Category Archives: Labs

[MacOS] Recommended Apps: QuickSilver

I. Abstract

You don’t like Spotlight, because it is too slow? But you want to to speed up command execution? Yes there is a nice freeware solution available called QuickSilver by BlackTree. Wikipedia writes: Quicksilver “allows users to use the keyboard to rapidly perform tasks such as launching applications, manipulating files and data, running scripts, or sending e-mail.”

II. Links

You’d better get used to using QuickSilver. We strongly recommend to not use Mac OS without it:

» Download QuickSilver…
» BlackTree Website…

III. Screenshots

[iPhone] Activate MMS on iPhone 2G? (Update)

4 Replies

Update July 04, 2009: MMS now works, MMS server settings are getting saved with the help of some (more or less complicated) tricks. We’re currently prepping a fool proof step-by-step tutorial for all of you. We recommend to not play around with those settings at the moment to not screw up settings worse. Tutorial will be up on Monday. Please wait until then. Thanks for your attention.

Update July 05, 2009: Wanna know how to enable MMS on iPhone 2G? Find our definitive MMS on iPhone 2G HowTo here…

Abstract

Since SwirlyMMS has been released last year we know the iPhone 2G is capable to send MMS. Anyway with their newest update Apple makes MMS available only for 3G and 3Gs customers. They say it is hardware related. This is not the case.

What has been found

It was quite logical that some people would be starting to investigate and research into the MMS feature sooner or later. Now an application has been released through Cydia that claims to unlock MMS capability for the iPhone 2G. It is called ActivateMMS2G and it is distributed on the iSpazio repository. Anyway we recommend not to install it as of now. to read our definitive MMS on iPhone 2G HowTo here.

Current Status

The status is almost alpha. Most forum reports indicate these issues:

MMS settings are not getting stored if they differ from the EDGE settings (occurs on any iPhone)
iPhone does not restart (rarely reported)
Camera symbol is not shown in Messages.app (often reported)

Our Recommendation

Don’t misunderstand us, but this is deeply alpha. If you really want MMS on your iPhone 2g, get yourself SwirlyMMS. It is much safer than tempering with ported hacks from 3G iPhones to 2G iPhones. SwirlyMMS is currently getting ported to iPhone OS 3.0. then follow our definitive MMS on iPhone 2G HowTo here.

[MacOS] Recommended Apps: SimplyRar and MacPar Deluxe

[iPhone] HowTo Jailbreak and Unlock using RedSn0w

3 Replies

I. Abstract

The following article will show you how to install firmware 3.0 on your iPhone 2G by also allowing to jailbreak, activate and eventually to unlock (JAU process). At the moment of writing this article is for Mac OS X users with iPhone 2G’s only.

II. Who needs this article?

We suppose 50% of all 2G users around the globe. As iPhone 2G’s were sold almost everywhere with Sim-Lock enabled (besides some T-Mobile Germany or Orange France unlocked 2G’s).

III. Warning

You’d better read all of this in detail before you do anything practically! If you feel there is something you don’t understand or something you will not be able to handle, then go and ask someone who is in the know.

!!!!!!!! Otherwise your devices may be terribly screwed up! !!!!!!!

IV. Required Downloads

Download these tiny things first:

» RedSn0w for Mac OS X…
» iPhone OS 3.0 for iPhone 2G…
» if you are using an iPhone 2G: get Bootloader 3.9 and 4.6…

RedSn0w is almost the same as QuickPwn was in the ancient days of iPhone firmware 2.x

V. Preparing for Take off

you need to have iPhone OS 3.0 already installed / updated /restored via iTunes
install RedSn0w
start RedSn0w
Browse to the downloaded restore firmware (iPhone1,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw)
Wait for the firmware to be checked
Click Next
Wait for the firmware to be modified
Select Install Cydia (and Unlock if you are using an iPhone 2G. If you are using an iPhone 3G, don’t select to unlock, since it will not work this way)
Click Next
Browse for the Bootloaders you downloaded
Click Next
Turn your iPhone off
Turn iTunes off

VI. Fasten your seat belts // Get into DFU mode

Click Next
bring out beloved jesus phone into DFU mode
RedSn0w guides you thru the required steps (anyway this may take several repetitions as this is not as easy as some people write on the net!)

VII. Ignition sequence start

the uploaded modified ramdisk will do all the required stuff
to indicate what is going on your iPhone will show some nice pictures like this:
don’t disturb the process
instead: relax and get yourself a good drink or a cigarette
as this may take some minutes

VIII. Possible issues

Although we haven’t been reported any yet, this doesn’t mean there can’t go something wrong. If you run into problems, try:

restoring original unmodified 3.0 firmware from within iTunes 8.2
make sure you installed firmware 3.0 with iTunes 8.2
generate a custom pre-hacked ipsw using PwnageTool (find article here)

IX. Kudos

Fly out to the iPhone Dev Team. You guys should get paid by Apple…

[iPhone] HowTo Jailbreak and Unlock using PwnageTool

4 Replies

I. Abstract

The following article will show you how to install firmware 3.0 on your iPhone 2G by also allowing to jailbreak, activate, and eventually to unlock (JAU process). At the moment of writing this article is for Mac OS X users with iPhone 2G’s only.

II. Who needs this article?

We suppose 50% of all 2G users around the globe. As iPhone 2G’s were sold almost everywhere with Sim-Lock enabled (besides some T-Mobile Germany or Orange France unlocked 2G’s).

III. Warning

!!!!!!!! Otherwise your devices may be terribly screwed up! !!!!!!!

IV. Required Downloads

Download these tiny things first:

» Pwnage 3.0 for Mac OS X…
» iPhone OS 3.0 for iPhone 2G…
» if you are using an iPhone 2G: get Bootloader 3.9 and 4.6…

V. Preparing for Take off // Prepping your custom iPhone OS 3.0

make sure you synced your iPhone with iTunes before to have all your current calendar and address book entries in a safe place
Install PwnageTool
start PwnageTool
Choose Expert Mode
Select iPhone
Click the Next button (down right of PwnageTool window)
Select (or browse for) the iPhone1,1_3.0_7A341.ipsw firmware
Click the Next button
You now may choose some more Cydia Packages (like SSH), but you can also safely install this later via Cydia on the iPhone. This is a matter of taste
Click Create (here in german “Erstellen”)
Click the Next button
Select a location to save the custom firmware 3.0
wait some minutes for the creation of your custom firmware 3.0
you may provide your adminstrator password during creation phase, this is normal !

VI. Fasten your seat belts // Get into DFU mode

in case you never pwned your iPhone before: bring it into DFU mode first.
PwnageTool guides you thru the required steps (anyway this may take several repetitions as this is not as easy as some people write on the net!)

VII. Ignition sequence start // Restore

start iTunes (make sure you’re using iTunes 8.2)
Select your iPhone (found on the left column under devices)
and hold the Alt Key and Click the Restore button (this allows browsing for your custom firmware)
The iPhone software will be extracted and prepared for restoring
in the meantime your iPhone will show a status bar like this:
The whole process will take some minutes, don’t wonder about that

VIII. Possible issues

You may receive an “unknown error 1600”, “unknown error 2001”, “unknown error 10”, or “unknown error 20” . If this is the case you may try this:

restore the original unmodified iPhone firmware 3.0 first and the re-restore your custom firmware and
try aswell in DFU mode as in normal mode
if all that does not work: restore with original unmodified iPhone firmware and jailbreak with redsn0w (article here)

IX. Kudos

Fly out to the iPhone Dev Team…

[MacOS] System Freeze with 10.5.7 and VMware Fusion

1 Reply

Abstract

You are running the latest version of “VMware Fusion” (get trial version here) on an original Apple Mac or on a HackMac. During installation of Windows XP or Vista (32 bit) the system crashs with a kernel panic or a complete freeze.

Workaround

Apple’s Mac OS X 10.5.7 update causes some irritation to the 3D acceleration engine VMware Fusion uses. Before installing Windows disable Accelerate 3D Graphics:

Applies to

macosxhints.com report this bug applies to AMD ATI based graphic adapters only.

However in our lab a HackMac with a Gigabyte nVidia GeForce 7600 GT (using Netkas‘ Natit.kext) also crashed again and again during an installation of a german Windows XP Professional with a complete freeze.

Console.app reports:

kernel[0]: vmnet: VNetUserIfFree: freeing userIf at 0x7507300.

The memory position may differ to yours.

[MacOS] Yet another Still Waiting for Root Device

1 Reply

Long time no see to this old friend called “Still waiting for root device”. But with 10.5.7 the time had come again. As some of the tipps we compiled below helped us there is no warranty that it will help you. As the reasons for this funky brother are too indifferent.

Used Hardware

Gigabyte GA EP35 DS3
Gigabyte nVidia GeForce 7600 GT 256MB (Device ID 0x0391)
HP w2207 TFT (w/ integrated USB hub)
Buffalo AirStation WLI2-PCI-G54S (recognized as Third Party Wireless Card)

What you may try

Unplug external USB drives and devices
Unplug other internal drives
Instead of Rebooting: Shutdown and wait a couple of secs before manually turning your HackMac on again
Enable AHCI in BIOS for your drives (in case you see drive icons in orange, apply kexts included with the binaries’ release of Chameleon 2)
Try to boot into Safe Mode with -x (see more Darwin flags here) and
Repair Permissions from within the Disk Utility.app
Remove the Extensions.mkext and rebuild it (cf. OSX86Project)
myMek: rm /System/Library/Extensions.mkext
myMek: kextcache -k /System/Library/Extensions/
myMek: kextcache -L -N -e

About our test environment

This is based on the approach to install from the original unmodified retail DVD. Buy it, please. And also go and buy a MacBook (Pro) aswell, you will need it anyway as your HackMac will need special treatments once in a while. A HackMac can never be intended for productive environment. Don’t forget this. No matter what a clone manufacturer or a USB dongle merchant says.

Anyway as we are quite conservative with running systems we don’t feel we need to change to often ways. That’s why we’re still using our own EPOS I. (download here) approach, which is based on Munky’s (more info here) findings.

Good Luck! And don’t forget to buy a Mac :-)

[MacOS] Critical Safari and Firefox Java Exploit

1 Reply

Abstract

Landon Fuller reports that an almost six months old Java exploit has still not been fixed for Mac OS X. The exploit allows to compromise the Java sandbox in order to break out and run commands with the permissions of the executing user.

Classification

This issue is classified as serious as Java applets containing malicious code may be executed just by visiting a web page. Ladon Fuller says an illegal exploit is available in the wild. He prepared a proof of concept exploit that will make your Mac OS X computer say “I am executing in a user process“.

Applies to

The exploit aswell applies to Intel as to PowerPC based Mac OS X systems running Safari or Firefox.

More information

Some more background information and workarounds may be found on Fuller’s site.

[MacOS] Solutions to Issues with Leopard Update 10.5.7

5 Replies

Applies to
You are either running an

a beautiful original Apple Mac or a
Hackintosh (with hidden EFI partition)

The following solution has been reported to work on both systems. Chances are good that the solution might be working for you aswell.

Issues
You have been using the auto update feature in Mac OS X to update to 10.5.7. Instead of restarting your system crashs during reboot.

Solutions
You made a backup of your system before, right? Then Restore your backup of 10.5.6, if you didn’t backup: skip this step and give the rest a try anyway.

Native Apple Mac	Hackintosh
00. (restore backup of 10.5.6)	00. (restore backup of 10.5.6)
01. shutdown your Mac	01. shutdown your Hackintosh
02. turn it on again and immediately	02. turn it on again and in Darwin boot menu
03. keep holding the SHIFT KEY	03. in Darwin Boot Menu apply these parameters: -x -f
04. you Mac will boot into SAFE MODE	04. your Hackintosh will boot into SAFE MODE and recreate the MKext
05. Login to Leopard	05. Login to Leopard
06. Download Combo Update 10.5.7 (Link)	06. Download Combo Update 10.5.7 (Link)
07. Ignore the Auto Update feature	07. Ignore the Auto Update feature
08. Install downloaded Combo Update 10.5.7	08. Install downloaded Combo Update 10.5.7

In case there is still something fishy. You may try to repair permissions after updating to 10.5.7, by following these additional steps:

09. Boot with your Install DVD	09. Boot with Boot 132 CD and boot your Retail Install DVD
10. Start Disk Utility	10. Start Disk Utility
11. Repair Permissions	11. Repair Permissions
12. Keep Praying	12. Keep Praying
13. reboot	13. reboot

I hope it helps. If you got more suggestions: don’t hesitate to share them in the comments section. Thanks for stopping by our site…

[MacOS] Solution to Microsoft Entourage 2008 Crashing

ÏNCΘMPLΞTΞ-NΘΘZ

:|:WH4T:|:0TH3R:|:M3D!4:|: :|:W0NT:|:3XPL41N:|:

Category Archives: Labs

[MacOS] Recommended Apps: QuickSilver

[iPhone] Activate MMS on iPhone 2G? (Update)

[MacOS] Recommended Apps: SimplyRar and MacPar Deluxe

[iPhone] HowTo Jailbreak and Unlock using RedSn0w

[iPhone] HowTo Jailbreak and Unlock using PwnageTool

[MacOS] System Freeze with 10.5.7 and VMware Fusion

[MacOS] Yet another Still Waiting for Root Device

[MacOS] Critical Safari and Firefox Java Exploit

[MacOS] Solutions to Issues with Leopard Update 10.5.7

[MacOS] Solution to Microsoft Entourage 2008 Crashing