Well Hawro Mr. Fancy Pants

OS X Leopard and Copy Protection

john — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:38:15 +0000

I was having a conversation with a co-worker earlier and he had asked me what exactly does OS X Leopard use for copy protection. I never really thought about it before, but it’s true the Leopard does not require any serial keys to install and it should install fine as long as you’re installing on a native Mac hardware.

Anyway, it turns out Leopard only really attempts to protect itself from being installed on a non native Mac by using a piece of hardware that spits out a key that can decrypt encrypted bins included in the OS. The kernel that Leopard uses has code that extracts the key from this hardware chip so the bins can run. Leopard can still run without these bins, but it will be crippled. Actually, I assume that’s how the OSx86 project is able to manage bypassing the kernel instruction that gets the key or even just supplying the key to decrypt the bins.

As far as not being able to use non-retail Leopard DVDs that came with a Mac and install it to another Mac, it could be an OS build issue, or it could be tied down to that particular hardware. As I understand it, the retail version of Leopard is universal and should install on Intel-based hardware as well as PPC Macs without any copy protection. So as long as it’s the retail copy of Leopard, the only thing you have to worry about is the EULA.

Happy New Year

john — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:16:26 +0000

2009 is upon us and it couldn’t have come any sooner IMHO. No offense to 2008, but that year was somewhat stale and stressful especially with me being stuck with even more college courses to finish. Enough of yesteryear’s negative retrospec however, I’m looking forward to 2009.

No resolutions once again this year as I find them utterly pointless. I think with the stress of finally finishing off my courses down to a minimum, my brain can finally free itself from the shackles of undergraduate learning. I would like to state once more that out of but 3 classes, I’ve learned nothing from these math/computer courses. Anyway, after I’m done with school and putting in my dues in techwork (happily I might add), I feel like my penance is complete and I can move on to other ventures. I am a programmer and I will code again.

I hope 2009 turns out well for everyone I know and/or care about.

Merry Christmas!

john — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:49:43 +0000

Christmas is a time of giving, peace, Santa, and not to be forgotten, time off to play some Gears 2…

Video Link Here

Computer Surgery

john — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:11:57 +0000

If you can’t have fun at work, then really, what’s the point?

“I’m gonna start a website…”

ITSS front USB replacement pt. 1 from Jay Pwnderpants on Vimeo.

I have galvanized fingers…

ITSS front USB replacement pt. 2 from Jay Pwnderpants on Vimeo.

Mo the stripper…

ITSS front USB replacement pt. 3 from Jay Pwnderpants on Vimeo.

ITSS Fail

john — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:59:46 +0000

Typical slow day at work so me and a co-worker decided to do some pro bono work. However despite numerous attempts, ideas, and laughter, we still fail to fix the problem of this poor girl’s laptop and she had to resort to factory restoration…

ITSS Fail from Jay Pwnderpants on Vimeo.