EFiX: OSx86 gone commercial?

When using the dongle, do you have to boot from the USB stick first or just boot normally dvd/hdd with the dongle plugged in?

their website is down ?

So, 90% of the pages on the website is down... almost taunting us There is a downloads page... meaning something will be available to download that is not documentation (because they have a documentation page)

Here is an interesting quote from their FAQ:

So is EFiX just a usb device where I could copy the files to an existing USB thumb drive?

Absolutely not! EFiX is neither a memory stick or thumb drive.

It is a completely unique device with very intricate protection above and beyond your wildest imagination.

I think this is a bit of sarcasm, considering the rest of their FAQ page is very sarcastic (such as hardware like refrigerators are not supported)

Although it might be something that attaches to the USB header on a mobo, that seems unrealistic and impractical. The only reason I say this is because they have a laptop version, and attaching something to a USB header on a laptop isn't easy like it is on a PC.

Some people have also mentioned that running things through a USB anything will make the performance awful. This might be the case, but I think there will be more to it than that. I know if I were developing this I would load any necessary code into memory on boot so it is easily accessible. (Although I really don't know how its gonna work)

One thing that interests me though is that they have a PCI option...

well it can be a usb dongle but with their hardware on it, like Bluetooth dongles have different hardware than a USB flash or a USB sound card so they probably have a USB EFI Hardware where the motherboard of your OS is on that Stick. or PCI Card

well it can be a usb dongle but with their hardware on it, like Bluetooth dongles have different hardware than a USB flash or a USB sound card so they probably have a USB EFI Hardware where the motherboard of your OS is on that Stick. or PCI Card

Check the FAQ on their site.

"So is EFiX just a usb device where I could copy the files to an existing USB thumb drive?

Absolutely not! EFiX is neither a memory stick or thumb drive.

It is a completely unique device with very intricate protection above and beyond your wildest imagination."

Here is an interesting quote from their FAQ:

I think this is a bit of sarcasm, considering the rest of their FAQ page is very sarcastic (such as hardware like refrigerators are not supported)

Maybe it's just me, but I find the amount of sarcasm to be a wee bit unprofessional. It might come off to some people that they are mocking the intelligence of potential customers.

I think the undertone off the sarcasm is that hardware will be supported providing its mac compat

I´d say there´s no need for this I just bought Leo 10.5.1 from apple and managed to install it with the help of the sticky thread for GA mobos and even uppgrade to apple 10.5.3 on my old crappy Asus p4p800 mobo P4 3Ghz cpu, I´m typing this on it now. Just got to be just as good to go the retaiway cause you´re gonna have to work the kexts depending on your hardware anyway or buy a specifik setup if you want it all to work with this thingy.

I´d say there´s no need for this I just bought Leo 10.5.1 from apple and managed to install it with the help of the sticky thread for GA mobos and even uppgrade to apple 10.5.3 on my old crappy Asus p4p800 mobo P4 3Ghz cpu, I´m typing this on it now. Just got to be just as good to go the retaiway cause you´re gonna have to work the kexts depending on your hardware anyway or buy a specifik setup if you want it all to work with this thingy.

yes but you have to apply patches and fixes and install efiv8 with this you stick in your disk and install nothing else. no patches or anything only kext's if you need them for your vid card and sound. so there is a need for some users for this. and netkas was able to update for 10.5.0 to 10.5.3 thru software update and again nothing else except this dongle.

Maybe its got an onboard driver database with everything needed

Quote:

yes but you have to apply patches and fixes and install efiv8 with this you stick in your disk and install nothing else. no patches or anything only kext's if you need them for your vid card and sound. so there is a need for some users for this. and netkas was able to update for 10.5.0 to 10.5.3 thru software update and again nothing else except this dongle. End Quote

But that´s what I´m saying you still would have to work with the kexts if you don´t buy speciffic hardware, that stick can´t hold drivers for every possible hardware combination people would choose.

Quote:

yes but you have to apply patches and fixes and install efiv8 with this you stick in your disk and install nothing else. no patches or anything only kext's if you need them for your vid card and sound. so there is a need for some users for this. and netkas was able to update for 10.5.0 to 10.5.3 thru software update and again nothing else except this dongle. End Quote

But that´s what I´m saying you still would have to work with the kexts if you don´t buy speciffic hardware, that stick can´t hold drivers for every possible hardware combination people would choose.

Just the more popular ones perhaps

same with a real mac you need to have the drivers in order for it to work, if you have compatible hardware it will perfectly fine you can't have an AMD processor with this or on a real mac. Yeah I know what you are trying to say but on your install you can't update from 10.5.1 to 10.5.3 thru software update with this dongle as netkas said.

For me this IS a breakthrough, I'm not asking myself what the thing is(software, dongle, usb thumb drive, etc.), I will know when it comes out. What I do know is that being able to BOOT and INSTALL from an original and untouched Mac OSX DVD is great, of course that if your box doesn't have the hardware that a Mac has you will need the kexts for it, OSX doesn't have drivers for the array of hardware that exists out there but:

- If you have an intel processor, compatible motherboard, sound, video and network hardware it will be (almost) as good as having an Apple Mac.

- Since you don't need to hack dsmos, system, and all the other OS related kexts you can go out and buy licensed OSX hardware and it will work in your box.

- Being able to use Apple's Software Update to upgrade your system without the need to use hacked kexts and/or kernels or waiting for the wonderful geniuses to put out the upgrade so it won't break your system and having to start over again.

And in my book that is enough of a breakthrough, now I hope they sell it in Mexico

Just my opinion

~fagosu

Edited for legibility

yes that exactly what my trying to say. If they don't sell it to mexico some kind people here will put some on eBay lol

I have a friend in Germany that will buy it and ship it to me here in the US.

But I will wait till I learn more about it.

You'll be able to order them online through resellers.

Quote:

But that´s what I´m saying you still would have to work with the kexts if you don´t buy speciffic hardware, that stick can´t hold drivers for every possible hardware combination people would choose.

Has anyone thought that MAYBE they might make an app that connects to an online driver database and downloads the necessary drivers?

To me, this dongle sounds like a TPM chip on a USB stick. Just think about it. The real macs use the TPM chip for ID purposes only (such as Don't Steal Mac OSX.kext and such) and you just have to have the Mac original TPM key cloned to a USB stick.

Now, about the rest...I don't know how could it be, but if it works, I will certainly and undoubtly buy one.

Regards. ^^

I'm thinking this device has a partition that will load the proper drivers upon first boot.

So I guess testing the drivers that you know are working in Leo4all V3 before attempting to install from a leopard disc are probably requirements the first time around.

Then you would just put them on the partition and it would be used as a source for kexts when installing the OS.

That would make the most sense to me. An online database that the unit connects to is inefficient in providing most users with a working solution, seeing as I, as an example, can't even get my RT2500 miniPCI Card to accept any drivers for Leopard.... so how then would I connect to this "database"

To me, this dongle sounds like a TPM chip on a USB stick. Just think about it. The real macs use the TPM chip for ID purposes only (such as Don't Steal Mac OSX.kext and such) and you just have to have the Mac original TPM key cloned to a USB stick.

As far as i know there is no TPM chip in current Macs.

I'm thinking this device has a partition that will load the proper drivers upon first boot.

 

So I guess testing the drivers that you know are working in Leo4all V3 before attempting to install from a leopard disc are probably requirements the first time around.

 

Then you would just put them on the partition and it would be used as a source for kexts when installing the OS.

 

That would make the most sense to me. An online database that the unit connects to is inefficient in providing most users with a working solution, seeing as I, as an example, can't even get my RT2500 miniPCI Card to accept any drivers for Leopard.... so how then would I connect to this "database"

dude this has been awnsered so many times, its not a storage device its says in there faq, its all hardware based. and there home has been updated i guess you can view it in differnet languages

www.efi-x.com

If it's hardware based then I'd imagine it'd be pretty expensive. They would have to cover the cost of manufacturing a new hardware component which I imagine is quite costly.

If it costs more than a 100% compatible motherboard wouldnt it just be better and cheaper buying the motherboard i mean what would the point being in having the device lmao well so many ppl here run vanilla now dont they...

My predictive, crystal ball 2c - it's a simple USB thumbdrive that boots their own version of the Tianocore EFI environment, heavily modified to resemble as closely as possible the way Apple's EFI behaves and how it interacts with the install dvd. Probably not-so-clean-room-reverse engineered, since they're avoiding sales in all countries with DMCA-ish IP laws in effect. Some people were talking about a similar solution on this very forum ages ago - booting a EFI implementation from a floppy. It's basically PC_EFI on steroids, with working code (for device probing etc.) instead of the bare minimum skeleton stubs needed to trick the vanilla kernel into booting. So your BIOS boots their hacked EFI, which then boots your OS of choice via that cute Apple-ish selector splash screen seen in the netkas video.

So now the devil is in the details:

- Does it have a database of hardware strings, or a list of 100% supported configurations?

- How did they circumvent dsmos?

- Does it contain modded EFI drivers?

- Is it possible to update it as new hardware comes out?

- What kind of Mac model it tricks the install DVD into believing your PC is? Does it change dynamically according to what your actual hardware is (that'd be pretty awesome)?

- What about ACPI, fan control, sleep, shutdown & restart?

etc etc.

Looks like a cool, clean hack, but I have my doubts the process is as painless as they make it out to be, once it gets out in the real world on a zillion different configurations. And trying to sell it instead of just putting it out is skating on pretty thin ice both ethically and legally, IMHO. All in all, I wish these guys all the best, but I'd say they're in for some reality check. We'll see soon, I guess.