Empire EFI V1.085 R2 is out
Posted by Pradeesh in Hackintosh on February 7th, 2010
The newest version of Empire EFI is out . This time , I’ll be tackling on certain motherboards and graphics card incompatibility issues. For instance , a lot of folks have complained about Intel onboard graphics and Empire EFI which results in a black screen , nvidia gtx 2xx users and black screen issue , Core i3-M , Core i5-M and new Core ix users and not to mention AMD Users. In a jiffy here are the new goodies :-
- New Chameleon RC3 + PC_EFI 10.6 boot loader with customised patches such as automatic EDID injection , GMA injector and improved nvidia injector (its bsically the same as my customised PC_EFI 10.6 which you can download it from here)
- Added support for AMD SB780 and SB7xx Motherboard series
- Removed some conflicting kext which causes kernel panics on certain motherboard (this includes sound and power management kext). Sound may not work out of the box !
You can read more about the new changes and download these new versions by clicking this link. Oh yeah , just to add that I may no longer able to release Empire EFI due to the time constrain and not to mention some of my work goes unappreciated . I’ll try my best to keep it up to date but don’t worry much about it. The main reason why you need Empire EFI or any boot-132 discs is just to install OSX. Once you’ve it installed , you can pretty much tweak and update and do whatever you wish. Its just that simple.
Want to express your thoughts , feel free to post em here. Yes I do read every single comment and I take note of it
Cheers !
PC_EFI 10.6 + some goodies
Posted by Pradeesh in Hackintosh on February 5th, 2010
As we all do know that netkas has recently released his version of PC_EFI 10.6 (its basically Chameleon RC3 + netkas’ modifications). But then it lacked of some of the key stuff that I always wanted. The reason why I prefer PC_EFI 10.5 is that I can use it to boot 64-bit kernel on my PC. It does not work with Chameleon RC4 for an odd reason. What I’ve done is that I’ve taken the very best of patches made by rek and put it up together.
Basically it includes whatever netkas has added into PC_EFI 10.6 + couple of goodies such as :-
- Meklorts GMA EDID patch (it kinda works on some graphics card as well for native EDID detection)
- 18seven’s Mac Like keys (+ modified by me) – Basically now you could hold ‘3′ and ‘2′ together and it boots into 32-bit. Alt + V into verbose. Basically it gives you the Mac-like feeling instead of typing out ‘-v’ and other stuff out
- Rekursor’s restart fix and other goodies (i can’t recall what other fixes that he added , basically I’ve backported few of his fixes from rev 56) . It includes UUID fix , Reboot fix (now you can reboot without the need of additional kexts such as openHaltRestarter.kext)
Its suitable for those who are using ATI Radeon 4xxx series card as Chameleon RC4 does not really work with Radeon cards , but at the same time those who want to have what Chameleon RC4 has to offer and not to mention the newest and greatest stuff. Its fused together to bring out the best what netkas has to offer and not to mention other great guys such as Rekursor has to offer
You may download the source code here and the binaries from here as well. If you are wondering how to install , kindly follow this guide (just scroll down and read on how to install Chameleon manually) . I don’t include any installers and such as I am not a fan of installers. Its best to learn how to DIY yourself.
Looking for something related to OSX86 ?
If you’re looking for something OSX86 related. Feel free to hit on OSX86/Hackint0sh tab/page and you’ll be presented of all my guides , tutorials , kext download and not to mention EmpireEFI. It makes it a lot easier on what you’re looking for. I’ve few ideas up my mind on how it should work
The reason is because is that sometimes we can’t find the right things via google if we don’t have the right keyword or if you aren’t sure of the exact keyword. I just hope that it helps someone out here.
Fixing Time Sync issue with OSX/Windows & Linux
Most of us do dual boots with our hackintosh. Windows and OSX , but one thing we realise is that when you fire up Windows. You realise the the clock is out of sync and you decide to let windows automatically sync with time servers and then it gets fixed. You said that it could be a mistake and you carried on with your work . The following day when you boot up to OSX , you’ve noticed something odd – the clock is out of sync. Its like a demon that is changing time. You decide to fix it up the same way and so the cycle continues. You’ve tried everything that you could to get these two OSes clock to work in harmony. Well , fear not – Today , I’ll show you couple of ways to fix this issue. From the straight forward method to the complicated method. For each methods , I’ve described here – there are both advantages and disadvantages. Don’t worry , I’ll list them all. If you’re curious why time gets out of sync , then stick around and read the whole thing
(more after the jump)
Some News on OSX 10.6.3 and other things
Posted by Pradeesh in Computers and Technology on January 27th, 2010
This is another quickie. I would like to say the following things on 10.6.3 . These information were based on beta testing. Things may change in the future build
- New Graphics Drivers for ATI and nVidia , but again no sign of ATI 5xxx series support (aka DX11). Frame buffer seems to be improved. Netkas can give a better comment on this as I am on the graphics guy
- There is no longer any 64-bit support for Intel Graphics driver , it seems that Apple has removed support for 64-bit Intel graphics driver. For those who are using Intel onboard graphics and 64-bit Snow Leopard , you’ll have to revert to 32-bit kernel or place the old kexts in your EFI partition
- No support for Intel Core i3 and Core i5 (32nm processors) (not the 45nm ones) , aka the ones which do have an onboard GPU. Again things may change if apple start using them in their macbook line up or mac mini
- New Broadcom drivers – (Final 802.11n ? I am not sure about this more needs to be done)
- No support for Atom (I guess its goodbye to Atom forever , Apple did not add it back)
Secondly , I am busy with Chameleon and as well as my real life too. If you’re wondering what I’m up to. Currently I am trying to help the great guys at chameleon. zef is a humble ,down to earth guy. I like his motto of uniting developers together , I hope it becomes a reality. Oh here is new chameleon repo. You can download em and compile it yourself. New unseen stuff including native reboot (without any kext) and other cool fixes 
Realtek X-Fi Drivers
Posted by Pradeesh in Computers and Technology, Tutorials on January 24th, 2010
Just continued the work of danielk by including newest Realtek Drivers + Creative X-Fi wrappers + EAX v4 support. Basically what these drivers do is that they give you EAX v4 support and Alchemy support that allows you to turn on EAX on legacy games in Windows Vista/7 , something like Realtek 3D Sound thingy , except that it supports up to EAX v4. Not only that , it gives you better audio quality with your onboard HD Audio
EAX 3 on SW:KoTor
Apart from that you can try out the entire creative suite for 30-days (again its completely Optional) , which gives you the entire creative stuff. It was originally meant for gigabyte motherboard and Vista 32-bit , but my specially wrapped drivers (based on danielk) allows you to use those creative software on Windows Vista 32-bit/64-bit and Windows 7 64-bit/32-bit as well. These drivers do not work on Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit. Its for Windows 7/Vista
AMD Testers needed for OSX + VMware goodness
Posted by plastikman in Undefined on January 22nd, 2010
****** AMD Testers needed ******
If you have an AMD processor that supports AMD-V please help me!
Please use this guide follow it the same as with Intel but instead of using the darwin_snow.iso use this darwin_snow_legacy.iso I have leveraged Empire EFI to boot OSX on VMware on Intel and would like to see about doing the same for AMD.
With some help from Spexfox on IRC it is looking unlikely that this method will be successful for AMD Phenom users.
There have been several reports of AMD Turion/Athlon x2 users getting this working, so long as VMware supports AMD-V on the chip (See comment #2).
I will update this guide with prasys’ latest Empire EFI boot cd within the next week or so.
****** AMD Testers needed ******
Complete Chameleon v2 Documentation (Users Guide)
Posted by Pradeesh in Computers and Technology, Hackintosh on January 21st, 2010
This is it folks. A complete documentation which covers functionality of Chameleon along with a guide on how to create your own theme. Its a must have especially if you want to troubleshoot or learn more about Chameleon. Thats right , I am bringing you this documentation
It was not made by me , but instead talented guys over at Xnu. I am just uploading this (with their permission of course) so that a lot of you guys can learn more about chameleon !
You may download it from here
Credits : XNU-Team (for the guide) and Galaxy (for allowing me to upload this).
Oh yeah one more thing , do not try to experiment with every command in the documentation. It may be fatal. If you’re being adventurous , feel free to explore otherwise just print it or store it in your Kindle as a reference for future use :p. Dont tell me that I’ve warned you
Rejoice Intel VE 10/100 Users ! (Snow Leopard)
Posted by Pradeesh in Computers and Technology, Hackintosh on January 20th, 2010
Well I’ve decided to compile the kext and polish it up for Intel VE 10/100 Users. Generally , you can’t get Intel VE 10/100 to work with Snow Leopard as apple decided to drop support for it. It totally makes sense as none of the real macs use this adapter. Anyway, quite a number of people who are still using Intel 945P board and some variants of Intel 915P/G board and Intel 965 boards do have this adapter onboard.
Of course you can get this card to work by using an older IONetworkingFamily.kext , but thats not vanilla. what I’ve come up with is a Vanilla solution. That’s right , its for Intel VE 10/100 (or common known as Intel 855x Intel). To use it , you must be using OSX 10.6.x and above. This kext will only work in 32-bit kernel mode (not in pure 64-bit , it kinda works in 64-bit except that it just stays disconnected even if you plug the cable in).
You may download the kext by clicking here . After you’ve downloaded it you may place the kext either in /System/Library/Extensions or /Extra/Extensions or your EFI partition. It depends on your method of installation. If you want to stay as vanilla as possible , i would highly recommend you to stick the kext in /Extra/Extensions or your EFI Partition. You’ll have to rebuild your kextcache (or use pfix if you are not sure how). Reboot ! – Go to System preferences and you should see that it has found your adapter !
Good explanation on DX11
What do I’ve to say. A picture speaks a thousand words.
ATi vs nVidia explained
Let me tell you this. I am not an ATI fanboi nor nVidia. Thought It would be funny to post thing up. Some of you would have expected Empire EFI or one of my thoughts on Malaysia. Bah , this time its something about graphics instead . I got the image from this post over at lowyat.net . Be warned though
