Can I Really Update My Hackintosh Netbook to Snow Leopard 10.6.2?

Yes, you can according to the instructions over at *NEW* NetbookInstaller .8.3 RC4 [testing]. You can now update your hackintosh netbook to Snow Leopard 10.6.2, but make sure you do it according to the steps given.

What If I Accidentally Updated to 10.6.2 and Killed My Hackintosh Netbook?

If you did, you can attempt to resuscitate it using the steps from http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/general-mac-os-x-discussion/15050-osx-10-6-2-a-2.html#post117830.

Disclaimer: I haven’t performed either of the above operations, so I can’t actually guarantee anything.

I’ll be attempting to update my Dell Mini 10v hackintosh to Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.2 tonight. Will report back with my results after my attempt.

10.6.2 update

It looks more or less certain that the Snow Leopard 10.6.2 update is not compatible with hackintosh netbooks with a Intel Atom CPU. OSXDaily, AppleInsider, MacRumors, OSNews and Stellarola has reported on this.

I am left with 3 choices when the Snow Leopard 10.6.2 update comes out.

1. Don’t update. Stay with 10.6.1
2. Try to update and keep the 10.6.1 kernel or use a modified Snow Leopard kernel.
3. Time to try out Jolicloud or Moblin.

I think, I’ll go with the first choice. Don’t update until the early adopters finds a way to easily upgrade to Snow Leopard 10.6.2 with a modified or older kernel.

The third choice, hmmm… maybe one day I’ll try those two Linux netbook distros just for fun. I can always restore my Snow Leopard 10.6.1 backup using Time Machine after trying out Jolicloud or Moblin.

10.6.2, hackintosh-update, jolicloud, moblin, 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

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 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

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

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