Moving Forward

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Lately, with all those HF7 iterations that have been made available for your testing, Steve and I - nope, it's not the Steve Jobs but another Steve who's become a good cyber friend of mine these past few months - have been exploring the possibilities for the HP Mini 311 Darwin Project.

So, we've been dissecting package installers here and there, thinking of ways on how to deliver those Retail Pack versions ready for use by the masses. And after hours and hours of hitting that "Build and Install" option and even a number of wipe-out-reinstalls all in the name of testing, this is the main point we've agreed upon:

• The HP Mini 311 Darwin Project will no longer use EFI boot method as official/default configuration

True, the legends who started all this Mac OS X magic on the HP/Compaq Mini 311/c opted for EFI boot method and that is what I've adapted when I re-created the HF5 installer after the legends moved on and left the project. HF5 was the crucible that made the handler "LeMaurien19" climb, although with much bewilderment at the phenomenon, to that "lead position". Personally, I believe it should be that I suddenly found myself pointed to for leadership after the nose-dive of a first release.

Let me just state finally, for what it's worth, that I absolutely do not think of myself filling out that "lead" position at all; I am but a linking agent between that casual curious who wants to dip into this attractive hackintosh pool but does not have the time to learn the too geeky parlance of some forums in order to start. A lowly synapse in between those oh so primal neurons that breathe life into the OSx86 world as we know it today.

That said, I am but a noob who found her way around that basic .pkg installer from project archives and I can hardly declare I know enough to build on that little bud of resource. What I've been doing is just a shell with which to coat the real innovation from the real light-source of the project and am doing only half as good a job - the real innovators do not even use EFI boot method in their setups. They never have - MowgliBook, aikidoka25 who gave us all that DSDT.aml and VoodooHDA to get us started all do not use EFI boot method.

It now bothers me why I haven't really seen that long ago. I was perhaps too bent towards sticking so much to the original ideals of the old HP Mini 311 Darwin Project; they used EFI boot method and so we have to stick to that. Anything else is mediocre.

Or not.

One of the main issue with HPM311DP is that users do not have a uniform experience - or whatever you call it, really. The Retail Packs are developed and tested by MowgliBook who doesn't use EFI boot method and yet, here we are in the other side of the disk volume, struggling to squash out the bugs that show up within this 200 MB invisible partition.

So, moving forward, I propose that EFI boot method cease to be the official release and move on to what I've come to call the "MowgliBook way" or "Retail Pack way". That is, installing NOT using automated installers like the last HF7c release but by using existing apps such as Lizard and Kext Utility which are great apps by the way. This way, we're hoping to streamline the user experience more for HPM311DP.

In line with this, I'll be writing a new How-To guide for Lizard - not that the app requires one for it to be used; the app is actually quite intuitive as I was able to find my way around it very quickly. Expect the guide next week. It will replace the current EFI boot method as the official guide. As to what becomes of EFI boot method, I'm not sure - perhaps I can release packages like before and make it an option, or perhaps not.

Like what they like to say around here where I work: Simpler is better.

Also, I'll be making this site, mymacbookmini.blogspot.com exclusive for news about the HP Mini 311 Darwin Project. Along that line, I'll be moving the general hackintoshing stuff and personal opinions to my new site (yes, it's a .com at last! my very first in fact) to www.savingforamac.com. 

Yes, because I'm saving for a Mac - a real Mac. And in the interim, I'm making do with a hackintoshed HP Mini 311.