Hacked OSx86 10.4.4 Impressions

Feb 20, 2006 at 1:15pm in Apple, Mods, Reviews

Last night I finally had the time to install Maxxuss’ patches (which will go unlinked to prevent legal trouble) for OS X 10.4.4. His patches are what allows OS X to be installed on just about any computer. Previously OSx86 users had to work with the development version of OS X, but since Intel OS X is now public, OSx86 users can now enjoy a fully working OS.

The installation process for 10.4.4 is what is going to turn most people away. In order to install you need a working 10.4.3 installation and a separate hard drive to be used for 10.4.4. If you’re lucky enough to meet those requirements, several files must be edited and numerous commands must be issued. The overall install doesn’t leave room for too many errors, so you must follow the directions exactly. As long as you can follow directions, the installation isn’t difficult.

I actually enjoyed the installation. The whole install process teaches you about the operating system, and how Maxxuss was able to circumvent the EFI. While installing I had several times where I just couldn’t believe how simple, yet effective the hacks were. When I finished installing, I felt that I had accomplished something great, not just sat around while other hackers did the work.

Alright, enough about the install. How does it run you say? It runs like a dream. As soon as I took control of the mouse, I knew it was significantly faster than the previous hacked version of 10.4.3. Apple has greatly improved the performance of OSx86 for the final released build. Applications load faster, effects work without delay, widgets appear faster, and best of all, Rosetta is fast. It’s everything I dreamed it to be.

On top of the performance, all bugs I noticed in 10.4.3 have since been squashed. Certain alpha transparencies which did not display correctly, now work as intended. Apple applications such as the ones found in the iLife suite, work without modifications. Safari InputManagers now work as intended also. OS X 10.4.4 is what you’d expect from Apple, a bug free OS.

If you’re a OSx86 user, I would say it’s safe to make the upgrade to 10.4.4, as long as you don’t have a problem following directions. Even with the EFI bypass, 10.4.4 runs just as smooth and stable as 10.4.3 did. Just make sure you take your time when installing.

If you’re a person debating if you should get an Intel Mac, I’d say go for it. If 10.4.4 is stable running on hardware that Apple never intended it to be running on, just imagine what it runs like on their hardware. Also, Apple has recently released 10.4.5 which is even faster and squashes the remainder of the Intel bugs. I know as soon as Apple releases their Intel iBooks (MacBooks?), I will be putting down the cash to buy one.

54 Comments

  1. 1 owenkun on Feb 20, 2006 at 1:31 pm (Quote):

    What are the specifications of the hardware on which you’d installed OS X?

  2. 2 cavemonkey50 on Feb 20, 2006 at 1:33 pm (Quote):

    Here you go owenkun:

    ASRock P4DUAL-915GL Motherboard (Intel GMA 900)
    Intel Celeron D 325 (SSE3)
    pqi POWER Series 512MB PC3200 RAM (2×256)

  3. 3 Zach on Feb 20, 2006 at 5:19 pm (Quote):

    Wow, I am impressed. Doesn’t sound as bad as everyone makes it. I’d like to give it a try!

  4. 4 Paul Stamatiou on Feb 21, 2006 at 2:07 am (Quote):

    Great stuff! I’m hoping to do something like this very soon… maybe during spring break on an extra rig I have at home. =D

  5. 5 [Geeks Are Sexy] Tech. News on Feb 21, 2006 at 9:15 am (Quote):

    Oh yeah, I’ll be testing it out as soon as possible.. I do hope it’s faster :)

  6. 6 Gregg G on Feb 21, 2006 at 11:04 am (Quote):

    I wish someone would put the clean installed disk image on BT so we les savy people could get it. If anyone is willing to do that it’d be greatly appreciated!

  7. 7 BackBare on Feb 21, 2006 at 11:05 am (Quote):

    Does ethernet work?

  8. 8 Dave on Feb 21, 2006 at 11:17 am (Quote):

    Gregg, hell, why don’t you go out and buy a copy if you think it’s worth it? Making a few changes or whatever is needed won’t be too hard. And if you don’t want to deal with things like that, you can buy an iMac or a MacBook Pro. Hundreds of developers have worked hard to make it a great experience for you, and now you’re too shabby to spend a hundred $ on a proper license?

  9. 9 Mike Hersman on Feb 21, 2006 at 11:22 am (Quote):

    It has to be an Intel processor no matter what though, correct?

  10. 10 N.R. on Feb 21, 2006 at 11:32 am (Quote):

    no, it does not have to be an intel processor. amd works too. important is that your CPU supports SSE2 or SSE3

  11. 11 john on Feb 21, 2006 at 11:34 am (Quote):

    Nothing beats the real thing. I got an iMac (before the Intel news) and got a Powerbook after. Apple’s developers deserve the support, they did a great job. Pirating XP is one thing, M$ will not see the loss as thats all they do - Apple is a “total package” company. Give them the support they deserve and get some Apple hardware - it’s worth it…

  12. 12 foo on Feb 21, 2006 at 11:37 am (Quote):

    :neutral::roll::cry::eek::lol::mad::sad::sad:

  13. 13 Steven on Feb 21, 2006 at 11:49 am (Quote):

    Any word on centrino wifi support? That’s what keeping me away from it. I tried 10.4.3, but the lack of wifi support for my card made me go back to windows :(

  14. 14 C on Feb 21, 2006 at 12:07 pm (Quote):

    OK, the OS runs, but I notice the conspicuous absence of reports of running actual applications. Try importing some DV via FireWire, then editing it in iMovie and burning a DVD in iDVD. Those are all intel-native apps, but don’t be too surprised when none of it works.

  15. 15 cmstar0 on Feb 21, 2006 at 12:15 pm (Quote):

    Just get a PowerPC mac mini instead of all this hassle. Besides, they’re free if you follow the rules.

    Referrer Removed: Thou shall not spam!

  16. 16 rain on Feb 21, 2006 at 12:21 pm (Quote):

    Getting a mac mini would be about as stupid as cmstar0 is, linking to his referrer ID from a pyramid scheme, do us all a favor and don’t click it.

  17. 17 akudoi on Feb 21, 2006 at 12:27 pm (Quote):

    Does anyone have a link to the install directions… i DO NOT want a link to the Maxxuss patched files. Just to a walk through of the install. Thanks.

  18. 18 Xander on Feb 21, 2006 at 12:50 pm (Quote):

    “When I finished installing, I felt that I had accomplished something great, not just sat around while other hackers did the work.”
    Dude, other hackers did do all the work! :roll: All you did was install it.

  19. 19 jubby-joo on Feb 21, 2006 at 1:01 pm (Quote):

    Apple is a HARDWARE company. Traditionaly you never had licence keys for apple’s OS. Where Winblowz you did. That IS the difference, MS=software company, apple=hardware company. The same goes for SUN. This is why it’s a big shift when apple makes their software run on non-apple machines. I think the developers wouldn’t mind you running in on a dell. I bet half of them dreamed that would be the case.

  20. 20 Danny Trinh on Feb 21, 2006 at 1:05 pm (Quote):

    Sweet, but you’re right - the prerequisites will probably eliminate a fair portion of those interested :P

    Nonetheless, I can’t wait to try this out

  21. 21 EthicalTheory on Feb 21, 2006 at 1:09 pm (Quote):

    @john

    Stealing is stealing, and two wrongs do not make a right.

  22. 22 todd on Feb 21, 2006 at 1:21 pm (Quote):

    Are you able to change refresh rates with ATI Nvidia or other video adapters yet?

  23. 23 cavemonkey50 on Feb 21, 2006 at 4:24 pm (Quote):

    Sorry this took so long to reply. I had a long day at school. Now for your anwsers. I have a lot of comments to answer, so bare with me on this lengthy comment.

    Gregg G: I wish someone would put the clean installed disk image on BT so we les savy people could get it. If anyone is willing to do that it’d be greatly appreciated!

    Even if someone leaks the real DVD, this type of installation will still be needed. The best possible leak you can hope for is an image of someone’s installation similar to the way Deadmoo did it for 10.4.1.

    Backbone: Does ethernet work?

    If it worked in 10.4.3, it will work in 10.4.4. You just need to copy your IONetworkingFamily.kext file from 10.4.3 for everything to work.

    Mike Hersman: It has to be an Intel processor no matter what though, correct?

    No, Maxxuss has an AMD patch floating around. You just need a processor with SSE2 instructions.

    Steven: Any word on centrino wifi support?

    I haven’t heard anything, and I don’t have any setup to test Centrino WiFi.

    C: OK, the OS runs, but I notice the conspicuous absence of reports of running actual applications. Try importing some DV via FireWire, then editing it in iMovie and burning a DVD in iDVD. Those are all intel-native apps, but don’t be too surprised when none of it works.

    Give me some time, I just got 10.4.4 working. I don’t have a firewire port so I will be unable to test. I will move my DVD burner over to my Mac test box and see how iMovie works.

    akudoi: Does anyone have a link to the install directions… i DO NOT want a link to the Maxxuss patched files. Just to a walk through of the install. Thanks.

    The install directions are on Maxxuss’ website.

    Xander: Dude, other hackers did do all the work! All you did was install it.

    Never said I actually did accomplish anything great. :lol: What I meant by that line was I didn’t just download a pre-patched DVD install. I had to do a lot of the modifying myself.

    todd: Are you able to change refresh rates with ATI Nvidia or other video adapters yet?

    I don’t have either card, so I don’t know personally. I have ready some reports that the resolution and refresh rate still can not be changed.

  24. 24 Nano on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:09 pm (Quote):

    Maxxus’ site has been taken down as of Feb 21, 2006

    I didn’t get a chance to copy the site or download the patches in time even though I suspected this might happen.

  25. 25 cavemonkey50 on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:13 pm (Quote):

    Nano, the patches have already reached BitTorrent. The only thing missing is the directions, but I’m sure someone has saved the directions somewhere.

  26. 26 k1000 on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:25 pm (Quote):

    Fortunetly I saved Maxxuss page.
    Here are links to the Maxxuss patches: (one of them should work)

    Removed to keep this site legal. :-)

    good luck :)

  27. 27 k1000 on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:36 pm (Quote):

    HERE comes google cache

    Removed to keep this site legal. :-)

  28. 28 Quote on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:42 pm (Quote):

    “Your karma check for today:
    There once was a user that whined
    his existing OS was so blind
    he’d do better to pirate
    an OS that ran great
    but found his hardware declined.
    Please don’t steal Mac OS!
    Really, that’s way uncool.
    (C) Apple Computer, Inc.”

  29. 29 cavemonkey50 on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:42 pm (Quote):

    k1000, the Google Cache of the Maxxuss install instructions for 10.4.4 is not the latest most accurate one.

  30. 30 k1000 on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:51 pm (Quote):

    cavemonkey50
    I just compared google cache page to the page I saved today and I can’t see diference :???:

  31. 31 k1000 on Feb 21, 2006 at 5:55 pm (Quote):

    Does anybody have success installing on the SATA HD?

  32. 32 cavemonkey50 on Feb 21, 2006 at 6:03 pm (Quote):

    k1000, just look at the page. It lists Base Patches 0.3. The most current set of patched is 1.0.

  33. 33 name on Feb 21, 2006 at 6:20 pm (Quote):

    :?::!::eek::wink:

  34. 34 Intr3py on Feb 21, 2006 at 6:24 pm (Quote):

    cavemonkey50: can you confirm that your sound card fully works on 10.4.4? and did it work for you on 10.4.3?
    congrats on the install, by the way ;)

  35. 35 cavemonkey50 on Feb 21, 2006 at 6:29 pm (Quote):

    Intr3py: can you confirm that your sound card fully works on 10.4.4? and did it work for you on 10.4.3?

    Yes, it actually works better than 10.4.3. On 10.4.3 none of my inputs would work and my volume level would reset to the default volume after every reboot. On 10.4.4 all of my inputs are working and the volume level stays put.

    I’m not sure why it works better in 10.4.4 because to enable sound you have to copy your sound kext from 10.4.3. Apple must have just fixed some things in other parts of the OS unrelated to the kext.

  36. 36 NinjaSithRelic on Feb 21, 2006 at 8:35 pm (Quote):

    Does anyone know where to find the updated instructions?

  37. 37 Intr3py on Feb 21, 2006 at 8:35 pm (Quote):

    Awesome :)

  38. 38 cavemonkey50 on Feb 21, 2006 at 8:38 pm (Quote):

    Good news. I have in my hands right now a completely bootable 10.4.4 DVD. I’m going to be testing it right now. Hopefully this is the disk everyone has been waiting for.

  39. 39 Thomas on Feb 21, 2006 at 8:58 pm (Quote):

    @cavemonkey50: put it up on Pirate Bay for us.

    @NinjaSithRelic: I have the 1.0 instructions saved. Where do you want them uploaded?

  40. 40 cavemonkey50 on Feb 21, 2006 at 9:05 pm (Quote):

    Thomas, testing must be done first. Right now the whole OSx86 community has mobilized to test this. Still waiting for results.

  41. 41 Thomas on Feb 21, 2006 at 9:12 pm (Quote):

    @cavemonkey50: What forums are we supposed to be using now? OSX China? 360 Online? Any others for this info?

  42. 42 cavemonkey50 on Feb 21, 2006 at 9:33 pm (Quote):

    Thomas, OSx86 Project is where all the activity is taking place.

  43. 43 Thomas on Feb 21, 2006 at 9:58 pm (Quote):

    @cavemonkey50: they are still working on it over there? WOW, no more DMCA notice fears?

  44. 44 cavemonkey50 on Feb 21, 2006 at 10:01 pm (Quote):

    The rule is no direct links to hacked files. Discussion can continue on OSx86 Project as long as people abide by that rule.

  45. 45 Thomas on Feb 22, 2006 at 2:43 am (Quote):

    So no direct links but is it okay say that you can find the Maxxuss Patch Solution v1.0 using Google and searching with terms: “maxxuss patch solution 09.55″

  46. 46 cavemonkey50 on Feb 27, 2006 at 11:00 pm (Quote):

    C: OK, the OS runs, but I notice the conspicuous absence of reports of running actual applications. Try importing some DV via FireWire, then editing it in iMovie and burning a DVD in iDVD. Those are all intel-native apps, but don’t be too surprised when none of it works.

    I finally had some time to play around with iLife 06. While I don’t have any firewire ports to test, I was able to take some composite video which was previously imported on my windows machine, and edit in iMovie. When I moved my Optorite 12X DVD+/-RW Burner to my Mac I was also able to burn it using iDVD. No patching was necessary for the process.

    I have also been able to do edits with iPhoto and even create a sample podcast with GarageBand. I haven’t installed iWeb, but I assume that will work also.

    Now keep in mind, I have since upgraded to 10.4.5 but I doubt there would be any problems with iLife in 10.4.4. I’m running the exact same version of the OS that the real Macs are running; nothing is stopping me from running Apple’s applications.

  47. 47 opteron fan on Mar 1, 2006 at 2:12 am (Quote):

    4 things:

    1. Does anyone know if Maxxuss’ patch works as well on a opteron platform (yeah 64bit), I read somewhere that there were a few bugs with amd systems, wanted to know if anyone had first or second hand experience…

    2. Hardware compatibility: so long as it works on mac hardware will it work on intel/amd… graphics cards, disc drives, sata (k1000 asked but i wasn’t sure if the patch had it), etc., etc. writing drivers would be a pain…

    3. Has anyone tested any of the mac software i.e. FCP or other pro apps?

    This stuff is cool.

  48. 48 cavemonkey50 on Mar 1, 2006 at 12:46 pm (Quote):

    opteron fan: 4 things:

    1. Does anyone know if Maxxuss’ patch works as well on a opteron platform (yeah 64bit), I read somewhere that there were a few bugs with amd systems, wanted to know if anyone had first or second hand experience…

    2. Hardware compatibility: so long as it works on mac hardware will it work on intel/amd… graphics cards, disc drives, sata (k1000 asked but i wasn’t sure if the patch had it), etc., etc. writing drivers would be a pain…

    3. Has anyone tested any of the mac software i.e. FCP or other pro apps?

    This stuff is cool.

    1. I have no clue.
    2. Actually, those specially made Mac graphics cards, etc. don’t work on OSx86. The same components that Windows useses are now being used for OS X. Also, driver support is a pain like you said, so the more Intel parts you have the better.
    3. I don’t think all of the Pro apps are working yet. They don’t work on the real Intel Macs either because Rosetta can not emulate the G5. Intel native versions are due out sometime this month.

  49. 49 zc on Mar 2, 2006 at 9:07 am (Quote):

    john: Nothing beats the real thing. I got an iMac (before the Intel news) and got a Powerbook after. Apple’s developers deserve the support, they did a great job. Pirating XP is one thing, M$ will not see the loss as thats all they do - Apple is a “total package” company. Give them the support they deserve and get some Apple hardware - it’s worth it…

    i fully agree with u. but some peoples in poor countries aren’t able to buy licensed softare and hardware form apple..it’s too expensive..ex for me :( but i wish i could buy apple powerbook or greater apple computer

  50. 50 stevenc on Mar 11, 2006 at 10:16 am (Quote):

    “i fully agree with u. but some peoples in poor countries aren’t able to buy licensed softare and hardware form apple..it’s too expensive..ex for me but i wish i could buy apple powerbook or greater apple computer”

    Well if you were to buy a pc and the proper licences for XP the cost ain’t all too different so from the outset you are probably using hacked copies of Xp and the other software. I have both a powerbook and a G5 and when I sit down and work it out, similar specced hardware is the same price in the PC world. Just everyone has too much of a ‘do it yourself’ attitude combined with a massive piracy rate of windows.

  51. 51 aculas on Apr 20, 2006 at 1:32 pm (Quote):

    I have Deadmoo`s flat-image installed on my PC. I just want to know if there is any chance to install Maxxuss patched version of OS X 10.4.4 on that platform?

  52. 52 Greg on Jan 14, 2007 at 5:06 pm (Quote):

    That’s where you ‘re wrong boy! Apple made, makes, will make BOTH the best hard and software. I’m an Apple tech for 15 years now, I know better!

  53. 53 mr.mike on Jul 6, 2007 at 1:38 pm (Quote):

    could you please email me with those links, irishguy3m@aim.com!

  54. 54 Daniel Brown on Aug 20, 2007 at 2:25 pm (Quote):

    Can Some One Please Email Me A link Where I can DOWNLOAD a Fully Patched Version Of Mac OS X86 For Intel I have A Dell D520 That I would Love To Put That OS On Email Me At itguyoftoday@gmail.com

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