You think this will help the osx86 or hurt osx86?

www.efi-x.com
Check out the video at http://netkas.org/
09 June 2008

EFiX is the best solution for installing and using Mac OS X on your PC.
It allows its user to install Mac OS X straight from the original DVD without having to worry about patches,
replacing files and anything like that.
That means you can buy a regular PC, Mac OS X and EFiX and enjoy what the Mac users have always enjoyed:
unmodified Mac OS X on your computer, safe, easy and fast, exactly the way it should be.

The development of EFiX took a lot of time.
During the development phase, we had to deal with various problems, including sabotage.
This process also involved testing, which has been conducted for the last 6 months in production environments.
Industry leading professionals(who work for TV stations, recording studios and many others) rely on EFiX and Mac OS X running on standard PC hardware to get their tasks done.

EFiX is in the final testing phase.
All the testing has went far better than what we expected and the testers have given positive feedback.

We have planned to release it on 23rd of June, 2008. More information will be added soon.

Is this for pay? The site doesn't look very pro, who's behind this one? I think this would be disastrous if it was commercial software. If it can actually live up to the claims and offer even more than PC_EFI or Chameleon

EDIT: Just checked the video on netkas.org and thats AMAZING. Booting a retail DVD with just an EFI-X USB plug? WOW!! I think I will buy that...

I wonder how it works, how they figured out to get it to work, and why no one here was able to think like this and come up with something like this...

I'm definitely going to invest in one and test it out on multiple machines. I have a OS X 10.5 DVD sitting around somewhere.

Do you see that boot screen in the beginning of the video? I might be wrong, but I think that is an original Mac boot selection screen, which in my logic seems to indicate that they are using an actual EFI implementation as found in real macs, rather than the fake EFI implementations we are using today (Chameleon and PC_EFI)

I think this merits front page news. If this thing does what it claims people who are less "geeky" will start installing os x on their pc for sure. Any info on price?

This is not original Mac boot screen, and EFI-X doesn't contain any Apple firmware, EFI or something. From my point of view this SW will be commercial. And I think nothing wrong with such way of distributing. People just want to get some compensation for the hard work.

If it works like I think it should work, I guess there s no reason not to pay for it. I would most definetly consider to buy it. Lets see how much they ask for it.
But ATM Im more wondering about which features it has; theres no much info on the site

I got in 10.5.3 just by reading your forum so it´s not hard at all, but if this is true and it will work, i will buy this. I live in Finland, europe so apple´s EULA is not so legal in here. So i have perfectly legal and working unmodified OS X in my PC...Will see..

Do you think they managed to figure out this?

well whell

Well if it works I'm in

If they do release it with a price, how would they enforce license protection? (eg serial)

EDIT: My bad, it is hardware the plugs into USB

Will this work with other hardware than mac uses, like AMD processors or older intel processors? I still have a pentium IV 530 here and think I will still need a modified kernel to support that.

that really would be AMAZING if it would work.

But how would the implement all the different driver for all those different Mainboards out there...

Let's lokking forward to see what happens at 23rd of June...

Even with this, from what I can tell it just lets you boot the dvd. Wouldn't you need this every time you boot into OS X?

And even then, it wouldn't be a straight install and you're done. Not unless all your hardware is compatible. You would still need to install drivers for all your hardware.

If it is just a piece of software on a usb stick (who knows - could be) there may be a way to integrate it into the actual OS X install.

This is the logical consequence of all the scene's efforts. No more hazzle with the booting of original DVDs. Simply amazing.

But: actually we cannot believe that this USB dongle will support any hardware. Even Apple themselves are not able to support any hardware. we expect there will still be limitations to specific hardware that is almost close-to-original-mac-hardware...

Anyway 23. June is soooon

8-))

I think efi-x must be some kind of software on USB disk. And I think the procedure is like this:

First of all, your PC boots to the USB disk, which they call efi-x hardware plug-in. After that, the EFI emulator runs from the USB disk, emulating an enviouroment for the Darwin Bootloader. Then, the Mac OS X system thinks it is working on a machine that has the right EFI.

Have you guys ever heard of vistaloader? It's a OEM-BIOS emulator that aims to let Windows Vista (OEM) think it works on an OEM machine. I guess efi-x is an emulator which sits on a USB disk.

usboot is a tiny program that makes every USB disk bootable. I hope someone will make an efi-emulator that will do some tricks to make a usual USB disk to become an efi-x-like usb dongle.

Aren't you glad i posted this? I hope it is real and I don't think they will charge any $ because they know people will just copy it.

This crap has got to stop because it will only serve to make apple pissed off which will make legitimate modders lives harder.. Anyways OSX86 is not for newbies it never has and it never will! If people cannot wrap their heads around modding the software of this operating system then they should buy a real mac and not stupid products like this! I for one is sick and tired of all of this catering to people who are either too stupid or lazy to read forums or guides to make their computers work a certain way.. I mean come on who's with me? I hope psystar and this crappy company get sued out of existence by apple.

Charging for it is silly IMO

Yes, people have worked hard to make it but they are charging you for the facility to make pirating apple software a lot easier.

Apple will come down on them pretty damn fast I expect and unless they add some great security to the code, it will be around the net in no time (and rightly so, pirating is one thing - charging for it is something else entirely).


If they want to give something to the community, then give it, if they want compensation for their work then they should get a real job instead.

And as others have said, unless you have the hardware to run an unmodified kernel, then this is almost certainly not going to work for you anyway.

well, this should be interesting. I think its gonna hurt the OS X86 scene though. I wonder if you just need it to install, or need it EVERY time you boot up OS X. If this solves my mini pci e problem with HACKED os x, then Ill buy this or get it one way or another. Very interesting indeed....

Ok lets make a few things clear here before it gets out of hand.

1. What ever they do IS legal as long as ther is no modification/bypassing being done to the actual, original DVD.

2. If I would pay for a software then I expect to use it the way I find it fit to my needs, well gee I paid for it right?

3. If you will buy retail DVD of windows vista , and will install it on your computer with some bios tweaks, why cant you do the same with mac os?

4. this is the requirements for mac os from apples site:


General requirements

* Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor

minimum system requirements


* 512MB of memory
* DVD drive for installation
* 9GB of available disk space
* Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
* Some features require Apple's .Mac service; fees apply.

I dont see anything that says you cannot install this software on any non-apple build/sold computer, not on their site. In EULA however there is a slight mentioning of Apple Labeled Computer which if you about to violate will only void support for that particular product.

Now, is it right or wrong for them to charge for it? is it right or wrong for Apple to charge for OS X?

I've been around osx86 for while (didnt have much time to be as involved as I wanted to) and trust me when I say things they did have been in talks for a while.

So please, stop whining.

In the EULA it specifies that the software is for use on Apple Labeled systems only. So yes charging for a device that is designed solely to break the protections that are in the software is wrong and it will only cause trouble to those who do this as a hobby and not a way to profit off of dumb users who do not have the capacity to follow guides and think abstractly about the usage of an operating system. I believe that this catering to users who do not wish to expand their horizons by figuring things out on their own but instead using devices like efi-x will be very detrimental not only to the osx86 project but to computing as a whole. Instead of making software retardedly user friendly, provide detailed documentation instead and maybe this project can keep some semblance of innovation...

Read the wording of the latest laws around what is legal and what is not.

Anything designed to circumvent protection/IP is illegal i think you will find.

Which at that point, would make it absolutely no different than Vista or other OSes....... Unless you buy all of your hardware based on the fact that the OS install will already contain the drivers. (And that limits upgrading since the OS disc can't contain drivers for hardware that doesn't exist yet) IMHO, if someone managed to fake an EFI implementation via USB stick, and the price is reasonable, i'd happily buy one. Installing drivers is basically to be expected, but to be able to BOOT from a real, legit OSX disc would be awesome.

Yeah and by charging for a product that circumvents IP protections it will give the company that puts out that product even more reason to come down on a dedicated group of coders and people who use the software in a manner not allowed by the EULA. Just face it if Apple wanted to allow clones they would have done it already and by people making unauthorized clones or devices that are used to create clones will just serve to piss off apple and make the many hours of work by dedicated hackers futile.



And that attitude of spending money to use the software in an illegal manner will effectively kill the osx86 community and cause months of work to be trashed because of radical security measures or a radical platform change!

I am with you bob2600

Folks, until it's out this is pure speculation, and having a flame about whether or not it will cause legal problems or should/should not have been done is utterly pointless, ill-mannered & futile.

Until then, Please "Cease & Desist™"

Hi, how do you think u can use original OS X Restore Disk on any computer? We all needs to have the keyboard and mouse PS2 controller (example of me ), disk access controller (jmicron, ati, nvidia...), ACPI driver management and other patched drivers?

I think we need always Distro's OS X releases, patched with full working hardware requirements.

See YA

can't see the time to get my hands on this! I think bootcamp should finally work this way, too!
if it's based on real EFI it should! Maybe EFI-X is some sort of EFI original bioses complete collection that allows MAC OS original disc to go on with installation as an original mac computer is used. If so it should be also possible to update the EFI-X with future versions that include an updated EFI database. Mine are obviously just fantasies...or not?

OMG I am really excited...hope Apple does not come with something against EFI-X in its soon to be released 10.5.4...

sorry for my bad lang.. lol

There is a little problem in your explanation.

General requirements
* Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor

So it's not allow to install a mac on a PC whatever the solution we are going to use.
When you know that you do what you want to do but don't say it's LEGAL when it's a tool to help to do something illegal. Everyone has to be aware of he's doing and that's it.

Anyway if it's going to work well it's a good thing =)

It'll be interesting to see how much they charge for this "solution".
I for one remain skeptical - this company or individual needs to provide ALOT more info:
- what about system updates - how will that work?
- will the USB key need to remain in a USB slot?
- driver support as mentioned will be interesting

Still, if it seems like a good solution, I might try it as long as the $ is reasonable - $50 at most.

I bet you Apple doesn't care if you run Mac on PC because a lot of those user who are using it on PC will eventually get a Mac, probably 1/4th of the people here have a mac.

Why haven't they sued PsyStar yet?

I don't know why some of you are Mad because they made this. This is a big step in the OSx86 World.

Wasn't the Idea to get as close to a Actual Mac this is a big Step
and I am looking forward to it.

Ok guys, let's just change the whole perspective on that topic for a moment. I suggest to integrate some arguments from economics.

1. Apple's got a market share of 8%, Microsoft's is at 91% (in the field of market penetration of operating systems on consumer computers) - see here
2. The main question for Apple is: how to enlarge their market share?
3. OSx86 in this perspective helps people getting to know OS X
4. many of us can prove: after having installed OS X (no matter if iATKOS, Kalyway or the BrazilMac way) and playing around for a while: we bought something like a MacBook, MBP or at least a Mini
5. means: we as the OSX86 community eventually help Apple enlarge their market share.


Apple will do nothing on this. This could even help fighting the distribution of illegal distros, in favour of installing from original retail DVDs! In the end: market share is boosted. Currently many OSX86 people don't buy a legitimate copy of OS X because installing the Brazil Mac is much too complicated. Many here prefer the iATKOS or Kalyway installers. This situation will most likely turn around, when people begin to use the EFI-X USB dongle. Apple wins, because although not explicitly legally allowed: operating system sales will raise.


Almost right. But I would even step back another step. Apple could just sue the OSX86 project, hackint0sh and any other site that deals with circumventing their protections. But they don't. Simply because they know they expect to eventually benefit from this. Many guys here got a superior knowledge of computers. We all know MS-Windows by heart and most of us also know Linux more than well. Means: we are the most wanted target group for Apple market penetration strategies, because we are multipliers.


You really cannot be serious by writing that. The principle of computing is and always was to make processes more efficient. This USB dongle makes installing just more efficient and eventually kills illegal distributions in favor of installations using retail DVDs and individual installable drivers for specific devices - something we know from windows very well...

This is only a minor step for Apple. One could even ask if this dongle isn't even a part of Apple's accelerated guerilla strategy. In the end they may even open their operating system to anyone. But currently it is too early. The myth Apple and Apple users being elite needs to be maintained. Do you know what Evangelist Marketing (see here) is? How many of those evangelists would you think are running around on this forum? Sleep well my friends...

BTW: since getting to know Apple's OS X in 2006 I bought an iPhone, several iPods and a MacBook Pro, an original Apple Keyboard for my HackPro (with a retail Leo). And you know what? I really begin to feel OS X is a very, very nice operating system. At least it is the nicest and best looking unix-based operating system...

Can't agree more. If it is what I think it is then it will be much more easier for the end user to actually buy that dongle and get retail DVD, then trying to get iAtkos/Kalyway or any other patched DVD's to work.
Just look around this forum and you will see that the same question keep being asked over and over again without them even bothering to simply use ... search.

Don't get me wrong, I'm unix guy and I think OS X have a lot of potential and it is a great operating system, but I'm a firm believer of free will and I don't like to be told that if you want OS you need to buy hardware for it form the same company, same goes to hardware too.

Hopefully we can get this USB dongle, make a disk image of it, then distribute it through-out the Green Demon. Yes I know, I'm a monster...

My stradgedy if I were the head of Apple:

Make sure this device gets alot of attention. Make it seem that you upset about but pretend that there's nothing that can be done about it.
(hoping that alot of PC Users will try OS X)

If all goes well Apple steals a huge market share from windows.

Sometime After Leopard Snow...

you drop the Bomb. Apple Returns to PowerPC.

If All goes well You Lead the OS Market as well as the Hardware.

(This is defintely not what I want to happen, Just thinks its a good way to duke it out with microsoft)

I think a device could make this community unnecessary which makes me very sad but at the same time I just want more people using this OS on there PCs.

they don't plan to sell it in US.

So, forget about dmcs in this case.

Fortunatly, you're not

I would not expect this to happen too soon. If those guys made their homework well - what I definitly expect - this device will not be crackable too easy...

about EULA, it says u can't install osx on non-apple labeled pc, BUT , with every osx leopard disk u gets 2 sticks/labels with Apple. So just put on this label on ur pc and be ok;)


I had two labels with my iphone two.

P.S. it says exactly LABELED, not MANUFACTURED.

And what the heck we suppose to do (ones in the US)? Well I guess I'll be calling my mother in Russia and ask her to ship it to me. I got 5 sets of Apple Labels in my possession, I guess I can "legally" install OS X on my boat if I'll stick a label on it j/k

u can, jsut buy a copy of osx for every pc.

This is not a Release nor an Update, is not even released, why is here?

you just read my mind, thats what I was about to do. And I might ask you a favor to get few dozen of those dongles j/k

right netkas, i "labeled" mine desktop and lappies too. now, is legally

im using an apple case for my Hack so im safe with the eula

so your saying they arent going to sell it in the US why not?

I really need one of those well we will find out on june 23rd

This topic should most probably be moved to Reader News

Its sort of an update, considering that if this is real (I mean if it is actually this amazing) it could be a major turning point in OSx86 history.