EFiX wants to bring OSX86 to the masses
Word in the OSX86 world is that a new product will revolutionize (and simplify) the process of installing OS X on a PC -- and that product is called the EFiX. The USB dongle allegedly pops into a free port and allows you to install the retail version of the Mac operating system on just about any system by automatically locating the proper hacks and drivers needed. Famed OSX86 hacker Netkas has demoed a beta unit on video (which you can see after the break) and claims that it's working as it should. The manufacturer is aiming to have models available for purchase by June 23rd... barring any more "sabotage." This sounds like a much more reasonable solution than marketing a Mac clone -- feel free to send one our way whenever you like guys.
[Via Boing Boing Gadgets]
[Via Boing Boing Gadgets]
























@ MoonMan: My father was a MBZ/BMW technician for 20 years. BMW cars are built like crap. They handle poorly for their price range. Their failure rate is THROUGH THE ROOF. And most of them leak like pigs. I drive an MBZ, my father has only driven BMW and Mercedes for the past 20 years. I can say, with a great degree of certainty, that you sir, are an IDIOT. Apple is not like BMW. Apple computers are like Lotus. Fast, light, not the most powerful, and generally more expensive than normal. (I am a mac/pc dual user. I love both, but If i had to pick one, Mac stays, PC goes)
Toyota cars are reliable, cheap for parts (comparing to BMW), and do their job very well (CARS ARE FOR TRANSPORT). Hondas are much the same way.
@ Hamidxa: Agree almost 100%, except for the part about apple users not knowing the ins and outs of their computers. I use apple computers quite a lot. I have built 4 windows systems from the ground up (all for gaming), starting in 1999 when i was still in elementary school. I am not an expert... but i certainly do know how a computer works at a fairly advanced level. I know my computers. Please do not for one second think that ALL mac users have no clue how computers work. Many of us CHOSE mac over PC after years of working with PCs. I have many friends/acquaintances in IT who chose mac because they know how pitiful windows is. The OPERATING System is the key to the mac. Specs mean shit when comparing to windows PCs, because PCs are held back by the bloatware crap that is Windows (essentially an operating system from 1993 [NT 3.1] with a few new features and a pretty new theme) Yes, the OS on macs is slightly less feature-rich but it is more than sufficient for 99% of users (other than gaming of course).
The fact that Apple even exists... with it's crippling hardware restrictions and wallet-emptying price markups on off the shelf components... illustrates just how bad windows is. Now Windows 7, I like where that is going. If they do it right... i might just go back to windows for gaming and work. But while XP and Vista (ie NT 5.1 and NT 6) are still dominant... windows will remain the inferior operating sytstem. Just my $.02
Jimmy,
With all due respect, let's not hyperbolize or sensationalize any disparity between Windows and Mac OS X here by touting that Apple exists for the very reason that Windows is inadequate.
Despite any inadequacies, the fact remains that Windows based systems are outright DOMINATING the market, to the point where there OS X and its zealous followers haven't even put a dent into the PC market.
Take a look at the notebook sector for example:
http://www.displaysearch.com/cps/rde/xchg/SID-0A424DE8-8D4C17E8/displaysearch/hs.xsl/6805.asp
Apple "commands" 4.6% of the market, 4.6%!
In other words, for every 1 person out there who finds fault with Windows, there are 20 others who more or less embrace it.
If you want to start talking about inadequacies, it would be worth examining those figures for starters.
It's 4.6! It's 4.6! Didn't you hear? It's 4.6!!! Pay attention to me!!!! WAHHHHH (commence two dozen additional posts proselytizing like a schizophrenic street preacher)
Toyota are alot more reliable than BMWs (google it i dare you)
Lexus are also Toyotas so you really don't make alot of sense.
P.S Most expensive custom PCs look easily as good as macs except they look like I want them to.
God bless Netkas.
I bought a Psystar without any software preloaded (except for Ubuntu).
I had no idea how to get Leopard on there and tried different things before stumbling upon the great mac hack community. WOW. Took some brain-work but I finally nailed it down.
And I gotta say, I LOVE my Psystar. It led directly to me learning how to roll my own Mac and I feel confident I could make one at will. When you price out the components, yes you can get a better processor (and everything else) for the 600$ I spent (now I know) but this thing is zippier than any Mac I've ever owned (and I have owned many and fix Macs/PCs for a living).
[As for Software Updates, I've been a Mac healer long enough to have seen regular Software Updates outright kill some aspect of the computer or hard drive so I never blindly update anyway -- my process for updating the "open computer" isn't that much more complicated than the one I was having to do to safeguard against a normal update going awry. Sure sure, I've had friends/people who say "well, I'VE never had a problem with an update" .... at least until it takes their battery life from 3 hours down to 15 minutes. Oh, that was a good one]
So frankly, I'm thrilled with my machine and now I can do it myself. Netkas et al providedthe brilliance. I do worry that the easier it is to do, the sooner Apple may come in and crush it. I just pray they let it live... I've dreamt of hybrid computing for years now.
I'm agreeing with phanbouy. Hamidxa: Go away. If you don't like OS X then I do not see ANY reason for you to be here at all. No I don't care if you hate Apple. Go away.
I like Hamidxa's posts... a sense of reality...a shock to the distortion field..voice of reason ;)
I have not read his other posts outside of this topic but he is not totally off base with his points.
I love Hamixda's posts. They are actually a voice of something that isnt saying BUY OSX IT ROCKS YEAH YEAH.
Besides, telling someone to "get the fuck out" over an article and saying THEY'RE overreacting?
Am I the only one who noticed jason in this one?
no i saw it too. very well placed imho.
Hahaha is that Jason hiding in the Dock?
Can't we all just get along!?
no, someone uses different software from me and that will not stand
Can anyone tell me what the fuss about OS X is? I've used to for almost a year in school. But a few weeks ago I just bought a laptop with Vista on it because I just couldnt get used to OS X even after a year. It looks really nice and it runs like a dream. But so does Vista. Before that I was using XP and that ran nice and smooth too.
OS X had a few things I really like like expose. But you could install that on Vista too. In fact I am using switcher now to mimic expose and I really love it. I've seen vids on youtube where people were totally customizing their Vista to look and run like OS X so whats the fuss? Vista has everything OS X has like the dock, expose and much more. And it absolutely runs like a dream on my computer. It never crashed and every application runs nice and smooth.
Anyway I went for Vista because I couldnt get used to OS X. I found it to be too proprietary while I had much more freedom in Vista to do things. But both run really nice and smooth. So props to both of them. And I actually never had problems XP either. What are the problems you guys are talking about
I knew that picture looked familiar ... That's MY laptop! http://southpole.dk/?page=blog&id=5
Couldnt someone at least have told me?
I've been tri-booting Vista XP & Leopard X86 on an old 3Ghz P4/i865/2GB ram and its been fine.
No driver problems (NVinject sorted my 7900GS full core image and quartz excelleration) at all as long as you use intel chipsets (like apple)
If they launched the OS the hardware manufacturers would write drivers, Apple could certify them, not a hard thing at all.
I prefer to build my own PCs because i know what I'm doing and don't need el Jobs to tell me what I need, the iTards will still buy macs because they want the simplicity of a pre-built system. If macs are more stable running OSX then people will buy more macs after being converted to OSX on their PC.
Hopefully projects like this that make it easier than ever to run OSX on PCs will put pressure on Apple and give them no choice but to release their OS into the wild, its the only way they will rule the world.
I think apple would release it to the masses if they could figure out how to monetize the move. They've started with itunes, garage band updates etc. but thats not close enough. they have to figure out how to recover the costs of development and make profit off of that.
it would be cool if they released old versions but the elite could pay for the latest. Like get 10.0 for free but pay for 10.5. that would leave a nice gap so that the payees would have a reason to do so.
but i doubt that it will happen.
why fix it if it ain't' broke.
How would they monetize the move ?
Ummm ever noticed that Microsoft manage to make a living from their OS division ?
They don't make it for free you know a portion of the price of a mac goes to OSX development just like the $99 boxed copies do.
Release is for $150-$250 for PCs let mac users buy at a discount as support will be simpler.
Maybe its time for Apple to release a low cost notebook to get people using OSX without resorting to hacks since there is clearly some interest. What could be better marketing than that to give people a taste of OSX in an accessible low cost way without changing your OS wholesale from Windows.
They already have some traction with iPhone, this way a lot more user can sample OSX, using it for web surfing as these small notebooks are used mainly for and give Apple an opportunity to pull customers away from Windows at least for internet use.
I like OSX as an operating system, however Apple have gone the wrong way about it. OSX although good will never gain a big market share if Apple keep it on closed, overpriced hardware. And I think these stories show that there is a huge market for desktops that run OSX and can be upgraded hardware wise over time.
I like OSX but will never buy a Mac until Apple become a good business and open their OS up, Apple mocks Microsoft for this, and microsoft got handed almost a billion euro fine for not opening their programs and OS code for 3rd party developers, Apple does it and is protected by seemingly every fanboy on the face of the planet
So this JAS OSX.iso where can i find it? Preferably rapidshare, I've found lots of links but NONE have a working part.29. I have a REAL copy of OSX so i think its only fair I have a legal copy as back up too ;-)
Guys I've asked this nicely but I did not get a straight up answer. But once again whats the fuss about OS X. Please tell me..
The fuss with OSX is pretty simple (in my opinion).
It's a really well-written OS that, unfortunately, hasn't been exposed [officially] to any non-Apple hardware. Thanks to the pricing on their hardware, Apple makes a tidy profit. But what keeps people buying the hardware is the fact that OSX only runs on approved systems. As long as Apple has this perception of exclusivity about them, people will continue to buy the overpriced hardware.
On the software itself, being a Unix-based system, OSX is more secure than the Windows OS, but again, there is disagreement about whether this is due to its *nix roots or its market share.
Personally, I don't really care what OS I'm running, but for the machines I buy, I go with Windows-based, since they are generally far cheaper than equivalent Mac counterparts.
There's my 2¢.
WOW! All of the Windows and Linux fanboys need to realize where they are. This is a comments section to an article about OS X, NOT WINDOWS OR LINUX! There are millions of other articles about windows and ubuntu. This is an article about running OS X on PC hardware. Why cant you just be happy that people now have another option? Does every comments section have to turn into a battle zone? For that matter, does anyone really care about your "15-30 years of experience" on an opinion based question? No...no one wants to hear your lifestory...in the end its an opinion, so STFU and comment about the actual subject of the article.
here, ill give u an example of what not to say:
I've been working with windows since dos 2.0 came out and i can assure you that with my 20 years of experience that windows is a much more stable environment that either OS X or any linux distribution
FAIL!
Here is a good example of what TO say:
Wow thats great! I wonder how much its going to cost?
didn't you hear? using OSX makes baby jesus cry
Does this support Intel 915 GM ?
915 yes (ran it myself)
865 yes (also)
945 (yes also)
Cost....?
If this device solves the wireless card driver and graphics driver problem then I'm totally sold!
I will take my Macbook Pro over any laptop on the market but I would use this in a heartbeat to build me a REASONABLY priced Mac Desktop.
If Apple would just release an $800-1000 desktop that is component upgradeable this would eliminate devices such as these but Steve Jobs has his head up his ass in this regard.
I am on both sides of the fence, I loved XP but Vista drove me to a Mac, I have a Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, HP TC 4400 tablet for work, and a custom built PC for Vista (now XP.)
I love that he still uses a floppy drive in his computer :-D
@phanbouy
Its 4.9 its 4.9 its 4.9 [ commence running to an optician for an eye test]
dude... i didnt know there's a kind of dyslexia you could see 6's upsidedown as 9's
this should be interesting to see if it is indeed as easy/hassle free to install and use as the article claims.
it is most likely this device will need specific close-to-mac hardware - like AMD will not be supported - see here: http://news.metaparadigma.de/?p=288
86 bit?
Dual Boot ViSta, and MAC.... "See Mac We Can Do It Too"...
We have to connect the USB dongle only for installation or for every boot.?
How can you take a laptop that represents all that is holy in this world, and put OSX on it?
omg. this video made me crack up so many times..
what's that accent?
my favorite part is when he goes:
"whoo! hoo! it booted!!!"
oh, nvm about the accent..
im guessing its russian
I think what Hamidxa is arguing about is not the actual OSes itself....
But rather what APPLE has evolved into.......
If you think the APPLE of today is the same as the lovable underdog computer of the 80s & 90s....you are sorely mistaken.
Apple did use to represent everyone that was different creative and artistically. They were the anti-IBM. They had the Motto THINK DIFFERENT.
Amazingly.....through their PR and catering to the Stylistos and dependence on fashionable hardware and ITunes/IPod profits....they have become the exact thing they used to fight against. To say that their products are marketed as elitist would not be an understatement.
Ah well........I will always fondly remember the rainbow APPLE over the new white/silver Soulless APPLE.
I've been running OSX on my non-Apple PC for a while now and it was really smooth install using the Leo4All V3 version floating somewhere on the 'net. Of course, the more your specs deviate from real Macs the more problems you're going to run into. Especially those crummy onboard soundcards many use are going to pose problems. On my system the SB X-Fi PCI soundcard I have is not working but my Echo AudioFire4 FireWire audio interface works great. At the moment the only real problem is with shutdown (has to be manually turned off from computer power button after selecting shutdown) due to changes in 10.5.3.
I'm happily running both Vista and OSX on the same system on separate hard drives. Neither is faster than the other and both have their pluses and minuses. OSX takes the cake in easy program installation and better program setting storage (MS really should adopt this system). Vista does better in the file browsing and context-specific search areas but OSX presents search results in a better way. Windows has by far better video and audio players available than OSX (I like MPC and foobar2k much better than VLC/NicePlayer/Quicktime and iTunes/Cog/Songbird).
OSX programs generally look infinitely better than 99% of all Windows programs. This is really more a case of XP legacy though. It's also interesting how there are no OSX programs that are called "Advanced somethingsomething Deluxe Professional SX 10" or stupid shit like that. Most OSX programs are also auto-updating which is great because that means I don't have to keep up with new versions as much as I do on Windows.
4 pages of comments I have to get mine in. This sounds awesome. I hope its as easy to use as it seems. I have an awesome pc case and I want to stay away from the metro apple computers but I do want the OS
actually, there is a osx version out for AMD. please dont speak if u dont know what you are talking about... or atleast use google to find the right answer....
Leo4All V3
and several other version floating around will let you install it on a AMD system....
p.s. ac 97 sound drivers was easy to get working.. my presonus 24/96 firewire cards was very simple..... shutting down still issue.. but oh well if that the only issue i have with my dell/mac... laptop.. that still 10000000000000000000 times better than dell/vista... by the way vista sux!!!
Q
i've just got it working on my X61. No networking yet, but give me a spare hour and I'll have that working too.
Search the usual Bittorrent sites for Kalyway 10.5.2 and you'll get a download that you can boot off and it'll pretty much just work if you have compatible hardware. Seriously weird and cool to see Leopard running on a teeny thinkpad...
Company Name: PLATINUM ELECTRONICS INC
Reg No. ISO 2838.937
Tel : +447024062648
Fax : +447024578067
Contact Email platinc@live.com
MSN platinc@live.com
PLATINUM ELECTRONICS INC, has been one of the fastest growing Telecommunication equipment company discount Wholesaler on the web where we present the industry's latest Telecommunication devices at the time they are introduced by the manufacturer,coupled with the after market Accessories, upgrades and add-ons at the very same time.
PLATINUM ELECTRONICS INC is a recognized distributer of Various consumer electronics. We specialize in a wide range of Products such as Laptops,Mobile Phones,Xbox 360,Sony Psp,Plasma Tv,Pda Phones,MP3 & MP4 Players,Video Games Console, Digital Cameras,Dvd Players, LCD TV, CD ROM, DVD Writer, Windows XP, Office 2003 Software, IP phone, USB Phone, Bluetooth Earphone, Bluetooth USB Dongle (Etc) At Discounted Rates. Our aggressive purchasing team enables us to provide our customers with the best prices possible. We have a very large warehouse which allows us to purchase and stock in sizable quantity.
Nokia N95 @250usd
Nokia N93i@ 220usd
Nokia n93 @ 200usd
Nokia N92 @ 180usd
Nokia N91 8GB@185usd
Nokia N80 @180usd
Nokia N76 @160usd
Nokia N75 @130usd
Nokia N73 @120usd
Nokia N70 @100usd
Nokia N95 8GB @280usd
Nokia N96 16GB @300 usd
Nokia E90 Communicator @200usd
Nokia E65 @ 130usd
Nokia E61i @120usd
Nokia 8801 @ 150usd
Nokia 8800 Sirocco @200usd
Nokia 770 Internet @ 160usd
Apple Iphone 16Gb @ 280usd
Apple Iphone 8Gb @ 230usd
LG KE800 Special Edition @ 200usd
LG KE970 Shine 3G @ 180usd
LG KE770 Shine@ 150usd
LG KE850 Prada @250usd
iMate Ultimate 5150 @200usd
iMate SP Jam @170usd
iMate PDAL @ 200usd
iMate Jaq 4 @210usd
iMate Jaq 3 @200usd
iMate JAQ @ 180usd
iMate JAM @ 150usd
APPLE iTouch 32gb...........$280USD
APPLE iPhone 18gb...........$280USD
APPLE iTouch 16gb...........$260USD
APPLE iphone 16gb...........$250USD
APPLE iphone 8gb...........$210USD
APPLE iphone 4gb..........$200usd
Blackberry 8800 "indigo" (unlocked) @ 220usd
Blackberry 8700g @ 180usd
Blackberry 8100 Pearl Cingular (unlocked) @160usd
ETEN X500 Glofiish @ 180usd
ETEN M700 Glofiish 2 @200usd
ETEN M600 @ 150usd
ETEN G500 @ 120usd
E-TEN X800 Glofiish @ 250usd
Qtek
Qtek 8500 ....... 150usd
Qtek S200 ....... 180usd
Qtek 9000 ....... 230usd
Qtek 8310 ....... 200usd
Nextel i930-----120usd
Nextel i860-----150usd
Nextel i870-----180usd
Okwap Sanrio hello kitty i885 mobile @ 230usd
Okwap i885 Sanrio Hello Kitty Cell @ 210 usd
TomTom GO GPS Car Navigation System @ 200usd
TomTom Go 910 GPS Car Navigation System @150usd
TomTom Go 510 GPS @ 180usd
Contact email : platinc@live.com
Motorola RIZR Z8 @ 250usd
Motorola RIZR Z6 @ 230usd
Motorola RAZR V3XX Unlocked @ 180usd
Motorola RAZR maxx V6 Ferrari Challenge @ 220usd
Motorola RAZR Maxx @ 200usd
Motorola Q9 @ 300usd
Motorola KRZR K3 @ 280usd
Motorola KRZR @ 200usd
Motorola E6 @ 180usd
OQO model 01+ Ultra PC @400usd
OQO model 02 Ultra PC (pre-order) @420usd
OQO model 02 Ultra PC (pre-order) @ 410usd
Palm Treo 750v (open box) @260usd
Palm Treo 750 Unlocked Cingular @220usd
Palm Treo 680 (Graphite) @ 180usd
Samsung Z720 @ 150usd
Samsung Ultra Edition 5.9 @ 270usd
Samsung SGH-P310 @ 155usd
Samsung SGH-i830 @ 190usd
Samsung SGH-i718 @ 190uad
Samsung SGH-i600 @180usd
Samsung SGH-F700 @ 200usd
Samsung SGH-B600 @ 300usd
Samsung i760 @ 250uad
Samsung F500 @ 200uad
Samsung D900 @ 130uad
Samsung BlackJack SGH-i607 Unlocked @ 220usd
Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-Ray Disc Player @ 250usd
Sony Ericsson W950i @ 240uad
Sony Ericsson W880i Walkman Phone @ 230usd
Sony Ericsson W850i @ 215usd
Sony Ericsson W810i Walkman Phone @ 150usd
Sony Ericsson W660i @ 180usd
Sony Ericsson M600i @ 250usd
Sony Ericsson K810i Cyber-shot Digital Camera Phone @ 280usd
Sony Ericsson K800i @ 170usd
Sony Ericcson P990i @ 300usd
HTC PHONES
Cingular 8125 @ 160usd
Cingular 8525 @ 170usd
HTC TyTn @ 180USD
HTC 9100 Tmobile MDA (unlocked) @ 170usd
HTC Advantage Pocket PC (Athena) @ 380usd
HTC Kaiser @ 210usd
HTC P3300 @ 200usd
HTC P3350 @ 220usd
HTC P3400 @ 215usd
HTC P3600 (Trinity) @ 220usd
HTC P6500 (HTC Sirius) 250usd
Apple iPod nano Media Player 2GB ....60usd
Apple iPod nano Media Player 4GB ....80usd
Apple iPod nano Media Player 6GB ....100usd
Apple 2 GB iPod Nano.........................60USD
Apple 4 GB iPod Nano........................100USD
Apple 30 GB iPod Video......................120usd
Apple 60 GB iPod Video.....................150USD
HP iPAQ rx5915 @ 220usd
HP iPAQ HW6945 GPS @ 210usd
HP 6915 @ 250usd
CECT IP1000 @ 200usd
Fujitsu Siemens LOOX T830 @ 300usd
Fujitsu Siemens LOOX N560 @ 2500usd
Gigabyte G-Smart i @ 170usd
Gigabyte G-Smart i120 @ 220usd
Gigabyte G-Smart i300 @ 240usd
Pioneer AVIC-S1 @ $350usd
Pioneer AVIC-Z1 Navigation AVICZ @ $600usd
Pioneer AVIC-N3 Multimedia Navigation Receiver @ $550
Pioneer Avic-z1 Dvd Player Navigation System @ $500usd
Pioneer AVIC-D1 / AVICD1 @ $400usd
Pioneer AVIC-D2 DVD Navigation System @ $400USD
GPS BLUETOOTH RECEIVER
GNS 5843 GPS RDS TMC Bluetooth
Receiver:::::::::::::::::::::::::230USD
Holux GPS Bluetooth Receiver, Dongle & DELORME Maps
Canon EOS 400D / Rebel XTi Digital Camera with 18-55mm Lens---$300usd
Canon EOS 400D / Rebel XTi Body Only Digital Camera----$350usdf
Canon EOS 30D Body Only Digital Camera----$420usd
Canon EOS-5D Body Only Digital Camera---$550usd
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II Digital Camera----$1,500usd
Canon EOS 30D / EF-S 17-85mm IS Digital Camera---$400usd
Canon EOS 30D Digital Camera with 18-55 Kit---$360usd
Olympus EVOLT E-330 Digital Camera----$400usd
Olympus EVOLT E-500 (Body Only) Digital Camera--$300usd
Olympus Evolt E-510 (14-42mm) Digital Camera----$435usd
Nikon D40x Digital Camera----$365usd
Nikon D40 Digital Camera with G-II 18-55mm Lens---$300usd
Nikon D80 Digital Camera with 18-135mm Lens----$400usd
Nikon D80 Digital Camera with 18-200mm Lens---$420usd
Nikon D80 Body Only Digital Camera---$360usd
Nikon D200 Body Only Digital Camera---$450usd
Nikon D200 Digital Camera with 18-200mm Lens---$700usd
Nikon D2Xs (Body Only) Digital Camera---$900usd
Nikon D200 Digital Camera with 18-135mm---$600usd
MAXENT PLASMA TV
Maxent MX-42VM7 Plasma EDTV $370
Maxent MX-50X2 Plasma $300
GAME CONSOLE
X box 360 Premium console ... ..200usd
Xbox 360 pal verrsion..........$170usd
Nintendowii.....................200usd
Nintendo wifi..........$220usd
Ps2.............................160usd
Playstation 3 20GB..............200usd
Playstation 3 60GB..............450usd
APPLE LAPTOP
Apple MacBook (MA700LL/A) Mac Notebook...................$500usd
Apple MacBook Pro (MA611LL/A) Notebook...................$600usd
Apple MacBook (MA254LL/A) Mac Notebook...................$450usd
Apple iBook G3 (M7698LL/A) Mac Notebook..................$600usd
Apple MacBook Pro (MA609LL/A) Notebook...................$550usd
Apple MacBook Pro (MA600LLA) Notebook....................$500usd
Apple MacBook Pro (MA610LL/A) Notebook...................$600usd
Apple Macbook Pro (885909119400) Notebook................$600usd
INTRESTED BUYERS DO CONTACT VIA OUR OFFICIAL EMAIL AT
platinc@live.com
MSN : platinc@live.com
at last, people can forget the vintage Windows XP. XP or even Vista are dinosaurs compare to OS X today.