I am using Dropbox for online backup and storage on my white MacBook. So naturally, Dropbox was one of the first application that I installed on my hackintosh Mini 10v. With Dropbox I can easily backup my important files online by dropping them into the Dropbox folder on my hackintosh laptop. This same Dropbox account also enables me to share files between my hackintosh PC, white MacBook and hackintosh laptop effortlessly.

Free 2GB Box.net account from Dell

When I was ordering my Dell Mini 10v, I noticed that the Dell Mini 10v comes with 2GB of free online backup storage. I was wondering how Dell actually provides the 2GB of online storage. When the Mini 10v arrived, I noticed a link to Box.net on the Windows XP desktop. Clicking on the link brought me to a sign up page for a free Lite account at Box.net with 2GB of online storage. Since  anyone can sign up for a free 2GB account at http://www.box.net/dell, this really isn’t an extra service given to Dell Mini 10v owners only. Dell just points you to where you can get the free online storage. Dell must have a special partnership with Box.net. The normal signup page at Box.net only gives you 1GB of free storage, but Dell’s link at http://www.box.net/dell doubles the amount to 2GB of free storage.

Comparing Box.net with Dropbox

Since Box.net is giving away 2GB of free online storage, I decided to sign up for a free account and see how Box.net compares to Dropbox. After trying out my free account, the major difference between Dropbox and Box.net is, Box.net only provides a web interface for uploading and organizing your files; while Dropbox provides Mac OS X folder integration in addition to a web interface. Box.net approach of backup by uploading files using a web browser loses out big time in terms of ease of use compared to Dropbox approach of using a Mac OS X folder.

Box.net’s tagline is ‘Simply Share’, but it’s definitely takes more steps to backup or share files using Box.net web interface compared to using the Dropbox folder in Mac OS X. When I add or change files in the Dropbox folder, the changes are automatically synchronized to the Dropbox server. Once the laptop folder and server synchronization has completed, the Dropbox folder in my other computers will automatically synchronize themselves with the Dropbox server. No user intervention required. It doesn’t get easier than that.

Mozy.com not for me

One other free online storage service I wanted to try out was Mozy.com. However, I couldn’t get the Mac version of the Mozy Backup application to connect to their storage servers. Without that connection I couldn’t upload any files. Mozy.com web interface doesn’t provide functionality to upload files using the browser. After trying the Mozy application for half a day without success, I gave up.

Dropbox is my choice

So, without a doubt, the best free online storage service in my opinion is Dropbox. I love the way it simplifies the online backup process. I can even use the copy or move command in a Terminal session to add files to my Dropbox folder and they automatically get stored online.

You can get your free 2GB online storage account over at Dropbox with an additional 250MB by using this link – 2GB Dropbox account with additional 250MB.

box.net, dropbox, free online storage, mozy

My Dell Mini 10v Snow Leopard hackintosh installation though it was eventful, was still a relatively straightforward process. From what I’m seeing over at myDellMini.com, there are lot of folks who encountered various problems while installing Snow Leopard on their Mini 10v. After my installation experience, there are a few post-installation step that I would recommend to anyone attempting to setup their Mini 10v as a hackintosh laptop.

For me, my most important post-installation step was to ensure audio, wifi and bluetooth works when the laptop wakes from sleep mode. I found these steps over at myDellMini.com invaluable to enable audio after sleep. The following steps are taken from myDellMini.com.

Install sleepwatcher….here
Make sure you install both files of sleepwatcher. One is the main file and the other is a startup loader to ensure you have it every time you boot.

Go to your terminal and type
Code:

sudo nano /etc/rc.sleep

remove the contents of the file ctrl+k will delete line by line…just hold it down
copy and paste this
Code:

#!/bin/sh
/sbin/kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/

Ctrl+x to quit.
Push Y to save

Now edit this file. In terminal type:
Code:

sudo nano /etc/rc.wakeup

remove the contents of the file ctrl+k will delete line by line…just hold it down
copy and paste this
Code:

!/bin/sh
#
osascript <
tell application "System Preferences"
set the current pane to pane id "com.apple.preference.sound"
end tell

if application "System Preferences" is running then
tell application "System Preferences" to quit
end if
EOF

/sbin/kextload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/

Ctrl+x to quit.
Push Y to save

You are done.
It takes about 15 seconds for audio to come back after sleep.
Everything works including the audio volume buttons and mic.

This is a new workaround I discovered. It basically opens up the volume prefpane which notices that there is no audio device and then the script reloads it. This two step process seems to get everything working. The only side effect is if you have the system preferences open when you go to sleep this script will close it. (Not a big deal at all)

- taken from myDellMini.com.

The next thing I did was to perform a Time Machine Backup of the laptop. My backup was about 6+ GB in size and took around 30 minutes to complete. I used my old 80GB portable harddisk for the Time Machine backup. In the event that anything renders the Snow Leopard installation unusable, this Time Machine backup will be my fall back plan.

The third and final post-installation step was to run Software Update to update to Snow Leopard 10.6.1. The update went through smoothly. I am extremely pleased with my Dell Mini Mac 10v. It’s the perfect hackintosh netbook.

dell hackintosh, hackintosh setup

I’ve been using my hackintosh laptop, a Dell Mini 10v for the past 3 days after installing Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard on it. Here are my first impressions after spending a few hours on it.

1. Performance –  Mac OS X Snow Leopard runs smoothly with just 1GB of RAM for web surfing, email, chat and listening to music. The screenshot above shows what ’s running on the laptop.
2. Battery life – my initial estimates is a fully charged battery can last about 6 hours with wifi and bluetooth on.
3. Wifi – the 802.11n adapter just works.
4. Ethernet – works. Won’t be using this much because wifi is so convenient.
5. Bluetooth – paired with my Sony Ericsson P1i and bluetooth stereo headset without any problem.
6. Screen – 1024×600 feels a bit cramped as I’m used to at least 1280×800 on my MacBook. I turned on the option to automatically hide and show the Dock to have more usable screen space.
7. External VGA – dual display works with my 42″ Philips LCD TV at 1368×768.
8. Keyboard – will take some getting used to as it’s smaller than my MacBook keyboard. Frequently, I hit the wrong keys when touch-typing.
9. Touchpad – the tiny touchpad makes it really difficult to perform two-finger scrolling. Quite often, it’ll register a two-finger click when I was trying to do the two-finder scroll. Very annoying. For one finger operation and tap to click, the touchpad works fine.
10. Audio – speaker and audio output to earphones work. It can also be paired with my bluetooth headset.
11. Mic – works.
12. Sleep and wake – works by closing and opening the laptop screen. Sleep can also be triggered with a short press on the power on/off button. Audio takes longer (about 15 seconds) to be automatically turned back on after waking from sleep. Wifi and bluetooth wakes up faster.
13. Webcam – tried out Photo Booth with it. Works except Photo Booth’s window is too tall to be displayed entirely on the 1024×600 screen.
14. SD Card Reader - works.

As you can see, all the hardware components in the Dell Mini 10v works with Mac OS X Snow Leopard. I am very satisfied with my Dell Mini 10v as my hackintosh laptop. I highly recommend the Mini 10v to anyone looking for a netbook sized hackintosh laptop.

first impression, snow leopard hackintosh

I received my Dell Mini 10v yesterday afternoon. After getting it out of the box and taking some photos, I quickly started charging the laptop battery while installing Snow Leopard on the laptop. Dell’s instructions is to charge the battery for at least 12 hours before using the laptop on battery power.

Not so smooth installation process

I had expected a simple and straightforward installation, but it wasn’t so. There were some installation hiccups along the way and I had to retry the installation a couple of times before I managed to install Snow Leopard on my Dell Mini 10v. It wasn’t a smooth installation process because I was in a hurry and didn’t prepare a proper checklist.

Here’s the list of things that went wrong.

• First, I forgot to run Disk Utility and reformat the laptop hard disk before starting the installation process. I had to back track to Disk Utility when I couldn’t continue the installation  because no suitable hard disk was found. The Dell Mini 10v came with 3 partitions on its hard disk. In my first attempt to erase the 3 partitions using Disk Utility, I got a spinning beach ball that refuse to go away. I had to power off the laptop and restart the installation process.
• Second, I forgot to downgrade the Dell Mini 10v Bios version A06 to version A04. On my next second and third installation attempt, the installation process would stop halfway with a dialog telling me to reboot the laptop. After a couple of reboots, I remember reading about the need to downgrade the Mini 10v Bios to version A04 before installing Mac OS X. After downgrading the Bios to version A04, the installation completed without any problem.
• Third, after the installation completed, I powered off the laptop while it was rebooting. I felt it was taking too long and assumed that it had frozen. When the laptop booted up for the first time, I didn’t see the Mac OS X welcome video when the Snow Leopard desktop came up.

Mini Mac up and running

After a bumpy installation process, I now have Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard on my Dell Mini 10v. I am named the laptop minimac, short for Dell Mini Mac 10v. I also made a Time Machine backup of the laptop once it was up and running.

Above is a screenshot of this website taken on my Dell Mini Mac 10v.

I will write more about my first impressions of the Mini Mac later.

dell mini 10v, hackintosh installation

Dell is delivering my Dell Mini 10v tomorrow. That’s 6 days ahead schedule. That’s the power of under-promising and over-delivering.

Looking forward to receiving my Dell Mini 10v tomorrow.

dell delivery, over-deliver, under-promise

Just got a call this morning from Dell to inform me that my Dell Mini 10v is arriving tomorrow. I had expected it to arrive at the end of this month, but it’s reaching me 6 days (or 4 working days) earlier. Well done Dell! Looks like my earlier estimate of getting my Dell Mini 10v within a week after ordering it online  wasn’t too optimistic after all.

I’m really looking forward to getting it hackintosh’ed by tomorrow.

Come back soon for my take on the hackintosh installation process and first impression on the Dell Mini ‘Mac’ 10v hackintosh laptop.

dell delivery, dell mini 10v

Mac OS X screenshot on the Lenovo S10 taken from Minimal Mac.

If you’re interested to install Mac OS X on your Lenovo S10, there’s a step-by-step installation guide with screenshots over at NetBookTech.com.

So, what works and what doesn’t with the Lenovo S10 as a hackintosh laptop? Here’s the summary according to NetbookTech.com.

What works

• Video adapter – Intel GMA 950
• Wifi
• Touchpad
• Webcam

What doesn’t work

• Laptop Sleep
• Multi-touch function on the touchpad
• Ethernet
• Sound

I can live without ethernet, sleep or a multi-touch touchpad on a laptop, but a laptop without sound? That’s totally unacceptable to me. The Dell Mini 10v hackintosh is still the better hackintosh laptop.

hackintosh installation, lenovo s10, netbook installer

After making the decision to get a Dell Mini 10v as my hackintosh laptop, I had another decision make. What color should I choose? The Dell Mini 10v came in seven different colors. I went through the seven colors and below were my responses.

1. Obsidian Black – Glossy black looks boring.
2. Alpine White – Will probably get dirty easily just like my existing white Macbook. My Macbook palm rest area has turned gray permanently.
3. Pretty Pink – My 5-year-old niece tells me that pink is for girls.
4. Jade Green – Hmm… green… this looks nice.
5. Cherry Red – Red looks good. I like it.
6. Passion Purple – Purple is too loud for me.
7. Ice Blue – Blue seems plain and boring too.

So, I was down to two colors for my Mini 10v. Do I want a green ‘apple’ or a red ‘apple’? I was leaning towards Cherry Red. So, instead of deciding, I asked my wife. She said the color ‘Green’ is good for your eyes. I’m not sure how much truth is in her statement, but, that’s how I decided to get the Jade Green Dell Mini 10v.

Cherry Red Dell Mini 10v - First runner up.

Jade Green Dell Mini 10v - The Winner

Do you have a Dell Mini 10v too? What color did you choose and why?

cherry red, dell mini 10v, jade green

While waiting for my Dell Mini 10v to arrive, I’ve already completed my research on how to install Mac OS X ‘Snow Leopard’ on it.

Here’s the list of items required for installing ‘Snow Leopard’ on the Dell Mini 10v.

1. netbook-installer
2. Mac OS X 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’ retail DVD
3. 8GB USB thumb drive
4. An existing Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 machine
5. Dell Mini 10v Bios version A04. Get this from dell support site.

The thumb drive is used as the installation dongle according to the netbook-installer’s how-to guide.  A Mac OS X machine is required to create the installation dongle. I’ll be using my current MacBook for that purpose. The steps looks simple enough. It should a straight forward installation when the laptop arrives.

The Dell Mini 10v ships with Bios version A06. This will cause the Snow Leopard installation to stop midway with a message to reboot the laptop. This message will reappear again during the installation process after rebooting the laptop, unless you downgrade the Bios to version A04.

Do you have a hackintosh laptop? What installation method did you use?

dell mini 10v, dell ship from factory, netbook installer

Dell Mini 10v running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Everything works! Wifi, bluetooth, audio, microphone, webcam, ethernet, SD card reader, sleep and touchpad, it all works.

Dell Mini 10v with 2GB RAM running Mac OS X 10.5.8. The laptop performance is excellent.

These two videos has convinced me to get a Dell Mini 10v as my hackintosh laptop.

Did you buy a non-Apple laptop on purpose to install Mac OS X? What made you choose that laptop model?

Read about my Dell Mini 10v Mac OS X Snow Leopard installation experience.

dell mini 10v, hackintosh videos, youtube