Installing Mac OS X – Choosing the right DVD Image
A central aspect of installing Mac OS X on a PC is choosing the DVD image that best suits both your hardware and your needs. Meanwhile, there are several releases of OSX86 images to be found on the web created by hackers such as JaS, Tubgirl, Uphuck, and ToH. You can tell the DVD images apart either by the release number of OS X or its “big cat” code name, i.e. 10.4.x for Tiger and 10.5.x for the newer Leopard. Since the ToH Leopard image did not work flawlessly on our hardware, we finally decided to use the JaS 10.4.8 image, updating it to 10.4.9 after the installation. Consequently, all of our testing was conducted using this updated JaS image. While you could also install the ToH Leopard image, we would recommend holding back on that for now. Luckily, new updates appear practically on a daily basis, improving the installation routine as well as hardware support and overall stability.
Basically, the various images released by Tubgirl, Uphuck, and JaS differ only in their hardware support and thus in their compatibility. Thus, you may experience a “frozen” system early on in the installation routine with one release, while another completes the setup without incident. The chipset, especially the southbridge (ICH5, ICH6, ICH7, and ICH9), play a central role here.
After experimenting with a variety of chipsets, motherboards and DVD images, we can say that a motherboard using an Intel chipset, preferably the 965P or the 975X, tend to be the least problematic. On the other hand, you can expect to run into some major problems when you attempt to integrate RAID arrays partitioned and formatted with NTFS from within Windows. There is no standardized approach to this issue, since the solution depends on the version of the southbridge on your board. In the most difficult cases, we simply installed a fresh hard drive in the system and re-installed both operating systems (Windows and OS X).
Having invested so much time into testing, we would like to share our experiences with you and point out some of the biggest problems we encountered. If you choose the JaS OS X image, AHCI must be deactivated in the BIOS. Otherwise, you will receive sporadic boot-up errors. Although it offers basic support for PS/2 components, the Uphuck image displayed some strange behaviour in conjunction with the Intel D975XBX2 board. However, we were unable to reproduce this error later in the lab. In summary – expect to spend a lot of time tinkering, experimenting, and tweaking. Of course, all of this assumes that you own an official, legally obtained copy/licence of Mac OS X.
Once the installation process commences, you will be asked for an installation location for OS X. Unless you’re using a pre-partitioned disk, the easiest way is to go to the menu bar and choose then Disk Utility and partition your drive according to your needs. We recommend using a dedicated drive for this experiment.
Latest Desktops News
- 10/02 – Updated: Raspberry Pi Commercial Version in 3Q12
- 03/02 – Apple is Now World's Largest PC Company (If Tablets Are...
- 27/01 – Ex-Palm Chief Rubinstein Has Resigned From HP
- 25/01 – Apple Breaks Tech Records in Q1; 37 Million iPhones Sold
- 19/01 – Apple Recycling Programme Extended to UK, France, Germany
Latest Desktops reviews
- 10/10 – Nettop Round-Up: Four Tiny PCs, Benchmarked And Reviewed
- 05/10 – Building A Liquid-Cooled MicroATX Gaming Monster
- 27/09 – Intel vPro: Three Generations Of Remote Management
- 26/09 – System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2011: System Value Compared
- 22/09 – System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2011: $500 Gaming PC
Let the bitching of the Mac haters commence!
Let the bitching of the Mac lovers commence!
Actually I'm a BSD lover (Who still likes XP for gaming no matter what Apple and EA may try). The only truly good part of Apple that's in OSX is the Finder (and the fact that you can get the best commercial media apps for what is essentially a BSD). Explorer was one thing I truly hated about Windows, even more so since I got used to the Finder. Where's the no to all option? Why can't folders open for me to drag files into? Why can't I script it and add my own toolbar buttons? It does merge copied/moved folders properly though (less the 'no to all'), where OSX just overwrites the entire branch, although that's because of *nix file handling not Mac.
All the *nix developers who came up with OSX's foundation deserve far more credit for OSX than Apple, as pretty much all the good points about the OS come from it's *nix roots. That was one of the earlier revolutionary steps Apple took, dropping that OS9 rubbish and getting someone else's system to base OSX on.
I really wish Apple had left /etc and the .conf configuration system alone, instead of going with netinfo. That's one place that shouldn't be proprietary, as it makes scripting a pain. Having X11 and darwinports is handy if you really want to dump huge chunks of Apple.
Apple's computers really are overpriced, unless you're looking at them in terms of design and decoration. People spend stupid money on other things just because they look better too. I got an MBP and the design is partly worth it (I wanted a laptop that looked good, so I'd look after it). The clean lines don't catch on stuff, and nothing has broken off. But the maglock connector is a nuisance and useless when there's a network cable plugged into the thing. I won't be buying another Mac for any time soon though. Not everyone can be a trendy design yuppie with lots of money to spend on their image, and I hate the image Apple is trying to sell.
Jobs reminds me a little of Dr. Breen from HL2, a man I thoroughly wanted to punch in the face. At least Bill Gates is more like a geek/real computer (ab)user, and not some pretentious marketing nob.
OSX can WRITE to as well as read from NTFS file systems with free software.