» 2008 » September
Article posted on Sep 18
Speaking of Mac clones...
- Posted by Ryan Finnie on September 18, 2008, 2:06 pm
Psystar, the company currently famous for butting heads with Apple, is shipping Finnix. No, really. Looks like they're shipping it as a restore utility CD (which is great, since that's what Finnix is designed to be).
- 2 Comments
- Posted in Finnix
- This post was imported from LiveJournal.
Article posted on Sep 18
EFi-X update: already losing money, oops
- Posted by Ryan Finnie on September 18, 2008, 11:41 am
I was actually going off an old hardware compatibility list that mistakenly had the GA-EP35-DS3L listed as fully supported (in reality, the sound doesn't work), so I had to buy the GA-EP45-DS3R for $126.99 instead of $84.99. I'll have to return the old one once it arrives.
(God, look at that motherboard's back. 8 USB, 2 gigabit, 2 firewire, 7.1 analog, optical and coaxial SPDIF, PS/2. Also, 6 SATA ports on the board.)
All the components should arrive by Monday. The EFi-X is sold out, but I'm pretty sure I'm in as part of the first batch, and should be shipped "within 7 business days".
- Leave Comment
- Posted in Uncategorized
- This post was imported from LiveJournal.
Article posted on Sep 17
Dood, I'm getting a Mac... kind of
- Posted by Ryan Finnie on September 17, 2008, 2:34 pm
Yeah, I know, I don't post often.
This morning my boss told me that the EFi-X has been released, and tested by Gizmodo. Apparently the device works by attaching to a motherboard's internal USB header, and emulates an EFI interface. Supposedly this will allow you to install OS X 10.5 with no modification, unlike a Hackintosh. The hardware compatibility list is pretty small, limiting to only Core 2 Duo-era or above CPUs, a handful graphics cards (most likely because Macs only come with a few discrete graphics cards, limiting driver compatibility), and a few motherboards (mostly Gigabyte, most likely needed for a combination of certain chipsets, along with an AHCI requirement).
I had been planning to buy a new modern-ish computer by the end of the year anyway, so I hopped on Newegg and built a system tailored to the requirements:
* Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L motherboard, $84.99
* Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 CPU, $119.99
* Mushkin 2x2GB RAM, $73.99
* WD GP 500GB SATA HD, $69.99
* GeForce 7300GS 256MB video card, $31.99
* Lite-On SATA DVD burner, $26.99
* Rosewill 400W PSU, $36.99
* Cooler Master Centurion 5 case, $59.99
* Cooler Master CPU heatsink/fan, $12.99
Total damage: $517.91. Everything on that list (except the motherboard and CPU) I've bough before and have been happy with. The only part that was purely optional was the replacement heatsink, but that's because I absolutely hate the stock Intel 775 heatsink design, where your two likely installation results are either warping the motherboard, or never getting an actual lock on all 4 corners. With the above replacement heatsink, you simply attach a small plastic backplane to the back of the motherboard, then attach the heatsink using spring-tensioned screws.
Anyway, I also ordered the EFi-X v1, which I'm hoping will be shipped soon, but the Newegg order will most likely arrive well before, probably Friday or Monday.
I didn't buy a copy of OS X, because I can borrow a boxed copy from a friend to try. However, if this does all work out and I do decide to keep it, I'll buy a "legit" copy. (Even though I'd still be technically breaking the EULA. That's right, Apple doesn't actually sell retail standalone OS X copies. They only sell upgrades to the MacOS that came with your officially-blessed Apple hardware, according to their EULA.)
I'll let you know how it works out. If nothing else, I just bought my new development box slightly ahead of schedule. Also, the comments about this are worth reading, for the comedy factor: Digg, Gizmodo, Engadget, MacRumors (A++++ WILL FANBOI AGAIN), probably Slashdot later today, then again 3 days later, then sometime in 2009.
- 2 Comments
- Posted in Uncategorized
- This post was imported from LiveJournal.
