Results tagged “Psystar” from CLICK

After all the heat Psystar took in the blogosphere for its erstwhile Macintosh clone -- a commodity box that can run OS X -- many said the company was either a sham or about to fade quickly away.

Well, in recent days, the company has begun offering its own updates to Psystar Macs' operating system, pledges more surprises in the future, and is also offering a pretty nice $299 computer called the OpenLite that runs many versions of Linux and has pretty nice specs for the price. While the page just linked to says they preinstall Ubuntu, the most recent announcement has them also willing to install CentOS and Fedora for those who want them.

Pretty nice, I think.

Here are those specs:

Base Configuration

* Ubuntu Linux 8.04 included (note: now you can get CentOS or Fedora, too).
* no keyboard, mouse, or monitor included
* 1.8GHz Intel Celeron 430 1.8 GHz
* 1GB of DDR2 667 memory
* Integrated Intel GMA 950
* 20x DVD+/-RW SATA drive
* Gigabit Ethernet
* 4 rear USB Ports
* Integrated 5 Channel Audio

I'd be better with a dual-core processor (add $40). There are other options, but that's all I'd need.

This is the first computer at this price, I believe, that comes with a choice of Ubuntu, CentOS or Fedora.

If you really want it, they'll throw Windows XP, Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate on there for an extra $125 to $200. But you can get that anywhere, right?

And that verdict is "crappy." Here's what Engadget has to say about it.

I didn't have super high hopes for the Psystar, but I do think that it will get others thinking about making Mac clones, or Hackintoshes as they're known. It's a fun hacker project, to be sure.

What it should do is get Apple going on a $700 iMac and $400 MacMini.

Things are getting a little uncomfortable, it seems, for Psystar, the company that announced on its Web site that it is putting together something first called the Open Mac, then the Open Computer, that takes commodity PC hardware and turns it into a box that either comes with OS X preinstalled or allows the buyers to do it themselves.

Everything from Google Earth searches to out and out surveillance of the company's various alleged addresses has been going on. Steve Jobs doesn't even have to hire Anthony Pellicano -- he's got the geek squad all over it.

Psystar has a message on their site today that attempts to, er, explain the situation:

We're in the process of moving to a new location which is now listed on our contact page. The first new address posted (10481) was in error and our correct address is 10475 NW 28th Street. PSYSTAR was, prior to this past week, not ready to handle the enormous production capacity demanded by the online community. Due to the incredible response we have now expanded to a larger commercial unit to handle the supplies and assembly of Open Computers. THANK YOU for all of your orders.

Midday yesterday our store was not receiving any orders. This was due to the fact that our merchant gateway, Powerpay, dropped the ball on us and refused to process any more transactions from our company. We have reverted to Paypal until we can find a high-volume merchant. Apparently Powerpay was not ready to handle the community's demand for Open Computing.

I guess we'll know what's what when somebody buys one of these boxes, receives it and runs the damn thing.

So is the whole thing a proverbial tempest in a teapot, or does this signal some kind of sea change (cliches? I've got a million of 'em!) in the world of OS X?

As it now stands, I don't thing Psystar is going to amount to much -- although I've been wrong before. It's possible that Psystar, or any number of other PC builders, will offer such a box -- something that makes putting OS X, with the work done by the OSX86 Project, on a non-Apple box. When you get right down to it, $129, which is what it costs for a copy of OS X, isn't that bad of a deal. Free Linux is a better deal, but I'm getting out of the bucket on that one.