When Snow Leopard 10.6.2 comes out, don’t be so quick to Software Update your Intel Atom hackintosh. Apparently, Apple updated the Mac OS X kernel in the 10.6.2 update and it will kernel-panic a hackintosh with the Intel Atom CPU. Basically, Apple is attempting to stop people from installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard on netbooks with the Intel Atom CPU.

Kernel panic according to Apple:

A “kernel panic” may occur when the core (kernel) of an operating system receives an instruction in an unexpected format, or that it does not handle properly. A kernel panic may also occur when the operating system is not able to recover from a different type of issue. A kernel panic can be caused by damaged or incompatible software or, more rarely, damaged or incompatible hardware.

So, be warned about doing a Software Update to Mac OS X 10.6.2 on your hackintosh laptop. You can look out for more info from the MyDellMini forum post – Intel Atom Support Removed in 10.6.2.

10.6.2, snowleopard, software update

The MSI Wind is one of the earliest netbook that got hackintoshed into running Mac OS X. The MSIWind.net discussion forums used to have detailed guides on how to install Mac OS X on the MSI Wind, but MSIWind.net seems to have gone offline. If you’re a MSI Wind owner who wants Snow Leopard on your netbook, all is not lost. You can still find all the info you need for installing Snow Leopard on your MSI Wind at Macwind.x10hosting.com.

To install Mac OS X Snow Leopard on the MSI Wind require 5 things:

1. MSI Wind netbook.
2. Mac OS X Snow Leopard Retail Disk.
3. USB Flash drive with at least 8GB.
4. MSI Wind Snow Leopard installer and kext files.
5. A Mac computer to create the USB Installer.

You can buy the first 3 items, download item 4 and borrow item 5.

Macwind.x10hosting.com has detailed instructions for building your USB installer and installing a 100% Vanilla Snow Leopard on your MSI Wind. The download links to all the necessary files are included in the instructions.

Here’s a youtube video of Snow Leopard on the MSI Wind.

hackintosh installation, snow leopard hackintosh

If you’re a Dell Mini 10v owner standing on the edge, looking into the turbulent waters of installing Snow Leopard on your netbook, I have good news for you. Gizmodo has come up with a step-by-step guide with lots of hand-holding to help you leap into the world of hackintosh laptops.

You only need 3 big steps to install Snow Leopard 10.6.1 on the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh.

1. Prepare a USB Flash Drive with Mac OS X Retail and Netbook BootMaker.
2. Install OS X.
3. Run Software Update to get Mac OS X 10.6.1 or above.

If this is your first hackintosh installation, you probably need mini-steps instead of 3 big steps. There are 19 steps in all in the Gizmodo guide, get it from Gizmodo: How to hackintosh a Dell Mini 10v into the Ultimate Snow Leopard netbook.

The conclusion at the end of the guide:

You’ve got yourself a fully-functioning, beautifully small Snow Leopard netbook, which’ll do 90% of what a 13-inch MacBook can, at 70% the size and about 25% of the cost. Mine’s close to perfect: With an extended battery, I’m pushing 7 hours of battery life with Wi-Fi, which makes my MacBook pro look like a LOSER. And tiny extra bit of size over the Mini 9 means the keyboard is just large enough to work on, meaning this thing isn’t just a toy—it’s a decent investment. This from a guy with banana fingers.

Performance is acceptable, meaning you can run regular apps like iTunes, Firefox—and even Photoshop in a bind. It’s not noticeably slow during normal use, though it’ll choke on higher-res Flash video (no YouTube HD, but SD works fine). As with any notebook, this pretty much can’t be your main machine. But it’s a brilliant extra portable machine, for toilet browsing, travel, class notes and the like.

If I had this guide when I was installing my hackintosh Dell Mini 10v, I would have saved myself from the mistakes I made. If anyone wants to learn to install Mac OS X on their Dell Mini 10v, this is the go-to guide.

hackintosh installation, netbook

The Lenovo S10 is a good choice for a laptop/netbook if you want to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard on it. The S10 Snow Leopard Enabler makes the installing Snow Leopard on the Lenovo S10 so easy. Just  7 steps and you’re done. No messing around with kext files and stuff after the installation.

The 7 Steps to installing Snow Leopard on a Lenovo S10

1. Update your Lenovo S10 firmware to 14CN94WW or later.
2. Format the Lenovo S10 hard drive.
3. Restore Snow Leopard DVD to a USB thumb drive.
4. Install the S10 Snow Leopard Enabler on the USB thumb drive.
5. Install Snow Leopard using the S10 Snow Leopard enabled USB thumb drive.
6. Boot the newly installed Snow Leopard S10 Lenovo hackintosh.
7. Run software update to update to 10.6.1 and above.

Success Stories

Here are a couple of Lenovo S10 owners who setup their hackintosh laptop with Snow Leopard Enabler.

• $300 MacBook Netbook with Snow Leopard OSX 10.6.1 – Following the guide will get your Lenovo S10 up and running with Snow Leopard 10.6.1 in 30 minutes.
• Installing Snow Leopard 10.6.1 on a Lenovo S10e Netbook – An easy installation.

LAN and internal mic is not working on both installation. You can use a headset or external mic with the mic input jack.

Check out our Lenovo S10 Hackintosh page for more links, photos and videos of Mac OS X on the Lenovo S10.

hackintosh installation, snow leopard hackintosh

See the Apple specific key labels!

When I first started using my Hackintosh PC, I had tough time learning to use the Mac OS X specific keys with a Windows keyboard. There were a lot of trial and error involved in figuring out which key was supposed to be the Apple command, function, control or option key. Remembering the Mac OS X short-cut keys was frustrating to say the least.

Recently, I decided to use my aging three and a half year old MacBook as a desktop machine. I have a 22″ Dell LCD Monitor that’s been idle for a few months since I connected my Hackintosh PC to my 42″ Philips LCD TV. What I needed was an external keyboard and mouse to complete my MacBook to desktop transformation. I love Apple products; and their new wireless keyboard and magic mouse looks lovely. But I didn’t want to spend so much on a keyboard and mouse.

Past Experience with Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

I’ve been using the plain entry-level Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110 keyboard and mouse with my Hackintosh PC for over 2 years. Though some letters on the keyboard has faded, everything else works fine. I still use it everyday with my Hackintosh HTPC from my sofa, 6 feet away, without any problems. Thumbs-up to Logitech.

I had a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse combo before the Logitech. It was an entry-level combo, but compared to my Logitech entry-level combo, the Microsoft keyboard and mouse performance was horrible. The keyboard and mouse batteries needed to be replaced every few weeks and it had lousy wireless reception. The keyboard or mouse wouldn’t work at the distance of 6 feet.  After that experience, I said, “No more Microsoft hardware for me.”

The Search For A New Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo

And so, I started my search for a new Logitech Cordless keyboard and mouse combo. After some googling, I narrowed my search to two models of the current Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse combos.

• Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Set
• Logitech S520 Cordless Desktop Set

These were the two models available at a nearby computer mall. I finally decided on the Cordless Desktop Wave because of it was designed for comfortable typing and it has labels for Apple specific keys. The cushioned palm rest and contoured keyboard really makes typing comfortable and natural. This reduces the stress on my wrists and should lower my risk of getting carpal tunnel syndrome.

The Logitech Control Center for Mac OS X

The Logitech Desktop Wave Set comes with the software, Logitech Control Center for the Mac OS X. The Mac OS X user gets to use all the extra keys on the Desktop Wave keyboard with this software. The extra keys mapping is configurable. I mapped the extra keys to open Expose, iTunes, Google Chrome, FrontRow, and iPhoto. The keyboard also has special keys for volume control; volume up and down, mute; and for iTunes play, pause, stop, skip forward and back. When used with the Mac OS X, some Windows specific keyboard has extra keys that does nothing, but all of the extra keys on the Desktop Wave are fully functioning.

A Satisfied Logitech Customer

Logitech has done it again. I continue to be a satisfied Logitech customer. The Cordless Desktop Wave is excellent as an external keyboard for my MacBook. For the hackintosh owner looking for a Mac OS X compatible keyboard, I would heartily recommend the Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave.

logitech control center, logitech keyboard, wireless keyboard

I woke up this morning to the news of Apple product updates. I couldn’t read them fast enough. New iMacs, MacBooks, Mac Minis, Time Capsule, Airport Extreme, Magic Mouse, and Apple Remote. A MacBook with 7 hour battery. Wow!

I wonder how many hackintosh laptop owners are being tempted to get the “real thing”. Using a hackintosh laptop is a great experience, but using a real Mac laptop somehow feels more satisfying. The Mac multitouch trackpad is a joy to use.

I for one am drooling over the new 2.53GHz Mac mini with 4GB RAM. I am using my aging 1.83GHz MacBook like a desktop machine by attaching it to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. The MacBook Combo drive has died for a long time, the battery condition recently says “Service Battery”, which basically means, the battery could die anytime, we just don’t know when.

Any hackintosh owner out there tempted by the ‘real thing’?

Apple, macbook, macmini

Your netbook options – Light, cheap and fast. Choose two, but you can only choose light and cheap. Fast is not an option with the netbook. Netbook owners who bought their machine hoping for a fast machine will be sorely disappointed. If you’re getting a netbook and expecting it to perform like an entry-level laptop, you’re in for a big letdown.

If netbooks are not fast, then what kind of performance can we expect? Most netbooks from Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Asus, Acer and Samsung, available today come with the Intel Atom 1.66GHz CPU. My Dell Mini 10v with the Intel Atom 1.66GHz CPU is less than half as fast as my three-and-a-half year old entry-level MacBook. How did I get to that figure? Look at my Geekbench and Xbench results below.

Geekbench benchmark score:

MacBook 1.83GHz: 2473

Dell Mini 10v Hackintosh 1.66GHz: 1042

Xbench benchmark score:

MacBook 1.83GHz: 113.75

Dell Mini 10v Hackintosh 1.66GHz: 48.10

Does this mean netbooks are bad? Of course not. They are not meant to replace laptops. A laptop is like a general purpose workhorse while a netbook is a pony for having fun. This “pony” was designed to access the web and web-based applications. Remember that, and your netbook performance will not be a problem for you.

I for one, am happy with my Dell Mini 10v netbook’s performance. Are you happy with your netbook?

benchmark, macbook, netbook

After six months, Brian X. Chen decides to part ways with his hackintosh laptop, a MSI Wind. The relationship got off to a great start with hopes of love, thrills and delight. So, what turned the MSI Wind from being a great companion device to a frustrating and impractical gadget?

According to Brian, over time, little irritations with the netbook made it increasingly frustrating to use. First, the small trackpad made navigation tiresome and he had to use an external mouse. Second, software utilities hacked to run on his netbook didn’t work perfectly. The netbook’s wifi connection stopped working suddenly while he was on a trip to Europe. I guess it’s related to the quality of kext files (similar to Window’s hardware drivers) for the MSI Wind written by hackers. His third complaint, the build quality of cheap netbooks. His netbook screws fell out and the case no longer clamp shut all the way. All these, caused the battery to pop out slightly whenever he nudged it. When the battery pops out, the netbook shuts down.

In the end, he gave up on his hackintosh netbook, sold it along with his old MacBook Pro and bought a refurbished unibody MacBook.

I have to agree with Brian that a netbook’s small trackpad can be frustrating to use. At times, my Dell Mini 10v trackpad seems to have a mind of its own. Sometimes, it needs some coaxing before the click or two finger scrolling registers properly.

As for the overall hardware and software reliability, the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh laptop is a champ. I’m still thrilled and delighted by it. Let’s see after six months, will I still be saying the same thing.

msi-wind, netbook

The small sized Dell Mini 10v netbook fits nicely in my Quarfie Crumpler Bag. The Mini 10v with or without the neoprene sleeve has problem going into my Crumpler bag comfortably.

I had the Quarfie with me for a couple of years. I bought it because it has a clip release flap instead of a velcro flap. A Crumpler’s velcro flap is really LOUD. There’s no way to open a velcro flap in a meeting room quietly. I know, cause I have 2 other Crumpler bags with velcro flap. I can take out or keep my netbook in a meeting room or classroom without disturbing those around me.

With my Quarfie Crumpler bag, I didn’t have to get a new laptop bag for my Mini Dell 10v. Did you buy a new laptop bag just for your netbook?

crumpler, laptop bag

What are the best and most essential open source software for a Mac? Since any application that runs on the Mac OS X, should run on a hackintosh, the same question can be asked of a hackintosh too. What are the best and most essential open source software for a hackintosh?

Infoworld has just published their selection of the 10 most essential open source applications for a Mac, selected out of the thousands of open source tools available. They included the following applications in their list:

1. AppleJack – a tool to trigger the standard housekeeping chores that makes your Mac run faster and smoother. I installed this on my Dell Mini 10v hackintosh, ran it and got ‘applejack: command not found’. Applejack 1.5 is not compatible with Snow Leopard.
2. Boxee, Plex or XBMC – these applications are extensible Front Row alternatives. Plex which is optimized for the Mac looks really slick and smooth. I installed and tried out a few video channels from the Plex App Store. Plex looks great on my 42″ Philips LCD TV. Plex is a keeper for me, on my Hackintosh HTPC.
3. Fink project – this is the tool that opens up the 10,000+ open source Unix/Linux packages to your Mac. You use Fink as the tool to manage and install these packages that enables you to utilize the powerful hidden Unix core of the Mac. I don’t use Fink.
4. Firefox – web browser with plenty of powerful plug-ins. My favorite plug-ins are Web Developer and Firebug.
5. GIMP or Seashore – free Photoshop-like replacements for Adobe Photoshop. I use Picasa for my image touch-ups. I like the simple and easy to use interface of Picasa.
6. jEdit – Text editor for programmers. I prefer Textmate, even though it’s not free.
7. OpenOffice – a free alternative for Microsoft Office for Mac OS X. My word processing, spreadsheet and presentation needs are pretty basic. I use Google Docs, Spreadsheet and Presentation as my Microsoft Office alternative. Everything is stored online, so I can work on different machines without worrying about versioning.
8. RSSOwl – RSS feed reader. I use Google Reader to read and track my RSS feeds. Again, I can read my RSS feeds on different machines and Google keeps track of what I have read and haven’t.
9. Thunderbird – email client from Mozilla. I use online web-based email exclusively, mostly Google Mail with a bit of Yahoo Mail.
10. VLC Player – the best media player for Mac OS X. There are versions for Windows and Linux too. I have this on all my Macs.

Out of the 10 most essential open source applications for the Mac, I only use 2 of them, Firefox and VLC Player, or 3 if I include Plex into my list. Most of these software just don’t fall into my category of essential application.

How many of these essential applications do you have on your Mac or Hackintosh? What do you think is the one application that needs to be in that list?

free mac software, open source software