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  • Metrogirl
    In today's Information Week podcast here Johanna Ambrosio says that Apple's CFO reports more than 1,000 applications have been ported to the Intel platform but admits that some key applications are 'experiencing performance challenges'. Photoshop is mentioned by name. Translating his politically correct statement ("... users may or may not find that acceptable") into real language suggests that Photoshop users are not exactly thrilled by the transition to date.
     
    In a related story in the same podcast a "Hack my Mac" contest ended with the Mac Mini (didn't say whether PPC or Intel) unscathed.
  • Swad

    Mac Mini Reviews

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    There are quite a few good Mac Mini reviews floating around, the two best being (in my opinion) those of Ars Technica and TUAW. Ars gives a glowing in-depth review while TUAW gives some initial impressions and some bugs the user found. On balance they show high quality unit that may still have a bug or two to fix with the new software. Don’t miss the Ars benchmarks for some surprising results (although several in our forum disagreed with those for the MacBook… and these by extension.)
     
    Have you gotten a new Mac Mini? Let us know your thoughts here!
  • Swad

    x86 Tweak: Optimize CS2

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Got the PPC Photoshop CS2 blues? Ya know the feeling, watching in anguish as the beachball of death spins endlessly while trying to apply a filter. If this is you, we’ve got good news and mediocre news.
     
    The mediocre news is that while Adobe spoke out about universal binaries last week, they still gave no timetable for getting a universal Photoshop or Illustrator. It’s still looking like late 2006 or early 2007.
     
    The better news is that you can do something about it in the meantime. MacWorld has an article detailing some ways to optimize CS2 and while the article isn’t geared specifically for Intel OS X users, we can still glean some good information.
     
    We recommend playing around with your cache levels (since your shiny new MacBook messed around with your other cash levels…) and tweaking your RAM allocation. There’s no magic number so you’ll need to determine what your machine can best handle.
     
    In the end, though, you should notice some increased speeds and decreased BBOD.
     
    Have a few more tweaks? Let us know here!
  • Swad
    Like I've said before, the greatest quality of being a geek in my opinion is that insatiable drive to see what makes a thing tick. Take it apart and put it back together again. If this is you, it’s no wonder you love Apple products. If anyone deserves to call their product “Origami” it’s Apple.
     
    Anyway, today brings some interesting shots of a Mac Mini on the operating table: one from MacWorld and another from AppleFritter. Enjoy.
  • Swad

    MacBook Pro Reviews

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    As more and more MacBook Pros (It’s not that I mind the name so much – it’s just that extra syllable…) come rolling in, we’ve got more reviews than you can shake a stick at. I’m not really sure what kind of quantifiable data stick-shaking creates, but let’s just say there’s a lot.
     
    Two of the best reviews are those from MacWorld (Pro?) and Ars Technica. Ars usually does a good job with their reviews but this time they threw us a bonus: they compared the MacBook Pro with an old Powerbook and a hacked Dell running 10.4.4. Although the Dell fared poorly in the UI test (using a ATI Mobility Radeon 9700), it held its own and actually beat the MBP on a few tests. Sans the UI test, the Dell was roughly on par with the Mac with xbench scores. It didn’t do so well with the other tests.
     
    Have you gotten your MacBook yet? If so, let us know your impressions here!
  • Swad

    IRC is Back!

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Well we’ve been without an IRC channel for a few weeks now as we sorted a few things out with staff, servers, etc.
     
    [Mashugly clears his throat and prepares his best Steve Jobs impression, complete with black mock turtleneck and jeans…]
     
    We know you’ve wanting IRC. It’s big. Real big. So big in fact that it’s taken us this long to make sure we had it all right. But I’m happy that I can announce today… MacSpeak.net. MacSpeak is going be a great new hub for your daily Mac fix. Right now it’ll be the home of the OSx86 Project’s IRC channel, but we’ve got a lot of really exciting things planned like integrated RSS feeds and whole bunch of other stuff.
     
    It’s gonna be great. Insanely great. It’s available today – to connect with your IRC client just point it to irc.macspeak.net. The official channel is #osx86 just like in the past.
     
    I know you’re going to love our improved IRC setup. Enjoy.
  • Swad

    Apple Introduces Intel Mac Mini

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Apple today introducted a new Mac Mini with an Intel processor. Steve claims it’s “4.8x to 5.5x faster.” It is available with either an Intel Core Solo or Core Duo chips.
     
    $599.00
     
    1.5GHz Intel Core Solo processor
    2MB L2 Cache
    667MHz Frontside Bus
    512MB memory (667MHz DDR2 SDRAM)
    60GB Serial ATA hard drive
    Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
    Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0
    Apple Remote
     
    $799.00
     
    1.66GHz Intel Core Duo processor
    2MB L2 Cache
    667MHz Frontside Bus
    512MB memory (667MHz DDR2 SDRAM)
    80GB Serial ATA hard drive
    Double-layer SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
    Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0
    Apple Remote
     
    Also released were a few iPod cases and a new "iPod Hi-Fi" stereo, which Steve apparently said was so good he's going to give up his stereo. We'll see.
     
    Were these the "fun" products you were expecting?
     

  • Swad

    Install OSx86 on your iPod

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    I'm not sure how useful this is, but it's got all the geek-ness we’re a fan of here. Check out this guide at Mac OS X Hints on booting your Intel Mac with your iPod. From the article…
     
    Curious about how to booting your Intel iMac from either a USB2.0 iPod or an external Firewire drive? It is possible, and here's how. This has been tested with a 5G 30GB USB2.0 iPod with Video and an external FW400 60GB hard disk enclosure.
     
    The key issue is the disk partioning scheme that Intel Macs expect to see. GPT (or GUID), remember? Well it appears that the EFI in an Intel iMac also supports booting from Apple Partition Map (APM) partitioned disks as well. The Intel iMac's Install DVD Disk One, for instance, uses an APM and NOT a GPT scheme.
     
    I vote that the new Slashdot joke be “Yeah, but does it run OSx86?” Linux is SO 1990’s…
  • Swad

    Geeks and Greed: A Cautionary Tale

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Someday I may publish a history of how OSx86 was originally hacked to run on PCs. I was privy to many of the conversations between those working on the hacks, and it makes for a fascinating story – one of teamwork, secrecy, and intrigue. There are obviously some serious moral (and legal, as we all know…) issues with the x86 hacks, but the way it happened deserves its place in the annals of computing history.
     
    Those events last summer remind me of the effort to get XP booting on the new Macintels. In theory, running XP should be significantly easier than surpassing the TPM restrictions on the Developers Transition Kits. This is the case for a host of reasons, not the least of which is that it’s legal! There should be no secrecy regarding the attempts at getting XP to run – there’s no need for it.
     
    Yet why aren’t we dual booting already? Money. Most of you are undoubtedly aware of “The Contest,” a 12,000 dollar pot that will be going to the first person to provide a viable dual booting method to the site’s owner Also note the “onmac” network - and advertisements - that the contest has bequeathed to the once minimalist site as well… another interesting commentary on money.
     
    Now I have no problem with the idea of a contest, nor the site owner (Colin… who is also a member in our forum) wanting to capitalize on some great site traffic and press.
     
    The problem with the contest is that it encourages poor geeks (like me) who could use the extra cash (like me) to try their hand at fixing the problem. In theory this would speed up progress. But in fact it’s had the opposite, somewhat paradoxical effect – it’s slowed things down.
     
    This has occurred because said poor geeks (like me) who are working on it know that if they post on a forum with some ideas, those ideas could be taken and used by someone else to earn the money.
     
    It’s happened in our forum already – accusations of “don’t expect me to help you - you’re only doing this to win the prize!” have flown with all the certainty of someone who is secretly jealous they didn’t come up with it first. The technical barriers, while substantial, are not the thing that's keeping us from dual booting.
     
    It’s all quite predictable – nothing is getting done because the sharing of information has stopped. Were there no contest, IRC channels would be full of dedicated developers sharing what they’d learned through trial and error, swapping ideas and encouraging each other. I've talked with some people who are very close to success... but their efforts are not public. As it stands, sharing what you’ve learned could cost you $12,000.
     
    The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a wonderful Humphrey Bogart film from 1948 – it’s one of the best in cinema history. It tells the story of 3 gold prospectors and the ways in which greed can destroy common goals. When it comes time to share with the others his spoils, the character realizes it's much more advantageous to keep his knowledge to himself. I see this situation as much the same.
     
    Money makes it anything but a team effort.
     
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