Overview
- Developer Bryan Keller published a detailed write-up and source code on Thursday showing Mac OS X 10.0 booting on a Wii with basic display and USB input working.
- Keller wrote a custom bootloader, patched Apple’s XNU kernel, built a device tree, and added drivers for the Wii’s Hollywood chip, SD card storage, and a framebuffer for video.
- The Wii’s IBM PowerPC 750CL closely matches CPUs in G3-era Macs, which eased compatibility, and Cheetah can run below its 128 MB spec so the Wii’s 88 MB of RAM was sufficient.
- He says a Reddit claim that there was a “zero percent chance” it could work spurred the multi-year effort, which he pursued even during travel after seeing other OS ports to the Wii.
- The release is an educational proof of concept that boots from an SD card and favors simplicity over speed, and Keller invites others to study or try it via his blog and GitHub.