Shaggy All American 17820 Posts user info edit post |
From El Reg
Quote : | "
Mac-boots-Windows contest won By Tony Smith Published Thursday 16th March 2006 15:04 GMT The $13,000 prize for whoever gets Windows XP to dual-boot on an Intel-based Mac has been won, according to the website created to promote the competition. At this stage it's not clear who's going to walk off with the cash, or whether their code will make it to a wider audience.
The contest was started last month by Colin Nederkoorn to prove to his boss that replacing an IBM desktop PC with a MacBook Pro made sense because the machine would run Windows XP natively as well as Mac OS X.
Apple has said in the past it will do nothing to prevent Mac owners from running Windows on x86-based Macs - it appears more keen on preventing Mac OS X being run on generic x86 hardware. However, the new Macs' boot process uses Intel's Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) system rather than a standard PC BIOS, and that has hampered attempts to boot XP on the machines.
Last week, photos began appearing on the web of an iMac apparently running XP. Was it real, or was it a hoax? The coder, going by the handle narf2006, this week posted a video purportedly showing the boot process in action. Real or not, Nederkoorn has said the contest has been won, so whoever's solution arrived first, he's presumably tested it on his brand new MacBook Pro and found it works.
Nederkoorn's rules require the winning solution to provide the user with a choice of operating systems at start-up. Whichever one the user selects, it shouldn't interfere with the other, dormant OS.
Forum postings have alleged the bootloader code will be made available, though there seems nothing out there yet.
If it does, what then? Microsoft will certainly sell some more upgrade boxes, so it'll be happy. And Apple may quietly satisfied in the knowledge businesses can buy its machines and still run all their old applications - it's no doubt hoping this will encourage Mac sales by stealth.
The losers are likely to be the companies who work to port software from one platform to the other. Why wait for someone like Aspyr to port the latest PC-based shoot-'em-up over to Mac OS X when you can run the Windows version straight away? Linux folk have been using dual-boot systems for this reason for years, and it's one of the reasons why Linux-friendly games-porting companies have generally failed - look what happened to Loki, for instance. ®
" |
So now you can finally do something with your new intel mac ;-]
[Edited on March 16, 2006 at 7:25 PM. Reason : @$%@$]3/16/2006 7:21:47 PM |
joe17669 All American 22728 Posts user info edit post |
3/16/2006 7:25:28 PM |
GraniteBalls Aging fast 12262 Posts user info edit post |
Nice.
But what kind of drivers would you install.
Windows based drivers for macintosh hardware? DO THOSE EVEN EXIST? 3/16/2006 7:50:23 PM |
Noen All American 31346 Posts user info edit post |
dipshit, its all intel inside. everything is supported 3/16/2006 9:12:15 PM |
JonHGuth Suspended 39171 Posts user info edit post |
im not excited till it works the other way so i can run os x for cheap 3/16/2006 9:17:13 PM |
GraniteBalls Aging fast 12262 Posts user info edit post |
What kind of gfx card is in that thing? Nvidia? 3/16/2006 9:18:34 PM |
Noen All American 31346 Posts user info edit post |
http://www.apple.com Has all these answers. 3/16/2006 9:23:08 PM |
GraniteBalls Aging fast 12262 Posts user info edit post |
well I'll be damned.
I should really read more. 3/16/2006 9:24:50 PM |
smoothcrim Universal Magnetic! 18966 Posts user info edit post |
I think all he did was boot off a flash drive and put lilo on it or something 3/17/2006 2:35:12 AM |
moron All American 34142 Posts user info edit post |
Graphics acceleration doesn't work now because the GPU firmwares are designed to work with the EFI, and apparently the Windows drivers don't pick it up. It would pretty much be a framebuffer as it is, until someone cracks the Windows drivers. 3/17/2006 2:41:49 AM |
El Nachó special helper 16370 Posts user info edit post |
Now Apple lets you officially do this...
http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/05/boot-camp-lets-macs-run-windows-officially/ 4/5/2006 9:46:46 AM |
qntmfred retired 40726 Posts user info edit post |
wow. anything on whether you'll be able to dual boot OS X with Vista? 4/5/2006 9:56:42 AM |
GraniteBalls Aging fast 12262 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "It also includes a selection of Windows drivers for common Mac hardware" |
Now I'm confused. I thought I was just told that there was no "mac hardware".
Quote : | "dipshit, its all intel inside. everything is supported
" |
Anyone want to elaborate? Cause I'm feeling less like a dipshit, now.4/5/2006 9:57:13 AM |
El Nachó special helper 16370 Posts user info edit post |
^^I seriously doubt that any of the current macs have the specs to handle Vista. 4/5/2006 10:02:21 AM |
qntmfred retired 40726 Posts user info edit post |
yeah, but they're 4X FASTER! 4/5/2006 10:09:06 AM |
EEstudent All American 2595 Posts user info edit post |
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/
ftw. 4/5/2006 10:30:47 AM |
channel_zero All American 1017 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "^^I seriously doubt that any of the current macs have the specs to handle Vista." |
What does it matter? Vista won't be out until 2020 anyway.4/5/2006 11:00:39 AM |
The Coz Tempus Fugitive 26099 Posts user info edit post |
^^The real contest winner. 4/5/2006 11:17:58 AM |
MiniMe_877 All American 4414 Posts user info edit post |
you know Apple has been working on that for a while, they just held out to polish it up and release it after the contest was over
that would have been a big upset if Apple beat all these nerds to the punch and released it before the contest was won 4/5/2006 11:35:03 AM |
TGD All American 8912 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "What you’ll need
...
* A printer for the instructions (You’ll want to print them before installing Windows, really.)" |
Quote : | "EFI and BIOS
Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries." |
Quote : | "Word to the Wise
Windows running on a Mac is like Windows running on a PC. That means it’ll be subject to the same attacks that plague the Windows world. So be sure to keep it updated with the latest Microsoft Windows security fixes." |
[Edited on April 5, 2006 at 12:29 PM. Reason : more]4/5/2006 12:26:56 PM |
EEstudent All American 2595 Posts user info edit post |
yeah, I lolled when I read that stuff too...who writes those things 4/5/2006 1:33:23 PM |
Charybdisjim All American 5486 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "^^I seriously doubt that any of the current macs have the specs to handle Vista." |
up to 2ghz dual core cpu+2gigs of ram+x1600 with 256 MB gddr3 isn't enough to run vista?4/5/2006 6:42:08 PM |
GraniteBalls Aging fast 12262 Posts user info edit post |
^ Everything but HD-DVD resolution. 4/5/2006 9:49:29 PM |
BigMan157 no u 103354 Posts user info edit post |
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/mac/ 4/6/2006 12:11:47 PM |
GraniteBalls Aging fast 12262 Posts user info edit post |
Noone answered my fucking question. 4/6/2006 2:11:44 PM |