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Nov. 7, 2009 4:51 p.m. rebelgtp Dork

I know there are a few of you on the board that have played around with installing the Mac OSX on PC's and I was wondering if anyone has any tips or suggestions?

I'm thinking about installing it either on my little Acer Aspire One netbook (just to mess around with) or possibly my desk top. Biggest thing with my desk top is it is powered by a AMD proc and I have read mixed reviews about how it works with the Mac OS. With the netbook I have heard it can be hard to make sure everything works (including the WIFI).

So who has done it?

On a side note the new 27 inch iMac has caught my eye so that maybe in my future once I can scrape the money together.
Nov. 7, 2009 5:31 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

Did it on a Dell 1525, one of the more popular configs. It was almost too easy. If you find a supported config there are usually plenty of step by step guides online.

Works just like a MAC, really quite simple.
Nov. 7, 2009 5:39 p.m. fiat22turbo SuperDork

Run it in a VM first. work out how to fix some of the problems ahead of time. It won't fix everything 100% but at least you'll have the basics worked out before you go full- throttle on the thing.

There are some pretty good VM-like solutions out there for Linux, Windows, etc that are free. Like VirtualBox (much better with the latest release) or VirtualPC (Winblows only)
Nov. 7, 2009 6:11 p.m. Timeormoney New Reader

In reply to rebelgtp: http://insanelywind.com/blog/

is where a lot of the msi wind folks have finally settled; a decent board without too many trolls
Nov. 7, 2009 7:59 p.m. Josh HalfDork

It seems to me like the Dell mini9 is the easiest way to get going on osx, as the hardware is very similar to a MacBook air. I certainly like mine. They can be had very cheaply on Dell outlet. The Dell mini forum is a great resource:

Mydellmini.com
Nov. 7, 2009 11:10 p.m. pigeon HalfDork

A quick google tured up this how to for the Acer: http://www.hackint0sh.org/f200/70873.htm

I've been hackintoshing for several years. The right modified distro will run on an AMD (btdt) but Intel is easier.

plus eleventybillion for OSX on a refurbed Dell Mini9. Mine has been running flawlessly on 10.5.8 since the day UPS delivered it to me over 6 months ago. I've got less than $300 total into it including doubling the ram, a high capacity SD card as extra storage in the card reader and adding an external DVD burner. I am waiting for 64 gig SSDs to drop in price a bit more and then will throw one in.
Nov. 9, 2009 12:01 a.m. rebelgtp Dork

Hmmm seems to be all sorts of problems getting the Acer to work 100% (wifi seems like a biggy). Might just dump Windows 7 on it and call it good then start saving for the quad core 27 inch iMac.
Nov. 9, 2009 10:28 a.m. alex Dork

Why Mac as opposed to Ubuntu or similar? I have assume that this will be a basic netbook, and it seems to me that the full Mac OS is over-featured for something that would function better with simple, fast software. Like taking an AMG E55 wagon to a roadcourse where a Locost would post slightly better times.

(For the record, I'm also thinking of doing something similar, and debating Mac vs. Ubuntu myself. And I'm a lifelong Mac guy, so the fanboi-ism is strong with this one.)
Nov. 9, 2009 10:32 a.m. aircooled SuperDork

Check the Hardware section on this page. It should give you some idea what can and needs to be done. The site also has good general info (including how to guides)

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Notebooks seem to be very popular to mod, netbooks seem even more popular, so there is usually a lot of info on them.
Nov. 9, 2009 11:07 a.m. rebelgtp Dork

Alex well I have run a variety of Linux distros over the last 10 or so years so I was just thinking something a lil different.
Nov. 9, 2009 12:08 p.m. captain_napalm Reader

alex wrote: (For the record, I'm also thinking of doing something similar, and debating Mac vs. Ubuntu myself. And I'm a lifelong Mac guy, so the fanboi-ism is strong with this one.)

I go Ubuntu, because it's free
Nov. 9, 2009 12:11 p.m. VanillaSky Reader

So far, Win7 isn't bad. I'd prefer OSX, but the latest revision seems to have a few bugs. I'd rather install a version of OSX that's less buggy. I do love the OSX interface, though. It's so easy to use, my wife's kindergarteners can use it just fine. Not so much with the Windows boxes sitting in this room.

I might hackintosh something if I have a spare. I won't hackintosh something I use daily.
Nov. 9, 2009 1:07 p.m. aircooled SuperDork

VanillaSky wrote:

....I might hackintosh something if I have a spare. I won't hackintosh something I use daily.

There is no real chance of messing up the computer. OSX has to go into its own partition or drive. The only real change might be to the boot flag on the disc / partition, and that is pretty easy to change.
Nov. 9, 2009 1:23 p.m. klipless New Reader

Josh wrote:

It seems to me like the Dell mini9 is the easiest way to get going on osx, as the hardware is very similar to a MacBook air. I certainly like mine. They can be had very cheaply on Dell outlet. The Dell mini forum is a great resource:

Mydellmini.com

Installing OSX on my Mini 9 couldn't have been easier. With that said, I've installed and settled on Ubuntu's netbook remix. OSX took up too much space and the netbook remix is better suited to the small format of the laptop and the way I use it. I'm no linux guru either, I just know how to google.