Tag: OS X

Linux

Cure for the External Drive Blues

I have been looking all over for a way to format an external drive so that I can use it under Linux, Windows and OS X. The reason for this is simple, I currently use Windows and Linux all the time, and I am planning on upgrading my rig to a MacBook Pro just as soon as I can. Since I expect to be running OS X, Windows and Linux I needed to find a format for my 300GB external drive that would work with all of them.

While FAT32 is an option, it has some serious limitations. Like a maximum file size of 1 byte less than 4 GB. That and the way that FAT32 partitions over 32 GB (while supported under Windows) tend to get a little, shall we say, flaky.

Before today what I had found was as follows:

OS File System Read Write
Windows XP Ext2 / Ext3 application no
HFS+ application no
NTFS native native
Linux Ext2 / Ext3 native native
HFS+ in kernel in kernel
NTFS in kernel no
OS X Ext2 / Ext3 no no
HFS+ native native
NTFS in kernel no

Note: native = default or standard in a “vanilla” install | in kernel = modules available for kernel insertion, although not default.

Well, that was before I found these today: kernel modules for both OS X and Windows for full read and write support of Ext2 / Ext3 file systems. I have installed Ext2 IFS for Windows and pounded on it already. It works (so far) like a charm. I don’t yet have a Mac to test the Mac OS X Ext2 Filesystem but I will do so as soon as I can. Assuming they are building this as a loadable module for the Darwin kernel (does the OS X Darwin kernel allow insmodding?) then it should be a snap. What surprised me is that the Ext2 IFS for Windows is an actual NT Kernel module, not an app or service. It’s actually kind of cool to see my Linux partitions show up under XP as lettered drives!

OS X

Apple releases patch for some, not all flaws

On Tuesday Apple released Security Update 2006-007 for OS X which addresses some 31 flaws, including the well-known AirPort issue. The fixes cover both Mac specific and third-party components, including Perl, PHP and OpenSSL among others.

However, ZDNet UK reports that the patches fix none of the vulnerabilities found in the “Month of Kernel Bugs .” (The AirPort vulnerability was actually part of the MoKB, so it would be correct to say that at least one of them were covered by this patch.)

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OS X

If they go one way . . .

I was reading over at Ted Leung ‘s blog that there is a rumor that VMWare is working on a MacOSX version. I have to wonder, could this be the impetus for Apple to release an OSX version that will run on non-Apple hardware, or will VMWare come up with a virtual machine that will look like Apple hardware to OSX? Either way, I would be running to grab my copy of OSX as quick as as I could.

OS X

Official Apple dual-boot Mac/Win software released

Computerworld is reporting today that Apple released a public beta of Boot Camp, a program that uses the GUI to partition the drive, burn an install CD with all the required drivers and install WindowsXP for dual booting on a MacX86. It is currently available as a limited time trial, but is reported to be included in the next version of OSX, 10.5 Leopard, which is to be released later this year.

This seems to be coming from Apple a lot quicker than anyone guessed. With that in mind, how much longer will it be before Apple releases a version of OSX that doesn’t require Apple hardware? Given that their business model involves selling the hardware on which to run their OS I doubt it could be anytime soon, although I really do hope they decide to take that route.

Despite the assertions of Apple’s senior vice president of worlwide marketing, Phillip Schiller, I don’t think that Apple necessarily has “superior hardware” nor do I think that the dual boot strategy makes me more apt to switch. I have long built my own PCs using the hardware I choose, or ordered from vendors where I can select the hardware to be installed, and I don’t intend to change that. I would not be surprised to find that I am not alone in hoping that Apple releases an “any X86 hardware” version of OSX.

Until then, I won’t hold my breath.