TheHarbinger Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 I've spent nearly a week reading posts on this board and others in trying to install Leopard on my PC laptop. I have an MPC TransPort T3100, single-core 1.7GHz, 2GB RAM, 320 GB hard drive, and from what I've read I gather that is is a capable platform to use. I want to use a retail Leopard install disc that I purchased, and ensure that I can get future updates from the big A. I also want to boot either XP (currently installed) and Ubuntu (not yet installed). It looks as though the Boot-132 install method is the way to go. I've attempted to use the original, stock version but get a spinning beachball of death. In verbose startup mode I see the system is complaining about ACPIPS2Nub, AppleACPIPlatform, IOPCCard, and com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily at present. I know that some .kext files will need to be installed or patched, and this is only one area of confusion. It seems there are many ways to get to a working install; some of them vary a tiny bit from each other while others are vastly different. I started back with PCs in DOS 3.3 days, so I've had a lot of experience over the years. I seem to remember that, in setting up a hard disk for multiple booting, that the partitions have to be in a particular order. Particularly, the boot partition (of whatever size) must be the first partition on the disk. There is a limit (3?) of primary partitions you can have on a disk, et cetera. After this background information, which hopefully lays out some groundwork on where I'm coming from, I need to ask these questions: 1) Disk setup: I started back with PCs in DOS 3.3 days, so I've had a lot of experience over the years. I seem to remember that, in setting up a hard disk for multiple booting, that the partitions have to be in a particular order. Particularly, the boot partition (of whatever size) must be the first partition on the disk. There is a limit (3?) of primary partitions you can have on a disk, et cetera. Re-arranging partitions and/or wiping my current hard drive: necessary? In repartitioning, I'm guessing I'd want about 1 MB for a root/boot partition that I can install Chameleon/Boot-132 into (but what format should the partition be in?). I'd allocate 45GB for XP (NTFS), 15GB each for Mac and Linux (GUID for Mac...? and EXT3 for Linux), and the remainder in a FAT32 secondary partition for a shared drive. If only three primary partitions are available to use, I'd need four if I include the boot partition, so how is that dealt with? 2) Instructions for Boot-132 suggest that the user can load .kext files specific for their machine into a modified file that can be reburned to a boot CD. There are utilities (SlimbuildGUI Boot-132 ISO creator, MKextTool, DSDTPatcherGUI) that promise to make this process much easier; but these all seem to be programs that run under MacOSX. If you're trying to install the OS in the first place they're not going to do much good unless, it seems, you already have a functioning Mac to run them and generate the necessary file(s), correct? 3) The DSDT...I've read that a utility can analyze your system and generate a DSDT 'dump,' but again, it seems the OS must already be installed. Is there a program for DOS or Windows that can generate this file? 4) I've gone through XP's device manager and copied down the hex device numbers that are needed to find the appropriate drivers/.kext files. Are these what the DSDT utility compiles? 5) After I've gotten OSX, XP, and Linux installed, I gather that I should copy/install Chameleon to the boot partition I create along with any special kext files for my system. This eliminates the need for a boot CD. Will I be able to simply install a Chameleon upgrade in the future without losing any functionality? I hope these aren't too many questions for a first-timer to ask...I tend to want to know how things work before I jump in and start mucking around. It saves time that way. A novel approach, I know... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/156032-so-many-optionsand-so-many-questions/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 One solution: Install a prepatched DVD, like iAtkos, Leo4All, iPC, iDeneb etc. Then you at least have a Leopard installation to work with. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/156032-so-many-optionsand-so-many-questions/#findComment-1097835 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHarbinger Posted March 4, 2009 Author Share Posted March 4, 2009 One solution: Install a prepatched DVD, like iAtkos, Leo4All, iPC, iDeneb etc. Then you at least have a Leopard installation to work with. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/156032-so-many-optionsand-so-many-questions/#findComment-1098198 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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