Macintosh clone with specifications similar to the Mac 512K, and proposed to put it on sale. Although Unitron claimed to have legitimately reverse-engineered the ROMs and hardware, and Apple did not hold patents covering the computer in Brazil, Apple claimed the ROMs had simply been copied. Ultimately, under pressure from the US government and local manufacturers of PC clones the Brazilian Computer and Automation Council did not allow production to proceed.
Hackintosh
When Apple migrated to the PC-Intel platform in the mid-2000s, Apple hardware was more or less the same as generic PC hardware from a platform perspective. This theoretically allowed for installation of Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware. Hackintosh is the term appropriated by hobbyist programmers, who have collaborated on the Internet to install versions of Mac OS X v10.4 onwards dubbed Mac OSx86 to be used on generic PC hardware rather than on Apple's own hardware. Apple contends this is illegal under the DMCA, so in order to combat illegal usage of their operating system software, they continue to use methods to prevent Mac OS X (now macOS) from being installed on unofficial non-Apple hardware, with mixed success. At present, with proper knowledge and instruction, macOS installation is more or less straightforward. Several online communities have sprung up to support end-users who wish to install macOS on non-Apple hardware. Some representative examples of these are Dortania and InsanelyMac.
Psystar Corporation
In April 2008, Psystar Corporation based in Miami, Florida, announced the first commercially available OSx86, a Wintel/PC computer with Mac OS X Leopard pre-installedPsystar Releases Mac Clone partially with software from the OSx86 community project. Apple immediately sued in July 2008 and a protracted legal battle followed, ending in November 2009 with a summary judgement against Psystar. In May 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Psystar's appeal, closing the case for good.
Licensed clones
In 1992, Macworld published an editorial stating that Apple clones were coming, and that the company should license its technology to others so it would benefit as the overall Macintosh market grew. By then Apple was already contemplating official clones of its computers. Expecting that the AIM alliance of 1991 with IBM would result in the latter becoming an important Macintosh cloner, Apple did not allow other companies to do so.
By 1995, increasing demand for IBM mainframes decreased that company's interest in personal computers. Macintoshes accounted for around 7% of the worldwide desktop computer market. Apple executives decided to launch an official clone program in order to expand Macintosh market penetration. Apple's Mac OS 7 licensing program entailed the licensing of the Macintosh ROMs and system software to other manufacturers, each of which agreed to pay a flat fee for a license, and a royalty (initially ) for each clone computer they sold. This generated quick revenues for Apple during a time of financial crisis.
From early 1995 through mid-1997, it was possible to buy PowerPC-based clone computers running Mac OS, most notably from Power Computing and UMAX. However, by 1996 Apple executives were worried that high-end clones were cannibalizing sales of their own high-end computers, where profit margins were highest.
A total of 75 distinct Macintosh clone models are known to have been introduced during the licensee era.
The following companies produced licensed Mac clones: CompanyProductsAkiaMicroBook PowerAPS TechnologyM*PowerBandaiAtmark, @World (Apple Pippin)Centralen NorrlandReidCentro HLMacOS ClonesComJetPowerCityComputer WarehouseB-Machine, Boston, Cannes, Harvard, Hollywood, Manhattan, Nashville, New York, Paris, Rome, StanfordDayStar DigitalGenesis, MP-Card "nPower", MilleniumDynaTec Memory Systems GmbHJunior, 5/300, 10/300Gravis Computervertriebsgesellschaft mbHMT, TT, TT Pro, Gravision FourInternational ComputerIC 3, IC 4Katz MediaKMP 2000 (Apple Pippin)MactellTwister, Typhoon, XB, XB-Pro, PowerJolt Upgrade, PowerJolt OverDrive UpgradeMacWayStarwayMacWorksMillenium, Millenium G3Marathon Computer, Inc.Rack MacMaxxboxx DatasystemsMaxxBoxx 730/200, 790/Tanzania, 860/nitro, 930/mocca, 960/tsunamiMotorola Computer GroupStarMax 3000, 4000, 5000Pioneer CorporationMPC-LX100, MPC-GX1, MPC-LX200PIOS Computer AGKeenya, Magna, Maxxtrem, Magna Card Upgrade, Joecard UpgradePotzBitsPotzBits 975, 985Power DomeAlternate 4200, 4233, 4250Power Computing CorporationPower, PowerBase, PowerCenter/Pro, PowerCurve, PowerTower/Pro, PowerWavePowerExStepMACPowerToolsInfinity, X-Factor, X-ForceRadiusSystem 100, System 81/110RedBoxExpression 604eShayeShaye 200, Shaye 200/IIStormChallenger, Mercury, Surge, G3 Upgrade-CardsTatung CompanyTPCUMAX TechnologiesSuperMac series: C500, C600, J700, J710, S900, S910, Aegis, Apus, Centauri, PulsarVertegriQuickTower, ImediaEngineVisionPowerPowerExpress, PowerExtreme, PowerMax Pro
A number of major PC clone manufacturers, including Gateway 2000 and Acer, along with a number of Taiwanese clone vendors, had sought to license Mac OS and produce Mac clones but had been rebuffed by Apple. Such decisions were interpreted as Apple not wishing to relinquish its position of control over the Macintosh market and being unable to support existing licensees. Licensing agreements with other companies remained unannounced during September 1995, these involving Acorn Computers, Olivetti and GoldStar, ostensibly due to supply issues around certain components used in Mac systems. Reports in MacWeek had also suggested that Dell and Compaq had been "seriously considering" the production of Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP) systems. Systems conforming to the CHRP standard were anticipated to reduce the support burden on Apple, allowing clone manufacturers to more readily deviate from Apple's own designs.
Jobs ends the official program In early 1997 Apple indicated that it wanted much higher license revenue from clonemakers, and other conditions. In June it and Power Computing tentatively agreed to new terms. The deal was not finalized before the July 9 departure of Apple CEO Gil Amelio. After Steve Jobs became de facto CEO, he personally tried to renegotiate licensing deals more favorable to Apple five times over the course of three weeks; each time, in his own words, Jobs was "basically told to pound sand".October 1997 Seybold Seminar This response caused him to halt negotiations of upcoming licensing deals with OS licensees that Apple executives complained were still financially unfavorable.