Developer Transition Kit (2005)



The 2005 Developer Transition Kit (DTK), also known as the Developer Transition System (DTS), is an Intel Mac made available for lease to developers enrolled in an Apple Developer Connection subscription. The DTK was leased to developers for US$999, with Apple offering a first-generation Intel iMac in exchange for returning the machine within a week of a 2006 deadline.

As with the Apple TV (1st generation), the DTK makes use of a platform that was never used on a retail Mac. Specifically, it uses the Intel Pentium 4 "Prescott" platform, based on the abandoned NetBurst microarchitecture, while the first retail Macs use the Core Duo "Yonah" platform, based on the Core microarchitecture.

Hardware

 * CPU Specs:
 * Core Design: Intel "Prescott" Pentium 4 660 x 1
 * CPU Speed: 3.6 GHz
 * Chipset:
 * Northbridge: Intel 915G with Intel GMA 900 GPU
 * Southbridge: Intel ICH6 82801FB
 * Front-side Bus Speed: 800 MHz
 * DVI-D video output via Silicon Image ORION ADD2-N PCI Express adapter
 * RAM: 1 GiB 533 MHz DDR2 ECC SDRAM
 * Storage: 160 GB
 * Firmware: Modified build of Mac OS X 10.4
 * Initial firmware: 10.4.1
 * Last firmware: 10.4.3
 * Internal Name:

PC Similarities
The hardware of the DTK is notable for being extremely similar to a traditional x86-based PC of the time. The logic board is not an Apple design - it is a modified Intel Desktop Board D915GUX, with a BIOS build customised to meet Apple's requirements, and rear I/O connectors matching those of the unmodified Power Mac G5 case. This is not uncommon, as Intel's Desktop Boards division acted as an ODM for major PC brands. The logic board has "BARRACUDA" printed between the CPU and RAM slots, where an Intel model number would usually appear - likely the Intel codename for the D915 series reference design. A backplate has been installed to adapt the Power Mac G5's logic board screw mounting points to the standard microATX form factor, and the Power Mac G5 power supply is adapted to the standard ATX power supply 24-pin and 4-pin connectors using a daughterboard with Apple part number 920-0267-03. Unlike retail Mac Pros, which exclusively use PCI Express, the DTK logic board provides one PCI Express x16 and one x1 slot, and two legacy PCI slots. The logic board identifies itself as "Apple Computer Inc. Apple Development Platform" with model number AAD16649-103, and BIOS version string EV91510A.86X.0450, dated 2005.

While the machine uses the Intel 915 chipset's integrated Intel GMA 900 GPU, no video output is present on the logic board itself. A PCI Express card provides the video output functionality. This works around the lack of onboard video output connector on the unchanged Power Mac G5 case. The card in question is an off-the-shelf Advanced Digital Display 2 card manufactured by Silicon Image, based on the Sil1364 chipset. ADD2 is an Intel proprietary extension of PCI Express, supported by Intel 9xx, G/Q3x, and G/Q4x chipsets, whose original purpose is to expose the additional video outputs of Intel GMA chipsets on PCs with limited video outputs directly on the motherboard.

The machine uses the legacy Master Boot Record scheme, rather than the GPT and Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) scheme used by shipping Intel Macs, presumably as Apple's boot firmware implementation had not yet been finalised. This makes it completely possible to install any other x86 operating system, such as Windows.

Influence on Hackintoshing
The DTK, and subsequent online leaks of its restore DVDs featuring unique builds of Mac OS X Tiger, prompted the creation of the "Hackintosh" movement, which produces tools and patches enabling macOS to successfully boot on non-Apple hardware, and make use of hardware components not supported by the set of drivers built into the operating system.

The DTK features an Infineon Trusted Platform Module (TPM), required for the machine to successfully boot into Mac OS X, in an attempt to prevent straightforward installation of the modified Mac OS X build onto similar non-Apple hardware. The security check is implemented in the Rosetta emulation layer, which allows PowerPC apps to seamlessly run on an Intel Mac. Should the TPM challenges fail, Rosetta refuses to start. A critical Mac OS X component, ATSServer (Apple Type System daemon), is included as a PowerPC-only binary, thereby requiring the TPM check to pass for Mac OS X to boot into a graphical interface. Cracked releases of the Mac OS X builds patch out the TPM requirement, allowing it to be installed on similar non-Apple hardware with a "Prescott" Pentium 4 and Intel 915G chipset. Further patches developed by the community enable it to run on a wider range of platforms, such as Intel Pentium M and AMD Athlon 64.

While some retail Macs shipped with TPM hardware, the operating system did not make use of it, and subsequent Macs removed the TPM. Retail Intel Macs instead use the System Management Controller and Dont Steal Mac OS.kext (DSMOS) to implement a hardware check that occurs much earlier in the boot process.