Can I find 100 Dell Mini 10v hackintosh owners on the Internet?

Let me try.

1. Me of course.
   

Blog posts by Dell Mini 10v Hackintosh Owners

2. John Herrman
3. MacG
4. reydemia
5. ItWasLuck3
6. aegis

Dell Mini 10v Hackintosh Videos on Youtube

7. mfolquet
8. teckhean
9. jaraeez
10. mrwaltwittman
11. svitale75
12. Tychy73
13. williamli
14. matthewsalvo
15. masarijones
16. scififan68
17. jlpedreirav
18. anguish79
19. almograve
20. nervis67
21. boagworld
22. gadgetcompass
23. orangutan2006
24. jkbellenir
25. mobkon

Dell Mini 10v Hackintosh Photos on Flickr

26. heavy_g
27. lucy…
28. stevenloveskatie
29. iAmBeer
30. JoshHarrow
31. ByteMarks
32. joestump
33. pavlovsbob
34. mills70
35. nervousonion
36. suiyee

Dell Mini 10v Mac OS X Forum

Oops! I still need another 64 Dell Mini 10v hackintosh owners. I’m sure there must be at least 64 Dell Mini 10v hackintosh owners in http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dell-mini-10v-mac-os-x-discussion/.

Are you a Dell Mini 10v hackintosh owner too?

dell mini 10v, hackintosh owner

I found this Google Chrome OS on a Dell Mini 10v youtube video today. Found it just after the announcement by Google on their Google Chrome OS project.

From what I read about Google Chrome OS so far, it’s a totally online web-focused OS. It uses the Chrome web browser as the user interface and main application. And all it does is run web applications on a computer?

If I can find a binary build of Google Chrome OS, I may try it out on my Dell Mini 10v. Anyone know where I can find a binary build of Chrome OS for the Dell Mini 10v?

chrome os

Just finished updating my hackintosh Dell Mini 10v to Snow Leopard 10.6.2.

The Intel Atom CPU is now reported as a 1.67 GHz Intel Core Solo Processor. The processor used to be listed as 1.67 GHz Unknown in Snow Leopard 10.6.1.

Sound didn’t work after the upgrade on the first reboot. I ran NetBookInstaller 8.3RC4 again and rebooted. Sound came back after the reboot.

Are you gonna update to Snow Leopard 10.6.2 too? Get the steps here.

10.6.2 update

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 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

Dell Mini 10v hackintosh connected to a Dell 22″ LCD Monitor running at 1680×1050. The desktop is extended to the external display. I read somewhere that using mirror mode with an external display may crash the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh. I didn’t try it.

Connected to a Philips 42″ LCD TV at 1360×768. It’s beautiful.

dell mini 10v, dell monitor, external monitor, philips lcd tv

I came across this “Made in China” neoprene sleeve for 12″ Notebooks at the local Carrefour store. They had the neoprene sleeve in 3 sizes, for 12″, 13″ and 14″ notebooks, and in 3 colors, gray, beige and dark brown. I bought a 12″ beige notebook sleeve hoping that it’s not too large for my Dell Mini 10v. I would have preferred dark brown, but they only had beige for the 12″ notebook sleeve.

The Dell Mini 10v extended 6 cell battery gives the notebook sleeve an odd shape when the laptop is inside it. It doesn’t have the regular notebook lay-me-down-flat shape. So, I was glad to find the 12″ notebook sleeve just nice for the odd shaped Dell Mini 10v with a 6 cell battery. It’s not too tight or loose. The soft neoprene will protect the laptop from scratches when I carry it around in my messenger bag.

The laptop fits nicely, not too tight or loose.

Laptop and sleeve side by side.

Side profile of the notebook sleeve with the laptop inside it.

Notebook sleeve with a Dell Mini 10v inside.

laptop bag, laptop sleeve, notebook sleeve

My primary purpose for getting a hackintosh laptop was to be able to access the Internet with a laptop when I’m out of the house. The Dell Mini 10v, being a small and light laptop was perfect for that purpose. Apart from Internet access, I thought about what other ways I intend to use my laptop, and came up with this list.

I am using my Dell Mini 10v hackintosh to:

1. Surf the Web – I have Safari, Firefox, Camino and Google Chrome on my hackintosh laptop.
2. Read Emails – I am using Gmail as my primary mail account, Google Apps hosted email for work related email and Yahoo Mail as my backup. I don’t use the Mail application.
3. Chat – I connect to my Yahoo and MSN account using Adium.
4. Read eBooks – My collection of pdf, chm and lit files is handled by Adobe Acrobat Reader, iChm and Lexcycle Stanza.
5. Read digital Manga and Comics – FFView is the best comic book reader for the Mac OS X.
6. Listen to Music – iTunes.
7. Watch Videos – VLC player supports all the major video and audio formats.

My Dell Mini 10v hackintosh does what I need it to do perfectly. Having the proper expectations is key to being satisfied with your laptop.

After thinking about what I intend to use my hackintosh laptop for, I also thought about what I’m not going to use it for. Basically, it’s not going to be used for any tasks that is CPU intensive or require tons of memory. My hackintosh laptop only has 1GB of RAM and I don’t intend to upgrade to 2GB anytime soon.

I am not using my hackintosh for:

1. Software or Web development – The small screen and Intel Atom CPU is not really suitable for extended periods of programming.
2. Video or DVD Editing – Once again, the small screen and Intel Atom CPU is not suitable for this purpose.
3. Photo Editing – Once again, the small screen … you get the idea. Maybe I’ll use it occasionally for simple photo touchup using iPhoto.
4. Gaming – I’ll stick to my Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and Sony PSP for video games.

What are you using your hackintosh laptop for?

favorite mac os x apps, laptop usage

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