So, Apple has got a new iMac out, and if my eyes are not deceiving me, they use MXM Type II cards for graphics. About time I say, but see for yourself...



What does it mean to you? Well, remember you could open your new iMac (very carefully) and replace your crappy ATI HD 2600 PRO and put in a different MXM card, for example ASUS C90S's GF8600M GT 512MB DDR2 that goes for about $220.

Now if you recall, MacBook Pro uses GF8600M GT 256MB so it might be possible (in theory) to take its EFI firmware and mod it for the above mentioned ASUS MXM card. It's a long shot but someone (me?) might be just crazy enough to try it...

I have moved the site to 110mb.com since the starchaser.org domain/host is in limbo. I apologize for the downtime, all my works are once again available for download.

New build of Titan has been posted, this one includes some user adjustable parameters in the Info.plist file of the kext. Following np_'s advice, I have rewritten this version to work in slightly different way. Included are detection of NVidia card and model as well as ability to set screen EDID strings and FBOFFSET value.

For most users nothing needs to be changed and binary is good to go as it is. For those who want to play with FBOFFSET, they can now set an integer value and see if that gets them something better/new. Also, EDID0 and EDID1 strings represent port0 and port1 of your graphics card, please use the Property List Editor to edit those keys, just like it was done for Callisto.

Visit Projects/Titan page for the new binary file.

After talking to np_ who suggested that framebuffer offset is never 0, I have updated the Titan.kext, and replaced the default value of 0 that I've originally set for "@0,fboffset" key to 0x20000 (131072) which is the value found on a Mac Pro with a GeForce 7300GT.
Those of you who had crashes should give this new version a try, and even those of you who did not should probably use it as well...

Visit Projects/Titan page for the new binary file.

Some people have complained that I am not releasing my code or findings to the community and as such I am thwarting the efforts. Well, to put my foot in your mouth, I have decided to release my findings about the hack I've made to get the native drivers working with normal PC cards. Let's see what you do with this now...

I have also provided a pre-compiled binary of Titan, for everyone else to use. There is no guarantee that it will work for you and so use it with caution. I will probably not spend any more time on it, unless my own setup needs it. I have released my findings so anyone with some knowkledge of IOKit should be able to replicate what I have done and further the efforts.

Same solution could be applied to the ATI X1000 series owners, but I have only done limited testing and have met with limited success in the few hours I've played with it. But it is possible, so if there's a will - there's a way. Someone might want to spend a few hours testing these ideas and find the solution.

I know you are desperate to download, so visit Projects/Titan page for all the details and the binary file.

There are NO forums out there where you can ask about "Titan" - this is the only place where you can read first hand info. If you believe hear-say rumours then that's not my problem, but please stop spreading wild guesses and speculations about my latest project. I said that I did not patch any native Apple drivers and that should be enough for intelligent people to accept.
In the mean time here's another screeny of Quartz Composer demos, showing acceleratation at work (though don't mind the frame-rates, my GF6800GT isn't top of the line anymore)



There is still nothing to download and try, maybe in the near future, we'll see,

Ok, so I rushed to take all the credit for this, and did not give proper credit to np_ with whom I spent some time talking to about ideas on making this work. So, np_ deserves as much credit as me for this first accomplishment.
I appologize for being a bit selfish, it was not done on purpose, I just got excited over the results...

Just a heads up on the below post about "Titan" project. The stock NVidia drivers are "virgin", I did not patch any files from Apple. This is just a "proof of concept" meaning it shows it is possible - more work needs to be done before it's ready for everyone to use.

After posting my original test, I was thinking that this might not only allow Hackintosh users to drive their PC graphics cards, but also Macintosh users who wish to use PC cards in their Mac Pro's as well. That should provide more options beside the stock NV7300GT, ATI X1900XT or Quadro FX4500...but one thing at a time.

Here's a taste of my latest project ("Titan" for now), to wet your appetite...for those who don't know what they are looking at, it's a screenshot of an OSX86 desktop using stock NVidia drivers and little something I wrote.
(display is Viewsonic VP201b via pure DVI)


Click to enlarge...

Oh wait, I could probably do this with ATI as well, but it will have to wait till I put the card into the computer, for now it's NVidia that I'm interested in...

This would not have been possible if it wasn't for the good folks who got us the new .8 kernel, kudos to them!

I have re-built my minimalistic web site and as promised (to some I spoke to) added Callisto into the Archives. As my final action in this project I have posted Callisto build 008 which is what I have worked on in the mean time. Visit the Archives section to get to Callisto.

I am discontinuing work on Callisto and will focus on other things (maybe even related to OS X x86). This site will stay on-line to serve some future projects and be an archive of Callisto.

For the sake of those innocent by-standers who were following the events and gasping for air because they could not find Callisto anymore, for you I will post my best builds.

For the jackasses who had nothing nice to say on the OSX86P forum - perhaps you should've just kept quiet because now everyone knows what kind of persons you really are, for you I only have my pitty.

For everyone else, I thank you for your support, and special thanks to those few who were helping me test the builds past months, you know who you are.

I remember distinctly (and nicely) asking everyone not to take files from this site and host them elsewhere. I wanted people to actually test latest builds and report problems, thus helping me and the development. And No, I do not have anything against you running my older builds, but focus is on running latest and test them so this project can be completed and I can be off the hook to take on other projects.

Of course there's always some wise guy who thinks he knows better, under the pretense of "helping out" others. I did ask him in the past not to do it but I guess saying "please" means nothing.
So, from now on you can go to him for all future Callisto builds, developments, support of current etc etc. Do not look for me because I am not interested to hear. His nickname is p-J16 and his site is P4ULZ0R'S BL0G. You can also find him on the OSX86Project forum where he is active.

New build (007) is available. In my head it's a "milestone" build, and in your heads...well, does it matter? :)
Some limited testing has been done on it and it works nicely here, read the ChangeLog for details. This build is based on b005 which seems to have been the most successful one for majority of people. All future builds will continue to use that branch of code to ensure most features (if not all) work. Enjoy it ...

The X1000 series support isn't going that well, only discovered a few registers and am missing few others, so I have focused back on the <R5xx chips.
A new build will follow soon, perhaps even today, depending how I feel about working on extra features or pushing them into later builds. This new build will be another one of those "milestone" builds...

After some requests, b003 has been re-released with a fixed sync problem. This build should be used only if you cannot get newer builds to work for you (very few laptop configurations).
There is absolutely NO support for this build, this is it, there will be NO changes made to it in the future.

Just a quick update for those interested in this project. I am spending some time on the X1000 series with hope to get it to work... Suffice to say ATI (curse you to hell) has changed registers around (the ones dealing with CRTC and FP among others) which makes your system go bonkers with current Callisto trying to switch modes on X1000.
There is no documentation in public about new register locations and what they do ( hint to anyone with this information to share it with me :-) ) so the whole process is much harder. Bleh!

Yes, it's true, build 006 is out! Some changes to the PLL programming for mobility chips, but more importantly for those who have their DFP monitors detected as CRT I have added an option to hard-code the EDID string into the Info.plist file of Callisto.kext. Please read the Installation for the detailed instructions.
Also fixed is parsing of BIOS dividers and timings on some laptops with legacy mobility chips that was missing since b003. It might fix some problems for those of you on certain laptops...can't say for sure :)

I suppose an all-nighter was responsible for a messup in the b004, but don't despair, here comes b005 :)
Again, everyone is encouraged to run this one instead of any other build. Actually this one will run just like b002 did plus all the new features from b004. The Xyyy series users should see their cards work as well (at least desktop ones, some mobile users will experience problems).
Sorry to say but X1000 series still does not work and I am not sure if it will anytime soon. Your best bet is to try that other hack.

After pulling an all day/all nighter, I present you Callisto build 004. Changelog has been updated, and I strongly suggest everyone runs this build instead of any other old one because this one contains significant improvements in stability and detection.
There are some changes made for the X series of cards that might help as well as for all laptops with mobile chips. Although, I personally believe that ATI has significantly changed their X1000 series of cards so that processing registers and parameters based on old chips is not the same and thus will not work. Just my 2c.

Callisto build 003 is now available, bringing some major improvements such as monitor detection through DDC and "proper" resolution scaling and switching for DFP/LCD monitors. Remember, if you are using DVI2VGA adapter, get rid of it and try a direct DVI connection to the card.

I'd dare to call this a "milestone" build, but I'll wait for your feedback first. It works here pretty nicely, so if it does not work for you, well... :)

Forget the Monitor Asset Manager and Get-EDID...

I have setup a Forum on the site so that any discussion can be conducted here in a centralized location and close to the driver development...

It has been pointed out to me that the Monitor Asset Manager is easier to use and provides the same information needed for Callisto. That information is the Raw EDID base (the HEX values of the EDID, WITHOUT the line numbers 00:, 10:, 20: etc). Thus get this one instead, if you have Windows installed...

In other news, I am trying to get I2C working so the above or below solutions would not be needed at all. We'll see what happens in the next few days, for now I am keeping b003 on hold...

In preparation for Callisto build 003, everyone should get their monitor's EDID strings ready. Go to the ATI Project page and download Get-EDID-DOS, run it (from DOS) and save the 128 byte string to the disk. Full instructions what to do with it will soon follow when build 003 is released in the very near future.
Callisto build 003 will be a major step forward with full support for DFP/LCD screens. Let's hope I didn' break the CRT support in the mean time ;-)

Did some work on the code and as a result, Callisto build 002 has been posted. Kernel panic for X-series cards has been fixed and also added a few other things (see Changelog).
Still no proper monitor detection and as it stands now, I will take a shortcut route and go around it altogether. How often do you change your monitor that it needs to be re-detected each time? :)

Site is now public; Callisto build 001 Alpha is available for download. Remember, if it does not work for you now, wait and see what happens in the future. This is an Alpha stage of the driver.
Big thanks go to np_ of MacVidia fame for putting up with me asking all kinds of questions for the past few weeks, and for providing me with guidance during the development process of Callisto. Cheers man!

Finishing touches to the Contact page and the User Testimonies have been completed, form data is now being saved into the database. Still lacking the back-end to read it but I will manage it manually for the time being and write that in the mean-time.

Almost there, yey! Still have to finish User Testimonies and Contact, those will be web forms for interaction between you and me. I do suggst you read the F.A.Q. and Installation sections because I will not answer any queries about items already covered in them, that is why I wrote those pages at the first place - read them.

First sections of the site are on-line. ATI Project, Installation and F.A.Q. Skeleton for the Download page is completed as well, just missing back-end scripting for actual download.

The web site is on-line. Thanks to the one who wishes to remain anonymous, for providing me with this hosting space.