Windows 8 ain't fussy: runs on Macs, Surface, 128MB RAM, banana peel (videos)
 Codesnack, Marcin Grygiel (YouTube), Josh Blake (YouTube) |
You're the Pundit: Windows 8
Other sites have rumors and speculation. We have the TUAW braintrust. We put the question to you and let you have your go at it. Today's topic is Windows 8. Will Microsoft's newest operating system prove a threat to Apple's OS X or iOS?
The touch-friendly Windows 8 operating system has been heavily overhauled for greater stability and user friendliness. High resolution (think Retina for Microsoft) models may ship sometime in the next 12-18 months, with high touch accuracy, optimized finger control precision, and more.
Features like Picture Password, which invites users to draw on pictures with a known set of shapes and lines for authentication (e.g. add a mustache on Mom and a hat on Dad) and a brilliantly colored tiled Start Screen, all add to Windows 8's appeal.
BackTrack Hard Drive Installation
BackTrack Hard Drive Installation
Foreword
Before we begin, I'd like to stress that I am not responsible for anything that goes wrong with the installation. This document was created to aid in the installation process of Backtrack to a hard drive. I take no responsibility if things go wrong.
History
For years, users have had to install and update the security and wireless tools to perform security ssessments. However, Backtrack has a great feature which makes it easy to install on a USB or Hard Drive. By using this feature, it bypasses the hassle of having to install and update the tools manually.
Requirements
The requirements for the installation are either 700 MB or 2700 MB of hard drive space on a given device.
How do I install Backtrack to my hard drive ?
One of the cool features in Backtrack, is the ability to install onto your USB device or Hard Drive. The installer gives the choice of doing a minimal installation or a full installation. Obviously, with the number of tools included on Backtrack there are many times when this is an incredibly useful feature.
Booting Backtrack
The first step is to boot Backtrack using the cdrom. If you are using Vmware machine use the ISO as the cdrom. When the login prompt appears, login using:
username: root
password: toor
Creating the Partitions
Next, you will need to create the partitions and file systems. The device I am using is /dev/sda which is 3.75 gigs in size. I will create 3 partitions. The first partition will be /boot which I will allocate 50 MB which will be mounted as /boot. The second partition will be a swap partition which I will allocate 512 MB. The final partition will fill the rest of the disk and be mounted as /.
BT ~ # fdisk /dev/sda
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel Building a new DOS disklabel. Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.
Command (m for help):n [enter]
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p [enter]
Partition number (1-4): 1[enter]
First cylinder (1-456, default 1):[enter]
Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-456, default 456): +50M [enter]
Command (m for help):n [enter]
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p [enter]
Partition number (1-4): 2 [enter]
First cylinder (8-456, default 8):[enter]
Using default value 8
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (8-456, default 456): +512M [enter]
Command (m for help): n [enter]
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p [enter]
Partition number (1-4): 3 [enter]
First cylinder (71-456, default 71):[enter]
Using default value 71
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (71-456, default 456): [enter]
Using default value 456
Command (m for help): a [enter]
Partition number (1-4): 1 [enter]
Command (m for help): t [enter]
Partition number (1-4): 2 [enter]
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82 [enter]
Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap / Solaris)
Command (m for help): p [enter]
Disk /dev/sda: 3758 MB, 3758096384 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 456 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 7 56196 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 8 70 506047+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda3 71 456 3100545 83 Linux
Command (m for help): w [enter]
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
Creating the Filesystems
The next step is to create the filesystems on the partitions so that we will be able to write data to the devices. For this setup, we will use the Linux standard ext3 filesystem. We won't need to modify /dev/sda2, as it is already setup as Linux Swap.
BT ~ # mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1
mke2fs 1.38 (30-Jun-2005)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=1024 (log=0)
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
14056 inodes, 56196 blocks
2809 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
7 block groups
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
2008 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
8193, 24577, 40961
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (4096 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 25 mounts or 180 days, whichever
comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
BT ~ # mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda3
mke2fs 1.38 (30-Jun-2005)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
387840 inodes, 775136 blocks
38756 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
24 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16160 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (16384 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 27 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
Mount the Devices
The next step is to mount the devices onto the disk so we can install Backtrack. We will create directories in /tmp to mount them.
BT ~ # cd /tmp
BT tmp # mkdir boot
BT tmp # mkdir bt2
BT tmp # mount /dev/sda1 boot
BT tmp # mount /dev/sda3 bt2
Mac OS
Conception
From the beginning, Apple deliberately sought to minimize by design the user's conceptual awareness of the operating system as such. Tasks that on other products required a more explicit working knowledge of an operating system would on a Macintosh be accomplished by intuitive mouse gestures and manipulation of graphical control panels. The intention was that the product would thus be more user-friendly and so more easily mastered. This would differentiate it from devices using other operating environments, such as MS-DOS machines, which were more technically challenging to operate.
The core of the system software was held in ROM, with updates (which would override ROM-resident portions in RAM) typically provided free of charge by Apple dealers on floppy disk. The user's involvement in an upgrade of the operating system was also minimized to running an installer, or simply replacing system files, the simplicity of which again differentiated the product from other offerings.
[edit]Versions
Early versions of the Mac OS were compatible only with Motorola 68000-based Macintoshes. As Apple introduced computers with PowerPC hardware, the OS was ported to support this architecture as well. Mac OS 8.1 was the last version that could run on a "68K" processor (the 68040). Mac OS X, which has superseded the "Classic" Mac OS, is compatible with both PowerPC and Intel processors through to version 10.5 ("Leopard"). Versions 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") and later support only Intel processors.[4]
The early Macintosh operating system initially consisted of two pieces of software, called "System" and "Finder", each with its own version number.System 7.5.1 was the first to include the Mac OS logo (a variation on the original Happy Mac startup icon), and Mac OS 7.6 was the first to be named "Mac OS".
Before the introduction of the later PowerPC G3-based systems, significant parts of the system were stored in physical ROM on the motherboard. The initial purpose of this was to avoid using up the limited storage of floppy disks on system support, given that the early Macs had no hard disk. (Only one model of Mac was ever actually bootable using the ROM alone, the 1991 Mac Classic model.) This architecture also allowed for a completely graphical OS interface at the lowest level without the need for a text-only console or command-line mode. Boot time errors, such as finding no functioning disk drives, were communicated to the user graphically, usually with an icon or the distinctive Chicago bitmap font and a Chime of Death or a series of beeps. This was in contrast to PCs of the time, which displayed such messages in a mono-spaced font on a black background, and required the use of the keyboard, not a mouse, for input. To provide such niceties at a low level, Mac OS depended on core system software in ROM on the motherboard, a fact that later helped to ensure that only Apple computers or licensed clones (with the copyright-protected ROMs from Apple) could run Mac OS.