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NVIDIA's ION Platform and OS X

NeilM

By NeilM,
in Hardware Components and Drivers

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shoarthing
shoarthing
Posted
Posted
. . . I guess the board (since it comes from an unknown, possibly small vendor) has a really coarse DSDT in BIOS and may need the CPU aliases treatment or something. I'm going to extract the DSDT with a Linux LiveCD but I want to try something different than Ubuntu 9.04 since it could mess up the nForce Network Card. Maybe Ubuntu 9.10?
I use Parted Magic for this - small, light, competent - & a CD I use all the time so I always have an up-to-date copy to hand.

 

Get a copy of the dsdt to me & I'll have a look.

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wrc4
wrc4
Posted
Posted
. . what a neat little box [if not as wonderfully compact as Nvidia's pico-ITX reference platform] - pity it lacks mini-pcie. I had the Asrock ION 330 for a while; but tho' a very easy OSX86 install [except for onboard sound] it was unpleasantly noisy even at its 'ultra-quiet' fan setting.

 

. . . my present setup is inaudible at 1m

 

 

. . glad it works for you: I have sound-assertion 'issues' [cosmetic only - onboard sound still works well but there are whinges at boot] with the modbin test7 kernel & our onboard sound mods; but except for sleep [& in my case ATM shutdown] I think this is a very usable OSX86 system - & at 2GHz & with a good SSD, quite a brisk one . . . . . :star_smile:

 

Edit - for anyone looking for basic settings: my BIOS settings are similar to wrc4 - AHCI/Legacy USB disable/Virtualisation enable are the important ones.

 

If using the modbin test7 kernel [32bit only] you can enable HTT - I use this for the extra performance & have found it stable under fairly heavy usage [i compile stuff on this box] & running 24/7 between hacking sessions.

 

Edit 2nd Nov - have just discovered, thanks to 'geo afa' - see post 15 here - that to get your 9400M working via Chameleon/PC-EFI a neat (& wholly undocumented) way is as before to extract the Zotac's vga.rom, rename it to NVIDIA.ROM, put it in root . . . & then have both these keys to com.apple.Boot.plist

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>NvidiaRom</key>
<string>Yes</string>

 

. . . if you then edit your dsdt in the IGPU Scope to give a value to 'model' via DTGP:

	{
	Method (_DSM, 4, NotSerialized)
	{
		Store (Package (0x02)
			{
				"model", 
				Buffer (0x11)
				{
					"NVIDIA ION 9400M"
				} 
			}, Local0)
		DTGP (Arg0, Arg1, Arg2, Arg3, RefOf (Local0))
		Return (Local0)
	}
}

 

. . . . you will then in System Profiler see this:

 

ion9400mnameonly.png

 

. . & also have auto-detection of whatever VRAM you may choose to set in the BIOS (an annoying snag to injection via the dsdt is that you appear to need to fix VRAM).

 

I've tried most - perhaps all - methods to obtain accelerated graphics for the MCP7A's 9400M, & this above technique looks like the best blend of simplicity, performance, & cosmetics to date . . . all credit to the Chameleon devs :) . . . & their amusingly undocumented features.

 

Hi shoarthing, I modified my DSDT using your steps. But I can only see the following things under my Hardware->Graphics/Displays (I couldn't capture the screen when QE/CI is not working):

Chipset Model: NVIDIA ION 9400M

Type: GPU

Bus: PCI

VRAM(Total): 32MB (This is weird, I have it set to 256M in BIOS)

Vendor: NVIDIA(0x10de)

Device ID ... etc.

 

Note that I don't have "Slot" and "ROM version" even though I have NVIDIA.ROM in root and same settings in com.apple.boot.plist as yours. And most importantly, no QE/CI. If I add NVEnabler 64.kext then QE/CI will work.

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wrc4
wrc4
Posted
Posted
So is it possible to Hackintosh a Acer Aspire Revo?

 

Hi MacDude101,

 

My friend has a Revo. Maybe I can talk him into trying OSX86 on it...

 

 

 

 

. . good; glad to hear you've got it sorted.

 

I *think* [have to do some more testing] that we need to add this key:

 

	<key>VBIOS</key>
<string>Yes</string>

 

. . to com.apple.Boot.plist - this looks to be the key that determines whether or not I 'blue screen' when switching HDMI inputs on my display &/or when switching the display back on with the Zotac left running.

 

[Edit] - yes, the above code is required in your com.apple.boot.plist but:

 

<key>NvidiaRom</key>
<string>Yes</string>

. . is not needed: so long as you have GraphicsEnabler active, all you need is to have the correct firmware, named or renamed NVIDIA.ROM in root - it need not be referenced in com.apple.Boot.plist

 

Verified on my system. Didn't try the HDMI stuff, though, I only use VGA (at work) and DVI (at home).

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wrc4
wrc4
Posted
Posted
I use Parted Magic for this - small, light, competent - & a CD I use all the time so I always have an up-to-date copy to hand.

 

Get a copy of the dsdt to me & I'll have a look.

 

I made a Parted Magic USB stick and dumped the DSDT from the board. Then I removed the CPU aliases (didn't touch anything else at this moment). After that the install drive worked on the Fiono board. I can get all the way to the OSX install GUI now!

 

Now I just need to find a spare drive to install the system.(I only have the board+memory in a homebrew case, no internal HDD.) But basically I think the same hacks for Zotac apply to this board too.

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baihual
baihual
Posted
Posted

Thank you very much!

 

after i am replace kernel, After the system starts a black screen, I was reinstall the system, and then try again.

 

yes

 

 

Find & download modbin's: mach_kernel_test7

 

Make sure the file you extract is named or renamed:

 

mach_kernel_test7

 

Open Terminal:

sudo -s

[enter password]

 

cp -X

Hit Spacebar once

Drag mach_kernel_test7 onto Terminal from where you stored it

Hit Spacebar once

 /mach_kernel_test7

Hit Enter

 

chown 0:0 /mach_kernel_test7

Hit Enter

chmod 755 /mach_kernel_test7

Hit Enter

 

Open: com.apple.Boot.plist

 

Edit the first few lines:

[if using as bootloader a recent version of Chameleon]

 	<key>Kernel</key>
<string>mach_kernel_test7</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-v  arch=i386</string>

 

[if using PC-EFI 10.x]

 	<key>Kernel</key>
<string>mach_kernel_test7</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-v  -x32</string>

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baihual
baihual
Posted
Posted

ok,thanks,I'll be installing once,

 

. . . I'll put it up here for a bit.

 

I take no responsibility of any kind for the file attached here: any use it is by the informed choice of any person that downloads it.

 

I believe it to be: modbin's mach_kernel_test7

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dj-jaque
dj-jaque
Posted
Posted
Hi MacDude101,

 

My friend has a Revo. Maybe I can talk him into trying OSX86 on it...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Verified on my system. Didn't try the HDMI stuff, though, I only use VGA (at work) and DVI (at home).

 

 

so does this mean you can install os x on the revo?

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MacDude101
MacDude101
Posted
Posted
. . . I'll put it up here for a bit.

 

I take no responsibility of any kind for the file attached here: any use is by the informed choice of any person that downloads it.

 

An install howto with all commands is in post 187 of this thread

 

I believe it to be: modbin's mach_kernel_test7 & it works for me.

 

Thanks for that and the how to, but how do you get OS X onto it in the first place?

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shoarthing
shoarthing
Posted
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Hi - navigating this long thread is a bit tiresome & I'm as guilty as anyone; so please accept my apologies - I've removed most of my posts:

 

For those interested in getting the Asrock ION 330 nettop to work, there's an installation-guide thread with a newly updated illustrated *.pdf here - it covers 10.5.x

 

I've also removed most/all my Zotac ION-ITX posts & will put this info & fles & etc into a new Zotac ION-ITX-specific guide/thread - probably in another, quieter, place than insanely.

 

. . I'll visit of course from time to time; & hope to learn from your future contributions to getting this nice little platform working properly under OSX . . . . :D

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wrc4
wrc4
Posted
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so does this mean you can install os x on the revo?

 

No. My friend actually refused me (nicely). I'm sorry but he is pretty happy with his Win7 and never wants to switch.

 

Hi - navigating this long thread is a bit tiresome & I'm as guilty as anyone; so please accept my apologies - I've removed most of my posts:

 

For those interested in getting the Asrock ION 330 nettop to work, there's an installation-guide thread with a newly updated illustrated *.pdf here - it covers 10.5.x

 

I've also removed most/all my Zotac ION-ITX posts & will put this info & fles & etc into a new Zotac ION-ITX-specific guide/thread - probably in another, quieter, place than insanely.

 

. . I'll visit of course from time to time; & hope to learn from your future contributions to getting this nice little platform working properly under OSX . . . . :whistle:

 

I agree that a separate thread will be neat. Where is your new thread?

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MacDude101
MacDude101
Posted
Posted
Hi - navigating this long thread is a bit tiresome & I'm as guilty as anyone; so please accept my apologies - I've removed most of my posts:

 

For those interested in getting the Asrock ION 330 nettop to work, there's an installation-guide thread with a newly updated illustrated *.pdf here - it covers 10.5.x

 

I've also removed most/all my Zotac ION-ITX posts & will put this info & fles & etc into a new Zotac ION-ITX-specific guide/thread - probably in another, quieter, place than insanely.

 

. . I'll visit of course from time to time; & hope to learn from your future contributions to getting this nice little platform working properly under OSX . . . . :whistle:

 

If OS X works on a Asrock ION 330 will it work on an Acer Aspire Revo?

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Nougat
Nougat
Posted
Posted

I'm sitting on two Revo R1600s in my office I could use for testing. I just don't have the time to read through all of these threads to figure out how to get OSX on it.

 

If the community need me to test, I need to be pointed in the right direction on this. Its not a priority for me (I prefer Ubuntu) but I love tinkering.

 

I'll be getting four of the dual core Atoms in the office around November 15th. I can also try those if needed.

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