PCWiz Computer Blog

First update to this blog in a while, I’ll try to keep up with the news faster in the future. Mainly because there hasn’t been any big developments with OSx86 in a very long time. MacRumors lists the main features of the update here:

- Improves performance of video playback and cursor movements for recent Macs with NVIDIA graphics.
- Improves Finder search results for network volumes that may not support Spotlight searching
- Addresses a situation that may cause issues when logging into Gmail
- Improves consistency with Parental Controls and application restrictions

More information here from MacRumors. OSx86 users can use the usual update methods to update to the new version. So what are the highlights for OSx86 users?

- Native Core i7 support
- ATI Radeon 4xxx series support (guide from netkas)
- Intel ICH10 chipset support
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 200 series will be supported when NVIDIA updates their drivers

As for PCWiz Computer, the release of the Magnifique Theme Manager was big and has risen fast to be one of the most popular customization applications for OS X. Alexander Zielenski is working on further developing the program in Objective C, and I am currently learing ObjC as well to create better and more powerful OS X applications in the future. Hope you enjoyed this blog update!

Magnifique is the free theme manager application from PCWiz Computer, allowing you to create your own theme library, and apply themes with a click. Magnifique also provides developers an opportunity to convert their themes to Magnifique format, and easily distribute them through the site. To learn more and to download Magnifique/themes, please see the site here . Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard required!

Zef posted this on the Chameleon blog today:

How do you mean customizable?

You can replace all the images, the icons, the funny chameleon artwork, the fonts. Also you can set the background color, the transparency levels, the dimensons, positions of certain user interface elements. The image resource files can be either embedded into the booter or can be loaded at runtime by using a special .plist style configuration file.

Doesn’t embedding the images makes the boot loader too large?

With the current set of icons, images, fonts embedded, the booter size is about 300k. Without embedding the resources you will get about a 110k large booter. The maximum size of the booter is 392704 bytes (383.5k).

What image formats are supported?

The booter has built-in support for true color 24 bit PNG images with 8 bit transparency layer. We wanted to offer a high quality lossless image format which can be created, edited with many graphics applications across all platforms.

What if I still prefer the text mode interface?

We can’t switch between text mode and graphical mode at the moment after the booter has been started, but you still have a Boot.plist option to disable the GUI. This way you get the well known text based Darwin boot menu.

Ok, this is all fine. Can I see something?

Sure! Click below on the pictures in the gallery to see these shots in full size.

Can I have it now?

No. Please don’t ask for it as you will get it when it’s released.

What’s next? Do i have to wait for next christmas ;-)?

We’re still fighting with issues and polishing the code but freezed the features. So instead of staying quiet, we’re going to reveal other features in the next post on this week.

Image gallery:

Countdown timer using a progress bar.

You can select from many partitions across multiple disks. Even the foreign OS types are detected properly on GPT formatted disks as well.

You can choose from the typical boot options available for native HFS partitions.

This is how the video mode list will be rendered as a transparent window surface over the icons.

Visit the original page here for more information

Optionally you can replace the grey apple logo with a custom transparent image.

Visit the original page here for more info.

Users of nVidia cards based on the G84 and G92 chips have lately been experiencing a case of the mouse jitters with 10.5.6. This was found to be due to a bug in QuickTime and there were various workarounds, many involving downgrading QuickTime. Apple’s latest QuickTime 7.6 seems to cure the issues for some, others it just stays the same, and for some select people the update brings the stuttering issue to them when they’ve never had it before. The solution to fixing this madness is not very hard. Download this file and place it in /System/Library/QuickTime. This fix is not perfect as it messes up some apps that use QuickTime like Wiretap Studio but its the only solution right now. Let’s hope that Apple fixes this soon…

The long awaited successor to Windows Vista is now available in beta form to the public! Grab a copy here, both 32 and 64 bit versions are available. A serial key will be provided at download time. A Windows Live account is required to do the download, and also you must download the beta ISO from a computer running Windows (or a Windows virtual machine) as the download manager software that Microsoft uses is Windows only. This is a reasonably good sign that Windows 7 will be coming late this year. Make sure to submit any bugs you find with the OS, this gives us a better product in the end and also, when MS released Vista they gave out free copies of Vista Ultimate to those who reported bugs during the beta period. There’s a chance this may be happening again, so that’s another incentive!

QUOTE from Spartango of LiveDVD team:

Not long after REVENGE’s call to arms, the OS X live dvd team has struck gold!
We now have a working Live dvd construction method that is easy to follow and works quite well. In fact, it will work on either hackintosh and legit macs, depending on the kext’s and boot loader used!

This method works because OSX has a disk image boot system in place to support its network boot system. IOHDIXController and kernel can take a path to disk image supplied to them, and mount it as /, via “imageboot”, which recognizes a disk image as an attachable filesystem.

Further, Apple has setup a system to take a read-only disk image and attach a shadowfile to it, so that it is writeable. Intended to support a network boot system by making the user’s session local and non-persistent, it is implemented in /etc/rc.netboot. Basically, vndevice (/usr/libexec/vndevice) attaches a shadow file to the dmg, and enables a copy-on-write strategy on that device–writes to the dmg are diverted to the temporary shadow file. This is much like what happens on a linux live dvd, albeit with Unionfs.

Normally the shadowfile is created on a local disk or network share, on either nfs or hfs. Under my method, the shadowfile is created on ramdisk formatted with hfs, and the system behaves exactly as if it were booted with netboot. The difference is that I specify that the dmg to boot from is local(file:///), and then manually start a customized rc script. The script behaves like rc.netboot, except i create a ramdisk and setup the shadowfile there instead of on a local disk. After that / is R/W and OS X boots normally into finder…and beyond.

More details in the link below to the InsanelyMac X Labs!
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=144128

Its exactly what it sounds like folks! The LiveDVD team have successfully created a working Mac OS X LiveDVD and anyone can do it following the instructions. Stay tuned for much more regarding this project!

Well Christmas season, the time of giving, has begun. And the Mac Giving  Tree has even more surprises in store last year. Upon registration, you get two free applications, Synergy (normally $14) and Enigmo 2 (normally $19). The cool thing is that Synergy does not need a serial code, so anyone can download it even without registering. You can get Synergy for free right here.  Enigmo 2 has a serial so you need to register, but I encourage everyone to register to get access to some fantastic software!

The beta of the OSx86 DVD I’ve been working on for months has finally been released. It is the most modern distribution available, boot with Chameleon and Voodoo, PC_EFI v9 bootloader default installed, close to 200 packages in driver support and fixes. Go here for all the release notes, screenshots, and information you need to know!

This news is a few days late, but yes Apple has released Mac OS X 10.5.6 and you can read more about that and what it fixes here. The update as usual with all of Apple’s major updates is 372MB for the delta updater and a hefty 668MB for the combo updater. It is available from Software Update as well. The update, even for real mac users has proven to be troublesome, as there seems to be a bug on many computers (it usually happens if you are using Software Update) that the update does not fully download causing it to hang in the middle of installation. This is why its recommended that you manually download the update and then install it.

Now on to the OSx86 side of the story. People have been going crazy because the 10.5.6 beta builds required a DSDT patch for the system to boot properly. a procedure that can be complicated and impossible to achieve in some instances. It was assumed that the 10.5.6 final would have this requirement as well, but no. 10.5.6 boots just fine without any DSDT patch of any sort, just need your usual kexts. Voodoo kernel 9.5.0 also works on 10.5.6 as long as you have the 9.5.0 system.kext installed. You can update to 10.5.6 the same way used to update to any other Leopard update (but don’t use Software Update!). Some users have reported that there are issues mounting DMG files in 10.5.6. This can be fixed by installing the seatbelt.kext from a previous 10.5.5 install. And last but certainly not least, some users have experienced an issue where System Profiler “does not work” (error in retrieving information).  This is usually caused by not having an AppleSMBIOS patch, or if you are using an old version of  the vanilla AppleSMBIOS.kext. That’s about it, and most people update just fine as long as you do it properly!

Daverto Design has created a beautiful OS X themed JavaScript web interface based on DiaboliK’s source code. Description:

WebX, a high quality javascript interface, is the best way to express yourself. With random desktop backgrounds, dynamic scripts for Twitter and Last.FM. You are now able to show off in a clean and dynamic interface.

If you are building a Mac or OS X related site this may be one of the best options! It comes with full source code and is constantly being improved. Here is a screenshot of WebX in action:

For more information and download see here.