Jump to content

EFiX: OSx86 gone commercial?

apowerr

By apowerr

 Share

efi-x.com, last updated June 9th, claims to offer the ability to install OS 10 on a non mac with the retail disc. The EFiX website states:

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.

Longtime OSx86 contributor netkas has posted EFiX in action on his blog. According to netkas, EFiX is hardware which plugs into your USB port.

 

As the June 23rd release approaches, many questions about EFiX remain unanswered:

-Is it an EFI emulator like PC_EFI or Chameleon?

-Is the USB device required every time you boot or just during installation?

-While this device may allow OS 10 to be installed, won't the driver situation be just like that of the OSx86 project?

-How will Apple respond to this?

-Will EFiX's EFI implementation be usable on traditional OSx86 DVDs?

 

Something of note is the EFiX contact page:

International dealers:

(If you can not find dealers in your region please contact us)

Germany

Россия

Украина

Taiwan R.O.C.

P.R.China

Japan

Korea

Notice here that the United States, along with many other countries are ignored. Also, netkas who has a sample of the device, stated:

they don't plan to sell it in US.

 

So, forget about dmcs in this case.

Thoughts?

 Share
Go to articles

User Feedback

Recommended Comments



~pcwiz
this could be a beautiful end to our project.

 

Going commercial isn't exactly my idea of a beautiful ending. Even then, patching files is half the fun of using OSx86 ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
awesomo
Going commercial isn't exactly my idea of a beautiful ending. Even then, patching files is half the fun of using OSx86 :D

 

well yes but the ultimate goal(in my opinion) is to make installing osx on mac as easy as installing osx on pc. So yes it's awesome and its easy. but it is commercial and uhh u know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nameless2k
People, stop posting good ideas! They are reading this thread and taking ideas from it as shown by the PCI version of EFI-X. Oh great, now they are going to use nameless2k's method for protecting the software:

:D

well copycats: post partly removed... :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
~pcwiz
Does EFiX device support AMD processors?

No, at this moment we do not offer support for AMD systems.

 

Do you plan on making a laptop version?

Not only plan, but already exist one.

 

I would like to test your product.

We offer EFiX test devices mainly for review purposes only.

 

Just wondering, will all hardware work with installed EFiX device?

If it does, we will wonder too, because support for refrigerators, microwaves, mouse-pads etc. not implemented yet

 

It was a surprise as your website doesn't seems to work for email sending...

We are surprised too, but it work all the time.

 

Aha so it is plagued by the same limitations as what we have today, except it allows retail DVD installs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kinkster

Yeah I never saw how this was anything amazing or new in a technical sense, it isn't going to make much easier for anyone I dont think. It might help, but if you still have to fix things then it's only going to help people already benefiting from the osx86 scene.

 

 

Seeing how the commercialization will go will be the interesting thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stellarola
Aha so it is plagued by the same limitations as what we have today, except it allows retail DVD installs.

 

 

Yeah I never saw how this was anything amazing or new in a technical sense, it isn't going to make much easier for anyone I dont think. It might help, but if you still have to fix things then it's only going to help people already benefiting from the osx86 scene.

Seeing how the commercialization will go will be the interesting thing.

 

 

I've been speaking to one of the devs. You all will be quite amazed by what they have in store.

 

-Stell

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kinkster

Really? Well I guess it will be nice. I was just going from what netkas said, but I guess there's more to it.

 

 

I wish they would just release it to the community for free though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nameless2k
No, it couldn't be, because even with PC_EFI or Chameleon (another fake EFI implementation), those both cannot boot vanilla retail DVDs and installs can't survive a vanilla 10.5.3 update even with PC_EFI. So whether it be software or hardware that they have in that dongle. its something unique that we haven't seen before.

 

It's not that unique, I suppose. It is almost the same way like using a kalyway DVD to boot a retail DVD, but technically advanced and automated. Abstraction layer for EFI to BIOS and emu responses for "dont steal macos x.kext". Not too complicated in the end. More a matter of diligence...

 

Since this USB dongle is required each time you boot, the abstraction layer is always present before the system boots. it doesn't matter what is written in the MBR. Therefore autoupdates can be installed without any hazzle.

 

almost like a root kit booted from USB...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
xtraa
cubase 4 & usb dongle - uncrackable

 

Hm. Why am I running Cubase SX4 without a dongle? It's been out for a while now.

Or was this meant ironic? Or maybe I just have another SX4 version?!

 

Confusing :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
netkas

and, if u guys didn't figure it out, using rd=diskXsY with usb disk inside isn't stable, because sometimes usb and cdrom swaps it's numbers, it;s about 50:50.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
titooo

netkas, as you are the only one who tested it you got priviliged information about that, but I guess you also can't say nothing until the reelease.

 

But could you please inform if it will be revolutionary or just an alternative to kalyway and leo4all dvd's?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Memorial
They spelled Ukraine in Russian. Those {censored}s. *shakes fist*

 

You think that's bad? In some of the airports in Ukraine they still use old stamps that have it spelled in Russian.

 

Hmm, the EFiX says that this in not just a USB stick; I don't all together trust it. Seems kind of {censored} though that you have to keep the USB in to boot, but the fact that updates go through is amazing. I would assume for this to work the OS would have to use the USB stick not just as boot, but at least during updates as well, but that is first of all odd and might be a bit slow. Anyway, cool project either way, hope we can get more explaination from someone (like netkas) soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zarac
I don't know or heard a software/ hardware that hasn't been hacked so relax ppl.

avid xpress pro and avid media composer have been cracked on winblows, but they're still hardware locked (by usb dongle) on macintosh computers.

hoping someone will prove me i'm wrong :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
indiekiduk
I've been speaking to one of the devs. You all will be quite amazed by what they have in store.

 

-Stell

 

I'd be more amazed if we could get a straight answer to our questions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
titooo

yep, everything seems too secret... But netkas doesn't say too much so I just expect that's because we would see something great and revolutionar.

A lot of kexts for wireless, sound... installed by default without selecting anything? Unfortuntaley I don't think so...

 

We would have to wait until netkas reveals something else or until 23rd!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
xeongx

I say that this is not revolutionary and that netkas is not revealing anything about it because it will prevent people from buying it..

 

Why the hell didn't some of these question in here???

Link to comment
Share on other sites
diogan

It seems to me the biggest question mark is hardware support. Netkas has already stated that it updates just like a "real" mac which would be a nice improvement for a lot of users, but what about your hardware? I haven't upgraded past 10.5.1 because of my video card (Nvidia 7300 LE... don't laugh :blink: ).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
QuietRiot
The development of EFiX took a lot of time.

During the development phase, we had to deal with various problems, including sabotage.

I'm really interested in this whole sabotage story.

 

Their website now lists 'complete systems', too. I guess Psystar was not gonna be alone for too long in this market.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...