Other World Computing, a provider of products and services for the Mac, is demonstrating the beta version of XPostFacto 3.0 this week. XPostFacto is designed to enable older, non-supported Macs to run Mac OS X. The final version should be available for free download from the OWC Web site in the first quarter of the year.
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Version 3.0 will let users of older machines boot the Mac OS X 10.x from an external FireWire drive using a FireWire PCI card, according to Larry O’Connor, president of OWC. Booting OS X using XPostFacto was previously only possible on machines with built-in FireWire support. The new version of XPostFacto also includes an updated interface and integrated support of the L2 and L3 cache on G3 and G4 CPUs.
XPostFacto currently works with the 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500 and 9600 PowerSurge models, and the clones based on these systems (such as the Daystar Genesis and Millennium, PowerComputing PowerWave and PowerTower Pro and UMAX S900 and J700). The utility also works with the Beige G3s and on the original PowerBook G3, the 2400 and the 3400 with some limitations.
More details and additional documentation is online. The utility is free, but users are encouraged to pay a US$10 registration fee, which will provide additional access to OWC’s OS X tech forum and also help to support XPostFacto’s continuing development, O’Connor said.