A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

AC'97 – A specification for an audio chipset like the Intel HDA format, this is the predecessor of the new specification and supports a wide range of audio codecs using an Apple driver named AppleAC97Audio.kext using simple edits.

B

Bootloader – A small piece of code usually written to the MBR of a drive or to the beginning of a partition that allows the computer to boot an operating system

BSD – The basis of OS X, this is an opensource operating system similar to Unix and currently takes the form of FreeBSD. This is why so much of the filesystem and terminal are similar to Unix.

C

CI – Core Image – This is another graphics technology from Apple which like QE is usually found on Apple supported hardware. It is used by OS X to provide fancy graphics and other video speed ups. Only available with certain drivers.

D

Darwin – This is the old open source version of OS X developed by Apple, it mainly provided a limited text-based UI and is now redundant. It does work on x86 hardware but now only the Darwin Bootloader is currently used to allow BIOS based booting on PCs.

DMG – This is like an ISO file, it is an image of a volume and is widely used in OS X as a means of distributing applications and such as they are natively supported.

E

EFI – Extensible Firmware Interface – Like a computer BIOS except very limited among PCs, this is what Apple uses to boot OS X and provide some drivers during boot, it is the successor to the BIOS interface and will become the mainstream way to boot a computer in

time.

H

HDA – High Definition Audio – Refers to Intel's standard for audio codecs, most of these are supported using AppleHDA patcher but this is not your codec name.

HFS – Hierarchical File System – The filesystem used by OS X which is fairly advanced but is incompatible with Windows without MacDrive installed.

K

Kext – Kernel Extension – Found in /System/Library/Extensions these are drivers for hardware and some software and hardware based solutions. Here all your drivers are kept.

M

MBR – Master Boot Record – An area of the disk that is reserved as a bootloader and is usually relatively highly protected by the OS from being overwritten.

N

Natit – An enabler for ATI and NVIDIA cards based upon the code written for Titan with specific emphasis on dual monitor support

O

OpenGL – A graphics technology that is used in both Windows and OS X designed to allow games developers to devlop games easier, this is required for a number of games and is usually integrated within OS X itself, has been known to cause initial problems in the past before patching.

P

PPF – Literally means "playstation patch format", originally designed to patch ISOs of PS2 games with files without having to unpack the ISO first, used in OS X to apply patches, fixes or install packages to official or homebrew OS X installation DVD ISOs.

Q

QE – Quartz Extreme – Refers to a 3D Imaging technology developed by Apple, this is required for good graphics performance and is

normally found to be available to users of graphics cards that are supported in Apple products such as the GMA950 or NVIDIA GT9300. This is generally needed for high resolution support.

R

R2D2 – A kernel extension that appears in the form of a kext that is designed to break Apple's security code by bypassing calls to the TPM chip. This is now legacy technology as the open sourcing of the 10.4.8 kernel (8.8.1) has led to the code being integrated here so no kext is needed.

R3D3 – The updated version of R2d2.kext designed for Leopard's TPM security, this again bypasses security calls to the system and is also needed for 10.4.9 beta releases.

Rosetta – Apple's implementation to make old PowerPC applications designed for old Macs work on Intel Macs without a fuss using emulation technology.

S

SSE2 – A processor instruction set that is the minimum requirement to run OS X, this is supported on all post-Pentium 3 processors for Intel and nearly all modern AMD processors. Requires patches to convert SSE3 instructions used in OS X to SSE2 ones.

SSE3 – Used in OS X and Apple applications to utilise the latest technology, this is only available on some of the most recent processors including all Core based processors. Required for a better OS X experience.

T

Titan – An enabler for ATI and NVIDIA based graphics cards, supports the majority of cards available.

TPM – Trusted Platform Module – A hardware chip found in Macs and a few PCs that increases security and in particular stops OS X running on non-Apple hardware hence OSx86 was born and this is now easily patched to avoid issues.

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