49 replies to this topic

[Swad]

Ok, more people seem to be for a split than aren't.  Don't let that deter you if you disagree with them and want to say so (please do!), but this is a question for those who think we should add a new sub.

How would you organize the use of a new forum?  Would you have two separate sections, each with Hardware, etc? Or would you have one forum like OS X with two sub forums inside it?

Edited by Mashugly, 22 January 2006 - 07:53 PM.

[KublaKhan]

Split it up. It is much easier to find what you are looking for if it's split up with what hardware you have... if that makes any sense.

So:

OSX x86 Apple

OSX x86 PC

or,

Apple OSx86

Non-Apple Hardware OSx86

Hmmm, the names are going to be hard...


KublaKhan

[forcer]

split:
Apple Hardware (discuss about Apple hardware based on intel)
Non Apple Hardware (discuss about posibilities running MacOSX on your standard x86 PCs)

[cyris ng]

Takuro, on Jan 23 2006, 04:30 AM, said:

I agree with Bond that, inevitably, there will come a point after 10.4.4 is hacked that both Apple and beige-box users will require a lot of things that overlap, especially when talking about drivers. There will be, however, times when both sides will have different needs, such as the beige-box users actively pursuing a crack for the next update of Tiger x86. When Leopard gets released in about 10 months, the split should be even greater.

I say don't make a whole new board, but instead create one forum for OS X hacks for beige-box PCs. Something that strictly deals with TPM cracks and whatnot, only because those are definitively topics that would never concern somebody with an official Apple computer.

OS X for Macs

OS X for Dull Little Boxes

[henbjo]

Have to agree with Takuro.

This solution seems to be the most logical split.

[bofors]

I am primarily concerned with the hardware forum.

Here are the subforums I want:

(1) Apple Hardware

(2) CPUs and Motherboards

(3) System Firmware: EFI and BIOS (includes using EFI to boot Windows, OS X and Linux, and also using BIOS hardware to boot EFI OS X 10.4.4+)

(4) Laptops

(5) Graphics Cards and Drivers

(6) Network Cards and Drivers

(7) Audio Cards and Drivers

(8) Printers and Drivers

(9) Input Devices and Drivers (Mice, Keyboards, Joysticks, etc..)

(10) Other Devices and Drivers

Edited by bofors, 22 January 2006 - 09:45 PM.

[Velvet Nightmare]

I think that keeping it as it is, is, well, a good idea.  I think that a new section of the site for Intel Core should be made so that we can discuss EFI bypassing so that we can work on getting Windows (Vista or XP, [myself being a Vista user, I want to make sure that I can get Vista on my Macbook Pro) running on the new boxes.

Just a though.

[Swad]

Holy crap bofors, that's a ton of sub forums!!! Can you lump them into maybe 2-3 categories?  Also, what forums would you put those under? Just "Hardware" or would there be any computer specific versions too?

[bofors]

Takuro, on Jan 22 2006, 08:30 PM, said:

I agree with Bond that, inevitably, there will come a point after 10.4.4 is hacked that both Apple and beige-box users will require a lot of things that overlap, especially when talking about drivers. There will be, however, times when both sides will have different needs, such as the beige-box users actively pursuing a crack for the next update of Tiger x86. When Leopard gets released in about 10 months, the split should be even greater.

I say don't make a whole new board, but instead create one forum for OS X hacks for beige-box PCs. Something that strictly deals with TPM cracks and whatnot, only because those are definitively topics that would never concern somebody with an official Apple computer.

I am definitely on the overlap side.  An EFI subforum would cover both booting Windows on Apple hardware and vice versa (booting 10.4.4 on PC's).

Otherwise, I do not see the "the split should be even greater", but rather the opposite, more convergence.  If we need to produce some of our firmware for booting Windows on EFI Macs, we will also use it on PCs too.  These machine will increasing be similiar.

Furthermore, I expect licensed OS X clones from Dell within three years and in the meantime fully compatible hardware clones like the Core Duo laptops being offered already by Dell and Acer:



http://ces.engadget....-inspiron-9400/



http://laptops.engad...uo-aspire-5670/

Edited by bofors, 22 January 2006 - 10:01 PM.

[ced1610]

split !!!!!!! macintel pbs interest us, we can resolve more pbs than if we are alone...
the love for osx86 isn't loocking for each other,but all seeing in the same direction...

[bofors]

Mashugly, on Jan 22 2006, 09:56 PM, said:

Holy crap bofors, that's a ton of sub forums!!!

Yes and we have a ton of different issues to address.  If someone what to buy an Audio card and need to know what is support, one should have not have to sort through papes of Graphics card issues.  It is simply a matter of organization.

We want this site made easy to use (just like a Mac!), people working on problems here or looking for information should not have to deal with cluttered mess.  You anticipated that this site will continue to grow quickly too!  Once Windows in booting on the Core Duo Macs, another tidal wave of new users will hit.

Quote

Can you lump them into maybe 2-3 categories?

Sure but I do not think that is what we want here.  For people working on this issues, we want specifc subforum.  I mean, I could even break down those above even further:

AMD and Intel.

NVidia and ATI.

EFI and BIOS, further broken down into booting Windows and OS X.

And we might actualy might want to seriously consider these as well later...  

Quote

Also, what forums would you put those under? Just "Hardware"

Yes, booting now explictly implies EFI and BIOS issues, so this is all under "Hardware."

Quote

or would there be any computer specific versions too?

Maybe the Apple forum could have iMac and MacBook Pro subforums?  But no, they should stop there.  Booting Windows on a Core Duo Mac would be handled in the EFI forum.

Edited by bofors, 22 January 2006 - 10:14 PM.

[Swad]

Well, sub forums are tricky, because there are some things that deserve their own area but others that are better left to general forums.  It would, for example, be unnecessary to have a "Panther" sub forum when an OS X forum would do just fine.  

Also, the more forums you add, the harder it is for new people (and older people, not to mention those who don't speak english very well) to figure out which forum their stuff goes in.

Those are the dangers of subs as I see them, for whatever it's worth.  Specificity can be good, but it also introduces a lot of complexity.  But thanks for the suggestions.

Also, we're planning on putting in place a special dual booting forum which may fix some of the issues you've just mentioned.

Now, back to the topic of doing the splits...

[hackintosh]

two forums is best end one for laptops

[Amazondani]

The best idea for me, is to have one forum like OS X with two sub forums inside it.
And like forcer suggested, two board's
Apple Hardware
Non Apple Hardware.
Inside Non Apple Hardware, we would do the same we do today, and in Apple Hardware, we would discuss about, windows integrations, drivers for normal pc pieces, unibin software and tune tips.

What do you ppl think?

[powrslave]

OSx86 Official
  -HW
  -Support

OSx86 Non Official
   -HW
     -intel
       -amd
   -Support Discussion General
      -10.4.1
      -10.4.3
      -10.4.4
      -VMware
   -Drivers
     -intel based
     -amd based

etc

Edited by powrslave, 23 January 2006 - 01:29 AM.

[domino]

It was inevitable that this would wreak havoc sooner or later. It's manageable now, but sooner or later it's gonna catch up to the ones trying to mod the threads and forums. I always see the same questions posted over and over again. I don't blame them because running a search on unspecific words can get you over 500 hits.

If your IPB license allows it, i think you should make 2 sub domains and 2 different IPB installs. I think there is a hack that will use the same member table on both installations, thus eliminating a member to register twice.

For the site's root directory, I think it should be a gateway to 2 or 3 sub domains or domains. One for Apple OEM, the other for hacked Tiger, and the last for either the wiki or the that FAQ site mash pointed me to one day.

If there is a license restriction, I seam to recall multi-site IPB hack that you can use. This means you can have more then one forum on the same install using the same database. This will cut down on db bandwidth.

Saying all that, I'm for splitting the OEM and the hacked Tiger.

[Mr. Bond]

Agreed Takuro...

And Powerslave, why bother introducing subforums for each individual build? It seems rather redundant to me, especially since 10.4.1 is pretty ancient now. It's like expanding the Vista sub-forum to look at Windows 2000, Windows 95 etc...

[johnniecarcinogen]

agree with bond and takuro.

Once the EFI problem is solved the solution is archived and a thread is no longer needed let alone an entire subforum. Same for a focus on a particular builds TPM circumvention.

I think a subforum for Apple hardware with intel is needed for adding third party hardware, software, etc.

I also think that the site has redundant subforums that are not user friendly like:
-Thunderdome and the "Apple Opinions and Discussion"
-Betas and Mac developement should be a part of "software" or "applications"
-"mods and overclocking" should be "hardware" related
-the *nix section should actually be about server related topics (OSX,unix, and linux...)

Perhaps making "the genius bar" more prominent and allowing questions there will cut down on the hapazard posts by people asking questions in all of the other subforums.

Edited by johnniecarcinogen, 23 January 2006 - 03:32 AM.

[SUBMarcos]

  The idea of only exposing your thoughts, experience, etcetera, about running the Mac OS in non Mac computers is the one I prefer.

Real Mac users have plenty of forums already.

[Swad]

johnniecarcinogen, on Jan 23 2006, 03:27 AM, said:

agree with bond and takuro.

Once the EFI problem is solved the solution is archived and a thread is no longer needed let alone an entire subforum. Same for a focus on a particular builds TPM circumvention.

I think a subforum for Apple hardware with intel is needed for adding third party hardware, software, etc.

I also think that the site has redundant subforums that are not user friendly like:
-Thunderdome and the "Apple Opinions and Discussion"
-Betas and Mac developement should be a part of "software" or "applications"
-"mods and overclocking" should be "hardware" related
-the *nix section should actually be about server related topics (OSX,unix, and linux...)

Perhaps making "the genius bar" more prominent and allowing questions there will cut down on the hapazard posts by people asking questions in all of the other subforums.

Well, thunderdome is just for random stuff that may or may not be apple related. I agree that the development forum should be condensed, perhaps into a single "Mac Development" forum with subs. Mods has its own category because at some point I'd love for it to gain popularity on its own. The unix forum idea is an interesting one - what if we combined them into *nix and Servers?  That's kind of all encompassing.

I started a new thread for discussion about all other restructuring ideas, so be sure to let us know what you think there too!