eversor1 Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Well, I purchased components to build a hackintosh, and have it built and working beautifully (after the apple video update), but I'm currently using an ATI card with GraphicsEnabler set to No in the Boot.plist. I have seen the guides on extracting the cards bios, and making it so that I can set GraphicsEnabler=Yes, but what does that get me? I have assumed that it enables some hardware acceleration for the desktop, but that's just a guess. I have searched for an actual definition of what GraphicsEnabler does but have only found guides on how to turn it off and on to actually get your machine booting. So, what does this thing do? Does it just affect the OSX desktop, or graphics heavy applications like games as well? Thanks, and sorry for my ignorance, I'm trying to take care of that Josh Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
FKA Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I shouldn't laugh but this post has just made my day I'll try to help by breaking the two words up for you - Graphics - Enabler - As the saying goes - this isn't rocket surgery - it does what it says on the tin! D Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570093 Share on other sites More sharing options...
eversor1 Posted October 26, 2010 Author Share Posted October 26, 2010 I shouldn't laugh but this post has just made my day I'll try to help by breaking the two words up for you - Graphics - Enabler - As the saying goes - this isn't rocket surgery - it does what it says on the tin! D Well even with GraphicsEnabler set to 'No' I obviously have graphics. It's not like I'm working on a console screen. The most information I have found on it is this: " GraphicsEnabler option will enable graphics acceleration on most Nvidia 8xxx/9xxx/2xx graphics cards & a few ATI graphics cards". I have to assume that this means that when GraphicsEnabler is set to 'No' it uses the provided frame buffer as opposed to loading using it's own display driver (accelerated graphics etc). I'm just wondering what kind of impact this has on general computing / gaming etc. I'm glad it made your day though, fools are easily amused. Guess I'm not the only one who doesn't fully understand this option. I shouldn't laugh but this post has just made my day I'll try to help by breaking the two words up for you - Graphics - Enabler - As the saying goes - this isn't rocket surgery - it does what it says on the tin! D Ok, Finally found a good explanation, thanks again to tonymacx86! It is here: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2009/12/ena...celeration.html GraphicsEnabler set to 'Yes' enables "Quartz Extreme" and "Core Image". Some great Core Image information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Image Quartz Compositor is the windowing system in Mac OS X. Quartz Extreme is graphics processor (GPU) acceleration for the Quartz Compositor. Again some really good information on these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz_Extreme So it appears to be limited to desktop effects. While it would be nice to be all blingy, it doesn't look like I'm missing too much having GraphicsEnabler set to 'No'. Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570462 Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLR Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 So it appears to be limited to desktop effects. While it would be nice to be all blingy, it doesn't look like I'm missing too much having GraphicsEnabler set to 'No'. LOL Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570472 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FKA Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Ok.. Firstly which ATi card are you using? You can test to see if you have hardware accelleration by fireing up the flurry screen saver. If the movement is fluid you most likely have hardware accelleration. Also you can drop a dashboard widget to the desktop. If you get a ripple effect you have hardware acceleration. If you have used a distro then you may already have unknowingly installed patched ATI drivers - I have no way of knowing this. For ATI cards GraphicsEnabler (as far as I understand it!) is reading device properties from the VBIOS of your GPU and ingecting those properties as to give you full use of your GPU's features, like all ports outputting video, hardware acceleration etc .. etc ... If you have patched ATI drivers installed then they are doing the same job as GraphicsEnabler however if theese drivers are updated in (lets say 10.6.5 update) then they will be overwritten on update and you will lose video! In short GraphicsEnabler ENABLES YOUR GRAPHICS CARD TO WORK! D LOL Honestly you lose the will to live sometimes! Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570477 Share on other sites More sharing options...
eversor1 Posted October 26, 2010 Author Share Posted October 26, 2010 Ok.. Firstly which ATi card are you using? Radeon 5770 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125327) You can test to see if you have hardware accelleration by fireing up the flurry screen saver.If the movement is fluid you most likely have hardware accelleration. Also you can drop a dashboard widget to the desktop. If you get a ripple effect you have hardware acceleration. I hope to do then when I get home today. I have played with the flurry screen saver, and it was completely smooth. I have not putzed with the dashboard yet, but plan to. If you have used a distro then you may already have unknowingly installed patched ATI drivers - I have no way of knowing this. I did [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] ATI with [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url], with a purchased install disk. Took me a while to get to installing it, the default GraphicsEnabler=Yes was causing the 100% CPU fan, and powersave on my screens. As soon as I got everything installed, I did the Apple hardware update. This got both of my monitors working @ 1920! Yay! For ATI cards GraphicsEnabler (as far as I understand it!) is reading device properties from the VBIOS of your GPU and ingecting those properties as to give you full use of your GPU's features, like all ports outputting video, hardware acceleration etc .. etc ... Good info! Thanks! If you have patched ATI drivers installed then they are doing the same job as GraphicsEnabler however if theese drivers are updated in (lets say 10.6.5 update) then they will be overwritten on update and you will lose video! I suspect this may be my case. During the [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] install, I did add one of the 2 ATI kexts, but everything didn't get awesome until after the hardware update. In short GraphicsEnabler ENABLES YOUR GRAPHICS CARD TO WORK! It appears that GraphicsEnabler actually enables graphics acceleration. I would expect (by definition) that if graphics were disabled, that I would get a console login, or be limited to some standard VESA display modes (1024 etc.) in the gui. Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570502 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FKA Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 It also appears you don't get sarcasm! The ATI 5770 is well covered on this forum - so there was absoluty no need for your post. Please go and do some READING and THINKING before you do your POSTING! D Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570508 Share on other sites More sharing options...
eversor1 Posted October 26, 2010 Author Share Posted October 26, 2010 It also appears you don't get sarcasm! The ATI 5770 is well covered on this forum - so there was absoluty no need for your post. Please go and do some READING and THINKING before you do your POSTING! D My original question was specific to the GraphicsEnabler option, not specific to my video card. (Might I suggest READING). The only reply I got was an ignorant summation of the term, which in no way addressed my original question. (very well thought out I might add). Being that no one actually seemed to have a working definition of GraphicsEnabler, I posted the research that I had found after the fact in an attempt to help anyone else around that might eventually come across this topic in search of the same information. I appreciate that you have knowledge in this topic, but being a {censored} about it doesn't really help anyone, now does it? Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570531 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FKA Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 honestly I give up! There is no summary of what GraphicsEnabler does because it doesn't need a summary! As I said origionaly, the clue is in the name! Also if you had bothered to google and read about your Graphics card you would have found all the information you need to know about GraphicsEnabler and ATI_init.kext ! We all do it from time to time but you'd make less of a fool out of yourself if you spent more time reading and learing and less time posting! D Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570545 Share on other sites More sharing options...
CooSee Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 honestly I give up! There is no summary of what GraphicsEnabler does because it doesn't need a summary! As I said origionaly, the clue is in the name! Also if you had bothered to google and read about your Graphics card you would have found all the information you need to know about GraphicsEnabler and ATI_init.kext ! We all do it from time to time but you'd make less of a fool out of yourself if you spent more time reading and learing and less time posting! D Word Up CooSee ' Ya Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570550 Share on other sites More sharing options...
eversor1 Posted October 26, 2010 Author Share Posted October 26, 2010 Well, in an effort to stop feeding the troll, I would like to thank 'FormerlyKnownAs' for his help on this topic, which was exactly: For ATI cards GraphicsEnabler (as far as I understand it!) is reading device properties from the VBIOS of your GPU and ingecting those properties as to give you full use of your GPU's features, like all ports outputting video, hardware acceleration etc .. etc ... thanks Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235290-graphicsenabler/#findComment-1570553 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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