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How To: Hackintosh a Dell Mini 9 Into the Ultimate OS X Netbook
- jrockway 18y agoI really like the Hackintosh movement. Who ever would have guessed that installing OS X would be harder than installing Linux, and would have less hardware support? It almost makes me want to giggle. (Oh, I love how you have to boot into the CLI. If this were Linux, everyone would be up in arms about how unintuitive it is. But if you're hacking OS X, ITS SO SUPER COOL. I am amused.)
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- dangrover 18y agoThat's not quite a fair comparison. Apple isn't presenting OS X as something that's meant to be easy to install on different computers. So of course anything you have to hack to install is going to be tricky.
- jrockway 18y agoSure, I know. You still have to muck around with the command-line, and you don't get full hardware support. People seem perfectly happy to make these compromises to install OS X, but they will whine and whine if it's Linux. What's the difference? Anyway, all I said was that I find this amusing.
- captainobvious 18y ago>People seem perfectly happy to make these compromises to install OS X, but they will whine and whine if it's Linux. What's the difference? Lets see some evidence for this. There are many more Linux users than Hackintosh users, so (using a similarly flawed naive analysis to your own) it seems that Linux users are more willing to put up with compromises.
- icey 18y agoDifferent people complaining. It's the people who are new to Linux who complain that it's not easy to install. I would guess the people doing Hackintosh installs have no problems with Linux.
- sam_in_nyc 18y agoOS X is quite clearly different than your average Linux distro.
- SwellJoe 18y agoOS X is quite clearly inferior to your average Linux distro. Fixed that for you.
- sam_in_nyc 18y agoInferiority/Superiority would imply a difference.
- unalone 18y agoJoe, you've been around longer than I have, but I still feel like it's worth saying: nobody likes these OS dick-waving contests. I'm a Mac user, and I'm in love with my computer, and to me, using it feels like the most magical experience in the world. Like, I just got Quicksilver at long last, and suddenly ever hour I figure something out with it that blows my mind. But that's me. I like the things that OS X provides. You like Linux because it gives you some stuff that you really like. Elsewhere, some guy is using Windows because he really likes the stuff that that does for him. I understand the sniping elsewhere, but on Hacker News it's unnecessary, and I and other users would really like to see people stop saying stupid stuff like this, and that means people on all sides. We're here because we love talking about stuff and having debates, and there's no debate here, because everybody sees their computer in different ways. So can we go back to saying useful, intelligent things rather than provoking the people on both sides? (For the record, I'm one of these people: when people get antiMac I flip out, and that's not a good thing, and I'm trying to stop getting so involved.)
- mechanical_fish 18y agoFrom a marketing standpoint, Linux is priced wrong. It's free, so it attracts people who expect to get something for nothing. A lot of those people walk away disappointed. Mac users understand that the Mac OS is worth money -- otherwise they'd be Linux users. So they look at a $400 machine running the Mac OS as a huge bargain, and are happy to go through all sorts of pain in exchange for it. Of course, if the Hackintosh movement catches on there will be a new class of people who -- being too cheap to buy an actual Mac -- will try the Hackintosh route, encounter problems (installation difficulties, subtle bugs that destroy data, apps that don't work, OS upgrades that cause their machines to break) and gripe about it. Which will subtly tarnish Apple's brand. This is why Apple's lawyers are so vicious about this stuff.
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- davidw 18y ago> Who ever would have guessed that installing OS X would be harder than installing Linux, and would have less hardware support? It almost makes me want to giggle. Hardware support is easy if you completely control what hardware you run on.
- dotcoma 18y agoalso: why in the world go that extra step, when Ubuntu is way better?
- herval 18y ago"Who ever would have guessed that installing OS X would be harder than installing Linux, and would have less hardware support?" given the fact it is purposefully done NOT TO be installed on non-Apple hardware, I guess anyone could easily guess that...
- pavelludiq 18y agoAnything mac fans say about this might be true, but irrelevant. OS X is better on macs than on pc's, macs are better computers, they feel better, they look better, this IS illegal, etc. But the problem is with choice. Choice is good. And some of us LIKE Dells, imagine that.
- unalone 18y agoNotice the problems that're being stated about hardware failure. You don't get that on Macs because Apple controls exactly what hardware gets used on their computer. That means that their developers can focus on other cool things instead. In the end, Apple chooses whether or not we have a choice. With their product the best choices are they ones they allow. Outside of that, the choice is between Mac and some other operating system.
- omouse 18y agoWhere are the Apple fanboys whining about the ruining of the Apple "experience"?
- voidpointer 18y agoAll whining about how running OSX on non-apple hardware ruins the "Apple Expiience"... Isn't this supposed for "love" of OS X cannibalizing the exact same thing it is evangelizing? This is based on the assumption that Apple is able to develop a superior operating system because they can support the effort with hardware sales. If everyone would install their copy of OSX on hardware where Apple doesn't make money, how can they continue to improve OSX? They might start to license the "right" to run OSX o hardware manufacturers but that would get them into the same compatibility hell Microsoft has gotten themselves into. I can very well understand how they don't want to get into that spot. It's a nice pass-time and I don't think it hurts anyone given the small scale on which this is happening. Plus it may keep the folks in Cupertino on their toes for coming up with better hardware in the future. Furthermore, as for the Linux comparisons. This clearly shows how Linux' most glaring deficiency is the lack of a consistent UI experience. There is a heavily fragmented mess bolted on top of dear old X11. It works - sort of - and as long as you stay within your chosen camp (Gnome, KDE...) you might not be off too bad. Sooner or later when you need other applications you'll get into toolkit hell.
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- pstinnett 18y agoHas anyone here done this? I'm thinking of buying either a Mini 9 or Mini 12 with my tax refund and installing OS X. Curious to know what you think / how speedy it is.
- Zev 18y agoNot very well. Its maxed at 1gb ram, and has a GMA 950 (Apple doesn't even sell these anymore, its not a good onboard gfx card) And an Atom at 1.33GHz won't be well. 1.6GHz barely cuts it with the Air.
- pstinnett 18y agoUgh. And I just took a look and apparently the Mini 12 doesn't work at all with OS X.
- GHFigs 18y agoAdditionally, the Air uses a Core 2 Duo, which is faster, clock-for-clock than the Atom.
- minsight 18y agoThe Dell is sold with a maximum of 1gb of RAM, but it can be upgraded to 2 gigs for OSes that aren't limited during compilation to only deal with 1gig (hint: OSX). I know this is true, because I spent thirty bucks and upgraded mine today. It works well.
- critic 18y agoI wonder if such an installation would survive any software updates from Apple. Would Apple in general be able to tell you are not running this on genuine Apple hardware?
- pertplus 18y agoQuote from the article: "and on top of that you'll run into all kinds of problems should you ever want to upgrade your OS or software via Software Update."
- critic 18y agoThis is if you DON'T follow the instructions in the article. I'm asking about what happens if you do.
- allenbrunson 18y agoit is never completely safe to use software update on a hackintosh. certain files have been hacked to make it work. what if apple sends down a newer version of one of those files, undoing your hacks?
- redrobot5050 18y agoIf you're smart you'll use the shareware package inspector, Paranoia, to snoop through the packages and tell you what the update's really doing before applying it. Most software updates (application updates / security updates / Safari+iTunes+QuickTime will work fine. Its the 10.5.X updates that might break something.
- trezor 18y agoI've been looking into getting a simple Hakcintosh environment to fool around with, and this made me check for how well Hackintosh is supported on the EEE. http://tigeroneeepc.wikispaces.com/working http://tigeroneeepc.wikispaces.com/working I guess I'm not going to bother.
- redrobot5050 18y agoMaybe the EEE isn't the way to go. The MSI Wind Netbook is the de facto hackintosh. So much that people are selling it as a "Macbook Nano" on Ebay.