{"id":1875088,"date":"2026-04-09T20:08:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1875088"},"modified":"2026-04-09T20:08:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:08:00","slug":"a-maverick-hacker-got-mac-os-x-running-on-a-wii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1875088","title":{"rendered":"A maverick hacker got Mac OS X running on a Wii"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/0qROZ6xJ9dfR7xCIA7S7rg&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/wii_7347.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"article-739e68a7-86f1-40d1-93dc-bd8394131f11\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mx-auto md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px]\">\n<nav class=\"prestige-breadcrumb relative mx-4 md:mx-0\" aria-label=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<ol class=\"no-scrollbar overflow-scroll whitespace-nowrap text-battleship\">\n<li class=\"inline\">\n<li class=\"inline-block cursor-default last:pr-10 md:last:pr-20 font-bold\">Computing<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<header class=\"mb-4 px-4 md:mb-6 md:px-0\">\n<h1 class=\"layout-h1 my-2 font-bold leading-tight\">A maverick hacker got Mac OS X running on a Wii<\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"my-2 text-[18px] font-light leading-5 md:max-w-[660px] md:text-[20px]\/[28px]\">Here&#8217;s to the crazy ones.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"flex-col items-start lg:flex lg:flex-row lg:items-center lg:justify-between mt-6\">\n<div class=\"relative md:mr-[10px]\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex mr-2\">\n<div class=\"shrink-0 cursor-pointer inline-block size-[42px] lg:size-[48px]\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt role=\"img\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full rounded-full object-cover object-center shadow-[0_0_0_2px_#ffffff]\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/HVLHsm6NoIRupYAscgAX1g--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTgwO2g9ODA-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2025-07\/cd49bb30-6802-11f0-9fbf-d9d20eb98294\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-block\">\n<div class=\"w-max text-sm\/5 font-semibold lg:!flex flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col\">\n<div class=\"flex w-max items-center\">Will Shanklin<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"font-normal sm:before:inline-block\">Contributing Reporter<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"lg:hidden\">\n<div class=\"text-xs text-dolphin dark:text-shark md:text-sm\/5 pt-4\">\n<div class=\"inline-block\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-09T20:08:00.000Z\">Thu, April 9, 2026 at 8:08 PM UTC<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ml-0 mt-4 flex items-center lg:ml-3 lg:mt-0\">\n<div class=\"ml-0 mr-2\">\n<div class=\"relative flex\">Add Engadget on Google<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden lg:block\">\n<div class=\"text-xs text-dolphin dark:text-shark md:text-sm\/5 pt-4\">\n<div class=\"inline-block\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-09T20:08:00.000Z\">Thu, April 9, 2026 at 8:08 PM UTC<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-1 gap-x-8 lg:gap-x-0 mx-auto md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px] md:grid-cols-[[main-start]_1fr_[main-end_right-start]_min-content_[right-end]] lg:!gap-x-8\">\n<div class=\"md:col-main\" data-i13n-boundary=\"true\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-[[fullbleed-start_body-start]_minmax(auto,750px)_[body-end_fullbleed-end]]\">\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative overflow-hidden fig-image-round left-1\/2 w-screen -translate-x-1\/2 md:left-0 md:w-auto md:translate-x-0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt class=\"object-cover object-center\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/LnvM_yRelgq03WGybj57dA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02OTk-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/uu\/api\/res\/1.2\/K.m5UFk.SIT3sSxZHNcLgg--~B\/aD0zMjEzO3c9NTcxMjthcHBpZD15dGFjaHlvbg--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/wii_7347.jpg\"><\/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<div><span class=\"[&amp;_p]:inline\">Photo of Mac OS X running on a Nintendo Wii<\/span><span> (Bryan Keller \/ GitHub)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px] drop-cap\" 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 decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Michael Jordan in an interview for The Last Dance. Subtitle: &quot;It became personal with me.&quot;\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" class=\"fig-image-round\" 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\"><\/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<div><span class=\"[&amp;_p]:inline\">Developer Bryan Keller took it personally.<\/span><span> (YouTube \/ ESPN \/ Netflix)<\/span><\/div>\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<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_ld9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_15d9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\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 decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Photo of an airplane, where a Wii sits next to a MacBook with code on its screen\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" class=\"fig-image-round\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/ZabtSIAzd7a7zhbE4QDPag--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/wii_2_7691.jpg\"><\/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<div><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><\/div>\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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"md:col-main grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px]\">\n<div class=\"no-scrollbar col-body mx-4 mb-8 mt-2.5 overflow-x-scroll whitespace-nowrap md:mx-0 md:max-w-[750px] md:overflow-x-visible\">\n<div class=\"mx-auto max-w-screen-sm\">\n<ul class=\"inline-flex text-xs md:text-sm\">\n<li class=\"mr-6\">About our ads<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px] drop-cap\" 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 decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Michael Jordan in an interview for The Last Dance. Subtitle: &quot;It became personal with me.&quot;\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" class=\"fig-image-round\" 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\"><\/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<div><span class=\"[&amp;_p]:inline\">Developer Bryan Keller took it personally.<\/span><span> (YouTube \/ ESPN \/ Netflix)<\/span><\/div>\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<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_ld9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_15d9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\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 decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Photo of an airplane, where a Wii sits next to a MacBook with code on its screen\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" class=\"fig-image-round\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/ZabtSIAzd7a7zhbE4QDPag--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/wii_2_7691.jpg\"><\/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<div><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><\/div>\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>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/computing\/a-maverick-hacker-got-mac-os-x-running-on-a-wii-200800027.html&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/0qROZ6xJ9dfR7xCIA7S7rg&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/wii_7347.jpg&#8221;] Computing A maverick hacker got Mac OS X running on a Wii Here&#8217;s to the crazy ones. Will Shanklin Contributing Reporter Thu, April 9, 2026 at 8:08 PM UTC Add Engadget on Google Thu, April 9, 2026 at 8:08 PM UTC Photo of Mac OS X running on a Nintendo Wii (Bryan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,63],"class_list":["post-1875088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-engadget-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1875088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1875088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1875088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1875088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1875088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1875088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}