3 Years Ago Today... The First Working Generic OSx86 DVD Was Released...

[br0adband]

Admins/Mods: If you can think of a better place to put this, go for it. But because it's an anniversary of this entire project, and a significant anniversary in The OSx86 Project timeline, I figured it might be newsworthy. I leave it in your capable hands, but if you choose to delete it for some strange reason, I'd like a PM about why, please. Thanks...

 

=======================================

 

3 years ago today on September 2nd, 2005, with the massive assistance of a guy by the name of bender12 (who deserves far more credit than I do but is too humble and shy to admit it), I released the world's first generic OSx86 installation DVD - the first one of its kind, the first one that worked, and the first one that would literally let you walk up to almost any PC and start an OSx86 installation that would actually get the job done. This post is about that event, and some events that led up to it.

 

Some folks around here, that have been around here for some time and been a part of this whole "project" since it began, might remember little old me. I'm not a big part of the community any longer, but I just realized, like 30 mins ago, what today is given the date. And almost precisely on the minute too, ironically.

 

So where did all this begin, with bender12 and myself? And how did we end up giving the world the one thing it had not had until bender12 coded/created it and I dropped it on the community? Well, lemme make it short and sweet:

 

A guy by the name of bender12, supergenius extraordinaire!, and myself, just a humble fellow with too much time on his hands and too many words to use entirely too often, hooked up and in the short period of a few weeks released the world's very first working generic installation DVD for OSx86, dubbed Release1.

 

We bumped heads on the IRC channel and he and I hit it off as all us smart folks do, talking about what OSx86 should be, what the first working installation should be, and so on. The problem in the community up to that point was that everyone, nearly every single coder, hacker, patcher, person, etc... they were all focused on fixing OSx86 so it worked on their machines, having used the now quite infamous deadmoo VMWare image to get OSx86 working at all. But I had never used that VMWare image, and I still haven't, I never did. I wanted to create the "generic" installation DVD I knew was possible but couldn't quite complete on my own.

 

What does the "generic" mean in the title, you may ask? Well... here's the concept bender12 and I worked on, one that I had proposed a few weeks prior to our auspicious beginning:

 

I figured if everyone else in the community was spending all their time focusing on fixing the deadmoo image, and getting it working, why not focus my time on creating the disc that would actually be able to install OSx86 clean, on any given PC you chose to boot off the DVD. Understand what "generic" means now? Right, it means I wanted a generic non-specific way of installing OSx86 onto any machine that I could simply put the DVD into and boot from. That was the beginning of my little OSx86 "project" of my own, so I created a channel on the IRC server called #osx86.dvd and soon there were quite a few people trying to help out.

 

A few weeks went by and then bender12 came by for a visit. I don't remember all the specifics of our conversations as that was 3 years ago today, suffice to say we hit it off and worked together over a short span of time. He took input from me and others in the channel, but primarily he was doing all the stuff himself just for fun. He put time and effort into things he did on his own hardware, taking the plists apart, swapping kexts, etc. At some point he actually believed he'd created a file, using the now familiar PPF-O-Matic ISO patching tool so many PS2/3 owners know about, that he could apply to the original Marklar ISO that was pretty popular in those days and was the true "first" release disc - but it was the actual OS X code untouched, and therefore couldn't be installed on just any old generic PC.

 

That wasn't good enough for me, so that's what prompted my project to get underway.

 

Over time, bender12 refined his process down to the point where he felt comfortable enough to allow me to grab that PPF patch from him, apply it to my copy of the Marklar ISO, burn it, and see what happened. Well, I grabbed the file from him in a few hours, did the patch, burned the DVD, swapped out my working XP installation hard drive in my Dell Inspiron 4150 laptop with a spare (but empty) 20GB drive, put the freshly burned DVD in the drive and turned it on.

 

22 minutes later I was running OSx86, on that laptop, for the first time ever. Several hundred installs later - over a 1 year period, that is - I got rid of that laptop but it served me well. Suffice to say, the first time I actually booted into an Apple Operating System on a Dell laptop I was pretty damned excited.

 

I played around for a few then shut down, swapped drives, got back on IRC and wouldn't shut up about it working for a few hours. Of course, the other people in the channel all wanted it for themselves, but I needed to write the docs for it. See, that's my part in this, even now 3 years later to the day: I'm the mouth, the PR guy, the front man for this operation, if you will. bender12 chose to remain "in the shadows" to some degree and didn't want a lot of limelight while I, mouth that I am, talker-upper and speed typist beyond reproach, well... I'm still doing it even today.

 

I wrote a short but detailed readme file that I included with the PPF patch file as well as the PPF-O-Matic patching tool itself, RAR'ed 'em all into one file and dropped it on a torrent for our "beta" release called Test 3 - and remarkably it's still out there floating around on some torrent websites even today. It was small but it got the job done.

 

I also set up an email account: generic_dvd_install@gmail.com (still active to this day, still gets plenty of emails from people using that Test 3 beta release, and the actual Release1 patch also that creates the full blown installation DVD) and asked people to email comments, suggestions, their hardware specifications, whether they were successful or not with the Test 3 release, and what they thought could/should be improved.

 

Needless to say we got a lot of emails, and fast. The Test 3 release spread like a wildfire across the community and reports just flooded in. Even now I get the random emails from folks that are just now finding out about OSx86 and they start with the Marklar-Tiger ISO and either Test 3 or Release1, so it's pretty cool to still see emails in that account from time to time when I check it (maybe once a month). And the information those reports gave bender12 only served to improve his technique and soon he was ready with the next edition, the big one: Release1.

 

Here's a quote of text from the voluminous READ_ME_FIRST.rtf file I wrote for Release1 commenting on how the 'beta testers' for Test 3 had helped:

 

As of the moment that I'm typing this, when I go back and correlate a lot of the data from reports from private messages, the emails we've received (thank you for those, everyone that sent one in), IMs, and IRC chatting I noticed a roughly 92% success rate for installing OSx86 from the test3 patched DVD.

 

That's pretty significant in my opinion. It went from nearly no success at all for people using their own patched DVDs to install OSx86 on non-Intel 915 chipset based hardware to a 92% success rate for installs using the test3 patcher just because of bender's work.

 

Pretty significant indeed. Over time bender12 sorta-kinda dropped from the community. I still hear about him from time to time, but I haven't chatted with him in well over 2 years. If you read this, bender, drop me a PM so we can catch up. And thanks again for allowing me to be a part of what happened.

 

Release1 was dropped on the community and the world at large 3 years ago today. Boy what a long road it's been to get where we are these days. With all the many, many people contributing over the past 3+ years, the probably hundreds of thousands of burned/wasted DVDs, the hundreds of thousands of installations, patches, tests, reinstallations, the frustrations, etc, all of it really... and it all really took off like a bat out of hell about 1,095 days ago.

 

I'd like to thank everyone, but I can't, unfortunately. There's just too many people in general to catch all of you but I will point out a few:

 

- to the original 'members' of the #osx86.dvd channel, thanks

- to Swad, aka Mashugly aka Mash, thanks

- to deadmoo, thanks

- to maxxuss, thanks

- to xpl0de, thanks

- to JaS, thanks... and take care of that damned MacPro (I was the first person to donate to get him that machine, so I have an interest in it, but he most certainly earned it)

- to the staff running the #osx86 channel, thanks

- to those persons I can't remember off the top of my head because I'm freakin' tired but can't sleep, thanks

 

And to all those persons in the OSx86 community that still continue development, while I apologize for not remembering you all by name, I salute you. I know there are a LOT of people nowadays who contribute a ton of time, effort, and skill but I just can't remember all of you.

 

I know that Mas--errr... Swad (sorry, I just remember him by Mashugly) had started to write a definitive "History of OSx86" thing here in the past, he did get the first part finished but I've never seen the second part, or whatever else he intended to write. Hopefully people will see this portion of the history of the project - at least for our part in it (our meaning bender12 and I) - and have fun reading about it.

 

Have fun, always...

 

bb

 

ps

Attached you'll find the original READ_ME_FIRST.rtf file included with the Generic_OSx86_Install_DVD_Patcher_Release1.rar patch just in case some of you might like to see just how far this project has come. It's still on TPB and several other sites, actually. Amazing... truly amazing.

READ_THIS_FIRST.rtf

[applehacker]

Yeah, we really have evolved from those times. I got highly excited when I heard the concept and tried the deadmoo image. Thanks for all the hard work of all the developers!

[Suprjacob]

Yeah, I stumbled upon the deadmoo image and was playing around with it for a while when I realized I couldn't use any Folder Sharing.

 

Then, quite a good while later, I found Mr. Kalyway

[~pcwiz]

I entered the scene rather late. I had heard about Deadmoo and Marklar but never tried it until JaS 10.4.8 PPF1 PPF2 AMD Intel SSE2 SSE3 release came out, which I then installed onto VMware. I loved it, and a short while later I installed the Uphuck 1.4iR3 10.4.9 OSx86 release. And now here I am, running a vanilla 10.5.4 install based on Kalyway

 

But 100% credit goes to you, br0adband and bender for creating the first OSx86 DVD. Otherwise who knows, we may have been stuck with HD images forever :S

[khaled_acmilan]

Yes, i have to thank all of these developers for this Wonderful job.

 

my first DVD was Jas 10.4.8 PPF1+PPF2 AMD-Intel and it works like a charm in my PC,SO i have to post big thanks to Jas for his excellent work,i think without this DVD i won't can to try this fantastic OS (Mac OS X) on my PC and then get my first iMac to support this Company which called Apple and this OS (Mac OS X).

 

you are AMAZING,guys in this community and i'm so happy to be one of this big community,absolutely it was beautiful that i become on of this community and one of Mac OS X Users.

 

Thank for all developers and we all appreciate your hard work.

 

Khaled Samir

[FrankOS_Scripting]

Hard working, three years later, is often appreciated from the beginning And I was lately on the scene in jan 07 but I still make it on my own before with my crazy mind. Successful, after a monumental failed. That was my introduce to OSx86. But you're the "sparks" who turns up OSx86 to a dream brought to reality!

 

I should say even if I wasn't know clearly the first release comes from you, a thousand thanks is not enough !!

 

EDIT: Why a moderator move this thread to the News on the frontpage... I was wondering only...

Edited September 3, 2008 by FrankOS_Scripting

[3Dman]

I entered late too , The first OS X to try was Leopard by BarazilMac, It was very good and ran on my PC like a charm and it was very good impression on OSx86 Project, I really want to thank all the Developers that made this dream became true because of the patches they have done from Maxxuss' patch to BOOT-DFE that makes use of retail Leopard DVDs on Hackintosh.

This work is Amazing and there's more coming on the future, I hope

[kramer2k]

This is awesome. I totally remember my first experience with OSx86. It was the only reason I bought my first DVD-burner! Installing Deadmoo on my Dell 4300 P4 Northwood 1.6 GHz, 640 MB PC133, 80GB HD, Geforce 4 MX440. Seeing that apple show up, wheel spin, and then the install..oh my god...IT'S INSTALLING.

 

The first desktop image was worth crying over. Granted that I had no internet, no sound, VESA support for video only...but by golly it worked! My brother thought I was retarded (and he probably still thinks I am)!

 

I've been around ever since .4, .5, .6, .7, .8, .9, .10, .11, and now Leo. JaS, Semjaza, Marklar were like my personal Jesus Christs...lol...

 

So thanks OSx86 and all those involved...

 

For being the reason I bought my first DVD burner

For being the catalyst to switch to AMD since P4's sucked and I could still use OSX, then swithcing back to C2D since they simply rock and support vanilla installs...

[nikonnut]

Wow! Three years ago I was fiddling with a an already out-dated G4 (466 MHz digital audio) trying to get a PC graphics card cross-flashed so I could play HALO. About the same time a couple of guys were lauding their Hackintoshes (designer2118 aka Aqua-Mac, Ritalin, and Gotoh) over at Strangedogs so I figured what the hell. A few bits and a copy of JaS 10.4.8 later and I was hooked! Flash forward to now and it's gotten so easy thanks to so many that I can't even start to begin to offer Kudos. Way to blaze the trail for us br0adband. Cheers

[tivimac]

hehehe....3 years....your DVD was the first that I used. I remember that at the time I couldn't test on a 915 based machine.... so I put it on a 865.

 

I have somewhere your printed instructions... alll the details...

[i*C]

well, i entered the scene way later... 2008 i believe. was quickly introduced to kalyway and iTkios, never heard or dubbed Release1. However its good to know the time and date when everything started!!!

[Ai Haibara]

Wow, 3 years...

 

I entered the scene in August 2005, if I remember correctly, and I played around a little with deadmoo before installing 10.4.1, probably with your DVD that I still have

 

Sherry Haibara

[Software Updater]

I remember starting with Release1 and man was that cool. It is amazing to see the way it has progressed, from on disk to probably 10 different "groups". Now, not only is the OS itself getting patched for OSx86, the server is aswell!

 

 

Well, thats my little peace, if it wasn't for your image, I never would have gotten a mac.

[Konami®]

My first distro was based in Jas, I think it was 10.4.5. But congrats to the community for these wonderful three years of excitement, our community has grow a lot and now our distro releases are more powerful and more supported by drivers mostly made by our community.

[fatshitcat]

I'll drink to that!

[c.r.e.a.m.]

Very well written. Thanks for the insight as well as the story !

[thefinalprophecy]

I used it myself on my old Pentium D back in Fall 2005. And looking on a certain bay of pirates, this original ISO still apparently has seeders lol

[vbetts]

I've been here for a year or 2 now I think...

[mifki]

I've been everywhere man

[Big Kahuna]

Including in the doghouse Kiko...

 

I remember the days of sitting in the IRC channel, JaS distributing PPF after PPF, just because he couldn't get the postinstall scripts right.. the frustration as his test PC kept dying and he had to reseat his processor god knows how many times.

 

I remember joining this site, excited about what was happening.. the possibility of running OSX on a PC..

 

I started with a P4, then an AMD system, now my Intel Xeon and I'm just amazed how far this has come.

 

Cheers to all. I've been around (complaining) for most of it. Thanks for putting up with me.

[FrankOS_Scripting]

I've been everywhere man

 

Anyway, you can't let us go

[Dense]

I didn't realise it was 3 years since the release of the first generic DVD. While we have evolved massively from a technological standpoint I do think from a community aspect we have devolved. There has been a lot of fragmentation in the community and nowdays its all about getting it installed and moving on. There are far less people trying to advance the improvements (while you might consider OSX86 mature I would politely disagree).

 

So many of the main developers have left because they felt the community wasn't appreciating the hard work they put. The community has been less honourable with people claiming ownership and credit of other peoples work. Its become commercialised (which I am not totally against if the changes are shared back). There has been a loss of focus on where we want to go and its become a total mess in terms of organisation (just try finding things on these forums sometimes - some of the best information gets no replies and buried straight away). The misinformation is staggering, so many people stating what they believe is correct (yet is totally incorrect) and leading others astray.

 

I don't have the solutions to these problems but I do recognise they exist. Maybe its time we consider less about the technical aspects and focus on how we can create a community that works well together. I think if we had that at the start we would be so much further ahead now.

[aylamrin]

For me, it started two years back. A Google search for "The most beautiful desktop" (because I wanted something that looks better than KDE) led to me to the Mac OS X scene. I had heard from somewhere that Apple uses Intel chips nowadays, but where would I get the DVD from, was what I thought. So trying something like "install+OSX+intel+torrent" led me to here......or a better way to put it would be that "I took the red pill". The first image I downloaded was Maxxuss 10.4.3. That was followed by JaS 10.4.8, then Kalyway Leopard Beta, then ToH, iAtkos and now I'm using the Retail GM DVD. I have an almost perfectly running Hackintosh now, (I later went on to buy a MBP) so heartfelt gratitude to you masters.

[BlackCH]

I remember DDing the deadmoo image on one of my HD.... I was so exited when it booted on my 865 based!... later I tryed jas 10.4.3 I guess.... but only after the release of the first semtex kernels OSX became really usable for me... Cheers to br0adband an bender for the very first release! Is amazing how much things have developed from that time till now;

 

Although I do think some things were going backwards and I have to agree with dense in almost all he say.....

I didn't realise it was 3 years since the release of the first generic DVD. While we have evolved massively from a technological standpoint I do think from a community aspect we have devolved. There has been a lot of fragmentation in the community and nowdays its all about getting it installed and moving on. There are far less people trying to advance the improvements (while you might consider OSX86 mature I would politely disagree).

 

So many of the main developers have left because they felt the community wasn't appreciating the hard work they put. The community has been less honourable with people claiming ownership and credit of other peoples work. Its become commercialised (which I am not totally against if the changes are shared back). There has been a loss of focus on where we want to go and its become a total mess in terms of organisation (just try finding things on these forums sometimes - some of the best information gets no replies and buried straight away). The misinformation is staggering, so many people stating what they believe is correct (yet is totally incorrect) and leading others astray.

 

I don't have the solutions to these problems but I do recognise they exist. Maybe its time we consider less about the technical aspects and focus on how we can create a community that works well together. I think if we had that at the start we would be so much further ahead now.

[domino]

Here's a greetings to those who stuck around all those years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY OSx86 community!

 

~N