QUOTE ( Mysticus C* @ Jan 30 2009, 05:11 AM)

Stuart: thanx for the info about alternative install, but i dont agree with certain things you do/say. First, long ago, you said have couple of kexts that works better than what i included in the packages in early days, and I asked you to share, and you didnt... Now you make your own blog and make funny comments about other processes.
... although I did PM you at the time to say that I was on holiday in Cyprus, and so internet connectivity was intermittent. By the time I was back, I thought I'd read a post saying that you'd found a working alternative. If this isn't the case, then the archive of all of the kexts I'm using is here:
http://blog.stuart.shelton.me/downloads/... third item down.
QUOTE ( Mysticus C* @ Jan 30 2009, 05:11 AM)

And finally you try to steer people away and quote following stuff rather than stating an alternative install method?
is lame
To retain some functions, you still need to maintain your efi partition with correct modifications after updates as well. With packages in hand, after install, you dont break anything.
is quite more lame.
You still need to do manual processes, and use modified drivers. Even inside your so called unmodified system! Even with unmodified vanilla systems, some people still need to use patched kernel like Voodoo's in AMD cases.
Ah, no - the system, as in the system partition and the Mac OS installation
is unmodified - all of the changes are made on the EFI partition only (with the exception of changes to the TrackPad preference pane to get it to display on non-Apple hardware... I must remember to add a comment about that...)
Also, please realise that I'm not trying to steer anyone away from anything - merely to provide some instructions for an alternative installation method which isn't widely documented elsewhere. Everyone is, of course, free to read any and all available guides and make their own informed decision as to what installation they wish to use!
QUOTE ( Mysticus C* @ Jan 30 2009, 05:11 AM)

Your comment starts smart but ends erreonously wrong. You talk in a general tone, but I m sure you are onto Intel specific machines, and since quoting your stuff here, toning for NC10 users...
Well, the clue is supposed to be in the title... it's a guide for netbooks. You do have a point, though, that I should probably clarify and specifically state "Intel Atom-based netbooks", but (save for the HP 2133) I think that this does cover all of them. Additionally, as I do say, whilst the approach should work for most/all Atom-based netbooks, I've only tried it myself on my NC10... which is why I've posted here to get any feedback you guys have to give!
QUOTE ( Mysticus C* @ Jan 30 2009, 05:11 AM)

What makes you think you will use 100% vanilla system with non mac hardware? and forever?
In current state, current ISO, is apart from the obvious drivers, is already untouched copy. Wheter with efi or not, you will still need some manual process after major updates.
I'm certainly not claiming that this approach will work forever - but what I can say is that it works for now and has proven resilient so far. I also specifically state that Snow Leopard is currently an unknown quantity. On the other hand, if you're referring to point-upgrades then you are, in fact, wrong: The efi_boot method has successfully been used to upgrade from 10.5.4 to 10.5.5 to 10.5.6
without the need for tweaking (although I'd still advise copying the latest unmodified kexts to the EFI partition - these unchanged extensions can be discovered by running 'kinv.sh' from the installation image before performing the upgrade) - and actually, the number of customised extensions required at each stage has dropped.
I'm not passing any comment on the ISO images available as I've not used them - but I understand that it's the case that upgrading involves applying the official updates followed by having to re-apply all patches before rebooting so that the system will actually come back up successfully. With an efi_boot approach, you just apply the official update... and that's it!
QUOTE ( Mysticus C* @ Jan 30 2009, 05:11 AM)

To everyone else:
Efi sure has good advantages, however, in wrong hands, with the GUID partition being fingered can caused to become big mess...
Absolutely! Please read that warnings in the article that, if you follow the instructions directly, then you will be wiping your internal hard drive clean! You're free to repartition as you see fit to multi-boot different OS, of course, but I've not provided instructions for that.
(Mainly because, since I have a 30Gb SSD, there's not really room for more than one OS. Incredible that think that the Amiga OS was a 512k ROM and 5 880k floppy drives, at least half of which were additional fonts and drivers! Roll on the supposedly more space-efficient Snow Leopard

)
QUOTE ( Mysticus C* @ Jan 30 2009, 05:11 AM)

I m planning on implementing EFI partition/folder to current system once dense sorts out the gfx issue. and sound is fixed.
Excellent

I'd be happy to work together on this!
QUOTE ( Mysticus C* @ Jan 30 2009, 05:11 AM)

Try to stay away from GUID until you guys fully comfortable with partition tables and using them for purposes. Guid will bring more confusion in the long run with its additional 100mb parts between partitions... people like the idea of non destructive live partition resizing but, it may not be as good when you realize fragmenting your hdd if you have many partitions in your hdd... it will bring more confusion to less experience people when you start multi booting...
... but, to be fair, in this guide the only mention of GPT is when formatting the drive as a single partition. Since there are no further partitions, so further space is reserved. Even so, is losing 128Mb per partition really an issue with today's many-gigabyte discs?
QUOTE ( Mysticus C* @ Jan 30 2009, 05:11 AM)

Sure mbr has limitations, but i guarantee 99.999 % of you wont need guid at all.
... unless you want to use the method I document, in which case it is
mandatory. Selecting "GUID Partition Table" (GPT) ensures that the EFI partition is correctly created and handled by the OS without further user-interaction.
I'm happy to answer any further questions that anyone has. Even if you don't plan to (re)install using the efi_boot method described, please have a read to get an idea of what alternatives exist, and also to check that I've not dropped any major clangers!
Thanks again,
Stuart