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Acer planning to dual-boot all of its dual-core netbooks, we're dual-unimpressed
We haven't seen any reason to love anything that's attempted to combine the comfort of Windows 7 with the sheer unpreparedness of Android in a dual-boot netbook form factor, Acer's Aspire One D255 included. Still, word is that Acer is planning to make dual-booting standard on its dual-core netbooks going forward. Right now the D255 only does Android overseas, but we're going to perceive this as a threat until we hear otherwise. Sure, adding Android to a netbook doesn't hurt anything (which is the majority of Acer's excellent argument for its inclusion), but we can only hope that this fascination with Android quickly switches to Chrome OS when it's ready.
ViewSonic 10-inch dual boot ViewPad preview
ViewSonic hasn't settled on a name for this thing yet, vacillating between the ViewPad 100 and the ViewPad 10i. What it has settled on is a pretty delicious for factor for an Atom N455-based Windows 7 tablet, and the dual boot option to Android is really just gravy. Unfortunately it's rather outdated gravy: Android 1.6 is the most recent version to support x86 processors, so we won't be seeing any of the new Android goodness on here unless Google pulls together another Intel-friendly version of the OS in the near future -- which seems relatively unlikely with Chrome OS around the corner, but you never know. Other specs include 1GB of RAM, 16GB SSD, and a 10-inch 1024 x 600 LCD (the same resolution as the new Galaxy Tab, incidentally). We weren't impressed with the quality of the display, or with the pixel density, but at least the capacitive touch seemed to be working fine -- we actually managed to do a bit of typing with Windows 7's touchscreen keyboard, if you can imagine that. The actual hardware is delightfully thin and light, though a bit on the plasticy side, and we particular appreciated the thumb friendly buttons to the right side of the display. The tablet has a quoted price of "sub 500 euros" and a sketched in release date for later this year. Check out a video hands-on, including the super exciting boot-up process, after the break. %Gallery-101111%
Acer Aspire One D255 netbook dual boots Android and XP for about $375
Attending the Taipei Computer Applications Show today? Lucky you. Then be sure to pick up your specially priced Acer Aspire One D255 netbook with dual booting Android and XP operating systems before leaving the venue. Otherwise, the NT$9,500 (about $300) 10.1-inch netbook configured with an Atom N450 processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory, 160GB hard disk, and 3-cell battery (with optional 6-cell) will cost you NT$11,900 (about $375) when it hits traditional retail channels sometime in the days ahead.
Ubuntu joins Android on Nexus One, apocalyptic repercussions nowhere to be found
Ever wondered what would happen if you threw another mobile OS onto your Nexus One? Without removing Android? Contrary to popular belief, the world will in fact not end, and in many cases, lives could very well be improved. One particular modder over at Nexus One Hacks has managed to put together a video how-to demonstrating the installation of Ubuntu as a secondary OS on his rooted N1, and while you'll obviously find yourself dealing with a few incompatibilities should you follow suit, it's not like you really have anything better to do tonight than tinker. Right? Right. Jump on past the break and mash play to get going.
Here's how to install Android on your iPhone 2G
Last week, planetbeing claimed he'd ported Android to the iPhone. This week, Android A Lot says you can, too. If you've got an original iPhone 2G handy, there's now a 68-step guide that can walk you through the entire process. In a nutshell, you'll use iPhone Explorer to copy over the Android files, then turn your Mac or PC into an Ubuntu virtual machine to install the OpeniBoot software. When you're done, you'll probably have a dual-booting iPhone that can swap between iPhone OS and an experimental version of Android 1.6 at startup, but don't quote us on that -- we haven't had a chance to test the unholy matrimony for ourselves. We're going to try to give this a shot next week, and we'll report back from the other side... if there is another side. Blurry video walkthrough after the break, useful step-by-step text at our source link.
Android ported to iPhone?
If you're a diehard iPhone user waiting for a similarly-gorgeous Android phone before you jump ship, you could spend time pining for a new HTC or Dell. Then again, the Droid you've been looking for might be right under your nose. Intrepid Linux fan planetbeing claims to have ported a debug version of Android to the iPhone itself, drivers and all, and you'll find a thoroughly convincing demonstration of his bona fide dual-booting Apple device taking calls, playing music and even surfing the web after the break. While the iPhone isn't the speediest Google phone around, it's not all that sluggish, either, and with the iPhone's hardware buttons remapped to Android controls, planetbeing seems to get along just fine. Now, let's see him work on some pinch-to-zoom, eh? Video after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Dual booting Mac OS X on iPad... April Fool's!
Some can't wait to get their hands on the device, while others could care less. The device, the Apple iPad, is set to launch on Saturday, April 3, 2010. Earlier today, TUAW unearthed a hidden feature on the iPad (via an envelope slipped under the door of our headquarters in Roswell, NM) that may even force many iPad naysayers to consider purchasing it. We've discovered a way to dual-boot into Mac OS X and the iPad's operating system (which is a modified iPhone OS). And here, we'll show you how to execute this unpublished hack. First, reset your iPad. You can do this by holding down the iPad's power and home button at the same time. Like the iPhone, the iPad boots up to an Apple logo. Pay attention here, because it's the most important part. Right when you see the logo appear, switch on the "screen rotation lock" button. This button, situated just above the volume button, deactivates the iPad's accelerometer. Now, the following should appear on your iPad's screen. That's right, it's Konami's Contra. Konami has recently announced that it will be bringing over some of its classics to the iPad. And the first of these classics is Contra. At the Contra start screen, press this sequence of buttons on the on-screen controller: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, select, start. If successful, you'll hear the Mac OS X startup chime, and the iPad's screen will then go into diagnostic boot and display the following binary values before booting into Mac OS X. 01000001 01110000 01110010 01101001 01101100 00100000 01000110 01101111 01101111 01101100 01110011
Nokia N900 Maemo / MeeGo dual boot 'will come at some point,' but not next firmware
Quim Gil of Nokia's Maemo team has dropped some knowledge on the folks chatting up the upcoming MeeGo release in the official Maemo forums, and it sounds like there are at least a couple critical points to be aware of for N900 owners and would-be ROM flashers when the first developer preview drops next week. To quote Gil, "nothing beautiful, stable or fully featured" will be a part of that initial release -- and to be more blunt about it, "99% of you don't want to install that release in your N900." The good news, though, is that Nokia seems to be aware of the importance of a dual-boot solution to MeeGo devs working with N900s in the long term, and Gil reports that a proper setup for that "will come at some point" -- it's just not on their short-term radar. We can totally understand that; we've no doubt there's still tons of reconciliation to manage between the legacy Maemo and Moblin ecosystems, and that's presumably priority one as they march toward a May release of what's being billed as a MeeGo 1.0 release. Speculation had been building that the next cut of Maemo 5 -- PR1.2 -- might have MeeGo dual boot capability, but it's not to be. That said, PR1.2's still got plenty of tweaks that should be of interest to N900 owners, including a totally revamped landscape on-screen keyboard, onboard memory wipe capability (thank goodness), and an option to enable auto-rotation in the device's settings. The forums are all abuzz over both topics, naturally -- and since a proper PR1.2 release for N900 is still just a twinkle in Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo's eye, you may as well have a peek, right? [Thanks, Akinwale]
Android dual-boot could make Nokia N900 jack of two trades
Maemo's already pretty open as open platforms go, but what's better than a single open platform on your open phone? Two open platforms, of course, creating a vortex of pure, unadulterated openness the likes of which the world has never seen. Hacking is par for the course with Nokia's N900, so it comes as no surprise to see that a motivated individual has managed to get his unit set up in a trick dual-boot configuration with Maemo on internal storage and Android on a separate partition loaded from the microSD card. He says it's "proof of concept" for the moment -- but to steal his words, "its [sic] real and it could be spectacular." We couldn't agree more, and as much as Nokia loves its own code, we can't help but think this precisely the sort of tinkering the N900 was made for. Check video of the magical boot after the break.
First Acer Android netbook will dual-boot Windows
Ha, and you thought that you'd be getting away from the Microsoft tax. Sorry -- Acer chairman JT Wang says that the first Android netbooks will ship with Windows in dual-boot configurations. While your first reaction might be to call JT a Microsoft patsy, he's not, it's smart to hedge, actually, since Android is unproven as a netbook OS and Wal-mart consumers usually don't like being surprised by computers that don't work like the ol' home computer. Besides, these Android netbooks seem to be targeting carriers as resellers so you'll like get a big fat discount when you take one home on contract. Happy?
Hands-on with TechFaith's QiGi i6 in Android mode
Remember that mysterious dual-boot QiGi i6 from a few months back? If you dream of Windows Mobile / Android dual-boot devices at night, then odds are you do, and we've been able to spend a little time with one humming along in Android mode today. It turns out that the i6's manufacturer is none other than TechFaith Wireless, an ODM more closely associated with WinMo devices -- but like so many other manufacturers these days, TechFaith is apparently looking to branch out by adding another platform into the mix.Anyhow, let's just be straight about this: odds are you don't really want this phone, even if you think you do. The physical design feels one or two iterations behind, but the real problem stems from the fact that you're rocking QVGA resolution here; yes, granted, Android runs -- but in its default layout, it's clearly designed for a few more pixels both horizontally and vertically. Furthermore, we're told that end users can't swap ROMs themselves (in other words, distributors would choose one platform or the other and be done with it) -- the hardware is designed to run both Android and Windows Mobile, but it's not like you get some fancy Boot Camp-style setup for booting into either environment. Also, since the i6 features no physical keyboard and Cupcake was little more than a twinkle in Google's eye by the time the phone was released, you're dealing with a pretty poorly-designed soft keyboard that's been grafted onto the build; individual keys are small enough so that you need a stylus to press them, and when you call up the keyboard, it takes up the full screen so you can't see whatever app you were in while you're typing. Check it all out (for the hilarious power-on splash screen, if nothing else) in our video after the break!%Gallery-44988%
Toshiba's Satellite T31 arrives with Vista, Windows XP in box
Tired of fretting about which flavor of Windows will work best for you? Toshiba's apparently feeling your pain, and is looking to remedy said quandary by tossing in both operating systems with its new 15.4-inch Dynabook Satellite T31. Apparently, the unit includes Vista Business and XP Professional recovery discs, giving the buyer the option when they finally get it home. Specs wise, you'll be looking at a 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7250 on the high side (with a 1.86GHz Celeron 540 on the low-end), as well as optional WiFi, a WXGA (1,280 x 800) resolution panel, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, DVD burner and a rechargeable Li-ion good for around 1.3 hours. Additionally, the unit touts four USB 2.0 sockets, Ethernet, PCMCIA, a multicard reader, VGA / S-Video outputs and a FireWire port to boot. Check it out right now for between ¥175,350 ($1,573) and ¥206,850 ($1,856).[Via AkihabaraNews]
Much love for Mike Bombich -- Bootpicker 1.3 makes Mac/XP choice easier
Let us count the ways that the Mac sysadmin community hearts Mike B: we relish his reliable and full-featured Carbon Copy Cloner, we depend absolutely upon his fast and simple NetRestore, we puzzle through his instructions for deploying dual-boot machines and for working with Active Directory. Most of all, we love that all this snazzy management goodness is free. Now, for everyone tired of telling dual-boot users "just hold down the option key," Mike has released a Boot Camp OS selector tool called (unsurprisingly) BootPicker. It's open source, free and delightfully slick.What differentiates BootPicker from a simple option-boot, or from more elaborate tools like rEFIt, is its manageability and simplicity. Installed as a preference pane, BootPicker actually boots to Mac OS X every time and lets the user click a button for the OS they want (or, if administratively desired, reboots automatically to Mac OS X or Windows without user input). This gets around a couple of tricky problems; normally, setting a permanent boot OS requires an admin password, and a machine set to always boot in Windows is immune to the management oversight of tools like ARD or Workgroup Manager (you can manage both sides of the fence with LANrev or similar tools, but that can be a pain). By booting into Mac OS X first, there's an opportunity to change the preferences for BootPicker itself and modify the behavior for the next boot cycle.There's a very solid Read Me for BootPicker that (unfortunately) is only included in the install distribution, so you'll have to download it to peruse the details. Mike includes a candid evaluation of the security risks involved with something like BootPicker, which runs as root before the normal login window is presented to the user; please use discretion and care if you decide to deploy it. Check it out, and take a moment to appreciate what Mr. Bombich has done to make our lives a little bit easier.
Intel, NTT DoCoMo pen multi-OS standard
Managing one smartphone operating system can bring even the most technically competent folks among us to their knees -- but how about two? Intel and NTT DoCoMo have put their noggins together to draw up a standard for dual-booting two platforms on a handset: one of the manufacturer's / carrier's choosing, and another at the user's discretion. Apparently, the standard will ensure that if one OS crashes, the other will still be usable, and calls will be able to be placed and received regardless how badly the user fubars the installation. While we'd like this to ultimately lead to Treo 750s with multiple personality disorder, we suspect the whole initiative will ultimately be restricted to a handful of NTT DoCoMo specials.[Via The Inquirer and WM247]
Not all Macs meet Vista requirements
Julio Ojeda-Zapata of the Pioneer Press points out the system requirements for Microsoft's latest piece of vaporware soon-to-be-released update to Windows, Vista. According to Microsoft, Vista may run on machines that don't meet their "Premium Ready PC" requirements (which referees to machines that can handle all of the eye candy...if you can call it that), but those users won't be able to experience all the ways Vista rips off Aqua and Mac OS X many of the innovative UI features of the OS. The "Premium Ready PC" requirements for Vista are: 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor 1GB of system memory (!) A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero 128MB of graphics memory 40GB of hard drive space with 15GB free DVD-ROM Drive Audio output capability Internet access capability Hmm. Seems the MacBook and Mac mini fail to meet the video RAM requirements. Not to mention that you're going to need at least a 60GB hard drive. Also note, as Julio points out, that the mini and MacBook share system and video memory, so Vista may be a drag on those machines. So, if you plan on running a dual-boot machine once Vista is released, you may want to look towards a MacBook Pro or iMac.
Switched On: Boot Camp - The Miffing Manual
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a weekly column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:"All right! Listen up, maggot! Welcome to Fort Dragg. I am your Commanding Microsoft Office-er Sgt. Pepper! How do you like that for trademark infringement, Apple Corps? I bet you came here today because you wanted to serve your computer company by beta testing Boot Camp? Well, let me tell you something. It ain't gonna be easy, you puke!"Over the next 50 minutes, I will become your father, your mother, your Apple Specialist, your third-tier tech support person, and your best friend! Your heart may belong to Apple but your butt belongs to me! Your precious vendor won't support other operating systems, so you better be quicker than a FireWire 800 port, because if you ain't, you just may blow your disk up with your laser mouse."You come here as a sack of rotting apples unfit to touch a scroll ball! But I will tear down your hard drive into partitions until you cry. You will feel the burn like a driver CD. You will break like compatibility with classic Mac applications. Your identity will be so far gone that Spotlight won't be able to find it. Remember, there is no Windows ME in 'team.' If you can reset your system clock, you will leave with a time-killing, dual-booting, PC game-running machine! Do you hear me!?""Sir! Yes, sir!"
Mac game devs cautiously optimistic about Boot Camp
Mac gaming website Inside Mac Games has posted a selection of Mac game developers reaction's to Apple's Boot Camp software. The overall feeling from the developers is one of cautious optimism: any loss in interest for OS X specific games could be offset by an increase in overall Mac market share from casual Windows gamers flooding to the platform. Andrew Welch, the founder of Ambrosia Software (creators of classics like the Escape Velocity series of games), doesn't "view it as a threat at all... but then again, we're not in the porting business". Aspyr's Glenda Adams and Brad Oliver are in the porting business. Fortunately they also publish and port games for other platforms. According to Brad "if Mac sales tank, we've got enough revenue coming in from PC and console ports that it probably won't hurt the company too much and we'd just focus on the other platforms." Mac game sales will only tank if people stop buying Mac games and instead play their games in Windows but as Andrew says, "people will get sick of dual-booting, and would prefer to run native games, just like Linux users prefer native games". Ian Lynch Smith of Freeverse points out that this may be only the first step: "Apple is pushing the intel roll out very aggressively, and now aggressively pushing dual boot (and virtualization eventually from someone)". Hopefully in the next 6 months we'll see effective virtualization of Windows games from within OS X. That's the most desirable outcome for both Mac users and developers.[Via TUAW]
TUAW Poll results: Will you dual-boot your Mac?
Many of our informal polls produce fairly even results. Not so with this one. Of the 5,228 of you who responded to the question, "Will you dual-boot your Mac," a full 50% (2,593) of you said, "absolutely." Twenty three percent of you stated that you have no need to do this and fourteen percent said they'd do it just to see it work. Finally, 681 of you (13%), thought the idea was pure blasphemy.Personally, I'd do it just to see it work, but I immediately thought of the financial department at my day job when this news broke. We use nothing but Macs where I work, except for the finance department. They use a proprietary piece of software that is (and will stay) Windows only. So, the person who does payroll must keep both a Mac and a PC on her desk so she can use the payroll software just once every two weeks. A dual-boot Mac seems custom-made for her situation. I'm sure similar scenarios could be found all over the country. Add to that the number of potential new customers who are considering Macs for the very first time, based on Boot Camp's introduction, and we could have a hardware war on our hands.
Ask TUAW: What will you do with Windows on your Mac?
We've seen a video of Windows on an iMac in action, and this weekend Dave Caolo posted the results from our poll that found the greater majority of TUAW readers were happy, at least to some degree, that Windows XP can run on a Mac. Now we want to ask: what are you going to do with it?Are you an enthusiastic Mac user who can't wait to get in on Half Life 2? Is there an app or two your office (campus/business/etc.) needs you to run? Or might you simply have a hankering for Minesweep? We want to hear why you'll be giving your Mac a split personality, of sorts, but there's one rule: please keep the anti-Windows sentiments to a minimum. Yes, this is a blog about all things Apple and our favorite operating system, but how about we make some room for the visiting team just this once?
XP on a MacBook Pro
You had to know that XP on a MacBook Pro would quickly follow the same on an iMac. Nirlog has a nice, step-by-step how to, including links to the files you'll need to get the job done. Stop worrying about VirtualPC and enjoy the dual-boot goodness.[Via Make]
