January 6th, 2009 by admin
This little set of tools automates a bunch of the things that previously you had to muck about in the terminal to fix. Quoting from the site:
Easily install kernels,kexts (kernel extensions), backup important files, run computermaintenance, modify OS X cosmetics, boost graphics performance by up to50%, install hardware drivers in 1 click and more with OSx86 Tools. This program has been in rigorous betatesting for months now, and me and the rest of the people have workedhard to make OSx86 Tools the best it can be. We now bring to you the final release of OSx86 Tools that will change OSx86 life forever.
Tags: configuration, drivers, osx86, tools
Posted in Hack-Apps | No Comments » |
January 6th, 2009 by admin
If you have a problem where OSX boots up but stops at the blue screen, it probably means something is broken and you’re facing some heartache.
Step 1 is always to see what the error is. Boot into verbose mode and see where it hangs. I recently ran into this behavior and the issue was the LoginWindow application, which shows you the user list so that you can log in. When booting regularly, I’d get to the blue screen and see the spinner, then the spinner would vanish and after a moment return. Wash, rinse, repeat, over and over again. This is the error you see when booting to verbose mode (type in -v when the boot options come up):
/System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow: Login Window Application Started
Before you go reinstalling everything, there’s an easy solution, found here:
Note that case is important and be careful. Some of these commands are dangerous, since you are going to be root.
Start up in Single-User mode by restarting the computer. After the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-S keys until you see white text on a black background. When this has finished you will see a prompt ending in ‘#’, although there may be other messages. Enter the following commands after the prompt:
/sbin/fsck -fy
Press RETURN. Wait a few seconds for 8-10 lines of output. If the last line says repairs were carried out, repeat this command until you get a message ‘The volume <yourdiskname> appears to be OK’. Then continue with:
/sbin/mount -uw /
cd /Library/Preferences
rm com.apple.loginwindow.plist
rm com.apple.windowserver.plist
cd /Library/Caches
rm -r *
cd /System/Library
rm Extensions.kextcache
cd /System/Library/Caches
rm -r *
reboot
Press RETURN after each command.
This should now take you to a proper login screen after the normal boot sequence. You should then Repair Permissions by using Disk Utility (in your /Applications/Utilities folder).
Tags: boot, login, startup
Posted in Fixing Issues | No Comments » |
January 6th, 2009 by admin
Well, I’ve started blogging my adventures about OSX86.
First, I love the OSX. I wish Apple were a software company and not a hardware company. I left windoze after installing Vista and thinking, “This? This is what I have to look forward to for the next few years?” Seriously, MSFT has no vision. I moved to Ubuntu for about 9 months and it was fun but frustrating in a way that never quite paid off.
Then I tried out OSX and I must say, it’s the best OS I’ve ever used. I even went out and bought a MacBook Pro (and it’s the best piece of computing hardware I’ve ever had). Still, I can’t bring myself to shell out basically double the price for a top of the line Mac when I can build one myself. Which I did.
Along the way I’ve had to figure out a lot about how the OS works and so I’m going to start sharing my discoveries. Hopefully this is useful to someone. Anyone.
Posted in Brief Thoughts | 2 Comments » |