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The OSx86 Project: Turning good into great

Swad

By Swad

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Almost a year ago, the idea for this site began: first with a wiki, then with a forum, and finally a news blog. The computing world has changed drastically in that year - OS X started running on PCs, Apple introduced its new Intel Macs - and our site has changed with it. Since it was started as a place to discuss everything relating to x86 Macs, it has (famously) been home to many hacking OS X for their x86 hardware, as well as a large number of Intel Mac owners.

 

In order to stay at the cutting edge of this development, we’ve been talking with many of you over the past few months regarding how we can make the site better. We’ve listened to your suggestions and come up with a plan that will help the site be more relevant not only today, but in the future... to whatever exciting places that takes us.

 

On July 4th, we’re going to transition this site into a more compartmentalized design, each area giving very focused attention to specific areas. It will be made up of 3 parts: The OSx86 Project, TwinMac, and the forum with its awesome new name, Insanely Mac (more on that in a second).

 

The OSx86 Project

Everything you’ve loved in the past... just a lot clearer, more reliable, and easier to access.

 

98% of the folks who visit the wiki are looking for ways to install OS X on their PC. So we’re going to make it much easier to find what you’re looking for. The entire osx86project.org domain will be dedicated to OS X on PCs, which means more information at your fingertips. We’re going to totally redesign the wiki and create teams of users to patrol the pages to make sure the information posted is legitimate.

 

The news blog and the forum will be shifted to Insanely Mac (see below) for clarity and simplicity's sake (doesn't it make sense to make sure the OSx86 domain is actually about OSx86?)

 

TwinMac

Home of everything Intel Mac.

 

Just before Steve Jobs introduced the Intel Macs in January, several of us began a not-so-covert effort to come up with a dual booting guide for just about every situation. Except EFI. Since we thought the Macintels would look a lot like their pre-release brethren, we tailored the guides to things like GRUB, Acronis loader, etc.

 

While all our work was for naught, Apple soon came out with their own solution in Boot Camp. Parallels was introduced to run XP in OS X. Now we had something new to write about.

 

So expect some simple, easy to follow guides at TwinMac to get the most out of your Macintel. We hope to have this site fully up and running by the end of the summer.

 

Insanely Mac

Not afraid to think differently. Or crazily.

 

Over the past few months we’ve looked at every aspect of the forum and see what we liked and what needed improvement. The rapid changes in the Mac world had left the forum structure a little less that intuitive, but the content itself - and the helpful/respectful attitude - was great. We’ve integrated some innovative features in response to feedback from members, like The X Labs, and we wanted to continue that legacy.

 

So we decided to organize the forum based on the way our community uses it... and throw in a lot of cool features at the same time. Oh, and did we mention a new skin? Besides a new structure (which you can view and discuss here), we’re working on including blogs available for all users and a customizable wed-based RSS reader (to get your news fix on the go).

 

The most important change is a great system of news posting that means a lot more deep Mac and Intel tech news… with much of it submitted by you. The best way to describe it is more OSx86 Project news + deep Mac Tech news (none of the fluffy Apple news - we’re talking kernels, kexts, and hacks here) + news that we as a community choose. I’m really excited about this part - it may just become your main Mac news source.

 

We’ve got so many improvements lined up for the forum that we decided it should have its own name – Insanely Mac. All the great OSx86 help and discussion will be there along with the large number of Macintel owners, but the new name better fits the things we love about the forum: new and innovative (and occasionally crazy) ways of approaching Macs and OS X. The idea that unites our community is our desire to be the ones who look at the world differently and don’t settle for existing solutions. Crazy? Maybe. But man, is it fun.

 

Timeline

 

We hope you’ll enjoy these improvements as we roll them out this summer. The massive reorganization of the forum, along with rolling out of the Insanely Mac domain (don’t worry - all your old links will still work), will happen on our birthday, July 4th. An “independance day” of our own if you like. Other features will be introduced after that.

 

We’ll also be asking for some help, whether it be for teams of wiki moderators or “gurus” to give aid to users in the forum. After all, it’s community involvement that makes us just that - a community.

 

Thanks for making this site what it has become in the past year. Here’s hoping for many more.

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Ranger

I'm looking forward to these improvements, Mash.

 

I think the ideas for insanely mac are good and the name is a great one too.

 

Well done and thanks for the continued work on this great site.

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Mr. Bond

This really is probably one of the most exciting things to happen to the site since its original creation, way, way back in the early days of June last year. IMO, the way the site is now set up is really going to make it easier for everyone - both seasoned vetrans, and new users to the site. It's good to see that the wiki will be a lot more cleaner, and more concise this time around. It had gotten a tad neglected and out of date...hopefully it'll never stay that way again!

 

Overall, I really like where things are going. The name is really growing on me....it still maintains our Mac base, but pokes fun at it at the same time. :D

 

Curious...are we still going with the IPB mod that can integrate the wiki? And perhaps you could clarify the user-submitted news part a bit more? :D

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Swad
Curious...are we still going with the IPB mod that can integrate the wiki? And perhaps you could clarify the user-submitted news part a bit more? :D

 

We're still looking at the Invision add-on. It's pretty shaky at the moment so we'll probably stick with the vanilla mediawiki installation for awhile.

 

As for the user-submitted news, it's be mix between digg and neowin - anyone will be free to post a news story or an editorial and if it gets a high enough rating (most likely with a 5 star rating for the moment), we'll move it to the front page.

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jarodsix

Guys, activities are expanding, with all those tutorials cleaned up and polished, well organized, many more people would be able to install OSX86 onto their machines. This will for sure get you more attention from apple. So I hope the site won't get closed down.

Keep up the keed work!

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teeching

Dear Mash ;

 

well congratulations for our (well i am also involved in these since the pearpc times) success on the project and the workshop

 

and also for any help just inform ....and ill be right there....

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jrsdead

The site redesign sounds like it will be great but just make sure that all 3 sites link together very closely rather than operating as three seperate entities.

 

We’ll also be asking for some help, whether it be for teams of wiki moderators or “gurus” to give aid to users in the forum.

I would be happy to help with the forum I have been using OSX since I got my 15" powerbook G4 550Mhz a few years ago and following OSX86 since Steve jobs dropped the bomb last year. I have been running OSX86 natively for every version stretching back to pearpc based installation although I like most people never got the mactel rip from WWDC to work. I would like to start to give back to this community and help out so if you would like my help drop me a pm.

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Colonel

This is gonna be awesome. This site has transformed so much since it started last year. I remember when I watched the Stevenote and wondered how long it would be until Mac got hacked for genuine PCs. It's been a long year since then and a lot has happened. I can't wait until the 4th of July! :D

 

 

We’ll also be asking for some help, whether it be for teams of wiki moderators or “gurus” to give aid to users in the forum. After all, it’s community involvement that makes us just that - a community.

 

 

I'd love to help out and be a guru/mod. I've been a Mac user since the Mac Classic and have had OSx86 since the good ol' 10.4.1 days. I like helping out the noobs with their installations and I'm good at it. PM me if you want my help. :D

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Ai Haibara

I think this idea is a beautiful thing :)

Oh, OSX86. In these days, an year ago, Jobs announced the Intel transition. In an year, this site is became better and better, becoming the home for most of all OSX86 users in the world. And it's all thanks to you mods. So, I'm looking forward for this improvements, because I'm sure that you guys are making this place better and better.

Anyway, I'm here since the open of this site and release of 10.4.1, so I can help you as a guru in the free time :)

Sherry Haibara

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caladan1810

I'm going to be loving myself sick, once these new improvements come along. we won't know ourselves. Great work mash, lets hope it keeps getting better & stronger.

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johnniecarcinogen
Mash, the name, the name, the name. Who thought up "Insanely Mac"? I'm really not keen on it.

 

Improvments sound good but.

 

There will be 3 separate sites though, keeping an OSx86 dedicated site. I think that the change just brings more 'choice'.

 

But the only forum will be on 'insanelymac' right?

 

I hope that doesn't ruin the traditional OSx86 project that brought most of us here to begin with. Alot of people like OS X and macs in separate ways.

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Swad
Mash, the name, the name, the name. Who thought up "Insanely Mac"? I'm really not keen on it.

 

:thumbsdown_anim: I came up with it. We thought long and hard about the name - just about every good Mac related domain name is taken... except this one. Most people like it, but if you don't, that's ok. Hopefully it will grow on ya.

 

It's a play on "insanely great Mac." It really fits our forum when you think of it - a fun place to do things with OS X / Mac that you won't find anywhere else. We're united by our sense of not going with the status quo... in fact I think that we're some of the only Mac fans left who are truly thinking differently. As the old Apple ads used to say, "Here's to the crazy ones..."

 

 

There will be 3 separate sites though, keeping an OSx86 dedicated site. I think that the change just brings more 'choice'.

 

But the only forum will be on 'insanelymac' right?

 

I hope that doesn't ruin the traditional OSx86 project that brought most of us here to begin with. Alot of people like OS X and macs in separate ways.

 

You're exactly right, Jonnie. osx86project.org will still be around, but much improved and dedicated solely to OS X on your PC. We've got some great plans to make it even easier to do all the OSx86 stuff that brings many of us here.

 

Also, don't worry - you have my word that we are committed to maintaining this site as the place to go for OSx86 information. This reorganization will strengthen that promise, not harm it.

 

Since the world of OS X is changing so rapidly, with Windows on Macs and OS X on PCs, we need a forum space that will allow us to stay on the cutting edge. Insanely Mac will be that place. It'll also allow us to use the OSx86 Project domain in a more focused manner so there's absolutely no confusion. It will also give us the chance to roll out a fresh new design and new features.

 

Overall, it'll make things much simpler. :)

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xandiztxu

Loving this stuff

 

I want to suggest one more thing, multilanguage support, making some teams that can work on other languages keeping the original content of the site

 

I candidate myself to Portuguese Brazilian translation =p

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dualBooter

Hey Mash,

 

This is great news! Very focused, topic specific sites will make it a lot easier for different users to be able to focus on the information that matters most to them, without having to wade through a lot of stuff that doesn't.

I see that twinmac.com links right back to this site. I looked at insanelymac.com and .org, and I see that .com is parked at GoDaddy right now. Is .com the new insanelymac domain? I just figured I'd bookmark all the domains right now while it was on my mind.

 

On another thought stream, I had picked my name (and registered dualbooter.com) because I have become very interested in the usefulness of dual boot machines, especially the Mac/Win boot combo. There is nothing at that domain right now (due to work for my clients needing to come before my recreation), but I'm thinking now perhaps I should just create a generic page, and link to twinmac (and perhaps other sites that center around multi-boot machines). Let me know if you'd be into having another site throw props to the twinmac site, and also I'd be interested/grateful if anyone had some graphics/images (royalty free) of their own, or out on the web, that they wouldn't mind (or would even like) being used on the dualbooter site.

 

Mash and crew, you all ROCK (as always) - and I'm looking forward to the great changes ahead.

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Swad
I want to suggest one more thing, multilanguage support, making some teams that can work on other languages keeping the original content of the site

 

One of the features we're going to incorporate at the highest level of the site is an international section of the wiki for people to write guides in their own languages.

 

Also, if you'll check out the page about the forum restructuring, you'll find that we're going to give each major language group its own forum. Portugese will definitely be one of those. :)

 

Mash and crew, you all ROCK (as always) - and I'm looking forward to the great changes ahead.

 

Thanks - I can't take credit for any of it. If this community is great (which it is) it's because of the people who make up. I'm just honored to be helping keep it up. :)

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Franzy

This really is a great idea. By doing such a monumental reconstruction to osx86project, it will ensure greater turnouts, and hopefully boost the osx86project in popularity. I don't know if apple knows this, but I think I can safely say that myself, as well as the other members of this forum, together have achieved great things. They may be little things compared to achievements such as those by hacker, Maxxuss, but its the little things that bring us closer to perfection.

 

Thank You, Mashugly.

BTW: If you need any help with anything in this project (in terms of HTML, or otherwise), feel free to contact me at saturn6450@aol.com. I would be happy to lend a hand for the sake of the osx86project.

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Metrogirl

It's great to see such positive feedback! We're all excited about the new structure and we're confident that it will make things easier to find, easier to do and easier to enjoy. Keep the ideas and comments coming!

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sandmanfvrga

Nice. The OSx86 stuff needs to be seperate, NO offense to anybody that doesn't use the OSx86 info here. Though I do wonder why the Twinmac and Insanelymac? Since they are both TRUE macs why not on one site? Just wondering, not a gripe. Glad to hear of the changes.

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Swad

Well, in the future we'd like to make TwinMac the same kind of guide place for Macs as the OSx86 Project is for OSx86.

 

That's kinda on the backburner for now, though. Our first priority is transitioning the forum and then redesigning the wiki to be much more user friendly. We're really excited about these plans and we hope you are too! :graduated:

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