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Apple Gives Developers New iMacs; Implements EFI

Swad

By Swad,
in Front Page News and Rumors

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Swad
Swad
Posted
Posted

We’ve received reports today that Apple is putting in place a Developer Transition Kit Exchange Program to give DTK owners an iMac at no charge. As one developer exclaimed, “That was the best $999 I’ve ever spent!” DTK owners will receive, in exchange for their current units, a base-model iMac to “help you finish and ship your Universal Binary.” Below is an exclusive screenshot from Apple’s developer site:

 

DTK.jpg

 

And yes, for those wondering, we’re all insanely jealous.

 

EFI

 

Also, on the hardware front, Apple updated its Universal Binary Guidelines and revealed that the new Macs will be implementing Intel’s EFI (extensible firmware interface) to replace the venerable BIOS. Wikipedia explains,

 

The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is an updated BIOS specification developed by Intel. Designed for use with trusted computing, it allows vendors to create drivers which cannot be reverse engineered. It also allows operating systems to run in a sandbox, delegating networking and memory management to the firmware. Hardware access is converted to calls to the EFI drivers. The EFI BIOS is used to select the operating system, replacing boot loaders.

 

The EFI is important as it may be a component that Apple uses to lock OS X to their hardware. Since EFI was not present in the DTKs, we can only surmise that Apple’s use of “Trusted Computing” will be changed significantly with the new models.

 

[Digg this Article]

jegabla
jegabla
Posted
Posted

Just point out that, as reported in various sites, EFI does have some kind of compatibility layer to allow support for legacy operating systems that, to a certain extent, rely on BIOS information. This means EFI has full compatibility with Windows XP and Linux among others.

unixguru
unixguru
Posted
Posted

Well I can see what they're trying to do here. They're trying to get all the developers to turn in their DTK machines so they can stop supporting BIOS and only ship software that is protected with EFI. That way they can lock out anybody that doesn't have an Apple system. However, since the machines are supposed to be available until Dec. of this year, if someone doesn't turn one in for exchange by the end of March, what's Apple going to do? Stop giving them OS updates or what?

 

It'll be interesting to see what protections are in the new systems, and even more interesting to see if anybody (like Maxxus, god of the cracks, [i'm not worthy, I'm not worthy!]*) can figure out how to crack them. Unless there is something in the processor itself, data traffic on the PCI bus will be unencrypted, so someone who is clever with hardware could develop a card that will snoop the traffic and get whatever keys are needed to decrypt the binaries. Maybe there already is such a bus snooping card. Of course, thanks to our draconian laws and corporate politicians, anyone who tries this in the US will be sent to federal prison. Yeah, we're a "beacon of freedom" alright. But in other countries it could happen.

 

 

 

 

* That's from Wayne's World in case you didn't know.

Celery 2.39ghz w/PB and Firewire
Celery 2.39ghz w/PB and Firewire
Posted
Posted

I agree with unixguru that EFI could spell the end of installing later OSes on our current mashed x86 machines.

 

My hope is that the new Universal Apps will run on my Thinkpad. Seems the development of Universal binaries by March is more news than the new box and laptop.

 

Mac hardware has been less then stellar (30% failure of imac 20" g5s, 10% for g5 towers) for the past five years, lets hope that changes.

 

Wish they went AMD, anyone else?

Dee S. 73
Dee S. 73
Posted
Posted (edited)

Talking 'bout EFI and its implementations , this is an interesting site :

http://www.tianocore.org/

It's the EFI OpenSource project started by Intel...or , like they say :

TianoCore is home for projects focused on the Foundation code for the 
Intel Platform Innovation Framework for EFI, or Framework for short.
The Framework is an implementation of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) 
v1.10 specification, a result of an Intel project codenamed "Tiano".

Another interesting news is :

The InsydeH2O “Hardware-2-Operating System” firmware solution is a complete, production-ready version of the Platform Innovation Framework for EFI.
Evidence of this acceptance of Insyde's BIOS replacement technology is shown with many of these systems on-display at this week's Intel Developer Forum being held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. 
These systems on-display include:
Intel Desktop Boards including but not limited to the following SKUs: 
D865PCK, D910GDW, D915GWB, D955XBK, D945PSN, D945PLM, D945PAW, D945GTP, D945GNT, D945GCZ, D945PVS.

from : http://www.insydesw.com.tw/en/press.asp?id=360&ref_id=101

Not so bad news.... ;)

DS_73

Edited by Dark Schneider73
forcer
forcer
Posted
Posted
Talking 'bout EFI and its implementations , this is an interesting site :

http://www.tianocore.org/

It's the EFI OpenSource project started by Intel...or , like they say :

TianoCore is home for projects focused on the Foundation code for the 
Intel Platform Innovation Framework for EFI, or Framework for short.
The Framework is an implementation of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) 
v1.10 specification, a result of an Intel project codenamed "Tiano".

Another interesting news is :

The InsydeH2O “Hardware-2-Operating System” firmware solution is a complete, production-ready version of the Platform Innovation Framework for EFI.
Evidence of this acceptance of Insyde's BIOS replacement technology is shown with many of these systems on-display at this week's Intel Developer Forum being held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. 
These systems on-display include:
Intel Desktop Boards including but not limited to the following SKUs: 
D865PCK, D910GDW, D915GWB, D955XBK, D945PSN, D945PLM, D945PAW, D945GTP, D945GNT, D945GCZ, D945PVS.

from : http://www.insydesw.com.tw/en/press.asp?id=360&ref_id=101

Not so bad news.... :(

DS_73

 

I have ALWAYS sad that's an advantage having intel board on my PC :angry:

grabberslasher
grabberslasher
Posted
Posted
They can either turn in their developer machines when the lease is up and get nothing or turn them in now and get an iMac which they get to keep. I don't see too many holding on to the development machines.

 

Not to mention that the DTKs can't run anything higher than 10.4.3 due to the EFI requirement. Basically, they're dead - anyone who doesn't swap them has to be crazy.

Guest terry
Guest terry
Posted
Posted
What if you have a hardware company and you want to port your drivers from your PCI Cards to mactels?

 

Are they stupids too?

No upgrade cards for iMacs, no upgrade cards for MacBooks. Believe me, those hardware manufacturers will get their pre-production engineering samples of Intel-PowerMac-class mobos right in time if they need them.

 

The DTKs are obsolete.

Guest terry
Guest terry
Posted
Posted
What about the "ExpressCard" slot?

Well, you know, I meant the PCI cards the OP was referring to... :(

 

Anyway, if you're a hardware developer and want a couple of MacBook samples for tailoring some fresh new, attractive peripherals to the new platform, you can get them immediately and don't have to wait till February like the crowd. Well, in fact you probably already have a pre-production sample of the planar board sitting on your desk in such a case.

regularg0nz0
regularg0nz0
Posted
Posted
Basically, they're dead - anyone who doesn't swap them has to be crazy.

 

...sure... they won't be worth anything on the collectors market in 5 yerars... :(

Guest terry
Guest terry
Posted
Posted
...sure... they won't be worth anything on the collectors market in 5 yerars... :(

Hehe, that's what I've been thinking about all the time since the announcement that they all have to be returned and thus are doomed to vanish from the face of the earth. STEAL a DTK for yourself NOW, don't wait until it is too late! ;)

Ransu
Ransu
Posted
Posted
They're trying to get all the developers to turn in their DTK machines so they can stop supporting BIOS and only ship software that is protected with EFI. That way they can lock out anybody that doesn't have an Apple system.
And for those who smirk 'conspiracy theory' and dismiss this: whether or not that is their intent, this will be the result.

 

For now forget about running windows on the thing - inform yourselfs about EFI and TC:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_computing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_Interface

 

This is a *BAD* thing! And we shouldn't surrender to it like sheep!

 

It'll be interesting to see what protections are in the new systems, and even more interesting to see if anybody (like Maxxus, god of the cracks, [i'm not worthy, I'm not worthy!]*) can figure out how to crack them. Unless there is something in the processor itself, data traffic on the PCI bus will be unencrypted, so someone who is clever with hardware could develop a card that will snoop the traffic and get whatever keys are needed to decrypt the binaries. Maybe there already is such a bus snooping card. Of course, thanks to our draconian laws and corporate politicians, anyone who tries this in the US will be sent to federal prison. Yeah, we're a "beacon of freedom" alright. But in other countries it could happen.

* That's from Wayne's World in case you didn't know.

There will be no need for such laws since the system is uncrackable by default. ALL communication between hardware components will be encypted including key exchange. There is nothing to sniff even if you stick custom hardware to it. Again inform yourself of the basics before assuming anything:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption

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