As the Ars team convenes for two days of meetings in Chicago, we're reaching back into the past to bring you some of our favorite articles from years gone by. This story originally ran in January 2010.

1. Fearful Mac Os 11
2. Fearful Master Quote
3. Fearful Master Arthur Lawrence

The latter half of the 1990s was a dark time for the company then known as Apple Computer, Inc. Windows 95 had dashed any remaining hopes of mass-market desktop dominance for Apple. The big profits of the earlier part of the decade had given way to some huge annual losses. The future of the entire company was in doubt.

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Like injured animals, corporations are adept at hiding the true magnitude of their injuries. As grim as things appeared from the outside, few Apple enthusiasts knew at the time just how close the company came to fiscal ruin. But the software picture was always crystal-clear—clear, and terrifying.

The Mac operating system lacked two important features essential to remaining competitive past the end of the decade: memory protection and preemptive multitasking. Over the course of many years, Apple made severalabortiveattempts to create a modern successor to the classic Mac operating system, all of which crashed and burned before the horrified eyes of Mac fans everywhere. Regardless of its financial issues, it was clear to the geeks that Apple was on the road to technological ruin.

Apple made its final play for salvation in 1997 when it purchased NeXT and, after one more false start, announced at WWDC 1998 what would be, blessedly, its last next-generation operating system strategy: Mac OS X.

By all rights, the Mac faithful should have been, if not ecstatic, then at the very least relieved at this turn of events. Finally, a modern operating system for the Mac. But there was another, equally common reaction: fear. As a body of code, Mac OS X was not an evolution or enhancement of the Mac operating system that we knew and loved. It was an entirely different—albeit not exactly new—operating system to which the Mac name and, presumably, user experience were to be retroactively applied.

Fear of just how badly this undertaking could turn out is a big part of what motivated me to not only learn as much as I could about the future of Mac OS, but also to write about it. As a freshly-minted Unix nerd, I couldn't help but be somewhat excited at the marriage of my two favorite operating systems. But laid over that optimism was a blanket of mild hysteria regarding every part of the project above the core OS.

Now here we are, a decade later, and Mac OS X has matured into a fine product. This ten-year marker presents an opportunity to do something technology writers usually avoid. I'm going to look back at some of my hopes and fears from the early days of Mac OS X's development and compare them to the reality of today. Was I right on the money, shrewdly warning of future disasters that did, in fact, come to pass? Or do my predictions now read more like the ravings of a gray-bearded lunatic? It's judgment day.

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1999: Mac OS X DP2

The path to the Mac OS X project was littered with broken technological promises and missed ship dates. As it turns out, Apple was about to turn the corner and start actually hitting its dates and keeping its promises. But in 1999, I still had my doubts.

The current party line has Mac OS X on store shelves some time in 2000. I fearlessly predict that it will not appear until 2001 at the earliest.

('Nailed it'…though predicting that a software product will be late isn't exactly a tough call.)

It wasn't really fair to make any sort of judgement about Mac OS X based on the second 'developer preview' release, which Apple acknowledged upfront existed only to help developers begin their work and did not represent the final user interface. That's a good thing, because my evaluation of DP2 was not kind.

Actually using DP2 is akin to logging into a demented Xterm running a poorly designed window manager theme meant to look something like Mac OS. Launch a Cocoa application and you feel like you've been warped into NEXTSTEP, again running that funny window manager. Run a classic applications and it's like being in a slightly odd version of Mac OS 9, with that alternate NeXT universe still visible in the background. Pull up the command line and you start to think that all of this is one big facade running on top of good old Unix.

Given how far the final Mac OS X user interface diverged from the one in DP2, this harsh criticism hardly seems relevant. But none of us knew what 10.0 would look like back then. Something called Mac OS X Server 1.0 did exist as a shipping product in 1999, and it and looked a hell of a lot like Mac OS X DP2. It was not beyond the bounds of reason to imagine that the final Mac OS X user interface might be a cleaned up, refined version of this very same interface—and that would have been a bad thing.

Ever looking for the silver lining, I went on to opine that 'I'd much rather be stuck using Mac OS X DP2 on a daily basis than Mac OS X Server. They both completely fail the 'Mac-like' litmus test, but DP2 is closer to that goal.' Reading that now, it's clear to me just how desperate I was to find something good to say about the UI of this new OS.

The image below is a good distillation of my already slightly desperate attitude towards the Mac OS X user experience. Practically speaking, it compares the mouse movement allowed by Mac OS (green) when selecting an item from a sub-menu to the movement required by Mac OS X DP2 (orange). (Following the green path in DP2 caused the sub-menu to immediately disappear.)

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The subtext was this: 'Hey, NeXT guys. This is just one example of the kinds of things we Mac users appreciate—nay, expect—in an operating system that bears the Mac name. Slapping a Platinum coat of pixels on your existing NeXT code base is obviously not going to cut it. User interface design is not just what it looks like; design is how it works.'

Internals intrigue

The technical underpinnings of Mac OS X were considerably more interesting. Even ten years ago, I couldn't help but dwell on the possibility of an x86 future.

The OpenStep APIs are cross platform. Mach is cross-platform. WebObjects is cross-platform. x86 builds of Rhapsody, Mac OS X Server, and Mac OS X inside Apple have been all but confirmed. Rumor has it that Apple routinely synchronizes all changes to Mac OS X across both PowerPC and x86 builds of the OS. Clearly, Apple's choice of where to deploy its new operating system is not limited by the technology. If they decided to try releasing a version Mac OS X for x86 processors, it would be technologically within their means.

Before you congratulate me for my amazing prescience, consider the next two sentences I wrote: 'But will they do it? I seriously doubt it.' If you'd asked me to place money on the question, I'd have bet heavily against Apple moving to x86. But I now realize I would have been betting with my heart, not my mind. My brain did get in the final word, however:

The cross-platform card is something to watch for. For the first time, the only thing keeping Apple off of the 'PC' platform will be its business plan. And hey, with Steve Jobs calling the shots, anything is possible.

It's interesting to note that only two short years after his return to Apple, Jobs had already (re)cemented his reputation as a fearless and often unpredictable leader. Age had not slowed him down one bit.

File system metadata (which I was then calling 'meta-information,' for some reason) was also tickling my brain, though mostly in a positive way, believe it or not. I was intrigued by the concept of bundles, especially their use of this shiny new 'XML' data format. But while storing metadata in separate flat files within bundles could work for applications, the future of plain file metadata was still in doubt.

How will Mac OS X identify the file type and creator of 'regular' files? By file name extension, that concept so alien to traditional Mac OS? Or will HFS/HFS+-dependent type/creator meta-information soldier on into the future? Time will tell.

Note the blithe dismissal, the seemingly complete lack of concern. 'Oh well, time will tell.' Indeed it would.

Any OSx86 installation guide can seem daunting at first glance, especially when trying to remember cryptic terminal commands and sorting through volumes of misinformation on the web. This guide requires no coding, terminal work, or Mac experience of any kind. You will not need access to a Mac. In fact, it's easier and faster for me to install Snow Leopard with fully working components on my system than it is to install Windows 7. And more fun.
The iBoot + MultiBeast method is designed and tested for any desktop or laptop running the latest line of Intel processors, the Core i3/i5/i7s. I have had reports of success with older machines as well including CoreDuo, Core2Duo, and even Pentium 4. However, AMD processors are not supported.

Fearful Mac Os 11

YOU WILL NEED

• A computer running an Intel Processor
• A blank CD
• A Mac OS X Snow Leopard Retail DVD
• To leave any fear of your computer at the door.
• Patience and humility- it may not work out perfectly the first time- but with enough tenacity and grit, you'll reach the promised land. It's easy to get frustrated, but don't give up! There are a community of users with similar hardware in the tonymacx86 Forum to provide support if you get stuck.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

• Use only 1 graphics card in the 1st PCIe slot with 1 monitor plugged in.
• Remove any hard drives besides the blank drive being used for OS X.
• Remove any USB peripherals besides keyboard and mouse.
• Remove any PCI cards besides graphics- they may not be Mac compatible.
• It's best to use an empty hard drive- you will have to partition and format the drive.
• Always back up any of your important data.

STEP 1: BIOS SETTINGS
You will need to set your BIOS to ACHI mode and your Boot Priority to boot from CD-ROM first. This is the most important step, and one many people overlook. Make sure your bios settings match these. It's not difficult- the only thing I did on my Gigabyte board besides setting Boot Priority to CD/DVD first was set Optimized Defaults, change SATA to AHCI mode, and set HPET to 64-bit mode.

STEP 2: INSTALL MAC OS X
In order to boot the Mac OS X Retail DVD, you'll need to download and burn. For desktops and laptops using unsupported Intel CPUs and graphics, a legacy version of iBoot can be downloaded here. If you have an Ivy Bridge or Haswell system, you can’t use the default iBoot. Use iBoot Ivy Bridge or iBoot Haswell.

1. Download iBoot
2. Burn the image to CD
3. Place iBoot in CD/DVD drive
4. Restart computer
5. At boot prompt, eject iBoot
   
   
   
6. Insert your Mac OS X Snow Leopard Retail DVD and press F5
7. When you see the screen below, press enter to begin the boot process
8. When you get to the installation screen, open Utilities/Disk Utility. NOTE: If you cannot get to the installation screen, retry from Step 4, type PCIRootUID=1 before hitting enter. If that doesn't work then try PCIRootUID=1 -x or just -x which will enter Mac OS X Safe Mode and will allow you to proceed. For some graphics cards, use GraphicsEnabler=No boot flag to proceed.
9. Partition your hard drive to GUID Partition Table
10. Format your hard drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). NOTE: The bootloader can only boot from a disk or partition of 1 TB or less. Partition larger drives.
11. For the purposes of this guide, name it Snow Leopard. You can rename it later.
12. Close Disk Utility
13. When the installer asks you where to install, choose Snow Leopard
14. Choose Customize‚ and uncheck additional options. This will hasten the install process. You can always install this stuff later.
15. Restart computer.
16. Place iBoot back in drive.
17. When you get to the boot selection screen, choose your new Snow Leopard installation.
18. View the super-cool Mac OS X Snow Leopard Welcome Video, and set up your computer!

STEP 3: UPDATE TO 10.6.8
If you have a Sandy Bridge system, please follow these specialized instructions to update to 10.6.8.

1. Open Finder and navigate to your Snow Leopard drive.
2. Download the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Combo Update
3. Download MultiBeast
4. Open MultiBeast- don't run it yet, just leave it open. Set up windows as shown.
5. Mount MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.dmg
6. Install MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.pkg
7. Upon completion, the installer will ask you to reboot. DO NOT REBOOT.
8. Switch to the already open MultiBeast. If it closes, just re-open it.

STEP 4: MULTIBEAST
MultiBeast is an all-in-one post-installation tool designed to enable boot from hard drive, and install support for Audio, Network, and Graphics. It contains two different complete post-installation solutions: EasyBeast and UserDSDT. In addition it includes System Utilities to rebuild caches and repair permissions and a collection of drivers, boot loaders, boot time config files and handy software.
Choose one of the following options directly following a fresh installation and update:
EasyBeast is a DSDT-free solution for any Core/Core2/Core i system. It installs all of the essentials to allow your system to boot from the hard drive. Audio, Graphics and Network will have to be enabled separately.
UserDSDT is a bare-minimum solution for those who have their own pre-edited DSDT. Place your DSDT.aml on the desktop before install. Audio, Graphics and Network will have to be enabled separately. HINT: Check the DSDT Database for a pre-edited DSDT.

1. Run MultiBeast.
2. If you have a custom DSDT that's been edited, place the file on your desktop and choose UserDSDT.
3. All others select EasyBeast
4. Select System Utilities.
5. Optionally, you may install further drivers via Advanced Options to enable ethernet, sound, graphics, etc... Be sure to read the documentation provided about each installation option. NOTE:EasyBeast, and UserDSDT install the bootloader by default, so you'll not need to check that option.
MultiBeast Demo Videos
6. Install to Snow Leopard- it should take about 4 minutes to run scripts.
7. Eject iBoot.
8. Reboot- from your new Snow Leopard installation drive.

Congratulations! You're done!!
Your PC is now fully operational, while running the latest version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard! And you have a nice Boot CD to get into your system in case things go awry. Boot your system from iBoot if you have issues. You may run MultiBeast as often as you like.
If you can't boot, try typing -x at the boot prompt to enter safe mode, or just boot with iBoot. When you get to the desktop, you can make all of the changes you need to. The best way to start fresh is delete whatever you're trying to get rid of- including the whole /Extra folder, as most kexts are installed there. Then you can re-run MultiBeast. As long as you rebuild caches and repair permissions after you're done, you can do just about anything you want to /Extra/Extensions and /System/Library/Extensions. Anything can be tweaked and enabled upon subsequent uses of MultiBeast.
If you've had success using iBoot + MultiBeast, consider a contribution to help keep the sites going. We're constantly updating and tweaking our tools to help you.
Thanks in advance!

Fearful Master Quote

-tonymacx86 & MacMan
For our most current workarounds and solutions forissues such as USB and audio, check out the

Fearful Master Arthur Lawrence

Mac OS X 10.6.3 Update, Mac OS X 10.6.4 Update,Mac OS X 10.6.5 Update, Mac OS X 10.6.6 Update, Mac OS X 10.6.7 Update, and Mac OS X 10.6.8 Updatearticles. Good luck, and see you on the forum!
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