Update time
Hack VS Mac
Ever since the announcement that apple was switching over from Powerpc cpu’s to Intel cpu’s there has been an online group of enthousiasts that tried to get MacOS working on generic PC hardware. Now about 3 years since the announced switch to Intel CPU’s it is possible to install MacOS on a wide variety of hardware.
The question is: Is it really worth the trouble? Can we build a cheaper Mac than the one that is available in the apple store (basic Mac Mini)? Well let’s find out.
The following PC-Components were used (Prices include 21% taxes):
- Intel D945GCLF (note: a dual core variant with svideo is available, however I do not know if the svideo connection works with MacOS.) €59,90
- 640 GB harddrive (Best Value GB/€ at time of purchase) € 65,90
- A Sata DVD-burner € 25
- 2GB of memory (The maximum memory supported by the mainboard) €34,90
- A cheap micro itx case + power supply € 49,35
- A dlink DWL-G122 (for wireless lan) € 30
- A retail copy of MacOS € 130
This gives us a total sum of € 395,05. The cost of a new mac mini is about € 599. if we look only at the price tag of the components VS the mac mini we see that the clone is about € 200 cheaper. However the Mac Mini has a dramatically faster cpu and graphics chipset, it also has a bluetooth chip onboard. Every new Mac also comes with the most recent version of ilife. These differences alone are already worth more than € 200. The only advantage our clone Mac has over the Mini is that it has a 640GB harddrive instead of a 120GB harddrive. You also have to take in account the amount of time it will take to get the machine up and running. It’s a lot of work for someone with prior knowledge, it’s damn near impossible for the average user to make it work. There’s also the risk of breaking your MacOS installation with every update you install.
Building a hackintosh is something for an enthusiast that happens to have the necessary hardware or for a power-user which prefers his freedom. It is not something you want to have when you want a computer that just works. If you want a ‘cheap’ mac I suggest you save for a basic Mac Mini or the white Macbook. Perhaps you can even find a nice 2nd hand Intel Mac. Do not bother with PowerPC machines, the next version of MacOS will most likely drop support.
USS Ptichka MK2
Hi,
I’ve recently restarted rebuilding one of my older 3D models. Most of the detail on the model was done through texturing. Now I’ve decided to model the hull grid and windows. I am also rebuilding several larger parts of the model. The texturing will also be replaced. This is what I’ve managed to come up with so far:
Things so far
I am still alive and twitching. I need to stop having these long breaks between blog posts but things have been pretty busy for me these past few months.
My girlfriend and I went on a search for a place of our own. After finding it I spent most of my time looking for kitchen applicances, furnuture, insurance, …
I was shocked when I started packing. I never dared to imagine that I could stuff so many things in such a tiny bedroom. It took forever to pack. Not everything has been moved yet and I doubt that I’ll ever manage to move everything.
We’re still waiting for our curtains. So right now we’ve got paper sticking to the windows to keep our privacy but once the curtains are in place things should be more comfortable. The seats haven’t been delivered yet either. I think I’m going to start bombarding the store with phone calls so that the seats get delivered quickly.
The local Ikea store was also raided by us. I hope that they’ve managed to recover from our raid 
Most evenings we come home, cook, clean and watch some tv. We’re too tired to manage anything else. I’m sure things will go a lot smoother within a few weeks. I’ve allready noticed that we’re starting to create our own daily routine.
I don’t quite feel like putting many pictures online of the appartment, It is a somewhat private part of my live. However I have put a picture next to this post of our two permanent house guests. I don’t like the look in the eyes of the rabbit. I might upload a picture of my workspace at a later time.
Also my car has passed the 10000km mark this weekend, so cheers are quite appropriate right now!
Macbook fan noise
Well the past few weeks my macbook has been terrorizing me with fan noise. The fan was working at 6000 rpm instead of the usual 1500-2000 rpm. This also meant that the battery of my machine was quickly depleted which isn’t a nice thing.
It turns out that the printer that was installed, a canon ip3000, somehow made the fans spin like a mad man. After removing the printer from the driver list the fan speed lowered and the remaining battery life time shot up.
So I guess there might be some issues with the canon printer drivers. If you have fans on your mac that spin out of contol you might want to check your installed printers!
Stop! Render time!
Whilst installing a PC-Game I took a peek in 3D Studio Max at one of my models. I had nothing better to do because I was installing a game. It is ridiculous how long it takes to install a recent pc-game. Gigabyte after gigabyte after gigabyte after… Wel you get the point. Anyhow, one thing led to another so I ended up with a small render which you can view on the left.
Some of you might remember the blog entry about the atom mainboard which I made a few weeks ago. Well recently the dual core atom boards were unleashed on the web. Some colleagues of mine managed to get their hands on one of the dual core intel boards and decided to test if it could manage to play High Definition (1080P) video content. During the first try the movie had a few hick ups here and there. After examining the task manager we noticed that only one core was in use. It turned out that vlc was using only one core to decode the movie. When BS Player was used the movie was played back smoothly.
So there you have it, the cpu is in theory capable of handling High Definition video. However adding a more recent chipset with a better equipped onboard graphics would be a great improvement. Throw in a HDMI connection and you have a killer Media Center mainboard.
Business is booming for Intel thanks to the little cpu they’ve thrown on the market. It’s cheap to make, has a very nice margin (I suspect) and the computer manufacturers are lining up to use the cpu in their products. Intel is even working on a variant of the cpu for usage in cars.
Yes the Intel atom has a bright future ahead for itself.