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Illustrated PDF: Vanilla OSX 10.5 on the Asrock ION 330 NetTop - NB: NOT for Pro or HD versions

shoarthing

By shoarthing,
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xtergo
xtergo
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"What issues are there with Ubuntu? . . . in OSX 10.5.8 [with the 10.5.6 kernel & etc] the performance is pretty good - I can run Elgato Eyeytv with a dual-channel widget, recording & viewing, at mebbe 60% CPU load. "

 

Well I've got everything to work.... but not at the same time... at least not for a long time and some workarounds are needed. The main problem is the sound. Some applications just stops the playback for other players even if they are not audio applications. Sometimes I need to swap between ALSA or OSS to get it working again... or a reboot.

Realplayer playback works but stops after some time (trying to connect) but if I just press stop and start the sound is back instantly... for some time. Youtube video playback is not smooth and I can't run so many videos before it's painful.

 

There are millions of advices of how to solve to problems and I've tried many of them and now my system has tons of devlices, plugins and players (some work and some don't). Playing back MMS video files via Firefox doesn't work... if not copying the URL and pasting into another browser-tab (to change the default plugin player in Firefox doesn't work... it's a known bug... 2 years old).

 

It's a nice OS and it could have been good for the ASRock... but not for me... not at the moment.

 

/Xter

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Huzze
Huzze
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Huzze - Hi - very glad to hear this. Are you running the 10.5.8 kernel? . . . if so, sleep may be possible using voodoopower & sleepenabler, tho' I suspect for a real solution we'll have to discover then write Atom 330 power-states to a dsdt

 

I have test the voodoopower & sleepenabler running 10.5.8 kernel. Restart and shutdown works ok like before. Maybe they are a bit faster. Sleep became different. It will now go to real sleep. The system seams to wake up but the monitor won't. I have test both vga and hdmi with the same result.

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le_banni
le_banni
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Hi Shoarthing,

 

 

 

I received my Asrock Ion 330 last weekend, and set it up last night.

 

I followed your tutorial and am pleased to announce that everything went smoothly, and nearly as planned.

 

So first thing, many thanks for this awesome tutorial.

 

I encountered some problems, though, but found the solutions in posts from other contributors.

 

First Problem : Unable to boot without cpus=1

> k0trakt0r's solution

Enable "No-execute memory protection" in BIOS

 

I think this setting should definitely be included in your tutorial (in the first post), as the factory default value is not the one we want.

 

Second Problem : Weird video behavior when dragging windows + poor video performance

> Same problem as DrPoyson

> Boils down to no video hardware acceleration

My com.apple.Boot.plist file contained an additionnal section with "device parameters" as a long string of hexadecimal values

After several attempts reinstalling chameleon with GraphicsEnabler, and no improvement, I finally removed this section, and at next reboot everything was fine.

My interpretation is that as osx + chameleon were first installed while the hard-disk was connected to my other machine (netbook hackintosh), some parameters in com.apple.Boot.plist were based on the hardware and capabilities of that machine, and not the ion chipset.

Namely, it made the system somehow believe the Ion had the same limitations as a GMA950 chipset.

 

 

By the way, I also ordered and installed the same usb audio card and usb wifi adapter as yours (I know : full copycat :hysterical: ). So I now have a fully functionnal macmini ... except for sleep but I do not plan to use this mode.

 

Regards

Le_Banni

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Huzze
Huzze
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Huzze - Hi - have you had another go with VoodooHDA? . . . I have an odd issue with the optical-out of my USB soundcard . . the system volume control doesn't work, tho' individual controls [ie in iTunes] do work

 

Sorry your soundcard is't 100%. I'm still in 10.5.8 kernel and tryed to just copy voodooHDA.kext to chameleon folder /Extra/Extensions but it did't work so I used kexthelper to install it. I have not removed any other interfering kext in the system/extension folder.

 

The sound is little better with 10.5.8 kernel but still noisy. As I'm writing I play 2012 Doomsday with vlc-player and the sound grows better and better as the movie is playing. Strange! :)

 

I will play around with ubuntu and other linux distrubutions to test the boxes hardware. I read about patching AppleHDA.kext in an other tread in this forum, where they get same info and help via ubuntu. Can it be something for us?

 

I have very little experiens in OSX and OSX86 but I think after playing around with it on Asrock ION and other hardware it's outstanding compered with windows 7 and Linux. Then we have the Snow Leo...

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shoarthing
shoarthing
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le_banni - Hi - glad you've got it sorted; I have no idea why folks haven't copied the CPU settings in the guide - there's a damn great image of what I see as usable settings in the *.pdf:

 

 

The Terratec USB thing is OK - pretty fair value I'd say - would like to get your feedback - I'm using it via optical out to drive a pair of low-end nearfield monitors.

 

Huzze - Hi - the sound issue is complex: VoodooHDA supports the VIA vinyl audio processor perfectly OK; but the audio entries in the dsdt are weird - unlike any other I have seen. Thank you, as ever, for your valuable firsthand input. You do need to remove AppleHDA if installing VoodooHDA.

 

[Edited 3rd Nov 2009]

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bigsofty
bigsofty
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le_banni - Hi - glad you've got it sorted; I have no idea why folks haven't copied the CPU settings in the guide - I put up a damn great image of what I see as usable settings:

 

Huzze - Hi - the sound issue is complex: VoodooHDA supports the VIA vinyl audio processor perfectly OK; but the audio entries in the dsdt are weird - unlike any other I have seen. Thank you, as ever, for your valuable firsthand input. You do need to remove AppleHDA if installing VoodooHDA.

 

Funny enough, if you install XP PRO SP3 Media Centre, you get the same thing though HDMI sound, constant white noise, nothing will fix it, except using external speakers, which avoid using the HDMI CODEC. Windows 7/Vista is not affected. Not related directly but may be relevant.

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larry100
larry100
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Great guide!!!!!!!

 

I've just finished to setup the OS X on a triple boot system with Windows 7 RC, Kubuntu 9.04 and OS X 10.5.8 with kernel, seatbelt and system kexts coming from 10.5.6.

 

I've got some pain with Hyperthreading because I didn't noticed the setting to be used into the BIOS: be sure to have the option No-Execute Memory Protect to ENABLED into BIOS.

 

About USB:it works smoothly with the provided bios 1.50d, thx a lot for it!!! :)

 

Just a note: to avoid need for a GUID partitioning scheme (I had an already partitioned and partially installed disk) I've used a modified OSInstall.mpkg, works fine.

 

I've some issue with restart (system just shutdown but hang with power on and I've to push power button), same with sleep.

 

It seams fakesmc does not work for all cases, great job anyway.

 

Thanks a lot once more for this precious guide.

 

Cheers,

 

Larry

;)

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shoarthing
shoarthing
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Anyone know the cheapest usb souncard to hook up to the asrock 330 spdif output ofcourse (since it will be my HTPC :D

DTS etc should work on the soundcard as well.

 

No progress on the audio problems :|

thnx guys

. . sorry it took so long for me to track down this link: as you see, only m-audio make a suitable device for your needs.

 

Me I'd rather have 2 decent speakers than umpteen iffy ones . . . . .

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shoarthing
shoarthing
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I've tried. Use this article:

http://www.teknojunkie.com/2009/08/guide-s...32-coming-soon/

Video doesn't out of the box. I installed natit_64. It works but not so good as 10.5.6. I think we should wait another driver...

I didn't test a sound.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/ah4b4de/n/...Recording_3_mov

. . . won't EFI strings work in 10.6.x? - I would have made up strings for 256 & 512MB settings for the 9400m if Chameleon's injector hadn't worked so well.

 

I'm unlikely to bother with SL on the ION 330 until it has been developed to support the new Apple h/w with HTT (early in 2010) - IMO our little box needs the performance boost of HTT & the extra 2 'cores'

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fpoil
fpoil
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thanks for your job shoarting.

 

But i can't flash the bios of my ion 330... i don't know why?

 

I downloaded the 1.50d bios, put it on a usb flash drive (tried also with a usb harddrive)

 

launched the bios setup, launched asrock instant flash

 

the AMCP7AI1.50d is recognized but the flash utility is stucked to "checking AMCP7AI1.50d"

 

any idea ? (tried with official 1.5 bios and same problem)

 

bios downloaded with osx through firefox

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shoarthing
shoarthing
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fpoil - Hi - if you're sure of the download, then suggest you do the usual: reset your BIOS settings to defaults [ie no overclock], tun off, unplug from power-brick, press power switch on front for a couple of seconds to exhaust any residual charge, unscrew then take top off, unscrew, unplug, then take out sled w/ DVD & HDD, remove round battery from motherboard, find jumper adjacent battery with 2x bare posts [i think it is labelled in tiny letters something to do with CMOS'], use screwdriver/tweezers/some small bare metal whoosit to bridge these two posts for 30 seconds, put battery back then re-assemble.

 

Power on & the BIOS will be at defaults - you *should* now be able to flash from your USB stick.

 

If you cannot flash either the 150d or the vanilla 150 BIOS, & if you are sure your USB stick is a MSDOS volume & is readable on other computers, then suggest you RMA the ION 330

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fpoil
fpoil
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thanks for your response

 

My USB stick is a 4gb fat32 volume, so yes a MSDOS volume, readable on my imac and my akoya (msi clone)...

 

I will try yous suggestions... now i'm using a linux xbmc live usb stick to test xbmc on the ion (i'm a big fan of PLEX on OSX)

 

 

 

ps : well, it's done, just erase my USB stick, reformat and put the bios 1.5d and flash

 

perfect, now ready for osx

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Sjakob
Sjakob
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Hi, thanks for det easy guide.

 

I am new to this so forgive me if I ask some stupid questions :thanks_speechbubble:

 

When I have completet all the steps and then put my disk back in the ion330 it boots, and I set up the 1.5d bios, but it only just shows the apple logo and then the machine reboots.

 

I am using a 30Gb SSD and not the disk from the asrock, can this be why it do not work?

 

When I try booting in verbose mode it shows a lot of text, but the machine reboots before I can read it. Is there any way to pause the boot in verbose mode?

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fpoil
fpoil
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thanks again shoarting,

 

10.5.6 is working fine on my ion... yes :unsure:

 

using USB netgear wg111v2 for the wifi (with the Realtek_RTL8187_MacOS10.4_Driver_1309_UI1.5.1), working fine on 10.5.6

 

using usb hercules muse pocket for the sound

 

But as i am a newbie in hackintosh or almost, i have another question :

 

To upgrade to 10.5.8 and keep hyperthreading, i have to save some kexts from 10.5.6 but which ones :

 

only system.kext and seatbelt.kext from system/lybrary/extensions ? and the mach_kernel i found in the root of my drive?

 

thanks for the response

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lzthqx
lzthqx
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That is correct fpoil. System, mach_kernel and Seatbelt.

 

Additionally, you can change the name of the 10.5.6 kernel so you can keep several on the drive at once.

I named mine mach_kernel-1056. Then you just change the kernel flag in com.apple.Boot.plist in your /Extra folder to reflect your new name.

 

My Asrock seems to be working fine on 10.5.8 with the 10.5.6 kernel. But I am getting sporatic kernel panics. I am trying to track down the cause.

 

So far it's happened copying large files across the network, and also copying a large number of files from a USB hdd.

 

I've had no luck with VooDooHDA also. Won't pick it up in /Extra.

 

Cheers!

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fpoil
fpoil
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For the moment I'm staying in 10.5.6 and have installed VoodooHDA.kext and through PLEX and SPDIF output connected to a yamaha receiver, the sound is almost perfect (stereo and 5.1).

 

Some movies have ugly sound but most of them have great sound :)

 

perahps i need a little bit more power to read my 720p movies (depends on the bitrate)

 

need to overclock the atom but i'm a completely newbie in overclocking so if someone can share his overclocking presets

 

i'm using a old keyspan receiver with one apple remote and remote buddy (certainly the greatest software for media center on osx)

 

i continue my tests

 

ps : with xbmc live usb stick on linux, even 1080p are easy to read (thanks vpau)

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lzthqx
lzthqx
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I made the jump to Snow Leopard last night with much success. After reading your post about SPDIF, Im anxious to try that output (other outputs offer scratchy/hissy sound).

I am diving into dsdt.aml modifications now to see whether I can perfect this install, but otherwise this little machine As-rocks.

 

PS. I moved the VooDooHDA kext to S/L/E and it picked it up, thus the scratchy sound.

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fpoil
fpoil
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First I just tried PLEX, not any other apps.

 

And I went to the utilities folder, used the audio and midi utility to check audio output, configured the speakers...

 

I will try itunes tonight, just to see.

 

So with snow, you lost hyperthreading...

 

Did you try to play HD content with Quicktime X which is supposed to use hardware decoding with the geforce 9400 (opencl)?

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