Here’s a nice piece of information to you hackintosh laptop owners out there. MacHeist.com is offering 6 Mac Apps worth $154 for free. It’s a limited time offer, so head on over to MacHeist.com to get them.

I’ve signed up for the free apps and received the apps serial number except for Mariner Write. Mariner Write will only be unlocked if this free offer reaches 500,000 participants. So sign up now and get your Mac or hackintosh friends to sign up too, if you want to get a free copy of Mariner Write.

Twitterific looks useful. Since, I don’t have a Twitter client for my hackintosh yet, I’m gonna be using this.

ShoveBox is a tool for capturing, collecting and organizing scraps of information. I’m forever collecting files, links and snippets of online information and leaving them everywhere. Maybe this will help me keep everything in a single place. It’ll be wonderful if I can hook this with my DropBox account and synch the ShoveBox database between my hackintosh laptop and my MacBook.

I don’t have any games on my hackintosh laptop. Horde of Orcs will be the first. It’s 92MB and taking a long time to download at 4.0 KB/sec. There are some good reviews on their website. Guess, I will only know when I get this downloaded in 6 hours time.

As for the other apps, WriteRoom, TinyGrab and Mariner Write, I don’t need them. You may find them useful though.

Before you leave, remember to grab your free Mac Apps bundle at MacHeist nanoBundle.

dropbox, free mac apps, macheist, shovebox, twitterific

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

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

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

Can I use a hackintosh laptop for iPhone development? Will Xcode run on a non-Apple laptop?

I’ve been asked questions about iPhone development using a hackintosh quite often. I have no doubt these questions are triggered by stories of the $$$ to be made in selling iPhone apps on AppStore. What about me? I did think about getting into iPhone development, but the thought of learning Objective-C and the iPhone SDK was too much for me. For the past few months, I’ve been learning Ruby on Rails and picking up the Django web framework, Google App Engine and Yahoo User Interface library. My brain will overload if I start learning another programming language.

So, I’m not starting on iPhone development any time soon. But to satisfy my curiosity on whether the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh can handle iPhone development, I decided to try out Xcode and the iPhone SDK.

iPhone Development on a Dell Mini 10v?

Will the 1.66GHz Intel Atom Dell Mini 10v with 1GB RAM be able to handle Xcode and iPhone development? What kind of performance can I expect from the Mini 10v? I have Xcode and the iPhone SDK on my MacBook. The MacBook with a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo CPU and 2GB RAM handles Xcode with the iPhone SDK smoothly. Will I be able to say the same about the Mini 10v hackintosh?

Getting Xcode and the iPhone SDK

Xcode is available in the Snow Leopard Retail DVD. You can download the free iPhone SDK from the Apple Developer website. You’ll need to sign up for a developer account first. If you want to submit your iPhone app to the AppStore, then you’ll need to pay $99 to join the Standard iPhone Developer Program.

Surprisingly Good Performance

I was surprised that 1GB RAM is sufficient to run Xcode and the iPhone Simulator without any noticeable slow down at all. For my initial test, I wrote a Hello World application. The application compiled and started instantly on the iPhone Simulator.

The iPhone Simulator is too tall to display fully in the Dell Mini 10v LCD display. You can rotate the iPhone simulator sideways to get the full display.

iPhone Simulator rotated sideways and running Safari.

Next, it’s time for a real world test on Xcode. I downloaded an open source Twitter client for the iPhone, Tweetero and built it from scratch. A clean build of Tweetero took 32 seconds to complete and start in the iPhone simulator. I’m impressed. Subsequent build and run was instantaneous.

Tweetero on the iPhone Simulator with Xcode and Google Chrome in the background.

Poor Usability

Programming on a netbook with a small keyboard and trackpad takes a lot of patience. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. While using Xcode, I spent a lot of time switching between windows and moving windows around on the small netbook screen. Using an external monitor made things easier. If you’re going to use the Dell Mini 10v for iPhone development, get an external monitor.

Xcode on the tiny Dell Mini 10v display

Running Xcode on a Dell Mini 10v connected to a 22″ Dell LCD Monitor,

My Conclusion

If you want to try your hand on iPhone development, the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh should be good enough for you to get your feet wet. For any real work, I would recommend upgrading the Dell Mini 10v to 2GB of RAM, connecting it to an external VGA monitor, keyboard and mouse. Using the tiny screen, keyboard and trackpad for programming may drive you crazy. Once the big bucks come rolling in from the sales of your iPhone app on AppStore, you can get yourself a nice MacBook Pro.

Are you using a hackintosh laptop/PC for iPhone development? Share your experience with us in the comments below.

iphone development, objective-c, xcode

After the first Battle of the Netbook Web Browsers on my Dell Mini 10v hackintosh, I’ve switched over from Safari to Google Chrome as my default web browser on all the Macs I have at home. Why, you may ask? Well, I have two reasons for changing.

First, I really like the integrated address bar and search box in Google Chrome. It simplifies the two things I do most in the web browser, surfing and searching. I can just type a URL or search criteria in the same place.

Second, performance. Google Chrome somehow felt snappier compared to the other browsers. So, I decided to confirm what I felt by running a performance test with the different web browsers on my Mini 10v laptop.

The Performance Test Suite

I decided on using the Dromaeo Javascript Performance Test Suite after trying out two other JavaScript performance benchmark, SunSpider and Peacekeeper. Dromaeo is comprehensive yet simple to execute. It is made up of Javascript and DOM tests created by the Dromaeo, Webkit, V8 and MooTools team. The test suite also includes DOM test for the jQuery, Prototype, Dojo, MooTools, YUI and ExtJS javascript libraries.

The full Dromaeo Performance Test runs for an estimated 33 mins 40 seconds on the web browser. The fastest web browser will be the one that executes the most test runs per second. So, which web browser is the fastest?

The Test Results

Google Chrome wins the web browser performance trophy on my Dell Mini 10v. It finished in the top spot slightly ahead of Safari. The slowest web browser? Camino. It’s time for me to remove Camino from my laptop. Apart from being slow, it has nothing special. I don’t see any reason why anyone would want to use Camino.

Dromaeo stores a copy the detailed score of each web browser tested. You can check out the details with the links below.

• Safari 4.0.3
• Firefox 3.5.3
• Google Chrome 4.0.221
• Opera 10
• Camino 1.6.10
• Comparing Safari (WebKit/531.9), Firefox (Firefox/3.5.3) and Google Chrome(WebKit/532.2).

The Conclusion

The test confirms that Google Chrome is the fastest web browser on my hackintosh laptop. I will continue to have Google Chrome as my default web browser.

But the truth is for most people, they will not sense the performance difference between the browsers tested. The bottleneck is usually with the internet connection rather than javascript performance. Just keep using whichever web browser that fits your browsing style.

As for me, I’m very happy with Google Chrome. Google Chrome full screen view and performance ROCKS on the Mini 10v hackintosh laptop.

dromaeo, javascript-benchmark, web browsers

After four months of lugging a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse along with the MacBook Pro — which, at 5.5lb, isn’t exactly light to begin with — I decided enough was enough. Since I’ve been wanting to ease some load off of my shoulder, and I couldn’t quite bring myself to buy the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, the time was right for me to consider a smaller and lighter alternative.

To be more specific, it was time to consider a “MacBook Nano.”

Clayton shares about his hackintosh installation experience in an insightful article over at Hackintoshed: Life With My “MacBook Nano”. In the article, he talks about doing his homework on picking the right candidate for his hackintosh, his installation experience and the small annoyances of running Mac OS X on non-Apple laptops.

His conclusion – Small, Light, and It Runs OS X. What’s Not To Like?

Having used the S10 every day for a week now, taking it instead of my 15-inch MacBook Pro everywhere, I can say with certainly that my MacBook Pro will be relegated to my desk on most days, and that my preferred portable computer from hereon will be this ‘MacBook Nano’ of mine.

Are you a Lenovo S10 owner thinking about installing your own Lenovo S10 hackintosh laptop?

hackintosh owner

I use my Dell Mini 10v hackintosh mainly to get online and surf the Internet. As a hackintosh laptop user, I get to use Safari as my default web browser. Apart from Safari, I have installed four ‘other’ web browsers on my hackintosh laptop. These ‘other’ web browsers are Firefox, Google Chrome, Camino and Opera. With so many web browsers available for the Mac OS X, which is the best web browser for my hackintosh laptop? To find the answer, I did a comparison between these 5 web browsers, to find the one I like the most.

The Best Web Browser For A Netbook Challenge

The Dell Mini 10v display resolution is only 1024×600 pixels. This is the standard display resolution for most netbooks available today. The netbook display resolution is of course, smaller compared to the popular 1280×800 resolution for entry-level laptops. Because of the smaller screen, my most important web browser feature is the ability to view web pages in full screen view. I have to make every pixel count. I also want to have easy keyboard shortcuts for navigating between tabs. I prefer using the keyboard instead of the tiny Mini 10v trackpad.

The Criteria For the Winning Netbook Web Browser

1. Full Screen Mode – The web browser must be able to display web pages in full screen view. It should be easy to switch between full screen and normal view using the keyboard.
2. Keyboard Shortcuts – Secondly, it must be easy to navigate between web pages and open new tabs using the keyboard only.

Since all the web browsers support keyboard shortcuts, I’m going to focus my testing on the full screen viewing capabilities of the various web browsers.

The Five Candidates

The surprising thing is, not all Mac OS X web browsers support full screen view. For those that don’t, I hid the address, bookmark and status bar to optimize the view for the browser window. Below are screenshots of the five web browsers with their default view and their full screen or optimized view.

1. Safari 4

The address and bookmark bar together with the Mac OS X menu bar and title bar takes up one big chunk of space. Hiding the address and bookmark bar as shown in the optimized view will reclaim around 50 pixels in height.

Safari Default View

Safari Optimized View

2. Firefox 3.5

The address and bookmark bar in Firefox takes up even more space compared to Safari. When the address and bookmark bar is hidden, the view is the same as Safari optimized view.

Firefox Default View

Firefox Optimized View

3. Camino 1.6

The default Camino view has bigger icons in the address bar and so takes up more space compared to Firefox and Safari address bar. After removing the address and bookmark bar, Camino optimized view is still a few pixels smaller compared to Firefox and Safari. There’s no option to hide the Camino status bar in the menu.

Camino Default View

Camino Optimized View

4. Google Chrome 4

Google Chrome default view doesn’t come with a bookmark bar and has the biggest space for the web page among the browsers tested. In the full screen view, with Chrome address bar and tabs removed together with Mac OS X menu and browser title bar, 94 pixels or an additional 15% of the screen height is available to display the web page.

Google Chrome Default View

Google Chrome Full Screen View

5. Opera 10

Opera default view has slightly more screen space compared to the default Camino and Firefox view. When in full screen view, it is the same as Google Chrome full screen view.

Opera Default View

Opera Full Screen View

The Champion of the Netbook Web Browsers Battle

The champion for our Netbook Web Browsers battle is undoubtedly Google Chrome. Google Chrome full screen view with toggling by keyboard makes it the winner in the battle of the netbook browsers. Opera 10 comes in at second place  with full screen mode too but without keyboard toggling for full screen view. To toggle full screen view on Opera requires using the touchpad with the Menu or Context Menu.

Update: Both Google Chrome and Opera 10 has full screen view with keyboard shortcuts. They are both champions in our battle of the hackintosh netbook web browsers. Earlier, I declared Google Chrome as the winner because I thought it was the only browser with keyboard shortcuts for full screen view, but since then, I’ve found the full screen view keyboard shortcut for Opera. Option+F11 on Opera Mac OS X will toggle full screen view. (Thanks goes to Rijk, for the tip).

For the browsers doesn’t support full screen mode, the next best thing is to turn off or hide the address, bookmarks and status bar of the browser. This will give the maximum viewing space for the web page. Setting the Mac OS X dock to auto-hide will also save some space.

The Aftermath

I was disappointed to discover Safari, Firefox and Camino doesn’t have full screen view on the Mac OS X.

I am now using Google Chrome as the default web browser for my hackintosh laptop because of its full screen view. Google Chrome also seems faster compared to the other web browsers.

The next battle of the web browsers will be based on performance. I will conduct a performance benchmark to compare the various web browsers on my Dell Mini 10v. Come back soon to check out the benchmark results.

camino browser, chrome browser, firefox browser, opera browser, safari browser, web browsers

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

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