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  • Swad
    Why do I hate Excel? Maybe it's because I learned to use it back in the gray-on-black-on-gray days of '98 when the interface was gross looking and the things I actually had to insert into the spreadsheets were pretty gross too. Like, numbers. With decimals. That needed formulas. Ick.
     
    So while I'm not Apple's target audience with "Charts" I do think it might cure me of my spreadsheet trepidation. ThinkSecret is reporting that Apple will release in January an addition to iWork (at this point the only unibin office suite - another plus) called Charts that is to Excel what Keynote is to Powerpoint.


    "Long rumored—or at least, assumed—to be in development, sources say Apple is not planning on positioning Charts as a competitor to Microsoft's Excel, but rather as a more consumer-friendly spreadsheet application that can handle the needs of home users and small businesses but not pretend to execute any of the more advanced functions of Excel. Nonetheless, Charts will support importing and exporting Excel formatted documents, as well as legacy AppleWorks spreadsheets, and Apple is hoping the performance of Charts will at least rival that of Excel, sources report.
     
    Future users can also expect Charts to sport the same integration with Apple's other applications as current versions of iWork and iLife do. Rumored to be at the top on the list is a built-in media browser, drag-and-drop support of spreadsheet and chart data in new Mail messages, and some level of Address Book interoperability."
    That's fine by me. Anything to 1) put less money in the hands of Microsoft and 2) put less time into making spreadsheets sounds great to me. And you?
  • Swad

    Happy Birthday to Us!

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    It's been exactly one year since we launched these forums and, to celebrate, we're doing what we always try to do: make things better and have fun.
     
    First, we've reorganized the forum to a much more logical structure that'll last us for at least the next 10 years. Things are easier to find and there are also more places to talk about the things that are important to you, like photography, web design, or deep UI tweaks. It might take you a little while to get adjusted, but trust me, after using it for a few days you'll find that it makes a lot more sense. We'll still be moving a few things around for the rest of this week, but the bulk of it the (massive) transition effort is done (thanks to our awesome staff).
     
    Also, in honor of our birthday, we're going to be giving out 4 $86 gift cards to newegg! 4 forum members will be chosen randomly from our member list, with each post you've made counting as one entry! We'll announce the winners later this week.
     
    Finally, we had planned to make the transition to insanelymac.com today, but due to some unforseen difficulties (like our designer's HD dying) we're going to push that date back until later this month. Our team is so excited about all the features we're doing for insanelymac that we don't want to release it until it's ready (otherwise we might as well go with InsanelyVista.com). So stay tuned for more info in the coming days, along with a sneak peek at the forum skin.
     
    Enjoy! And thanks for making our 1 year birthday such a great one!
     

  • Swad
    Bill Gates may not own an iPod, but when it comes to Macs, he... oh. Wait. Nevermind. Not like he matters any more anyway.
     
    Is Microsoft getting a little Mac love these days?
     
    Best caption for the picture wins. Mine?
     
    "Look at my hands... this is the kind of Vista delay we're expecting."
  • cavemonkey50
    Hello everyone, I'm cavemonkey50 and I'm the new guy on OSx86 Project. Well, I'm not really the new guy. I've been around here for a while, but I'm the new writer. You may have read some of my OSx86 articles from my personal site on Digg in the past. Mashugly has asked me to write for OSx86 Project, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.
     
    To start off this article, you should know a little bit about my Mac background. About a year ago I had never used Mac OS X in my life. Back then I never even saw a Mac computer in real life. Sure, I knew what they looked like, and I saw demos of OS X during Steve Jobs' keynotes, but I had never used a Mac. Although I had never used a Mac, I was still Mac-curious. Being an iPod and iTunes user, I was already familiar with the design and functionality of Apple, and being fed up with Windows at the time, I looked toward Mac OS. There was one problem, though. Macs were expensive, I had a limited budget, and I wasn't going to spend everything I had to buy a computer I had never even used.
     
    Then Steve Jobs revealed the future of Macs at WWDC 2005. Macs were going to be running on Intel. That announcement instantly got my head spinning. Maybe I could run Mac OS X on my current PC? I apparently wasn't alone. Since there was a number of people who wanted OS X on generic hardware, fake copies started spreading around. After several fake copies, a real leak was finally released, and thus began my journey into OSx86.
     
    The first time I ran OSx86 was at school using the Deadmoo image. I had to run OSx86 on a computer at school since my home computer did not support SSE2 CPU instructions, a requirement for Mac on x86 hardware. My first OS X experience was rather crappy, since the computer at school sucked, but that didn't stop me. When Christmas rolled around, I took that as a great opportunity to build a "real" OSx86 machine; one that could support accelerated graphics and supposedly run as well as a real Mac. So, that's exactly what I did. I built a machine that was identical to Apple's Intel developer kits, and installed OS X on it. From then until now, I have been manually installing every single OS X update, mainly using Maxxuss' instructions.
     
    Enough about my OS X history. Flash forward to today. I bought an Intel MacBook on Thursday and sold my Hackintosh on Friday. To keep the lawyers happy, I should mention that I sold my Hackintosh with the hard drive wiped clean, and did not provide the disks necessary to install OS X on the machine. So, basically I went from never using OS X in my life, to buying my first Mac in about nine months. I would have bought my Mac sooner, but it took me this long to save up for one. So, with that said, I thought it would be interesting to compare an install of OSx86 to a real Mac and see how well OSx86 stacks up.
     
    The Updates
     
    I guess I should start with the most obvious, updates. The major difference between a real Mac and OSx86 is updates. The minute Apple releases an update, I can now download it. Back when I used OSx86, that processes took quite a while. You could never tell if an update was safe. You had to wait for someone to test the update to see if it was safe. Then if it wasn't safe, you had to wait a few days for someone to come up with instructions on how to install the update; usually bypassing the files that were causing problems. Then a week or two later someone would crack the files that were troublesome, you would add those files to your update, and then the easy installers would start appearing for the people who didn't want to manually install. So, if you manually installed, you usually had the updates in days, with a second update a couple of weeks later, and if you were a noob, the update took a few weeks until you could install. Now with a real Mac, updating is no longer a problem.
     
    Within the updating process, it should be mentioned that OSx86 users couldn't always take advantage of updates. Often the OS point updates contained performance enhancements tailored to specific Apple hardware, so while Mac users may have been reporting major performance enhancements, OSx86 users were still running at the initial speed. The reasoning to that is along the way Apple has caught onto what the OSx86 scene has been doing, so they have been removing things that apply to generic hardware, forcing OSx86 users to use the original files. The best example of this is the kernel. In 10.4.5 Apple pulled the power instructions for generic x86 CPUs and started using power instructions tailored to the Intel Core chips. Since the majority of the OSx86 scene do not have Core CPUs, the 10.4.4 kernel has been used ever since. So, whatever performance enhancements Apple applies to the kernel, OSx86 users never see. The same thing apply to the drivers. While OSx86 users are seeing the new features and bug fixes of every release, they never fully take advantage of hardware fixes and enhancements.
     
    Everything Works
     
    The next major difference between Hackintosh and Macintosh is everything works. To run a perfect OSx86 install you either need to be lucky, or build a machine tailored to running OS X. Many OSx86 users have sound cards that don't work, wireless cards with no connectivity, and do not have accelerated graphics. Sure, OS X runs on those machines, but people miss out on a lot of the functionality.
     
    Looking at my own install of OSx86, I had to do some wacky things to get certain functionality. Since OSx86 didn't like my wireless card, I had to run a wire from my Hackintosh to my Windows machine, using Windows' to share its wireless connection with my Hackintosh. Sure I got internet, but my Hackintosh was never part of my real network. The Windows machine created a network just between it and the Hackintosh, thus preventing my Hackintosh from sharing files with the rest of the network. Then there is Front Row. In order for Front Row to work, I had to hook up an separate USB mouse, using the mouse's USB profile to fake it was a Front Row IR receiver. So, the majority of OSx86 users either have something that doesn't work, or they're doing something crazy to get it to work.
     
    Performance
     
    The next major difference I noticed between OSx86 and the real OS X is performance. Now I'm going out on a limb here, since my switch from Hack to Mac was a substantial hardware upgrade. I went from a 2.5 GHz Intel Celeron to a 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo, from 1GB of RAM to 2GB of RAM, and from an Intel GMA 900 to an Intel GMA 950. As you can see, I have a feeling the majority of what I'm noticing is from that hardware upgrade and does not have anything to do with custom tailored Apple hardware. I'm still going to mention my findings though, because they may mean something to someone.
     
    The first major difference I noticed is with the video. Animations run smoother, and things just feel snappier. On top of that, colors look more vibrant. Previously I felt that the colors of OS X were washed out and never looked that good. I calibrated the color profile several times, and could never get it looking the way I wanted. Now with my MacBook, the colors look great and no longer suffer from that washed out look. I should probably clarify here, since I know I'm going to get some person tell me it's because of the glossy screen on the MacBook. I'm not comparing the screen of the MacBook at all. I'm comparing the colors of OS X through my LCD monitor. I should also mention that I have re-calibrated the MacBook's color profile, so it has nothing to do with the color profile that ships with the MacBook.
     
    Yet another performance enhancement I have noticed has been Rosetta. Previously on OSx86, I dreaded every time I had to use a PowerPC application. The performance of Rosetta was so bad I could barely use it at all. Word was so slow it couldn't even keep up with my typing speed. I couldn't even get Photoshop to load without leaving my computer on overnight. Alright, that last statement was a bit exaggerated, but it certainly did take a while. Now with a real Mac, Rosetta runs like Apple's been demoing since day one. I can barely tell that Word is a PowerPC application and Photoshop runs well enough that I no longer have to switch to Windows for my Photoshop work.
     
    Conclusions
     
    So, that brings me to the crux of this article, is OSx86 good enough as a real Mac? Being an OSx86 user for sometime, I can say that the hacked version of OS X isn't too far off from the real thing. By running OSx86 you certainly have all the features that real Macs have, but you miss out when it comes to performance. You can keep your operating system up to date, but it takes some time until you can finally install the updates, and on larger updates you often miss out on hardware enhancements. On top of that, just to run OSx86 you need to have the right hardware, otherwise you'll be missing out on key features of the OS, or end up doing some funky things to get them to work. So overall, it's not bad, you just have to do some work to maintain the operating system.
     
    Now of course, you need to keep in mind that there is always the threat of Apple putting an end to the OSx86 community altogether. Sure, OS X may work on generic PCs now, but when 10.5 Leopard comes around, Apple could easily add things that prevent generic machines from functioning. You could always use the last version, but I know how I function when I don't have the latest and greatest. I feel like I'm missing out on something, and I hate that feeling.
     
    I personally think that OSx86 is perfect for what it's there for. I look at it as a transition point. It's a way for geeks who might not have the chance to try OS X and give it a test run. If they're curious like I was on using Mac, they can try it without the high costs of buying a Mac. If they like it and they're interested in becoming a serious Mac user, they'll buy a Mac sometime down the road. It may not be immediately, but at some point they will buy one. I say that because I can't see anyone going through all the trouble of updating the OS for the rest of their lives. Eventually it will get annoying and the person will either buy a Mac or go back to using Windows.
     
    So, in my opinion, OSx86 is a perfect for a certain group of people. It's not something that you're going to run as your main machine for the rest of your life. You're going to try it for a while and then either go back to Windows or buy a real Mac. I don't think Apple has to fear OSx86, since it's not meant for everyone. The people who are going to use it are potential Mac users, and OSx86 is simply their trial disk.
  • Swad
    As many of you know, I just returned from a two-week trip to Africa to carry out relief work in some feeding centers throughout Kenya and Tanzania. I have made relief trips in the past, to places like Mexico and Ecuador, but never have I seen such poverty on such a wide scale.
     
    Our community here at the OSx86 Project is passionate about technology, but it doesn’t take too many trips to impoverished nations to realize that as fun and exciting as OSx86 may be, there are more pressing issues that can literally mean life or death for whole populations of people.
     
    So, in order to ensure that this community is as responsible to the world community as it is the technology world, we’re launching a new “Donator” status to the forum. There are two ways to obtain this status: either making a donation to this site to help with hosting costs (a label given by most other popular forums) or by giving one of 12 charities that we will be featuring on a monthly basis. Each charity will be handpicked by the staff for their credibility (i.e. how much of donations is used for “administrative costs” vs. actual help) and effectiveness in making our world a safer, cleaner, or healthier place to live. If you have any suggestions for charities you’d like for us to feature, let us know!
     
    The Donator status will bring some special privileges along with it, like the ability to delete your own posts, a huge PM mailbox (and the ability to PM attachments), and several other cool features.
     
    To donate for the upkeep of the site, click the “Purchase Paid Subscriptions” link under “My Controls” at the top of your screen (if you’ve donated to the site before via paypal, just let us know what your email address was and we’ll change your status). If you choose to donate to one of our featured charities (which we’ll start with the new modified forum next month), you’ll be able to click the link from our homepage and send us and email with the receipt to get credit.
     
    To show that we're serious about supporting these charities, we're going to do the same thing we're asking of you. If we get some extra money via the Google Adsense ads, we'll use it to support whatever charity we're featuring for the month.
     
    We hope that you’ll take advantage of this new way to make a difference. It truly is the very least that all of us can do.
  • sHARD>>
    Good news for those on the virtualization front, Parallels has released a final version of Parallels Desktop for Mac, after months of eager testing by users. Offering high performance taking advantage of the virtualization features built into the Core processors, it allows users to run various operating systems, inlcuding Windows and Linux, at the same time as native OS X, similar to VMWare software. It's currently availible for an introductory price of $49.99 for 30 days. Registration gets you a free 15-day trial. After an exciting beta test, hopefully this will offer a nice Windows in OS X experience.
  • sHARD>>

    One Year of OSx86

    By sHARD>>, in OSx86,

    It was one year ago today that Steve Jobs announced the transition to Intel-based Macintosh computers during his WWDC 2005 keynote, ending years of Marklar rumors and speculation. It closed the era of the PowerPC, and ushered in a new period for Apple, one with Windows on Macs, standard PC hardware, and increasing sales. Even with all the fanfare, we could never have dreamt exactly what these changes meant: the death of the PowerMac, OS X on normal PCs, and the fastest Macs on the planet. Whether it's "Macintel", "Mactel", or "Intel Mac", it stirred a world of discussion - and publicity - for Apple. Jobs picked a fitting day for such an announcement, drawing comparisons to D-Day, a battle which turned the tide against the Nazis during WWII. Will the Intel Mac turn the tide on the commodity PC maker? We'll have to wait and see.
     
    Here's to a year of Intel Macs.
  • Swad
    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.
  • Swad

    New Forum Structure

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    This is the second or third draft of the new structure of our forum, launched in a few weeks. Check out this thread for more information about all the features and the new name, Insanely Mac. This thread is for you to comment, ask questions, and make suggestions!
     
    Notes:
    1. This may look like a lot of forums, but it'll feel much smaller in real life.
    2. Subforums are denoted with a "-"
    3. Front Page News will be a new forum where users will post news stories they'd like to see on the Front Page. Other users will rate the stories and if it gets enough votes, it'll hop up to the front page. Much like if neowin and digg had a lovechild...
    4. The major non-english languages will have their own subforum.
     
    Enjoy!
     
    --------------------------------------------
     
    Discuss and Learn
    Front Page News (User submitted news)
    Apple Opinions and Discussion
    The Great Debates (See post below)
    Buying Questions, Reviews, and Recommendations (and coupons)
    Tutorials (The Genius Bar)
    Windows Discussion
    *nix
    -Darwin
    Internet(s), Servers, and Networks
     
    OSx86
    OSx86 Installation
    -Multibooting
    Patches and Fixes
    PC Hardware and Drivers
     
    Macintosh
    Apple Computers
    Mac Accessories
    Dual Booting
    -Virtualization
     
    OS X
    Applications
    iLife + iPod
    Gaming
    Betas and Old OSs
    Programming and Development
    The X Labs
     
    Customization
    Mods and Overclocking
    -Benchmarks
    Wallpapers, Icons, Themes, and Skins
    Tweaks and Hacks
    -AppleScript and Automator
     
    Multimedia
    Pro Video
    Pro Audio and Music
    Pro Photography
    Web and Graphical Design
     
    The X Labs
     
    Random
    Forum Info
    Real Life
    Pop Culture Poparazzi (Movies, Music, TV, etc.)
    Laughs
    Thunderdome
    Marketplace
    Website Invitiation Exchange
     
    IRC Chat
     
    Non English
    -Spanish
    -French
    -German
    -Italian
    -Japanese
    -Russian
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