Welcome

Welcome to Testing Grounds. This website will help you discover new ways of looking at the ordinary things around you. Whether it is a dusty old computer you have in the corner, or a coke machine down the street, Testing Grounds will show you how to do things you didn't think were possible. Enjoy!

What to look forward to:

Coming up on Testing Grounds, I'll show you how to do the following:

How to Install/Reinstall Windows Vista to Improve Performance

How to Backup DVD's: Defeat Any DVD Protection Including Sony and Disney

Sunday, May 13, 2007

How to Dual Boot OS X and Windows XP the easy way

This is a good way for OSX86 beginners to get their feet wet without jumping all in. You will need to keep a few things in mind if you plan on doing this though:

It is only legal to install OS X on a PC if you are an apple developer, and are in good with the folks at Apple. But if that were the case, you probably don't need this guide, so most people should probably stop reading now. For those more adventurous, keep readin.

Ok? Good. This tutorial involves the use of the Acronis Disk Director Suite, which can either be bought, or like most things in this world, found on torrent sites. You individual sense of ethics (or your pocketbook) will determine if you will go with the Jedi or join the Dark Side on that one. However, I am not using the Acronis Boot Loader, as I think it is a piece of garbage and deserves death in a fire.

If you have Windows already loaded onto your system, install your Acronis, and partition your hard drive in whatever ratio you like. Me being a bit OC, I liked exactly in half. You will need at least 10 GB for each partition though.

If you have a blank hard drive, there may be an option in the Windows installation screen that allows for partitioning. I know in Server 2003 there is, but not that sure on Windows XP.

Once you have done that, visit this website and follow the directions!

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Simple_Dual_Boot

Pay special attention to the part about Darwin loading time and modifying the file to allow for 8 seconds of time to elapse.

If you did not like that, there is another option that involves actually using the Acronis Boot Loader. If you are an absolute beginner, and want a GUI boot loader, this is the option for you. This is brought to you by someone who goes by Dilnalomo, and he has several guides (Including a few Vista ones) to help you:

http://dilnalomo.googlepages.com/

Well that's it, everything I've ever had experience with is on those two pages. They sum up everything nicely, and I hope they help you out as much as they helped me. If you have any questions or comments, give me an email or drop a comment.