On Wednesday October, 31st, everybody can get a free copy of CrossOver with 12mths support.
CrossOver is an emulation layer for MacOS X and Linux. In contrast to virtualization solutions like VMWare, Parallels or VirtualBox, it allows running thousands of Windows applications, tools and games without having to install a legit Windows operating system.
According to Rixstep.com Apple plans to set up an App Store starting with the introduction of Mac OS X 10.7.
Developers planning on marketing software for 10.7 will submit their products to the App Store as iPhone and now iPad developers have already done. 10.7 will have kernel support for (‘insistence on’) binaries signed with Apple’s root certificate.
No software will be able to run on Mac OS X 10.7 without being approved and signed by Apple, Inc.
According to MacStories.net allegedly Steve Jobs has answered a direct request send to him by Fernando Valente of Chiaro Software. Valente asked him:
There’s a rumor saying there will be a Mac App Store and no software without authorization from Apple will run on Mac OS X. Is that true)
According to the mail Steve Jobs (or someone managing his email account) simply answered:
Nope.
Anyway: you cannot be sure what his answer specifically means. Probably we’re gonna need jailbreaks for Mac OS X in the near future anyhow…
With the advent of Snow Leopard many users have issues installing it onto PC based hardware. Well this is not very curious, since a PC is no Mac. Anyway as Gigabyte motherboards proved to be very close to the original Apple Intel specifications many people decided to buy those boards.
With the release of Snow Leopard DSDT patching seems to have become a must. Installation attempts will most likely fail without it. The intention of this list is to provide comprehensive information on the most used Gigabyte motherboards.
The original idea for this list was by a guy called ximekon (find original list here on InsanelyMac forums).
| Model | North- bridge | South- bridge | LAN | Fire- Wire | Audio | BIOS Link | Last Check |
| P35 |
|||||||
| P35-DS3L | P35 | ICH9 | Gigabit | -,- | ALC888 | F9 | 08/29/2009 |
| P35-DS3 | P35 | ICH9 | Gigabit | -,- | ALC889a | F14 | 08/28/2009 |
| P35-DS3R | P35 | ICH9 | Gigabit | -,- | ALC889a | F13 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP35 |
|||||||
| EP35-DS3 | P35 | ICH9 | RTL8111B | -,- | ALC889a | F4 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP35-DS3R | P35 | ICH9R | RTL8111B | -,- | ALC889a | F4 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP35-DS3P | P35 | ICH9R | Gigabit | Yes | ALC889a | F6 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP35-DS3L | P35 | ICH9 | Gigabit | -,- | ALC888 | F6 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP35-DS4 | P35 | ICH9R | RTL8111B | -,- | ALC889a | F6 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45 |
|||||||
| EP45-DS3 | P45 | ICH10 | 2 x RTL8111C | -,- | ALC889a | F9 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45-DS3R | P45 | ICH10R | 2 x RTL8111C | yes | ALC889a | F11c | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45-DS3P | P45 | ICH10R | 2 x RTL8111C | yes | ALC889a | F8 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45-DS3L | P45 | ICH10 | RTL8111C | -,- | ALC888 | F10 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45-DS3LR | P45 | ICH10R | RTL8111C | -,- | ALC888 | F2 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45-UD3 | P45 | ICH10 | RTL8111C | yes | ALC889a | F8 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45-UD3P | P45 | ICH10R | RTL8111C | yes | ALC889a | F9 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45-UD3L | P45 | ICH10 | RTL8111C | -,- | ALC888 | F5c | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45-UD3LR | P45 | ICH10R | RTL8111C | -,- | ALC888 | F5 | 08/28/2009 |
| EP45-UD3R | P45 | ICH10R | RTL8111C | yes | ALC889a | F9 | 08/28/2009 |
you cant see this line, do you?
The Golden Gigabyte Model Rules
Your Help is Wanted
Weather these rules nor the list above might be 100% accurate. It is only what I found on the net and summarized from the list above.
Please always crosscheck with the official Gigabyte specification page for your model (links to your model are included in the BIOS column) before adding a dsdt.aml or anything that could burn your BIOS.
About a year ago a company called ASEM released a device called EFI-X. This device has been claimed to be capable of booting several Microsoft Windows versions and Mac OS X Leopard.
Legal concerns
From the beginning there were question regarding the legal status of the device. But ASEM claimed the device is legal, although it circumvents Apple’s binary protection using Apple’s copyrighted secret operating system keys (OSK1 and OSK2).
Technical issues
Anyway EFI-X devices had some issues. Many forums reported about problems with Bonjour and sharing in general. In the meantime articles from the official EFI-X support forums have been suddenly disappeared. Customers reporting issues or solutions and workaround to severe bugs have been banned from EFI-X support forums – our own help article to recover almost lost data was removed aswell and one of our members has been officially banned from their forums (the reason was this article in october 2008).
Examining EFI-X in deep
Now some frustrated customers who are on the other hand technologically very familiar have examined the EFI-X device in deep. One of the main points AsereBln found: in contrast to what EFI-X is stating: “Our approach is entirely different, (..) all our code and development is our own only” – they seem to be using program code that has been developed by the OSX86 community though. They seem to be using “Disabler.kext“. Moreover another user (RezRov) found out the EFI-X Windows update software seems to be violating the LGPL as it incorporates a modified USB device library (libusb-win32).
Use of possibly unlicensed 3rd party program code, possibly illegal use of Apple security keys, and customer support below grade for a 170€ (250US$) commercial product that seems to be the summary about a year after product launch.
Lessons learnt
We suppose end users should be aware of this possible hassle. Only an original Apple Mac is really hassle free and 100% compatible to a Mac. But if you are technologically interested and have the time and motivation search the OSX86 communities for setups. The OSX86 forums are full of knowledge and willing to help. But remember a PC won’t ever be 100% compatible to a real Mac.
Many Windows users say this is the best editor in the world. Mac Switchers always said they were desperately searching for something like it, but we did not find it. As we are long time UltraEdit users this is good news, as we will not need to run UltraEdit in Codeweaver’s Crossover anymore. Anyway there is no information about the release date for Linux or MacOS. Only the Windows version 15 will be released April 15th, 2009.
As you can see from the screenshot, it looks like UltraEdit for windows, but it is the Windows version. We expect this to be a commercial Crossover/Wine porting. Rewriting of the whole code would simply be too expensive.
The picture is courtesy of IDM Computer Solutions. Find more pictures on their site…
Apple has released a technical note recommending the use of Mac antivirus software. For the first time Apple admits that Macs need protection like other operating systems aswell. Apple recommends three Anti Virus solutions:
The open source virus scanner ClamXav is not mentioned. Besides the major players Symantec and McAfee we can hope that Kaspersky also ports a version of their Anti Virus software soon. Or as Apple says:
“Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.”
After Psystar countersued Apple a month ago for anticompetitetive business practices (read here). Apple’s attorneys now respond on 23 pages. Apple’s argumentation in short: Psystar violates Apple’s license agreement when putting Mac OS X on Psystar’s OEM computers.
In the paper Apple tries to circumvent the whole monopoly issue by argueing that there is no specific Mac OS X market, but an Apple Computer market. And since there is no specific market for the sole operating system, Apple is no monopolist. Rather than having a Mac OS X operating system market, there is a market for computers and in this market Apple Computers compete with other computers. Apple sums up that Psystars charges need to be rejected, because Apple as a company cannot be forced to help their competitors and thus weakening their own market position.
You may read the whole argumentation here at ZDNET. They released the whole 23 pages as a PDF.
Our comment:
This whole topic remains fascinating. From a technical point of view we would not follow Apple’s argumentation here, because of a simple fact. Mac OS X is heavily based on lots of open source parts from the Linux and GNU worlds. And the Mac OS X’s kernel Darwin was and still is available for x86 based PCs aswell. This might mean by releasing the kernel as a stand alone version, they implicitly admit that the operating system is only artificially bound to the hardware. You may find more some technical notes in our recent article here (see VII. Modify startup script) and on the wiki of the Chaos Communication Congress 2007.
Finally Apple released update 10.5.5 yesterday. Features of 10.5.5 include Apple’s recent security updates, Addressbook bugfixes and lots of other fixes (read all details here). To sum things up: Apple recommends to apply this update as soon as possible. And yes we will obey.
All genuine Mac users can safely update. There are no reports about problems. You may do so using the Software Update App.
OSX86 user may wait some days, we are just examining the steps. Most likely best thing is to download the Combo Update from here and use our instructions here. People report broken audio drivers on ALC883 chipsets (AppleHDA patcher solved this). We’ll get back to you once we checked out all the details.
VMWare has released VMWare Fusion 2.0 beta for MacOS X. Fusion will integrate McAfee Antivirus solution with an upgrade and update plan for 12 months. Moreover Fusion 2.0 will be available as a free update for Fusion 1.0 customers.
Further features:
Downloading the beta version as demo requires registration on VMWare site (go here). A free beta serial key is provided aswell.
See official VMWare trailer here:
Mac clone manufacturer Psystar said to countersuit Apple for anticompetitetive business practices on Tuesday (see our recent report here). For this operation Psystar hired antitrust specialist attorney Colby Springer from Carr & Farrell.
Psystar will file sues on the basis of two U.S. american laws to prevent monopolies and cartels (see Sherman Antitrust Act and Clayton Antitrust Act). Tying MacOS X to Apple labeled hardware only is “an anticompetitive restrain of trade”, said Colby Springer. Psystar wants the District Court from Northern California to rule Apple’s End-User-License-Agreement for MacOS X invalid.
Stay tuned…