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Background: How I have had a taste of the Forbidden Apple...

I have been a computer user as a hobby and as part of my Career path for many years now, and although I started using Macs  way back when I worked as Mac support in an ISP years ago, I mostly kept to the Windows, Linux, Unix Operating systems (as Mac users used to be seen as being a little simple years back).

However, about 5 years back, I was on the look out for a new Laptop and my partner was getting very irritated by the existing MS Windows ‘Half life’ and the fact that it seems to attract every virus going ;-(

So, although my main dev work has always been on Windows or Linux boxes, I decided to take a risk and see what Apple had to offer….

Ten minutes after buying this new shiny G4 Apple Powerbook, boy was my partner impressed… and three weeks later.. boy was I impressed at how few phone calls I had received along the lines of: ‘The pc is broken, how do i fix X,Y,Z?”

Long and short of it, Mac OS X is easier to use and due to the underlying BSD Unix security model, just doesnt get viruses.

So, several years on and we are completely sold on the Apple line.

But then all good things come to an end…  ;-(

Unfortunately, the good old powerbook is showing its age a little now what with Apple having moved away from PowerPC and the fact that the screen now has a dodgy connection.

So, I here you mac types say: “Just buy a new macbook pro laptop and continue along the Merry Apple road”

I would love to, but I don’t have £1700 quid to buy an equivalent. Also, I dont really agree with it being soo much money (I know Apple is a status symbol, but £1700 is a bit too much of a rip off considering other manufacturer laptop prices are considerably lower).

Step in OSX86…

So what’s the solution, well, being a constant geek and liking to fiddle with anything techy, I had heard of a project called OSX86 where people have been writing patches to allow Mac OS X to run on some non Apple Intel PC/Laptops. So I thought I would give it a try..

The advantage being that you can pick up very similar (in fact identical in some cases) hardware without the Apple price tag and then still use the nice OS X operating system.

Picking a Non Apple Laptop that will work with OS X:

Its not hard to go out and fall for a very shiny swanky Laptop, bring it home, wack in the OSX86 install disk (there are many to choose from) and loose your life and possibly hair trying to get the damn hardware to work with Mac OS X.

But nobody wants to take this risk – especially if you are not single, coz you will get an earful!

So, my approach was to do some research before taking the plunge. Basically read the following pages, looking for Laptops where other users have already had the pain of trying out many patches and then plump for that laptop:

OSX 86 Compatibility list: Portable Computers

I found that a few standout:

Netbooks: Dell Mini 9 - works perfectly with Mac OS X 10.5.6 / 10.5.7 (latest at time of writing) – great community support. So mature that it is pretty much stick disc in a click through setup)

HP 550 (1.8ghz Core Duo 2, 2/4GB RAM, 160/250GB HD, Wifi, BT) - Equivalent to a Mac book pro (15″ screen, single and dual core options). This laptop is what I am using – With iDeneb OSX86 and a few patches, works well except for two items:

• Inbuilt wifi card – Intel chipset is NOT recognised by Mac OS X – Solution: Buy a Broadcom minipci card (£15 on ebay) and replace it – very easy.

 

• Sleep currently does not work – no easy solution (have to shut down and restart Mac OS like windows/linux). UPDATE: Sleep now works on IPC with the Deep sleep widget installed (you have to click on widget in dashboard to sleep or press Fn+f5 (sleep button) to enter sleep.

Get your OSX86 distro:

As mentioned earlier, there are many OSX86 distributions that you can use to install Mac OS X on your Non Apple PC…

It really is a case of trying a few of them with your hardware or using one that another user has proven.

BE WARNED: Each one has its pros and cons: mostly you will find that at best case you will have one peice of hardware that does not work… worst case, nothing works ;-(

In my case, I ruled out the following Distros:

iDeneb – Installed fine, had issues with USB drive not working – even after trying various USB kext fixes.

iPC (as of 06/07/2009) –  would not boot correctly (Kernel panic trying to find the SATA drive – sense error) UPDATE: Turns out kernel panic sense error is due to bad read of DVD. Workaround is to use USB to install OSX86. See my blog post here.

I am currently using: iPC 10.5.6 – All of the hardware works, but still only 10.5.6 (Apple updates can wipe out hardware modules)

I am thinking of trying (just coz I am a tinkerer and want to by able to take Apple updates without pain):

- Boot 132 with Real leopard install disk.

Disclaimer: It is against Apples EULA license to install Mac OS X on non Apple hardware. It is currently under dispute, but it is at your own risk if you choose to do this. At the very least, you should buy a legit copy of MAC OS leopard (approx £79)

Don’t post comments asking where to get OSX86 distros. I will not reply. Hint: google is your friend

Anyhow, over the new week or so, I will be adding a post that records my journey of getting Mac OS X (ideneb) installed onto my Hp550 and working (all but the sleep mode)…

So do look out for a post if you want to save some hassle…

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