Making the Nincintosh (Mactendo? MacinWii?) relies on a hacked Wii’s ability to run a Linux-based OS through the unofficial Homebrew Channel, which in turn facilitates Mac-on-Linux, which allows Mac OS to run under Linux. A disk image of Mac OS 9.2 on an SD card is inserted into Wii and after booting the console and opening the Homebrew Channel, BootMii is used to start Linux and then Mac OS, minus the iconic startup sound—one of many issues when running the OS on a gaming console.
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Issues with resolutions make Mac OS 9.2 look extremely ugly on the Wii, but Dandumont was able to get Internet Explorer 5 to load, minus a working internet connection, iTunes, with sound that crackles before the application quickly crashes, and even Doom, which musters just a single frame every minute making it completely unplayable.
Mac OS 9 debuted seven years before the Wii did, and Dandumont wondered if a more recent version of Apple’s desktop and laptop OS would have more success. Unfortunately, Mac OS X demands at least 64MB of RAM to function, and the Wii can’t offer up any more than 52MB, causing the OS to crash at startup. So as impressive as it is to see the Wii learning new tricks, it’s not a replacement for Apple’s hardware.