I have been a Windows guys since the 3.1 days. I am not one of those guys who hated using Windows because despite its shortcomings, its still gets the job done for most people and myself. I built and fixed PC's for many years and I became a PC/Windows expert/enthusiast so to speak. I wanted to use something besides Windows XP and Linux and Ubuntu didn't quite measure up to what I needed in a main OS and OSX was still only for the PowerPC arch.


When I first heard about the OSX86 project in 2007, I was excited to say the least. The problem was that their was limited support at that time for x86 and it was still in its infancy. My audio and NIC wouldn't detect right as well as having to hardware acceleration support for my video card. I exhausted all options and realized I was going to have to reinvest in a USB soundcard as well as a whole new chipset/mobo and a video card. Not to mention USB Mouse/Keyboard. I didn't have the money to build a new computer just for OSX.


A few days ago, after aggrivation with Vista, I decided to desperately find another operating system that could do the following......


1. It had to be able to play mainstream games

I consider myself a mid range gamer who likes the option of playing a FPS or MMORPG in his free time. I wasn't really worried about a ton of games being supported, just having fairly new games that could run natively. Linux only had in that range Doom 3/Quake 4, and it seemed complicated just to get going.

2. The basics on the computer have to work

By this I mean, SOUND/NIC/ out of the box. I can't use the computer without these two essentials, and I think alot of people will agree.


3. DVD Conversion
I had to be able to convert AVI's to DVD, I needed a simple program like ConvertXtoDVD on Windows and had never used Toast before. I used Toast once I got everything up and running and realized it was on par or better than ConvertX, and I thought not having good conversation software was going disappointment I was going to have to live with.


4. Microsoft Word 07

As much as I admire OpenOffice 3.0 , I believe Word 07 is just better for citing papers since I am an English minor. Mac having this was one of the key reasons I downloaded.....


IATKOS 5i

This build intrigued me and I wanted to see how far the OSX86 project had came along since early 07.


All I can saw is wow. CPU/Graphics(9600gso/sound/Nic all supported out of the box. I was fully expecting the sound not to work and was willing to compromise and get a USB sound card until I heard joyout sounds coming from my speakers. I had sound and a new OS!!!. PS/2 support for OSX, are you kidding me!!!!

I have tinkered around and realized this is the best Christmas present ever.

I am officially a Mac Guy, Merry Christmas and much thanks to the people who put so much hard work into this community and iAtkos5i!