Ok so my hackintosh is installed, now what do I do?

[anewsome]

Hey guys, a newbie here so bear with me a bit please. After much messing around and multiple re-installs, I've finally got a somewhat working hackintosh install. Here is what I used:

 

Dell E1505 (Broadcom ethernet, AC97 audio, ATI x1400 256MB, Bluetooth, Firewire, etc)

JaS 10.4.8 AMD Intel SSE2 SSE3

 

This is a pretty common laptop on these forums I see. I pretty much had the same luck as everyone else getting stuff to work. I was able to get 1400x1050x32 WITH CI/QE support, although it was a bit maddening tracking down the info on how to do it on these forums.

 

I was not able to get built in sound working, or wireless or the Broadcom ethernet. That is a bit disapointing. I'm currently using a firewire cable tethered to my powerbook in order to load software on it.

 

So getting on with it, here's my question. I am so terrified that something will make the install unbootable and all my hard work will be gone, during my journey of getting everything working, I had many occasions where I would get a black screen and have to reinstall the whole thing AGAIN. I know how to use dd to make an image of the hard drive, I was oping for something a little better. Any ideas?

 

Also, Software Update immediately told me there was updates available for my system. iTunes 7.3.2, 10.4.10 update, etc. I know I can't use software update to go to 10.4.10, or at least I don't think so,... So I won't even try that. While we're on that topic, am I stuck on 10.4.8 forever? Back to software update, can I use it to upgrade non system software like iTunes and Quicktime or do I worry that any software updates will {censored} my install?

 

I keep reading people are installing stuff with pacifist but I don't know what that is. I guess I can search and find out.

 

So that's it. Any guidance you guys can give will help tremendously. I've already installed Logic, seems to work fine. RME FF800 drivers seem to install fine (haven't actually tried it). I installed Firefox, Serato Scratch Live, Audacity, Mac The Ripper, Tune Ranger, and a few other miscellaneous apps. Haven't run into one that doesn't work yet. I'm copying over ISOs for Final Cut Studio right now to see if I can push my luck.

[Synaesthesia]

Glad your setup is working! Sounds good, despite some shortcomings...

 

In short, it's always good to have backups, but it seems unlikely that a change you make will render your pc unbootable or unrecoverable. For these situations, just boot with a live disk like UBCD (ultimate boot cd), or the Ubuntu live disk...

 

You can't update your os, but I think it's safe to update your applications. To update to 10.4.9, or 10.4.10, you either have to get a patched update installer, (eg Jas 10.4.9 update) from a torrent site, or do it manually. There are instructions around for both in the forums.

 

Pacifist lets you look inside installer packages (.mpkg or .pkg) and custom install or extract files. It is most useful, it lets you install iLife off of a Mac install dvd.