guidance with 1st hackintosh build

[masselin]

Hello,

 

I'm brand new to this forum and to the process of building a system and installing a version of OSX. I'd need some guidance please.

 

I'd like to build a system for general usage: web surfing, movies, music, NO video editing, NO gaming. I would like to have a wireless keyboard and trackpad, and ideally, I'd also like to use the Apple remote with this sytem. I've found a good post that resembles what I'd like to accomplish:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=205928

 

From this topic, I thought I would start with the suggested components, however, as this post is almost a year old, and because I live in Canada, some parts are not available. Can you provide some thoughts on the following parts:

 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L

CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core e6300 (any alternatives to this???)

Memory: 4 GB G.Skill 1066 DDR2 (PC2 8500)

Video Card: Sparkle fanless 9400GT 1GB PCI Express (cannot find this in PCI-express form anymore, any close alternatives to it???)

Case: Antec NSK1380 mATX cube

 

Also, as I am new to this process, I'd like to have an easy installation process. Can you recommend a version of OSX for this?

 

Thanks ahead of time, and sorry for the newbie/vague questions,

 

Matt.

[Lotustar]

Well, once you get mac os installed you can do just about anything on it that you can do on any "real" mac. So in light of that I would say pick a os version you like, say maybe 10.6 or whatever and choose a distro for it. I have had the best luck with iAtkos v7 and am about to try out snow leopard with a retail disk and the Empire EFI method. I am currently on IAtkos 10.5.7 (leopard) and I run all kinds of stuff with NO problems at all. Final cut pro 7, Photoshop CS5, Autodesk Maya, Ilife 08, Logic Pro and blah blah. I've thrown it all at this hackintosh and it rocks! And honestly, your best bet is just to try it out. You are not gonna get much help on forums I have found out. But if you need help just let me know.

[masselin]

In a nutshell, what is the difference between the Apple-supplied (vanilla) OSX and these distros (iAtkos v7, iAtkos 10.5.7, etc.) ?

 

I presume these are are downloaded through torrents?

[Lotustar]

I want to say they are modified kernels but I'm not 100% sure on that. And yes you can torrent any distro you want. You CAN use a retail os x disk and a boot disk called Empire EFI to install as well. I am looking into that now.

[3.14r2]

In a nutshell, what is the difference between the Apple-supplied (vanilla) OSX and these distros (iAtkos v7, iAtkos 10.5.7, etc.) ?

The retail one is the original (untouched). It is how Apple maid it. A distro is the same retail disk but heavily patched.

Patches includes:

• vanilla kernel plius patched kernel(s)
  
• patched kernel extensions (not all but many)
  
• some original extensions may be removed
  
• some additional extensions are added
  
• some additional applications are added
  
• drivers for printers are removed
  
• some languages are removed too
  
• a boot loader is added
  

and so on...

I presume these are are downloaded through torrents

Both versions may be downloaded - only the retail disk can be bought.

[jblevins1991]

well my good sir i have that same board and here are my thoughts

 

an alternative for your cpu id use a core 2 duo e7500

for an alt to your graphics card id get a zotac 8400gs theyre great for general use you dont need that much power

 

you can make a usb installer with myhack 1.1 and retail mac os x version 10.6.3 and use that to install it or if you dont have a mac becasue you need one to make a usb istaller you can use empire efi boot disk to boot into mac os x.

 

here is a mini guide with more on that

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=182655

 

also this link right here is a link to all of the different version of your dsdt that ridgeline ahs generously made

 

http://www.ridgel1ne.com/OSX86/DSDT_Downloads.html

 

your computer should run with only 2-3 kexts

you will need

facksmc

voodoohda

and a kext to make you gfx card work if needed

[masselin]

Thanks a lot guys, I'm finding myself researching a lot of based on your recommendations.

 

I'm going to follow-up more over the weekend.

 

But another quick (and probably not simple) question: what is the difference between all these methods/distros of installing mac os x? I have found the following methods, but am not sure which one to select:

 

vanilla dvd + [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]

vanilla dvd + Boot 132

vanilla dvd + Empire EFI

iAtkos

Kalyway

myHack

 

Thanks.

[HappyHackintosh]

You are not gonna get much help on forums I have found out. But if you need help just let me know.

 

I just felt that I had to jump in when you said "you are not going to get much help on forums". That has not been my experience.

 

I have read hundreds of posts. Folks on InsanelyMac are most helpful. Sometimes someone pushes a questioner to do a bit of searching on their own, but mostly folks even answer questions that a bit of searching would have answered easily. For most other technical forums, my experience is folks are helpful also. Maybe just more so here on InsanelyMac.

 

I hope you really didn't mean what you said. You even offered ON THIS FORUM TO HELP. I don't want to start a war. You certainly are entitled to your opinion. Your experiences might have been different. Please don't feel that you have to reply. As I said your experience may be different from mine. It WAS very nice of you to offer HELP too.

[3.14r2]

But another quick (and probably not simple) question: what is the difference between all these methods/distros of installing mac os x? I have found the following methods, but am not sure which one to select:

 

vanilla dvd + [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]

vanilla dvd + Boot 132

vanilla dvd + Empire EFI

iAtkos

Kalyway

myHack

As per above (see my previous reply) the last 3 are the patched OS X disks "distro". A "distro" disk can be used to install OS X directly (without a boot CD). The patched disks contain many patched kexts, some patched kernels and so on...

 

The first 3 methods uses a vanilla disk and a boot disk to boot the retail OS X install media (it WILL NOT BOOT ON A PC without a boot loader and other files (these files are on the disk(s))). OS X installed from a retail DVD may work better and be able to be updated via software update (depending on hardware used).

[Lotustar]

I just felt that I had to jump in when you said "you are not going to get much help on forums". That has not been my experience.

 

I have read hundreds of posts. Folks on InsanelyMac are most helpful. Sometimes someone pushes a questioner to do a bit of searching on their own, but mostly folks even answer questions that a bit of searching would have answered easily. For most other technical forums, my experience is folks are helpful also. Maybe just more so here on InsanelyMac.

 

I hope you really didn't mean what you said. You even offered ON THIS FORUM TO HELP. I don't want to start a war. You certainly are entitled to your opinion. Your experiences might have been different. Please don't feel that you have to reply. As I said your experience may be different from mine. It WAS very nice of you to offer HELP too.

 

Agreed. I'm a total noob and did not realize it does take a while for ppl to respond. i got a little discouraged when I saw 70 views and not one response. So in my frustration over my hackintosh woes I posted a hasty response. Insanelymac forums are DEF the best around. And honestly, the lack of respone DID push me to learn a hell of a lot about it all. This isn't a windowz install. This is pulling off what most ppl consider impossible. Sooooo, if you arent up for learning a thing or two then don't bother installing mac os on a pc.