Welcome to the third installment of the xMac build series! This time we’ll be talking about the components used to make the xMac. For this build our primary goals are:
- Mac OS X compatibility
- high performance
- good value
- compact Mac-like design
- reasonably noiseless
As mentioned before, we have to choose our components carefully so they’re compatible with EFiX. Luckily, EFiX supports a wide variety of hardware. BTW, I’ll be using an EFiX v3 — the latest version — which supports newer chipsets such as the Z68 chipset.
EFiX-Compatible Components
These are carefully chosen from the EFiX hardware compatibility list (HCL). If you’re curious, you can refer to the EFiX v3 hardware compatibility list here.
In this article we’ll discover that it’s actually quite easy to assemble a made-to-order Mac from PC parts.
But how to we get Mac OS X to run on a vanilla PC?
The solution is actually quite simple. A device called “EFiX” makes it easy to run Mac OS X on a PC. This little USB dongle gets added to one of the USB headers on your PC motherboard and turns your PC into something very similar to a Mac.
How does EFiX work?
The EFiX operates on the notion that Macs run on something called called EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface), which is the next-generation successor to last millennium’s BIOS. EFiX should be set as your primary boot device. Then, when your computer powers up and begins its boot sequence, it “boots” into the EFiX chip code. When the EFiX boots it does two things.
This article was originally written in October 2008 and posted on my old blog at wordpress.com. I’ve retired that blog, so I’ve reposted the original contents here in the hope someone finds it useful. As of December 2011 the code still works great. Note I’m an iOS developer nowadays, not a Java developer, so regretfully I can’t offer any support nor updates if it doesn’t work for you. Please feel free to read, comment, and link to the article here at its new home.
Background
About a week ago I needed to write a SOAP-based client for work. The SOAP framework I’m using is Apache CXF. I’m a total noob when it comes to SOAP services, and so I was a little apprehensive about this at first. My apprehension sprung from hearing horror stories a few years ago from coworkers who were writing Axis SOAP applications, and they were basically tearing their hair out over Axis.
However, word has it that CXF is much easier to use. Well, it took me a while to get it working correctly. In an effort to save other folks the same grief, I’ve posted my code here. If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’re acquainted with Java and Maven, but fairly new to SOAP, WSDL, etc. Continue reading »
As an iOS software developer, I use a computer all day, every workday. When you compile code over and over you learn to appreciate a fast computer. Apple’s Mac Pro
But the Mac Pro
For example, there’s no denying the Mac Pros
For me, a system with 4 cores, 16 GB of RAM, and a couple of SSD drives that fits in a small space (say, the size of two shoeboxes) is plenty for day-to-day development use. Add in a decent video card and the machine could even run World of Warcraft with a great frame rate. In other words, in terms of Mac performance, I’d like to buy more than a Mac Mini
This sounds like the fabled “xMac”, which is the compact $1,000 minitower Mac that Apple unfortunatley refuses to make. If Apple sold an xMac I’d buy it in a heartbeat. After all, I’ve owned a G3 tower, a G4 tower, a Cube, a G4 Mini, and various Intel-based Minis
But there are alternative solutions if you’re creative. So I made my own xMac! Why, you ask?
Continue reading »
Some German cars come with “bling”. For example, Audis have a rope of LED “Christmas lights” under the headlights. New BMWs these days come with bright pure white halos around the headlights. These provide a unique high-tech look and are often called “angel eyes”.
Angel eyes have changed over the years. BMWs that shipped back in 2005 (the year my car was built) have a much dimmer, yellowish halos as original equipment. Fortunately the aftermarket has stepped up to offer upgrades to our dim, yellow halos.
The first generation of angel eye upgrades were just as dim as BMW’s original equipment at about 1 Watt, but they changed the yellow halos to white.
The latest aftermarket halo upgrades are not only white, but much brighter than the original halo upgrades. They’re still not quite as bright as halos on a new BMW, perhaps, but not too shabby either.
Armed with the above information I went searching for a nice halo upgrade. Here’s what I found.
Continue reading »
