Making Sure I Understand SL Install

[darexius]

I've read this, this, and many others like them, and I have a few questions before I attempt this that Search and Google hasn't helped me answer.

 

First off, I "obtained" a retail 10.6 disc image. According to the threads I've read, I make a USB Installer Stick (or in my case converting an old 10GB laptop drive, putting it in a caddy, and using that, as I can't see anything that would negate it in any way), install (referencing the steps in the second link above), and boot.

 

I have an Acer Aspire 5315. I've changed the processor out for a T5300 (Core 2 Duo) and an AR5B91 WLAN card which supposedly works OOTB in Snow Leopard, which has been a driving factor for me considering it DIDN'T work in Leopard.

 

During the Leo4Allv3 install I had to choose the ICHx chipset driver and all that goodness. My first question is how this is accommodated in a "vanilla" install after the installation. This also leads into my next question regarding distros and how they're nolonger needed. I've found no relevant information regarding the scenario and am curious as to why, exactly, they are no longer needed. I'm almost certain there's this big thing now that people do to stock installation media to add kexts and whatnot that I've simply been unable to find due to a lack of keyword information. However, never the less I am uncertain in this department.

 

Finally, I've seen recommendations leaning towards using both MBR and GUID. Is there a major advantage over either that the end user will experience? Is one more technically complicated than the other? Please keep in mind that OS X will be the exclusive OS on this disk.

 

I appreciate any help you can give to shed light on my shortcomings.

[Alessandro17]

This also leads into my next question regarding distros and how they're nolonger needed. I've found no relevant information regarding the scenario and am curious as to why, exactly, they are no longer needed.

 

That is not exactly so. It is more that distros are "the old way" and the vanilla install is "the new way".

If you perform a vanilla install you'll learn much more about the inner workings of hackintosh (OS X on a PC) in a short time.

You'll also be favourite for future updates.

My very personal opinion is a bit different. If you are not really motivated and technically inclined, you'll not succeed, one way or the other. Also, in the past the stress was much more on hardware compatibility. If you built a compatible hackintosh (mine have always been) you would easily succeed, whatever the method. Nowadays people come with the most incredible hardware and they believe they can easily install OS X (almost as if OS X were Linux, which with its 500 distributions, enormous flexibility, variety of apps, drivers and architectures can be installed almost on everything).

[Gringo Vermelho]

During the Leo4Allv3 install I had to choose the ICHx chipset driver and all that goodness. My first question is how this is accommodated in a "vanilla" install after the installation.

Patches and modified drivers are added (by you) to your boot partition's /Extra and /Extra/Extensions folder and loaded by the Chameleon bootloader.

If your system needs patched ICHx drivers, this will have to be "accommodated" before the installation, not after. Otherwise you would not be able to start the installation at all!

Use the ICHx injector kexts that come with Chameleon, drop them in /Extra/Extensions on your boot media.

 

If you're using a pre-made boot solution, it will already have several drivers on it, including the ICHx injectors.

 

Visit the voodooprojects forum, general board, and read the documentation for Chameleon to learn more.

I've seen recommendations leaning towards using both MBR and GUID. Is there a major advantage over either that the end user will experience? Is one more technically complicated than the other? Please keep in mind that OS X will be the exclusive OS on this disk.

Then use GUID. The coolest thing about it is that you can add, remove and resize partitions using Disk Utility whenever you want. This is not possible on an MBR formatted drive. Besides real Intel Macs use GUID. MBR is only necessary if you're dual booting with another OS on the same hard drive. I can't think of any other reason to not use GUID. Read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

Old discussion (might contain outdated hackintosh-specific info):

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=76603

[Markrtoon]

That is not exactly so. It is more that distros are "the old way" and the vanilla install is "the new way".

If you perform a vanilla install you'll learn much more about the inner workings of hackintosh (OS X on a PC) in a short time.

You'll also be favourite for future updates.

My very personal opinion is a bit different. If you are not really motivated and technically inclined, you'll not succeed, one way or the other. Also, in the past the stress was much more on hardware compatibility. If you built a compatible hackintosh (mine have always been) you would easily succeed, whatever the method. Nowadays people come with the most incredible hardware and they believe they can easily install OS X (almost as if OS X were Linux, which with its 500 distributions, enormous flexibility, variety of apps, drivers and architectures can be installed almost on everything).

 

 

Fantastic, I mean you're exactly right, they just expect it to all work OOTB, like this is something so easy.

[darexius]

That is not exactly so. It is more that distros are "the old way" and the vanilla install is "the new way".

If you perform a vanilla install you'll learn much more about the inner workings of hackintosh (OS X on a PC) in a short time.

You'll also be favourite for future updates.

My very personal opinion is a bit different. If you are not really motivated and technically inclined, you'll not succeed, one way or the other. Also, in the past the stress was much more on hardware compatibility. If you built a compatible hackintosh (mine have always been) you would easily succeed, whatever the method. Nowadays people come with the most incredible hardware and they believe they can easily install OS X (almost as if OS X were Linux, which with its 500 distributions, enormous flexibility, variety of apps, drivers and architectures can be installed almost on everything).

 

Thank you for clarifying that with me. I never assumed OS X would be as simple as Linux as, you're right, the software is very dependent on a certain set of hardware. Let me ask you this, are the kexts version dependent? Since I already have Leopard installed, can I simply grab those working kexts and expect it to work in Snow Leopard? Is there an architectural difference that would prevent that?

[Gringo Vermelho]

Which kexts? Post a list of the modified and non-Apple kernel extensions you're using.

 

In some cases Leopard kexts will work, but only if you're booting SL in 32-bit kernel and drivers mode.

 

There are SL 32/64-bit ready versions of all the useful community-provided modified kexts available by now though, you should use those whenever possible for maximum reliability.

 

You can find most of them here on IM.

[darexius]

Which kexts? Post a list of the modified and non-Apple kernel extensions you're using.

 

In some cases Leopard kexts will work, but only if you're booting SL in 32-bit kernel and drivers mode.

 

There are SL 32/64-bit ready versions of all the useful community-provided modified kexts available by now though, you should use those whenever possible for maximum reliability.

 

You can find most of them here on IM.

 

Thanks. I will certainly do so if I run ino a problem, but searching around has netted some good results. I am attempting an install no and will let you know how I goes. My intent is to write up a noob friendly basic guide afterwards.

 

Well, so far so good. I booted up just fine and everything seems to be working except for audio and a minor video problem (it only works through the secondary display, not the laptop screen). Will report back in a minute.

[darexius]

Thanks. I will certainly do so if I run ino a problem, but searching around has netted some good results. I am attempting an install no and will let you know how I goes. My intent is to write up a noob friendly basic guide afterwards.

 

Well, so far so good. I booted up just fine and everything seems to be working except for audio and a minor video problem (it only works through the secondary display, not the laptop screen). Will report back in a minute.

 

 

I'm unable to get my x3100 integrated card to work right, so I'm assuming I need to edit the DSDT. I found a post with DSDT Editor (wow, just learned that it's not Ctrl-C for pasting anymore ), though I'm a little confused by it. Some more searching will likely lend itself well.

[Gringo Vermelho]

Unfortunately there is no 100% working solution for the GMA X3100 on Snow Leopard.

 

http://www.projectosx.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=763

[darexius]

I'm typing this reply from a nearly fully functional but fully up to date installation! Long little journey here

 

There are only two things that don't seem right. First is the lack of QE/CL which is evident from the system profiler. Apparently the x3100 has issues with that, though I'm reading up on some things from people that indicate they've done it in some form or fashion I don't understand.

 

The next is minor, I'm sure. I had a small crash using Safari (crash meaning I got that nice beautiful grey screen telling me to reboot). It appeared to be random, as I reproduced everything I did up to that point and have been surfing intensive websites for a little bit now and I haven't gone down yet. I may let the laptop idle for a little bit to see if that's causing it, or continue to stress test it. In either case, all seems in order there and hopefully it was an isolated incident.

 

The original update seemed to fail because of the sleep patch I applied causing the kernel mismatch error. Removing it seemed to remedy the issue (i.e, redoing the install without that patch).

 

Hopefully I can get QE going and be done with this. I look forward to a start to finish write up that may help extremely n00bish folk like me in the Mac scene.

 

P.S>

Can I ask a basic Mac operating question or two? Yes, I plan on looking for the answers myself, but while it's on my mind I thought I'd ask.

 

Is there a way to "truely" maximize a window? I can vertically maximize a window but now have it encompass the screen. UI difference between Linux and Mac, evidently. Though I'd have never thought of how niffty that is. Instead of taking up all of your screen realestate, it only forces the window to be as big as it needs to. Makes multitasking a whole heck of a lot easier. Also, when I open Finder, I dragged my root disk (herein Snow) off onto the desktop thinking it would shortcut it because the normal icon I'm use to on the desktop isn't there for some reason. Low and behold it made it go poof. How do I put that back? Finder > Preferences > Select what I want to have show up on the sidebar. Still can't get it on the desktop, though. I know that's minor, just... irritating that it's not there when it always has been.

[darexius]

While System Profiler doesn't show it, I get the ripple effect in the Dashboard and I have transparent ribbons and monkeys all over the place. I also sat and watched the movie Serenity in 1080p without a hitch. From what I read, that means QE/CI is enabled (Sorry for calling it CL earlier). Am I mistaken? I've not found another "definitive" method to determine this other than GL Extension Viewer, which shows me a lot of muck I don't understand.