Filed under: Hacks, Mods, Snow Leopard
With a rebel Dell, Psystar tries more, more, more
Psystar, that pesky little thorn in Apple's side, has released Rebel EFI. According to Psystar, the app, available for $49.99 through the company's site, "allows for the easy installation of multiple operating systems," including Mac OS X, on a vanilla PC. Besides bypassing EFI requirements, Rebel EFI can also detect for Mac OS X compatible and incompatible hardware, and automatically download appropriate drivers. Skeptical? No worries: the app is free to try (as an ISO download), with a two hour time limit.
To each their own, and if running Mac OS X on non-Apple specified hardware floats your boat, then you should also be aware of the risks involved. In other words, back up your data if you are attempting such a thing. Second, and more importantly, there's the issue of licensing: Apple prohibits the installation of Mac OS X on non Apple-branded machines.
Psystar giveth and Psystar must also taketh. One wonders how Psystar will react when people illegally use Rebel EFI, just like Psystar is allegedly misusing Mac OS X, as pirated versions inevitably circulate around the Interwebs.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
[via The Loop]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Oomu said 7:06PM on 10-22-2009
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091010152322226
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Both Apple and Psystar have filed motions for summary judgment. I get the sense that both would like to wrap up the California litigation, and move on to Snow Leopard in Florida, Psystar especially, obviously. Both argue the first-sale doctrine issues. Before we get to the filings, I want to show you why I think this case, and other first-sale cases like Vernor v. Autodesk, matter to FOSS, and why I hope the Autodesk ruling [PDF] is appealed and overturned.
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"This is what I saw from the beginning, that this is an attack on the GPL and on FOSS, using Apple as a smokescreen, I suspected, hoping that the FOSS community wouldn't see what was happening until it was too late. Funny that it's Mr. Nimmer, a traditional copyright expert, who groks the impact, and not the EFF, but there it is. I have believed from day one that Psystar's real goal is to undermine or destroy Open Source licenses, particularly the GPL. That was SCO's goal too. SCO foundered, and so now there is another attempt, using first-sale.
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pika2000 said 3:42AM on 10-23-2009
You are so correct. Funny thing is that all the Apple haters are loving & supporting Psystar, ignoring this.
Phenixone@hotmail.fr said 8:40PM on 10-22-2009
is ti me or the Psystar website is down ?
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kajoob said 12:33AM on 10-25-2009
It's just you....
http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/http://www.psystar.com
CHRiS said 10:16AM on 10-23-2009
It wasn't just you, it was down for about 2 hours after this news release.
Chris said 7:17PM on 10-22-2009
Hooray Psystar, now let me see if this Rebel EFI program is on The Pirate Bay.
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Alex said 8:25PM on 10-22-2009
If you want Mac OS X do it the proper way and buy a Mac!!! Psystar will eventually lose the legal battle and Rebel EFI will be shut down. And The Pirate Bay is going down too. So looks like your whole lifestyle of ripping people of with hacks and torrents will be over. Psystar are creating ok products against the copyright, patent or whatever on Apple's software. They are criminals and should be shut down. Enough said.
NoAndThen said 11:12PM on 10-22-2009
Shut up, Alex.
CHRiS said 10:20AM on 10-23-2009
hey Alex, what about me? The consumer, I'm being ripped off when I buy a DVD and am FORCED to watch the ads before I can get to the content I bought, I mean licensed. What about when I go see a movie, and then I have to pay to watch it again by buying the DVD, or better yet, I pay to watch a movie, then pay to get the DVD, then have to pay again to get a copy of it on my computer----who is the criminal here when I download a copy from the "pirate bay" and use it on my computer, burn it to DVD and skip the ads, and already paid for it on dvd (which is sealed up and in a closet)? Its ILLEGAL to copy the dvd (to decrypt it), so downloading it is the only legal option after giving 4x what its worth to the industry.
mechdrew said 7:46PM on 10-22-2009
Sorry, nope. It's just rebranding and charging for what is already free. Plus most people can already do a "vanilla" install with a purchased Mac OS X disc. And Psystar has nothing on the netbook scene, most of the driver work and tweaks are done automatically now with the latest methods.
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James said 7:38PM on 10-22-2009
I will be getting The Rebel EFI , then share it via pirate bay, with some trojans of course.
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ben said 7:48PM on 10-22-2009
why buy it, when you can trick it to think that you've bought it....
James said 9:14PM on 10-22-2009
I wouldn't buy that crap
Tomasz said 8:53PM on 10-22-2009
Tried it on a p6T motherboard with an i7 and its not working :( not holding my breath on this one.
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macxprt said 9:14PM on 10-22-2009
You suck! I can't stop singing your ode to Billy Idol that you used for a headline. Damn you all to hell!
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Sterling said 10:22PM on 10-22-2009
JUST DOES NOT WORK.
Tested the Rebel on a DELL Inspiron 6000, DELL Optiplex GX240 and one AMD Board and after The insert the OSX DVD the computers Reestart.
I Was Never Able to Boot into the Snow Leopard Installer. Did it with and Original Snow Leopard DVD and a properly burned Rebel CD.
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David H. said 9:14AM on 10-23-2009
Well, since this Rebel EFI thing looks to be a repackaging of existing methods in the Hackintosh community to perform "plain vanilla" installs of OSX on copmpatible H/W, I wouldn't expect it to work on an AMD system (don't know what your Dell box has in the way of a motherboard chipset & CPU).
OSX is only compatible with a (reasonably large) subset of fairly modern, Intel-based motherboards & CPUs. Do a little research on the OSx86 wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSx86) for compatibility info before getting your knickers in such a twist in public :P
Tim said 9:59AM on 10-23-2009
Won't work on an AMD.. that's a given.
If you want a good Hackintosh just follow these simple directions.
http://lifehacker.com/5351485/how-to-build-a-hackintosh-with-snow-leopard-start-to-finish
Running 10.6.1 flawlessly on a machine that costs less than 1000..
David H. said 10:02AM on 10-23-2009
"Running 10.6.1 flawlessly on a machine that costs less than 1000.."
and has specs similar to a Mac Pro costing over twice as much :)
Yeah, that article over on Lifehacker was sweet. (insert std. disclaimer about how a Hackintosh isn't for everyone, blah, blah, blah...)
Kevin said 12:03AM on 10-23-2009
I think Psystar's goal is more than to discredit the GPL or FOSS. It's to break the licensing agreement for OS X. After all, if I buy a wrench at the hardware store, the store has no right to tell me how I use it. AFAIK no contract can compel you to give up your rights under the law.
I think EULA's need to go away anyway - they're written by lawyers, the average user has neither the time nor the patience to read the whole thing, and there is some doubt about the ability of companies to enforce a EULA.
My local hardware salesman might prefer that I use my new wrench to work on the John Deere lawnmower he just sold me (or wants to sell me), but he can't prevent me from using it on my car.
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