Hijinks Inc.

Category: OS X

  • Axon Haptic Tablet Available for Pre-Order

    For those that are daring enough to jump off the deep end, you can now pre-order the rumored Axon Haptic tablet (not to be confused with Axiotron’s Modbook) for a cool $750 . The capacitive-touch Hackintosh tablet boasts compatibility with Windows 7 as well as all Darwin-based OS platforms, including Mac OS, though on Axon’s website they state that Apple’s EULA specifically prohibits installation on any non-Apple hardware, though that’s certainly not going to stop anyone… after all, they call it a Hackintosh for a reason.

    Some might believe the 1.6Ghz Atom N270 leaves a little to be desired, though it still has fairly decent hardware for a tablet. Specs include a 10.1″ LED backlit screen, 320GB HD, 2GB RAM, a removable battery, 3x USB ports, ethernet, card reader, VGA port, WiFi and for additional $70 you can add a Verizon 3G SIM card, and yet another $70 will get you Bluetooth GPS.

    It’s up in the air at this point how well full-fledged operating systems will behave with the capacitive touchscreen, though I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction to bring more devices to the market as alternatives to the iPad that allow something more than a mobile OS. If nothing else, it might cause Apple to consider the possibility of competing with them, but then again, does anything anyone does really ever affect what Apple does?

    For full tech specs and description, visit Axon Logic’s website, but see if I’m not the only one that’s bothered by the fact that they copied Apple’s top bar right off their website for their own….

  • Use Air Display Over a USB Cable

    From the department of the less than useful, i.e. my mind, comes a hack of debatable usefulness.

    Stepping back for a second, one might argue that this could come in handy for those who have crappy wireless networks or are working from a coffeeshop which has a completely rubbish network, as many do… But then you’d probably just switch to an ad-hoc network, nonetheless, I present for your general amusement, a way to run Avatron’s Air Display app [$9.99] over USB.

    Things you’ll need:

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  • OS X on the HP TouchSmart tx2z

    After only mild success with installing OS X on the TouchSmat IQ507 I’ve set my sights on yet another HP touch screen computer. This time the target is the TouchSmart tx2z tablet PC, which actually uses a true capacitive touch screen, instead of the IR based one in the TouchSmart IQ507.

    Minor details aside, the tx2z should be arriving later this afternoon. I’ll post any progress I make.

  • Closer to OS X on the HP TouchSmart

    I’ve managed to get OS X installed on the HP TouchSmart IQ507, however I’m still having serious issues getting it to boot fully. Seems to hang right before it gets to the IOACPI phase of the boot process.

    There is good news though! I was able to get the touchscreen working under the OS X installer with very little work at all. Which bodes well for the full install, if I can ever get it to boot that is.

    So if anyone has any thoughts on the IOACPI issue, let me know.

  • Clearing up hard drive space on your Mac

    I have a problem: I’m addicted to podcasts. From Diggnation and 1UP Yours, to Car Talk and A Prairie Home Companion, my subscription list covers a wide range of interests, and an even wider space on my hard drive. I have an 80 gig hard drive on my Macbook, and as of an hour ago I had 987MB free. That’s not good folks, that’s not good at all.

    I talked to fellow blogger Aaron about it, and he suggested a few applications that would clear up some space without forcing me to delete any programs or media.

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