The climax of Psystar's legal duel with Apple has pushed the former to the very brink of its existence. The final verdict robbed the company of its sole source of income. When the court placed a permanent injunction on the sale of Mac clones – and all unauthorized Mac derivatives - by Psystar, it appeared to be the last nail in the company's coffin, especially since all businesses not named Twitter need some form of income for subsistence. But the unyielding company is trying to tide over these tough times by selling Linux-based desktops and T-shirts, besides begging for donations.

The company that discontinued its range of Mac clones earlier this month has now “voluntarily suspended the sale of our Rebel EFI software product.” It has temporarily discontinued  Rebel EFI – a boot loader that helps install OS X on any generic PC – as it first wants the court's “clarification on the legality” of the software. “In the coming days, we will again be offering complete systems but at discounted prices as they will be bundled with your choice of Linux operating system,” the company announced on its website.

The company is trying hard to garner some much needed public support. From the face of it, Psystar wants to be seen as a champion of open computing. “It's your software, you should be able to use it where you want to,” Psystar wrote on its site. “If you purchase an off-the-shelf copy of OS X Snow Leopard, its your right to use that software.”

Image Credit: Psystar

When is a settlement not a settlement? Could just be what Psystar and Apple are reported to have agreed to in Apple’s long-running legal dispute with the upstart clone maker.

The dispute centers on Psystar’s installation of Apple’s OS X, version 10.5 (a.k.a. Leopard) on Intel-based computers manufactured by Psystar. Apple took exception to Psystar’s hackintosh and sued, with its complaint upheld by a Federal Court in San Francisco. The Court agreed not only to Apple’s claim of copyright infringement, but to Pystar’s violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for the unauthorized installation of OS X.

According to a motion Psystar filed with the Court Monday, Psystar states that it and Apple have reached a partial settlement, in which Psytar agrees to pay Apple damages for violating Apple’s copyright--an estimated $2.1 million. But, only after Psystar has exhausted all of its avenues for appeal. Psystar is hoping this will placate Apple and the Court enough that it can escape a permanent injunction Apple has requested that would shut Psystar down.

Psystar has also asked that it’s Rebel EFI utility be excluded from any injunction. Rebel EFI, which is sold separately, is used to load OS X onto its systems. With Rebel EFI buyers of Psystar’s desktops are able to install OS X themselves, rather than have it preloaded by Psystar, effectively allowing Psystar to remain in the hackintosh business.

Apple may have agreed to drop its copyright infringement claims against Psystar for the promise of a possible future payment. But it’s not clear that Apple is in agreement with Psystar’s continued sale of Rebel EFI, if Apple’s intent is to limit the hackintosh market. It would seem that the dust from this dispute has yet to settle.

Image Credit: ZDNet

Psystar had big plans, unfortunately, their plans were pretty much the only thing that fit that description. Now that Apple has effectively won its copyright infringement case against the company, not only is it all but sure to close, but it will likely have to pay a fine for each and every Hackintosh that went out the door.

Just how many machines is that you ask? Turns out even though the company planned to sell as many as 12 million units by 2011, they only managed to pump out around 768 Mac clones so far. Either the Psystar machines were far less popular than the company (and media) let on, or they are fudging the numbers to try and dodge some of the fine. The numbers were revealed as part of a court ordered release to be used against them at upcoming injunction proceedings. Even if Psystar does manage to pay the fine, they will still be a company without a product, not exactly an ideal situation.

It seems as though Apple has done a pretty good job of nipping these guys off in the bud before they had a chance to cost them any customers, but do you actually think the Hackintosh crowd will actually buy genuine Apple OEM goods now that the hammer has come down against Psystar? I also can't help but wonder how many of those 768 machines were sold to the press.

In what's turning out to be a game of cat and mouse, Apple last week disabled support for Intel's Atom processor through a Snow Leopard update, a tactic the Hackintosh community insisted would present only a temporary setback. They were right, thanks to a Russian hacker known as "teateam," who says he has restored support for Atom-based Hackintoshes running Snow Leopard 10.6.2.

"The problem originates in a revision to the kernel in 10.6.2. The changes Apple made to the latest mach_kernel removes support for [Atom] processors, leaving updated netbooks in a useless state," InsanelyMac member "blkhockypro19" explained in a forum post.

TeaTeam's hack appears to address the issue, though Jeff Porten of MacWorld warned that performing the crack is not something to be taken lightly.

"You'll need to roll up your Terminal sleeves for a few simple steps here," said Porten. "And, of course, replace the kernel of your operating system -- the fundamental code that underlies everything else in Mac OS X -- with a file you've downloaded from the Internet."

Not only that, but it's only a matter of time until Apple releases another update that, in all likelihood, breaks support again. Apple hasn't been sympathetic to the Hackinstosh community, and even went so far as to serve Wired.com a cease and desist order after the tech site posted a video with instructions on how to hack a netbook to run Mac OS X. 

Image Credit: adisetiya.files.wordpress.com

Rumors of an Atom ban turned out to be true, as the Hackintosh community found out with the latest update to Apple's Snow Leopard OS.

"Well, looks like I was right, again," Hackintosh guru StellaRola wrote in a blog post. "The netbook forums are now blowing up with problems of [Snow Leopard] 10.6.2 instant rebooting their Atom-based netbooks. My sources tell me that every time a netbook users installs 10.6.2 an Apple employee gets their wings."

While the ban presents a temporary setback, StellaRola reiterated that "this is OSx86 after all," and predicted that a modded kernel is likely just around the kernel.

In the meantime, a user on the MyDellMini forum claims to have found a workaround that entails running 10.6.2 with a 10.6.1 kernel. The process involved booting from a backup, mounting the 10.6.2 partition, and punching in a few commands, all of which you can read here.

Image Credit: adisetiya.files.wordpress.com

Psystar once again flips Apple the bird by confirming it will support Mac OS X Snow Leopard on all new Mac clones. Furthermore, the company said it had developed "new virtualization technologies" to better integrate with the newly released OS like "never before."

At the same time, Psystar issued a warning to its customers not to install Snow Leopard until the OEM had a chance to work out any kinks and ensure a no-fuss upgrade.

"We ask you not to attempt to install the new OS X as it may cause harm to your computer, resulting in a possible re-installation of Leopard OS 10.5 and a loss of data," Pystar wrote in a blog post. "As with all previous software updates to the OS, Psystar meticulously tests and retests all software updates to confirm their compatibility with older Psystar machines."

As could be expected, Apple is none too happy about Psystar's continued defiance and has asked a California judge to order a 30 day "re-opening of discovery" to give Aple time to obtain Psystar's modified Snow Leopard source code.

OS X is out there. You’ve seen it in coffee shops, on TV, in the laps of hipsters at the local taqueria. There‘s no shame in wondering what all the fuss is about. Hell, it’s healthy to mix it up a little bit. If only the idea of sending Steve Jobs and the rest of Apple, Inc. thousands of your hard-earned dollars didn’t send you into a cold sweat that only a game of Left4Dead can cure. Still, OS X is the subject of many glowing reviews. Even hardcore PC users are singing its praises. If you have the itch to try out OS X, but you’re not down with shelling out the cash for a new Mac, we have one word for you: Hackintosh.

When Apple announced the move to Intel processors for its computer lineup, the search was on for a practical way to install OS X on non-Apple hardware. Over the years, the best way to achieve this feat was to patch a retail version of the OS X install from Apple. Users would scour the Internet for the patches—always hoping that what they downloaded was indeed the correct patch, and not some virus or trojan horse ready to wreck havoc on their PCs.

But these days the quest for OS X needn’t be so perilous. Read on to see how an inventive little USB device can let you easily dual boot OS X on non-Apple hardware, using a legitimate copy of OS X. 

The Heart of the Hackintosh

The EFI-X USB dongle ultimately makes our Hackintosh possible, but your other PC components matter as well

EFI-X USB Dongle

The EFI-X dongle ($235, http://efixna.com) is the Hackintosh builder’s dream. The device, which plugs into a motherboard’s USB port, works by creating a full EFI environment inside a tiny USB microcomputer. EFI, or Extensible Firmware Interface, was created by Intel to replace the aging BIOS on PCs. Apple’s Unix-based Macs use EFI instead of BIOS. The EFI-X gives users the ability to run EFI-based and BIOS-based operating systems on one machine.

The module contains the hardware drivers of all the equipment on its hardware list. The EFI-X bootloader screen gives you the option to pick which operating system you would like to load at startup. Once you have OS X installed on your machine, the EFI-X must be connected to your machine at all times. If you want to build two Hackintosh systems, you need to purchase two EFI-X dongles.

The EFI-X isn’t without its drawbacks. You can’t just throw any hardware in a tower and start playing with iChat and Final Cut Pro. You need to be sure you use only hardware that has pre-installed drivers on the EFI-X. EFI-X has a complete list of compatible hardware on its site; below we tell you the parts we chose.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo

Like the current Macs on the market, the EFI-X works with Intel Core 2 processors. AMD fanboys can complain about Intel’s market share, its lack of innovation, and aggressive plots to remove all its competitors until the cows come home—it’s not going to change the fact that you can’t build a Hackintosh with an AMD CPU. In our machine we used a 2.67GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.

Motherboard: DFI P45

Because the EFI-X comes with pre-installed drivers for hardware, the list of compatible motherboards is necessarily limited. EFI-X supports Gigabyte P35, P45, and X48 chipset boards, with support for Gigabyte X58 boards reportedly coming soon. Or you can choose from one of two DFI P45 chipset motherboards. We went with DFI’s LanParty DK P45-T2RS Plus ($160 street, www.dfi.com.tw).

Videocard: GeForce 9800 GTX

 To help you see all your beautiful OS X goodness on screen, ATI and Nvidia cards are supported by the EFI-X. While EFI-X supports the ATI Radeon HD 3870 and Radeon HD 2600 XT cards, ATI knows that Apple is best buds with Nvidia and cautions that ongoing support of these cards is uncertain. Compatible Nvidia cards include the 7000, 8800, and 9800 series graphic cards. We went with a two-year-old PNY XLR8 GeForce 9800 GTX ($140 street, www.nvidia.com) because it’s cheap and readily available.

Storage: Seagate 1.5TB

We initially started our project with a SATA hard drive and an IDE optical drive. The EFI-X kept hanging on the OS X install disc, so we switched over to a SATA optical drive and that solved the problem. In order to build a multi-OS machine you’ll need a SATA HDD for each OS. We installed OS X Leopard on a 1.5TB drive and Windows Vista on a 1.5TB drive. If we plan on adding another OS, we’ll have to throw another SATA drive in our rig. Partitions and Apple’s Boot Camp don’t work with the EFI-X device. 

It Takes Two to Tango

Your Hackintosh will be a dual-boot machine, meaning it will run both Windows and OS X. We recommend installing whatever flavor of Windows you prefer before beginning your journey into the world of Mac. We attempted several OS install scenarios and found the path of “regular Windows install, followed by Hackintosh” yielded the best results.  We installed Windows Vista in our machine, against the warning of Justin Long.

 Now, even if you hate Apple, Inc. with all your heart and soul, you need to purchase a retail copy of OS X ($130, www.apple.com) for every machine you install it on. If you plan on making Macs and/or Hackintoshes a family affair, you can purchase a family pack for $200 for use on five machines. Apple doesn’t require validation codes or a call in to their HQ for verification. Please don’t abuse Apple’s trusting nature.

Building the Hackintosh

Follow these steps to get OS X up and running on your PC

Before we begin, we need to chat about the law and EULAs. Installing OS X on non-Apple hardware, while probably not technically illegal, does violate Apple’s End User License Agreement (EULA). Will Apple hunt you down and kidnap your pets until you remove OS X from your Hackintosh? It’s unlikely.

Apple isn’t too concerned with the little guy tinkering with his computer, and will have a pretty challenging time tracking you down if you go out and purchase a legal copy of OS X for your project. On the other hand, if you want to base a business around building Hackintoshes, expect a visit from Apple’s crack team of lawyers.

With that out of the way, let’s start building. We’ll give you specific instructions for the DFI board we used; if you’re using a different (but compatible) motherboard, you’ll need to adapt our instructions for your hardware.

1. Install the EFI-X Dongle

The EFI-X dongle is the secret sauce that makes OS X think your awesome PC is a craptacular, but Apple-approved Mac. Think of the EFI-X module as Clark Kent’s glasses—when they’re on, no one has a clue that he’s Superman. Installation is simple, you just need to plug the EFI-X into a vacant USB header on your motherboard. The dongle comes with an extension cable if you have trouble squeezing the device in between the other components on your rig. Make sure to avoid plugging the dongle into the FireWire header—that would torch your $250 device.

2. Configure the BIOS

Next up, we need to adjust BIOS settings to work with the EFI-X device and the OS X installer. Rather than list a series of options and the correct settings, we’re going to just show the appropriate BIOS screens, with everything set to the correct settings, and we’ll note anything you need to tweak on sub-screens. But, before you can do that, you’ll need to enter the BIOS by mashing the Del key as your PC boots.

Standard CMOS Features

Enter the Standard CMOS Features screen. Navigate to Halt On, press Enter, and select All, But Keyboard. Press Enter to accept your bold new setting and then Esc to return to the Main BIOS screen.

Integrated Peripherals

Navigate to the Integrated Peripherals option, and then to the OnChip IDE Device screen. For SATA Mode, choose IDE. The EFI-X doesn’t support RAID. AHCI should be turned off during the install process. You can turn it back on after you’ve finished the install. Press Enter to save your settings.

Next, navigate to LEGACY Mode Support, select Enabled and press Enter to save your setting. For the Onboard JMB363 option, select Native IDE and press Enter.

Press Esc to return to the Integrated Peripherals main screen.

USB Devices

While still in the Integrated Peripherals screen, navigate to the USB Device Setting page and hit Enter. Make sure the controllers and functions are all enabled. Navigate to USB Mass Storage Device Boot Settings.

You should see the EFiX Booting Device 1.0 option. Select it and press Enter. Select the HDD Mode option and press Enter to save your setting.

Advanced BIOS Settings

From the main BIOS screen navigate to the Advanced BIOS Settings option and press Enter. Select Hard Disk Boot Priority. Move the USB-HDD0 : EFiX Booting Device to the top of the list by selecting it and pressing the plus (+) button until it’s on the top of the heap. Smack Esc to return to the Advanced BIOS Settings main screen.

Navigate to the First Boot Device. Select CDROM from the list of boot devices. Press Enter to save your setting. Change the Second Boot Device to Hard Disk using the same method. Press Esc to return to the glory of the main BIOS screen.

Power Management

Navigate to the Power Management Setup screen. Go to ACPI Function, select Enabled and press Enter to save your choice.
Navigate to ACPI Suspend Type, Select S3(STR), and press Enter. Press Esc to return to the main BIOS screen.

Navigate to Save & Exit Setup and press Enter. The machine will now reboot with all your new BIOS settings. It’s almost go-time with your Hackintosh.

3. The EFI-X Bootloader

When your machine reboots, you should see “EFIX V1 Loading Please Wait” on the screen. If you don’t see this text on your screen, you’ve totally screwed up. Don’t go blaming us—just reboot, begin mashing the Del key to enter the BIOS, and double-check your settings.

If you do see the “EFIX V1 Loading…” text, way to go. The EFI-X Bootloader screen will appear. You will be presented with what looks like trash cans from the future. Don’t be alarmed if the trash cans have an X or Window icon on them. Even if you haven’t installed an OS on your drives yet, the EFI-X recognizes the format of the SATA drives attached to the rig. You may see two Windows choices; don’t worry. Once you reformat one of the drives to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), it’ll have X on it. For now, just ignore those glowing trash cans with company logos and choose the trash can with DVD on it to access your OS X install disc. Press Enter. 

4. Installing and Configuring OS X

If all goes to plan, you should see a startup screen. It’s different from the usual OS X startup screen. Don’t worry, that’s the EFI-X startup screen. As long as it doesn’t hang, you’re doing fine. While installing, if your SATA drive is formatted FAT, you’re going to have to reformat it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Don’t worry, the OS X installer is pretty much idiot-proof; it will warn you if the drive is formatted incorrectly. If it is formatted FAT, select Options, and a drop-down menu will appear with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) already selected. Click Erase. Be careful not to nuke your Windows. 

You’ll get a green arrow on your hard drive signifying it’s ready for OS X. You will also be warned that your data will be erased on that drive. Make sure you don’t have anything on that drive you’ll need later, like your vast database of Caprica Six images or your banking information. Click Continue.

Now take a deep breath. You’re about to do something that’s a little crazy. Click Install on the next screen, and away we go. You have about 30 to 45 minutes while the installer does its magic, so go grab a bite to eat or wash your hands to get all that icky OS X install pixie dust off of them. 

After you’ve installed OS X, you have to fill out the Apple setup/registration form. Whatever name you choose at this point will be the name of your user account on your Mac. Entering “Amanda Huginkis” will definitely come back to haunt you here. You’ll also be prompted for a password and information regarding your network. OS X takes all the information you enter to configure your computer’s settings. Even the registration page information will be used to identify you in the OS X Address Book app. Just do what Mac users have been doing forever: once the setup asks for you to actually register, choose the Register Later option. Steve already knows too much about us.

Your desktop will now shine brightly with the glimmer of the Leopard desktop image. Take it in. It’s OK, no one is going to hurt you. Leopard is your friend.

5. Updating OS X

Now, the moment of truth—updating OS X on your Hackintosh. Remember, Hackintoshes with patched kernels are unable to be updated. It’s their Kryptonite. But the EFI-X allows you to update your Hackintosh because it’s fooling OS X into believing it’s a legit Mac. We recommend applying all the updates available, as there are some significant fixes between 10.5 and 10.5.6. You can apply updates by choosing the Apple Menu in the upper-left corner of the menu bar. Choose Software Update. A window will pop up with the available updates Apple thinks you need. Click Install.

OS X Leopard downloads updates and then asks to be restarted so it can install updates without interruption from applications and processes. When you click Restart, the computer will display a light-blue screen and will begin the installation process. Don’t worry, this is normal. The machine will restart once it’s finished installing. You may have to do this a few times to get all the updates available.

Now that your Hackintosh is updated to the most recent Apple goodness, it’s time to check out the specs of your new machine. Go to the Apple in the top-left of the menu bar and select About This Mac in the drop-down. You’ll see the processor and the amount of RAM in your rig. For even more information, click More Info.... The System Profiler will give you all the information you need about your machine. If your machine is giving you any problems, this is a good place to see which startup items are causing issues or to make sure your USB Device Tree is recognizing a device. Most peripherals are plug-and-play with OS X, but not all. A quick Internet search will usually find the drivers you need. Just like with a PC, but with an added touch of smugness.

The Care and Feeding of Your Hackintosh

Now that you’ve entered the strange and exciting new world of OS X, here are a few tips to a happy OS X experience

Disk Utility

If your machine is acting wonky, check out the Disk Utility, found in Applications > Utilities. From there you can repair disk
permissions and repair disks that have are having issues. If you’re curious about how you defrag within OS X, not to worry—OS X defrags drives overnight.

Installing Apps

Many applications are just drag-and-drop. Yes, it sounds crazy, but all you have to do is drop the app into the Applications folder and, bam, it’s installed.

Right Click

There’s a rumor out there that OS X doesn’t have right-click capability. But actually, OS X has had the ability to use a two-button mouse since its inception. Just plug in your favorite two-button mouse and carry on.

Terminal

OS X is a Unix-based system. If you feel like messing around with the innards of OS X, go to Applications > Utilities, where you’ll find the Terminal app. Brush up on your Unix commands and start tinkering.

Keyboard Shortcuts

If you’re using a Windows keyboard with OS X, you’ll use the Windows key (the one with the Windows logo) instead of the Ctrl key as the basis for your keyboard shortcuts. For example, Windows+S to save. All the most common functions such as copy, cut, paste, new, print, etc., use the same letter as in Windows (C, X, V, N, P, respectively). If you have a Mac keyboard lying around, you’ll be using the Cmd key for keyboard shortcuts.

System Preferences

It’s the OS X version of the Control Panel in Windows. In System Preferences you’ll find Networking, Security, Accounts, and other preferences for OS X. When in doubt, you can use the search field in the upper-left corner to find what you’re looking for.