Wanna do something radical? How about building a “home-grown” Mac? “Not possible!,” you say? Well, here’s an article from someone that has “been there, done that!”

Build a Hackintosh Mac for Under $800

“If the high price tag for Apple hardware has kept you from buying a Mac but you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and get adventurous, you can build your own “Hackintosh”—a PC that runs a patched version of OS X Leopard. What?!, you say. Apple’s move to Intel processors in 2006 meant that running OS X on non-Apple hardware is possible, and a community hacking project called OSx86 launched with that goal in mind. Since then, OSx86 has covered major ground, making it possible for civilians—like you and me!—to put together their own Hackintosh running Mac OS 10.5. Today, I’ll show you how to build your own high end computer running Leopard from start to finish for under $800. Right now the cheapest Mac on sale at the Apple store is a $600 Mac Mini sporting a 1.83GHz proc, 1GB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive. For $200 more, your Hackintosh can boast a 2.2GHz proc with 4GB of RAM, a 500GB drive, and a completely upgradeable case for expanding your setup in the future. Building a DIY Mac requires some work on your part, so be ready to dedicate time to this project. To make things as easy as possible, I’m going to lay out how I built my Hackintosh from start to finish, from the hardware I used to the final patches I applied to the Leopard install. If you can build a Lego set and transcribe text, you’ve got all the basic skills required.”

By the way, add to that $800.00 price tag a LEGAL copy of OSX. We are not advocating stealing here! It is quite possible that a Mac Mini would be more cost effective at this point… but it is an interesting article!

Posted by DrBill | No Comments »

[NOTE: the tweak outlined in this post has been called into serious question. It seems that it has been circulating around geek sites for a LONG time, and that there is a question as to whether it is valid. There seem to be good arguments FOR and AGAINST... as with any recommendation, I tried it myself and reported my findings... which appeared to be that it worked for me... BUT, YMMV (Your Mileage My Vary)... and, it is very possible that there were other factors that caused my apparent boot time speedup (from a minute to 30 seconds.) Now, 50% better is pretty impressive... but it could have been the result of other factors rather than the registry setting itself. I suggest that you read all of Andrew's comments following this post... check out the sites he points to... and make up your own mind, based on the points made. I DO try and keep this a "fair and balanced" guide to user helpful hints... and now back to your regular reading....]

Original Post Starts Here:
Everyone wants a faster Windows boot time, huh? Well, here’s a cool tip! Clean out your Windows Prefetch Cache! A Geek Project for you!

In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Windows\Prefetch

Once there, delete everything under the “Prefetch” directory. (DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK! I ain’t responsible! REALLY!)

Now, reboot your system. This reboot will be very slow, because it will be “rebuilding” the system’s prefetch cache again. This is because Windows needs to “relearn” the prefetch for it’s system files. Subsequent boots will be MUCH faster! However, the Winodws Prefetch cache will soon “fill up” again as you use the system and it’s applications. Sooooo… let’s keep that from happening!

We will need to edit a registry key to fix that. (If you aren’t comfortable editing the Windows Registry, don’t do it… call your friendly local geek and show him this article!) If you are “down wit’” doin’ it… go for it! Open Regedit and browse to this Registry Key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

Under this key you should see a value named: EnablePrefetcher

It has 4 possible values:

0 – Disabled : The prefetch system is turned off.

1 – Application : The prefetch only caches applications.

2 – Boot : The prefetch only caches boot system files.

3 – All : The prefetch caches boot, and application files.

Now, keep in mind, we don’t want to disable the prefetch entirely! This would actually make system boot times much longer! This is because this feature is used to speed up the loading of Windows boot files. So, let’s pick the number 2 option. It allows us to keep the advantage of caching Windows system files, without filling up the prefetch with application data.

Set the value to 2 and reboot your system. The next time that you boot it will be MUCH faster! Cool, huh? So, do this and, like me, you could do from over a minute in Windows boot time to 30 seconds! Very, very cool! You can also defrag your hard drive… that will help too!

Posted by DrBill | 10 Comments »

Here’s a new feature of the Blog! Every so often I want to do a “Geek Project” just for fun! Here’s the first in the series! Check it out!

Here’s how to do it! You will need the FREE, and very cool “RK_Launcher” software.

Download Site for RK_Launcher

How to use RK_Launcher:

Unzip the application, save to a directory like:

C:\Program Files\RK_Launcher

Create a desktop shortcut for:
C:\Program Files\RK_Launcher\RKLauncher.exe

Drag the shortcut into your Startup Folder:
(Right-click on “Start”, click on “Explore Users”, navigate to your startup folder, drop the icon there.)

Start the application, then position your mouse to the lower right of the separator line at the right of the Launcher bar, and right-click. Click on “Settings.” Set the settings as below, per tab in “Settings”:

Appearance:
Dock size 50 Pixels
Magnification 80 pixels
Items to manify: 7
Background theme: Default
Uncheck “Hide Indicators”
Uncheck “Hide Poofs”

Position:
Bottom

Behavior:
Uncheck “Automatically Hide”
Check “Always on top”
Check “Use Margin Hotspot”
Uncheck “Never take focus”
Uncheck “Locked add/delete/drag”
Check “Save Chnages on exit”
Check “Save items on change”
Check “Minimize to RK Launcher
Uncheck “Show new applications
Check “Hide the taskbar

Label:
Leave as is

Exclusions:
This will be done for you as you exclude items

Performance:
Quality: Normal
Other settings: Defaults are fine

You can get more cool icons for RK_Launcher from places like:

KDE-Look.org

Just be sure that they are .png icons, and at size of 128×128 pixels. I found and used a collection called “NuoveXT-kde-1.6″ that had some great icons in it!

You can also “spice up” your desktop with Yahoo! Widgets (formerly called “Konfabulator”) if you want as well. (That’s how I did the clock and the weather widgets.) That software is available here:

widgets.yahoo.com

You can download and install the “Widget Engine” and then choose what widgets that you want (just be sure that you DON’T choose to install anything that you DON’T want! Pay Attention!)

Enjoy your cross between a Mac and a PC! Cool, huh?

Posted by DrBill | No Comments »