Robot.Floss

In the previous tech review, I’d attempted to upgrade my Hackintosh from 10.5.1 to 10.5.2 using instructions from the InsanelyMac forum. I knew the instructions most likely would not work, but you never learn if you don’t experiment. After the failed 10.5.2 update, I reinstalled my 10.5.1 setup and got everything situated once again.

Before I attempted a second upgrade, which used a modified version of the 10.5.2 installer called kalywayUpdCombo10.5.2.pkg, I threw a second harddrive in to the machine. One of the most beautiful aspects of OS-X is how well the system utilities are designed. If you boot from the installation CD, you can use the Disk Utility to make a backup image of a harddrive. So, I backed up my new installation, and proceeded with these instructions, which worked perfectly.

The only thing the instructions don’t mention is that the kalyway_10.5.2_kernels.mpkg.zip file you’ll search for is only a few megabytes in size. It is roughly 6 megabytes. At first I was suspicious that the torrent was valid because of the small file size.

According to the instructions, when you make the final reboot of your system, the screen will boot up to the Apple logo and then appear blank for several minutes. For some users this down time has been a few seconds to a few minutes. The GX270 took about 30 seconds, if even that. But it was still a nerve racking 30 seconds.

Once I finished the update I even applied the graphics update without any problems and then I imaged the installation to the backup harddrive.

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I attempted the 10.5.2 update using a guide I found on the InsanelyMac forums. The update broke the installation, and nothing seemed to bring the installation back from the dead (including single user mode/etc). While reinstalling OS-X on Sunday I discovered a bug in the installer. If you leave the installer running eventually the computer will kick in to a power save mode, which will crash the installer. The simple solution is to move the mouse around every few minutes.

I’ve downloaded the Kalyway 10.5.2 ComboUpdate and will attempt it later this week. In the mean time I’ve slapped a second hard drive in my hackintosh and made an image of my installation. This will save on re-installation time, which I think will occur fairly often as I start to play more aggressively with the OS.

On a side note, one of the things I love about Mac’s is how they are designed for sleep. On a windows machine putting a machine in to sleep and waking it up takes about as long as just powering the machine on and off. But sleep on a Mac is almost instant, and I’ve found it takes care of some of my KVM woes (such as if I lose the mouse for some reason).

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Ever since Jeff found out I installed OS-X 10.5.1 on an extra PC I have, he’s been patiently waiting for me to post a RobotFloss update. So, without further adieu, here I’m granting him his wish.

Kalyway:
Ever since Apple switched to Intel chips, gaggles of geeks have been working to bring OS-X to PCs. In the past few months a lot of progress has been made. No longer do you need to sacrifice a virgin to the Binary god of Goats.ce or offer yourself to the will of Steve Jobs. Now you only have to download the wonderful Kalyway boot DVD, which a person can easily find on bittorrent.

Preparation X:
Before I proceeded with the installation, I headed over to the OSx86 Project and made sure all of the hardware in my Hackintosh would be compatible. Originally, I had intended to use an old GeForce 3 (AGP) as the graphics card, but for some reason OS-X hates that card. I actually tried to launch the Kalyway installer with the GeForce 3 in the machine, but the installer quickly died. So, here are the specs of my Hackintosh, affectionately named U91, because I like submarines:

• Dell GX270 (with new motherboard)
• 2.8GHZ Intel Pentium Processor
• 2GB of Ram
• Buffalo wireless card (Atheros based, I believe)
• CD/DVD
• Gigabyte 128MB AGPx8 GeForce 5200 (with VGA, DVI, and TV-out)

Installation:
The Kalyway boot DVD is a modified version of the OS-X boot cd with a customized installer. It lets you select the vanilla drivers you’ll need to install in order to get OS-X running smoothly on your PC. The installation doesn’t work perfectly on all machines. For some machines, you still need to edit BIOS settings or possibly tweak a few files after installation to get everything running perfectly.

To keep thing simple, I decided to not create a dual booting machine. Later I’ll do an OS-X/Ubuntu/XP installation, but since I have a heap of extra computers there is no need for me to do that. All in all the installation has 3 major steps:

1. Format the hard drive.
2. Select the appropriate custom drivers.
3. Let the OS install.

I made a nice slide show of the process with detailed notes.

I couldn’t have asked for a smoother installation. OS-X made out to be best friends with the computer’s integrated sound card, integrated ethernet, Buffalo wireless card (PCI), and all the USB ports. The only issue I experienced, was that OS-X didn’t like the GeForce 5200 graphics card and decided to limit screen resolution to a nasty 1024×768.

I resolved the graphics issue with a great program called NVinject, which enables support for almost any NVidia graphics cards available on the market. I’d wager that odds are you’re going to need NVinject, especially if you want dual display support and such to work.

Two graphics issues still remain on my Hackintosh. First, at 1440×900 the edges of programs, dialog boxes, and scroll bars suffer from what looks like the bad static on an old VCR. There are little vibrating waves and flickering dots. Second, is that on various resolutions there are ghosted images of the cursor or any open window that results in several “shadows” coming from the right hand side of the object. None of the display settings seem to correct these problems.

Earlier this week the 10.5.2 update for Leopard came out. I’ve not yet attempted to apply the update though, but it can be done successfully. However, it can also break your installation. So, until I feel like I have an abundance of time to use on a possible reinstallation or a great tutorial comes out, I’ll be putting the update off for a week or two.

Next weekend’s post will be about the things I like and dislike about OS-X, and what in the world a person should do once they have installed OS-X. Oh, and I’ve also posted a few screen shots of my desktop and such.

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