Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 27
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    187

    Hackintosh a Dell Mini

    Anyone done this before? For $300 seems like it might be worth a try.


    http://gizmodo.com/5389166/how-to-ha...eopard-netbook

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Nordvand
    Posts
    1,619
    Sounds good. Do it and post up...
    i wish i never chose that user_name

    Whitedot Freeride

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    The bottom of LCC
    Posts
    5,750
    tempting. the GF needs a new laptop.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    In a parallel universe
    Posts
    4,755
    I like it.
    May have to give that a shot.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Vancouver, BC
    Posts
    1,107
    That looks like a damn good solution for a netbook. I still love my MacBook Air, but it doesn't really do Photoshop/Lightroom very well, and for like 20% of the cost that Dell/OSX solution seems to be a winner.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    187
    I am going to try it. I just ordered a mini from Dell outlet, $209 after 15% off coupon.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    SLC
    Posts
    71
    Did it a few weeks ago to a refurb'd 10v from the Dell Outlet. Installation was pretty painless, and everything seems to be working perfectly. I followed the guide the Gizmodo one references. Only downsides are a fairly short battery life and the trackpad on the 10v sucks.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    187
    Did you see the workout for the trackpad to make it more Mac like? I'll find the link and post it.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    SLC
    Posts
    71
    The drivers for the trackpad are great (add 2 finger scroll, etc). My problem is with the physical trackpad itself. There are no buttons - you click by pushing down on the bottom corners of the trackpad. Makes it really easy to move the cursor as you're clicking and miss. All in all though, I can't complain about a $200 netbook running OS X...

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    In a parallel universe
    Posts
    4,755
    Quote Originally Posted by zselby View Post
    Only downsides are a fairly short battery life and the trackpad on the 10v sucks.
    Specifically, how long?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    SLC
    Posts
    71
    2.5 hours or so. That's with the 3 cell, not the 6.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    187
    Did you upgrade to 2G of RAM?

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Carbondale
    Posts
    698
    Quote Originally Posted by PowderAlltheTime View Post
    I am going to try it. I just ordered a mini from Dell outlet, $209 after 15% off coupon.
    Have a source for that coupon?

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    In a parallel universe
    Posts
    4,755
    Is there any functionality that is missing, and or limited?
    Besides Firewire...

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    187
    I found it on the twitter page for Dell outlet. Google twitter dell outlet, it should pop up. The special I used was daylight saving specials.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    SLC
    Posts
    71
    I didn't upgrade the RAM, and don't really feel the need. To me the Atom processor is more of a bottleneck than the RAM. But, as long as you're aware of that, OS X runs perfectly on 1gb of RAM.

    I haven't noticed any missing functionality, but I mainly just use it around the house for checking out stuff on the web and playing music.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    8,404
    pretty damn cool....

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    The bottom of LCC
    Posts
    5,750
    This:

    http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/a...ntoshers-in-n/

    could make this somewhat less appealling

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    3rd floor
    Posts
    358
    A friend's been using one for months now w/good results. Not sure I'd describe his experience of the install as completely painless, but definitely not bad. Biggest thing I noticed was just how much smaller the thing is than even my 12" ibook. Assuming that you've already got one in your hands, you're obviously good with that, but I know it would take me a little while to get used to doing any real work w/it...

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    907
    Posts
    15,645
    hackintosh a web book=much work for an underpowered slug

    the article's talking about new SL features, like Quicktime's new interface, that will firewall that little CPU when you try to use them

    if you want an easy install of a better OS for that little netbook, tell the bios to boot from cd and load up a Karmic Koala Live CD

    the install process is similar, but simpler

    then there's the 29,000 software packages in the Ubu repositories like Blender, r-cran, QGIS, OpenStreet Maps, OpenVPN, OpenSSH, Amarok streaming server, MythTV, LAMP server, Gimp, Tor, Squid, Macchanger, Wireshark, Ettercap,etc,etc...
    and you won't even have to click on a EULA, much less pay for any of them
    will you have software repos and keyservers (like easy-install) mit der Hackenbox?


    i run a FreeBSD network that has better uptimes than my ISP, so i love the OS, but i still think you'd do better with Ubuntu Karmic in this case

    by the time you hack enough BSD to make a Hackintosh run like a sweet little underpowered Apple, you will get way more with Ubuntu

    and if you are going to put in the effort, you can run Gentoo Gay Cow or Solaris, the most powerful operating systems you can pack into an architecture that size

    UBU will make a screaming netbook if you get PDNSD and Polipo
    (persistent DNS cache and ultralight transparent proxy make web clients ultrafast)

    that being said,
    i would partition my hackentosh netbook:
    2x ram for swap, (bsd swap)
    20% on / (EXT4)
    70% on /Home (EXT4) (TruCrypt)
    5-10% in a couple EXT4 partitions to run the boot sectors of other distros (like Puppy, or VMware, or BT4 frinstance), which can then boot from a thumb drive


    good luck
    Beastie wants you
    Last edited by highangle; 11-03-2009 at 01:36 AM.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Portland, OR, U.S.A.
    Posts
    2,537
    highangle speaky no english
    another Handsome Boy graduate

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    187
    I had to google a possible translation. I think he says "don't bother with Apple, make it a LINUX machine instead."

    I haven't played around with LINUX. Should I start now or walk away from the stranger offering me candy?

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    907
    Posts
    15,645
    for those who don't know, OS SEX is BSD with a proprietary Apple front end
    BSD Unix is very much like Linus's Unix (Linux)

    [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Software_Distribution[/ame]

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Apples are the shit because their hardware is the shit and because Apple puts a good front end on a good Unix OS

    trying to run badass Apple software on a nutless little netbook hack is like asking to learn every command, error message, kernel configuration, and manual firmware upgrade in the Unix manual
    Apple software is going to make object calls to objects you don't have, authentication calls to authentication you don't have, and error messages you didn't know existed

    Ubuntu Linux will work out of the box
    boot from the Karmic Live CD, partition according to my basic guidelines, and click install
    when it kicks out the CD, boot into your new Linux install, which will run much better than an underpowered Hackintosh

    even better: buy a Dell mini 10v with Ubuntu installed at the factory

    JMHO

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    DFW
    Posts
    95
    I just got SL up on my 10v today and it was a fairly painless process... of course, I'm pretty geeky.

    I don't see any real benefit to it over Ubuntu or Windows 7 (both of which I use on a fairly regular basis ), except for one really biiiiig thing (the reason I did it even) -- IPhone development.

    You can't develop iphone apps on anything but mac os... so the $200 mini 10v is the cheapest way I can see to do it.

    And BTW, other than the sucky touchpad, it seems to be working fairly fine. A touch slow when forced to work hard, but that's no big surprise really. It would be slow under Windows with the same load I think.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Weed, CA
    Posts
    56
    I just read that the latest OS X update will kill the hackintosh builds that use the intel atom processor. So if your have one up and running don't allow updates to occur automatically and don't update to 10.5.8 (I think that's the latest).

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •