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Hi All,

 

First of all, let me say that I know nothing about the OSx86 project apart from what it is.

 

A bit about me: I'm a long-term Windows user (all my life actually, apart from a few months of Ubuntu here and there) who has never used a Mac, but the more I read about it, the more I want one. As a matter of fact, "getting a Mac" has been an itch in my butt for the last couple months. Major itch. Unfortunately, shelling out over $2000 for a 24" iMac isn't within my budget at the moment. This is where the x86 project may come in :).

 

I'm hoping you guys can tell me about your experiences with this project, how stable things run, driver compatibilities, etc. Any major gripes?

 

My main beef with Windows is that it's generally slow as hell, and the thing is unpredictable (apart from crashes, those are very predictable). I hope OSx can make my life a little more pleasant.

 

I'm a freelance web developer, meaning I'm on my PC 10-12 hours every day, and it needs to work.

 

Is it realistic to build a custom PC which will work 100% with OSx? Meaning all drivers working, no hickups, crashes, etc.

Is there a list of compatible hardware builds somewhere?

 

My current PC is as follows:

- C2D E4800 1.8 GHZ (due for an upgrade)

- 2GB DDR2 800 OCZ Gold

- Asus P5N32E-SLI (I don't game anymore since getting a PS3, but I used to)

- 2x EVGA 8600GT

- WD 160GB 7200 8MB SATA - which is going to die literally any day now

- Creative PCI-E X-FI Xtreme Audio - a {censored} of a card. Barely managed to find drivers for Windows (after losing CD), no drivers for Linux, not expecting anything better for Mac

- Dual LG 19" Monitors

 

Is it worth trying to install MacOS on this PC? Any hope for sound working? Dual monitors (thinking about adding in third 24" one)?

 

What about software? Will I be able to use all software that is compatible with "regular Macs"? I assume most of this is "acquirable"?

 

Please advise.

 

Thanks!

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Hi :D as noone replyed you, i feel free to make u some advice from mine experiences. I`m not so experienced osx86 usr for a long time (i switched 6 months ago), although i have the iMac 24 already, but mine girlfriend is doing graphic design on it and in fact i never use it .... my primary workstation is a PCee with XP64 + Leopard osX86 ....

 

... my job description is same as yours, we are working in similar field of web-dev / design ... regarding ur hw platform u re ready to go ... i had the GT8600 before and is supported by default, but i`m unshure for SLI. - also having intel cpu will save you some small amd trickery and better compatibility with kernels and updates ...

 

... take care before you do anything in hackintosh way BACKUP ur important data ... there are many ways to install osx86 Leopard, and even more ways to loose your data ... dealing with partitions and so is always a nice way to screw up ur existing files ...

 

... first thing you need is to choose which osx86 u will install, many people these days are using iDeneb 10.5.5, so you can try it, is easy to install, has a nice drivers list and in general should install well ... after install maybe u will want to fine tune ur resolutions, sound, network, etc ...

 

... if u still want to use XP or other Win install and Leopard on the same PC u must make dualboot install ... maybe is better to have 2 x hdd`s one for each OS that splitting one hdd ... for XP dualboot search for chain0 is a 2 minute job and voila ...

 

for usability and experience... well i beleve that`s a personal choice. I can describe that on Leopard i feel everything is "up my hands" and the overall feeling is highly "multimedial", never had any crashez that i usual encounter on Windows. eg. ... Flash Professional never crashed on me, even on larger projects, on Win i usual had some anoyances when the program "simple disappears" and all your work from past hour or two goes smoked ...

 

dunno ... as web-dev u probably have many local shares .... the network connection on OSX when is maded is "up" and stays up. nevermind if is samba or other share type, it stays there and you work with it, simple ... in the other hand "My Network places" on Winblows ... oh god ... i hate this thing so much ... connections appears, disappears, freezes, shares not recognized ... restarting networking ... blah

 

... this things seem not important... but when - as you say - someone work 12-18 hours non-stop because of deadlines etc, with many small things dingling on you [normal Windows day] - you finish up with one big headache and pain in the az ...

 

... one important thing ... i had some fonts anoyances with Flash and Fireworks on OSx ... seems fonts are not recognised in the same way as on Windows, thus nevermind if you install the same font on Leopard ... so i follow the rule -> if maded on PC it must be finished on PC ... for smaller projects it can be adjusted easily ...

 

... you will have some other small issues, but in general all documents maded on PC are easily transferable and usable on Leopard, html docs maded with Dreamweaver, php files, xml .... etc ....

 

... you will find also many nice "handy" tools for web-dev on Apple.com download zone ! don`t forget to check it :)

 

... regarding "main" software, well, CS4 from Adobe is "de-facto" industry standard, everything will work on OSX86 as it was on "real" Mac... same as the older CS3 generation, still used massively and widely in design offices ... anyway i liked more the "originals" from once called Macromedia ... but that is history ...

 

i hope this helps :)

 

good luck !

As ajkst1 said you'll find all the info you need around here but be ready for a long journey, it took me a while to figure things out but now my system is a stable and well performing workstation. I used to work on my MacBook, the PC was only for gaming. My Hackintosh perform much better than my MacBook (black one), hehe!

Well, I don't know if its worth it but I kind of miss the viruses in Windows :).

 

Ok, ok, jokes aside, currently I have a replacement for every app I use under windows so now I can do the same stuff in OSX (design, words processing, excel, ........). Gaming is an issue but you can dual-boot so that is not a problem. I know Macs are expensive so if you can run osx86 perfectly on your machines then I don't see a reason to buy a mac. In case you can't get it to run or some hardware is not working 100%, oh well. Come on APPLE, I can get an 18 inch HP laptop that will dance circles around your brand new MBP 17 and will cost half the price if not less.

 

Does that answer your question? :)

Well ... seems u now have a nice "search" task here and around ... from mine perspective you should try to:

 

1. Put your dvd to primary slave [if is ide offcourse]

2. You don`t need to jingle with that AHCI thing ...

3. I had some litlle "trick" how to surpass that "still waiting" devil: If you have some old IDE / ATAPI hdd just plug it in and jump it for primary master on first ide channel and leave your DVD like i wrote - on primary slave. You should be able to get to graphical install environment ...

4. leave your SATA hdd in, just like it is ...

 

... if you get to the install environment, just partition and set the MBR on the SATA drive, and install leopard on it, don`t use the IDE hdd u put, leave it alone ... if the install complete, and you pass all that registration things, after first successfull login shut down your PC, remove the IDE hdd, and leave the DVD ... and u re fine ... try this i hope it helps....

 

5. if your mobo has the nforce chipset look at iDeneb site for "still waiting" nForce patch guide

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