Run Leopard (Mac OS 10.5) on a Dell Mini 9
I’m a huge fan of ultra portables! They are small, light and just powerful enough to do what you need to get done. Sure I run Windows (in VMware), but for me the Mac OS better fits my lifestyle, but if you are looking for an ultra portable you are going to have to look beyond Cupertino.
So, when I got the Dell mini 9 all I wanted to do was put Leopard on it. With a little bit of tinkering and some help from a good blogging buddy Kevin Tofel I was able to painlessly install 10.5.4 on the little guy.
Kevin advised me that the chipset and processor of the Dell mini is so similar to the MSI Wind that a special slipstreamed version of 10.5 customized for the MSI Wind would be perfect (and painless) to get the little guy up and running.
The steps to Leopard-ize the mini are actually quite simple and easy to follow. After you download the slipstreamed ISO and burn the 3.2GB ISO to a DVD you boot up the Dell mini off a external DVD drive (Press 0 (Zero) at the BIOS screen) and installed Leopard as usual.
Once you complete the install all components except the wireless, ethernet, and sound worked. After some searching on the Dell forums I found two files that enabled the disabled Broadcom wireless adaptor and audio chipset, which you can find here.
Unzip the archive from the previous step and open Terminal in Leopard on the Dell mini. Type in sudo and drag the bcm43xx_enabler.sh icon to the Terminal window. Press the Enter key, type in your admin password on the keyboard and follow the instructions. (For those who don’t like to read - basically press Enter four times and restart).
When that is done, restart the computer and run the ALC268_Installer1 application (That was included in the archive) to enable sound chipset on the mini.
After you restart again and you have a fully functioning Mac OS enabled Dell mini 9.
UPDATE: I have had success updating to 10.5.5. Just use software update to download the update and reapply the patches. Proceed with caution on the update, milage may vary.
10.5.5 bluetooth not working. please help. i believe MIKE up there has the same issue.
You can get it down quite a bit my install with all updates and applications
http://img.flashtux.org/img132698639032×630a53fa.png <—- see link to picture showing disk usage about 6gb.
JOHNNYBOY the bad news for me and possibly for you if you had XP installed before you installed OS X and did not have your bluetooth on you will have to enable it in XP then reinstall OS X. This is what fixed mine but wasn’t a pleasant experience. All in all OS X rocks on the mini 9 much faster than a stock XP (factory) install however, a cut down (nlited) version of XP without page file and some tweaks is also very fast and takes only about 600mg to 1.5gb with all the basic applications that i need. For now I am quite happy with the hackintosh and am considering selling my real macbook.
Dan,
you said that after the update to 10.5 one has to re apply the patches. which patches? can you please elaborate on this?
I just have two quick questions about this.
1. Can I use the Leopard disk that came with my MBP or does it have to be a retail version [family pack OK?]?
2. If I decide the OS X runs too slowly am I able to downgrade back to XP [or more likely linux] easily?
Tabele GRVOE
108 E. Laurel 61482
1309 758-52-83
Does anybody have a hint?
I burned the iso-File but my Mini does not recognize the image.
Sometimes there´s an memory allocation error (0xdeadbeef, 0×0).
Google knows about the problem but has no solution.
I cant answer your first question JOE but as for #2 you would just need either a live cd for linux or an XP install disk and it would easily just delete the partition that osx is on and put your new os on it with no problems at all.
Is there a good site that has a tutorial on how to trim down the installation? I’ve never done it before and dont want to remove anything I shouldnt be.
Why my wireless and ethernet still not working?
I do every step as you wrote down here.
What wrong with my mini?
I’ve installed OSX Leopard 10.5.1, 10.5.4 and even 10.5.5 (iDeneb) on Dell Optiplex 330 and Optiplex 745. I never got any problem (until processor is SSE2 or more) except one problem: ETHERNET IS NOT WORKING!!! So could any one help me out please…
just missed a mail from “uneasysilence”. i deleted it by accident. please resend…thanks a million
Tim (et all) there are several good sites to learn more and find users to help ask questions. http://mydellmini.com/forum/ <-watch out for UnaClocker he’s a prick and a smart mouth punk. You can get Monolingual-1.3.9 to strip alot of things out that you wont need (example extra language files) ect. In addition, you can save alot of space after install by getting rid of sleep funtion (the mini currently wont support hibernation) by going to terminal to remove Hibernate file and turn off hibernate: (paste code below)
sudo pmset hibernatemode 0
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage
this all sounds great!
for those with the sleep/hibernation issues, try this System Preferences utility that let’s you choose the kind of Sleep mode you want to use (it also let’s you delete your smart sleep image):
http://www.jinx.de/SmartSleep.html
Question: any one installed Mac !0.5 on a Asus N10j series notebook? and or how about a dell 1720? if so please let me know. thanks. im wanting to try out a mac and have the full 10.5 Os.
Got OS X running - lovin it, faster than XP, but is 800 X 600 as good as it can get?
Thanks Dan the install was as simple as I could hope for. One problem that came up is the card reader is not working. Any ideas?
Problem fixed, install the video kext from
http://rapidshare.com/files/145582949/Windkexts.zip.html
Hi all,
I have Lenovo 3000 N100, I tried installing the OS X, but getting error, kindly let me know if i can install on my system..
Hi,
Does anyone know what to do with the error “the installer could not install some files in “/volumes…. etc. Contact software manufacturer for assistance.”
A runcore 32gb ssd was just installed into the mini, so is there a need to partition the drive a certain way before attempting the install? If so could someone please explain or point me to a guide to show how to do this in order to successfully complete the install.
Thanks in advance..
Hi Jak,
you’d want to format the partition to hfs (or journaled) while you are in the installation process. Do this by entering Disc Utilities from the top menu and use erase.
Regards
Karthik
thanks karthik. worked like a charm.
Hey ROSCO you can get the cardreader driver here http://osxsdhci.sourceforge.net/
use kext helper to install its currently only suporting 2gb and under sd cards not sdhcbut hopefully soon it will be.
Brilliant! Lovely to hear this can be done, and the many comments clearly show how much INTEREST there is. Thanx for sharing your experiences!
Someone asked if this was legal. No it is not and Apple has proven to take legal action against people and even companies for this.
Thanks for the info Mike. Unfortunatly for me I have a 16gig Sony Memory Stick…
Works great, Thanks
I used this guide to install the msiwindosx86 cd.
http://www.planetx64.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1419&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=3
I got mine up to 10.5.6 with some tweeks to these steps
1) install windows and update bios
2) burn the msi wind image mentioned in this article
3) make sure you format the SSD to GUID and OS X extended (make sure its NOT journaled)
4) customize install and remove x11 and the kernel patch.
5) now instead of using the drivers attached which give you the kernel panic… go here http://mydellmini.com/forum/howto-install-os-x-the-right-way-type11-boot132–t1106.html download the the type 11 boot iso and take it apart till you find the install.dmg open this up and run “miniscript” once this baby goes you got all the drivers wi-fi video and even quick boot.
6) restart and hold your breath… mine froze the first time i waited 15 mins before turning the power off just to make sure it wasn’t doing anything… restarted hit F8 on boot and typed -f and hit enter…. everything boots… EVERYTHING WORKS!
7)update to 10.5.6 restart and everything will work except wifi…. run the “miniscript” again this time hit update instead of fresh install and then restart.
8)run the ‘aboutThisMac.pkg’ in the install.dmg to update about this mac
9)run multilingual as mentioned in the original article.. you can skip the other stripping software…
10) disable sleep unless you have the 32 gig SSD (as mentioned in original article)
11) Repair permissions and and enjoy your dell mini 9 10.5.6 hackintosh.
final note: the odd boot (1 out of 10) might need a good old F8 and -f to get her going.
I followed exactly the same way you mentioned. Installation was successful. However after restart the apple screen and the wait icon comes and the nothing happens. I tried with -f also but no luck. Any suggestions?
is sleep, video, shutdown working on mini 9?
with my tweeks list shutdown works and video works perfect i have pixelmator working with quartz extreme. sleep works if you have the 32gig ssd or any other aftermarket ssd.
Skyler - will the Dell 32gig ssd work with the sleep mode? I’ve read in many places that only the aftermarket 32’s work. Sorry if this was answered already.
im not sure i disabled mine sleep is the lest of my concern i have clean shutdown and start up, working video, sound, updates, multi touch, card reader, the head phone jack and internal speakers switch when something is pluged in, i think i can confirm everything except sleep works… even when you disable sleep the screen still shuts off when you close the lid so like i said it doesnt bug me too much.
…not to mention after you have run the type 11 miniscript and you have enable the quickboot… and run multilingual to strip os x and repaired all your permissions the totaly boot time is less then 30 seconds and shut down is even quicker you dont need sleep
Skyler - You are right… I can live with a 30 second startup! Sorry, bit of a nervous n00b about hackintoshing, scripts, etc… What is the easiest, step by step instructions on setting up my Dell mini 9 to run Leopard, making sure all the components work, and can update to 10.5.6. Is there a link you can direct me too for an easy to understand “how-to”? Thanks so much for you patience, and help!
Unfortunately there is no definitive guide they all claim to work and they all have their flaws… Its all about trial and error… the simplest install (for me) was using the MSI wind os x image… and the type 11 updater and drivers instead of the ones normally recommended…. the msi wind image will install 10.5.4 on your dell 100% of the time its just the updates and drivers that come after that are a pain… if you can live with 10.5.4 then the msi wind image and the type 11 mini script is the perfect and easy solution… from there all your do is hit update software… reboot and run the type 11 mini script again… everything else is optional… how you format your SSD wether it be MBR or GUID… journaled or non journaled… all performance tweeks… with the wind image… type 11 image… and a free weekend anyone can have a mini dell mac
Skyler - Thank you for your guidance! My Dell mini 9 will be arriving in a couple of weeks… it’s definitely worth a try!
Skyler - Thank you again for your help! I finally received my mini 9, and the install went flawlessly (type11)! Running 10.5.6. Everything is working great. I am using everything stock Dell - SSD 32gb, 1.2mpx Webcam is great with iChat. I used my XBox HD-DVD player for the boot CD during install. The miniscript was easy, and solid! Again, thank you very much!
does it have a built in mic for ichat? nobody has told me
I have just installed OS X on my Dell Mini 9 with msiwindosx86.iso
Everything was perfect during the installation. But after that, my mini cannot finish booting. It stops in the boot screen (the little similar clock which is running does not get frozen). I switched off the external dvd drive from it and nothing.
Please help… Do I have to do something else to make it finish booting?
Thanks
simple press F8 RIGHT befor the white screen… type -f and hit enter
OK!! It is done!!!! Thank you so much.
I Have Leopard 10.5.0
How did you upgrage to 10.5.4 / 10.5.6 ? I only have 8gb storage.
Ok. When I installed Mac OSX, I realised this MSIwindosx86.iso is old (is 10.5.0 only). That’s why I had to use the ” Mini9-132EZ ” CD to make Dell boot correctly. After that, my MAC OS X is 10.5.0, and it is shown in 800×600 (really bad). Everything works perfect less sound.
I am downloading the iso from this article. I can not upgrade to 10.5.6 directly because of the storage (aproximatelly 2gb free after installation)
So I think with this page’s ISO I could run everything perfectly step by step.
you dont need to run the Mini9-132EZ to boot you just need to burn the MSIwindosx86.iso (10.5.4) install this from scratch and then run the mini script inside of the type 11 dmg and you should have evything working…. once everything is installed delete chess and all the stupid aps you wont use and use multilingual to strip all the unused language and archatectures you shuold be able to get your os x install down to about 4 gig
1) use this image to get 10.5.4 http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4307757/MSIWindosx86.iso
2) download the type 11 boot image http://mydellmini.com/forum/howto-install-os-x-the-right-way-type11-boot132–t1106.html … rip it apart for install.dmg and run “miniscript”
3) sript leopard http://mydellmini.com/forum/download/file.php?id=61
3 step install!
if boot should ever fail like i said! F8! -f enter!
what do i do with the second step?
Thanks a lot for these steps.
Yesterday I finished installing everything and works really fine.. wifi, bluetooth, sound. My problem is the storage (only 8gb SSD). I am in 10.5.6 now and I will be using USB pendrives for PPT’s and DOC’s..etc
I have read something about sleep-wake option. I have not understood so much that… but I saw some Dells working on it. I really would like it on my dell. Because of moving in college you know? hehe
Endeed, about MMC/SD, does it work with any driver? That port would be really nice to use.
What would I need to make this happen? Thank you.
When I burn the ISO i get a burn failure notice. the disk didnt pass verification. big deal?
Which program do you use to burn the ISO? that’s not an ISO’s problem. That’s a program or dvd recorder problem
Disk Utility.
I was stupid and attempted the install.
the disc didnt pass installer verification. now it wants me to restart. guess im screwed?
I suffered that with my original Leopard Retail from my Mac Pro because I tried to use another method than this one which is shown in this forum. Are you using Type 11’s method or something similar?
I recommend you to burn MSIWindosx86.iso and run it in your Dell’s boot.
After doing that, use what Skyler wrote: download the type 11 boot image http://mydellmini.com/forum/howto-install-os-x-the-right-way-type11-boot132–t1106.html … rip it apart for install.dmg and run “miniscript”
3) sript leopard http://mydellmini.com/forum/download/file.php?id=61
I got it working now…
But it appears none of my USB ports work. is this normal? fixable?
jprocks -With this method yes. You have to plug your usb device in before you turn on the computer then it will be recognized by the os.
Can I restore the contents of the wind image to a usb drive and boot off that? I just tried it with my iPod and another USB hard drive but it says media test failed / operating system not found.
To answer my own question, I had to use Chameleon EFI to make my USB drive(s) bootable.
A few questions. After I download the x86 image, do I burn that or do I open it and burn? Does airtunes work?
Skyler,
Thanks for the info. Out of curiosity, does your “Slipstreamed + Type11″ version of 10.5.6 have working SDHC?
Hi stim,
I have my SDHC port working in my Slipstreamed + Type11 dell ^_^
I recommend you to visit this post: http://mydellmini.com/forum/sd-card-slot-creating-developing-the-driver-kext-t360.html
You will have to install a ketx and do several things. Nothing complicated, but just read last answeres ok? I made it work last week.
lzg
Thanks for the link!
Skyler or anyone else doing the combo MSIWind.iso and type11’s MiniScript - have you run into a problem when running the script to get an error such as:
mount_hfs: Resource busy ?
I get this pretty much right after I click on Go Time and the type11 script just won’t install. I have tried to look at the script with the editor but can’t figure out why this is coming up.
I have the exact same problem. Have you, or anyone else resolved it?
Did you solve this? I’m facing exactly the same problem?
Thx in advance!
Strange. Installed the Image already twice. Installation works great. But after restarting it will not boot into OSX. All I see is the Apple Logo (grey screen) and the spinning sign below. CD/DVD drive already unplugged before rebooting. HD was correctly formatted (GUID, 1 partition, OSX extended w/o journalling). Installatino was without X11 and without patches.
What is going wrong?
well, well. Just by reading my post. Seems that you only disable the kernel patches, not all of them :) will retry now …
My install went pretty smooth, but once the mini wakes up from sleep mode, everything seem to freezes and force me to restart. Is there any patches out there for this issue or should I just turn my sleep off?
Is it possible to install OS X on an SDHC card? I want to keep my Ubuntu install on the main SSD.
Can anyone tell me what the exact stats are for the 16gb SSD? I’m trying to find out if the following would be compatible.
http://extreme-pc.ca/showproduct.asp?productid=372888&menu1id=12&menu2id=78&menu3id=25
Could someone please help me :-)
I followed the Type11 how-to, and everything worked fine, upgraded to 10.5.6, wlan and sound working, correct screen resolution (found some .pkg at the msi wind forums). And here comes the big, fat BUT
I can’t boot to OS X directly, I always get the PXE routine running, failing with “No Operating System” found - so I need to boot from the Boot132 Image (V7.7). Did I miss something here? As far as I can remember I formatted the disk with GUID. Any help would be appreciated!
here is the answer to my post above, I needed to run the miniscript that comes with the Boot132 image. Did that and couldn’t boot OS X anymore, dies with kernel panic. I’m reinstalling again, this time with the slipstreamed image instead the vanilla kernel.
Hi Maze, I am also having exactly the same problem, I also posted this problem into Mydellmini forum, but so far no reply yet. Any suggestion will be highly appreciated.
Anyone figured out HyperThreading? I installed with the slipstreamed 10.5.4 updated to 10.5.5 from apple, added the drivers posted above (not the type11 ones they caused me to crash) the only thing i could wish for at this point is Hyperthreading. But to be honest if it doesn’t come, i haven’t crashed, got a kernel panic or anything.
is anybody having sound problems? i think i’ve got everything working except that i can’t get any audio.
Looks good and simple on paper. Why is the internet loaded with complicated terminal entries and help columns?
Having some problems. Does the MSI Wind version do it’s own version of EFI or something? I tried following the Type 11 install instructions with the MSI wind iso and it def did not work. However, when I install the MSI wind version all by itself, I can get OSx to install.
Couple of questions though.
When I try to run the mini-script (as some people mentioned above), I get the mount_hfs: Resource busy message. And the script never really appears to do anything at all. I was wondering if this happens because I used the Wind version and not a retail copy (waiting to order one until i know this works).
Secondly, I never noticed the option to do a GUID install. Only saw journaling, and extended. Any comments? Thanks
ALL, I found a very compelling argument AGAINST THE ABOVE PRESCRIBED METHOD. (i.e., not using the MSI Wind Image)
Take a read. I’m sold…
http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/why-not-msiwind-method–t2114.html
Will this work on other netbooks, or just dell mini’s and msi winds?
so do you have to wipe the mini 9 before you start?
Hi,
French readers can find an installation guide in “la langue de Molière” here :
http://ohm-sweet-ohm.blogspot.com/2009/01/installer-mac-os-x-leopard-sur-dell.html
I have reused Dan photo. I hope it’s ok…
if i buy the ubunto version for less $ and more RAM and memory, can i still do this?
yes you can. but you’ll run out of storage soon. leopard install takes about 50% of the 16GB SSD, so I’d prefer to buy that very Mini 9 modell
actually it comes with a 64 gb hard drive with a 2 gb RAM chip
When I try to run the wireless sh file into the sudo terminal I got this message bcm43xx… cannot execute binary.
Any clues?
Oops, nm, fixed it. I must always remember to burn and unzip from a mac first.
After doing the software update, the keyboard and touchpad stopped working. Although USB keyboard and mouse are fine.
Any ideas?
I’m working on installing os x 10.5.4 on an MSI Wind. Have the torrent from Pirate Bay. I’m fairly new to this so I’m making my way slowly.
I was wondering if there is way to install os x from a memory stick in setup? All the sites I have seen w/ instructions on installation start w/ an external optical drive. I could get one, but I’d rather do it w/ what I have. If anyone has instructions or knows of them I’d be much obliged.
If I do need to have an external optical drive is it possible to do it from the drive on my MacBook? I’m guessing probably not.
thanx
This works and is the best way to install with a single usb stick.
How to Install from a Single USB key (no DVD needed)
http://mydellmini.com/forum/how-to-install-from-a-single-usb-key-no-dvd-needed–t2845.html#p23094
So, I’ve got the ISO burned successfully but the install process says that I cannot install OSX on to the mini’s hard-drive….
“You cannot install Mac OSX on this volume. The contents f this volume cannot be changed”
Is Windows XP somehow protecting the drive? Do I need to format the drive using GParted on a USB stick or a Linux Live DVD?
Cheers
Everything works fine, I even installed iWork 08 on there and its perfect. I installed it following the instructions in the original post and I installed the drivers to enable the broadcom and sound but static constantly present, even when the sound is muted and turned down all the way. Any advice?
OK, I used the OSX Wind 10.5.4 install with extra scripts on my Mini 9, 16GB w/ 2GB memory. The screen resolution, SD card Reader, Sound, Wi-Fi, Webcam all work. The only problem I am having is when the unit goes to sleep when I lower the lid, the OS is frozen when it awakes. Is there a fix?