Art Studios Entertainment, the company behind the EFiX device that we covered a while back, just launched a competition to design the interface for the EFiX USB device. The company also says that the winner of the best UI design will receive $5000 USD in cold hard cash.
The EFiX was launched a while back, with much excitement in the hackintosh community. The device simply installed into a USB header on a motherboard and allowed users to install Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard without the need for hacks, cracks or system modifications.
Those in the hackintosh community know that more often then not, their systems are unable to form normal system updates without preparing the system. Because the kernel and other areas of Leopard are patched in a hackintosh setup, a major system update could render the entire setup useless. More recently, there have been ways around this annoyance. However, with an EFiX module, you’re not running a "hack"-intosh in even the most basic sense of the word. There’s just no hacking to do. Build a system based on the EFiX hardware compatibility list, and you’re up and running. Perform all system updates as you would on a real Mac.
OS X aside, the EFiX is definitely not an OS X install device. It’s designed to allow easily installation of almost any operating system. From legacy BIOS operating systems like Windows XP to EFI-based setups like Leopard, the EFiX module handles them all. The process is seamless and non-intrusive. This means there’s no emulation layer of any kind, and the host operating system interacts with your hardware directly.
We interviewed Davide Rutigliano, CEO of Art Studios a while back. Davide sent us several EFiX modules to give away, and that’s about to launch soon as well.
Our full review of the module is nearly complete, with a full comparison between our custom built rig and an equivalent Mac Pro. Full results in the review, but what we can tell you is that our custom built EFiX rig, running Leopard, smashes the Mac Pro — and for a lot less money. But of course, you all knew that [grin].
Intel cleared to get $3.5 billion to make advanced chips for Pentagon — Secure Enclave program ushers leading-edge CPUs to the military
Linux dev swatted and handcuffed live during a development video stream — perps remain unidentified
AMD hides Taiwan branding on Ryzen CPU packaging as it preps new chips for China market release — company uses black sticker to erase origin information
