PART 2 of 2: Installing Mac OS X onto a RunCore and Dell Mini 9

[danielgartin6993]

Wooow

[MrThepro360]

Does this work with 10.5 ? i got another disk of a mate and i think its 10.5.1? which one?

[MyRandomReviews]

I am surprised that a Dell Mini 9 has an SSD, I think they've gave up on SSDs with netbooks, as they cost so much.

[r3vmixman]

sadly i got as far as this step and my problems happened when i ran dell efi 1.1. i didnt not see the same custom settings when i installed to my dell i got a white screen of death after the apple startup screen.

[lantzn]

I would stick with Dell EFI 1.2a, I've had much better results.

[Ghoststar2009]

@lantzn I finally got around to installing 10.5.8 on my Vostro A90; a year later! Your instructions were superb. I used the old 10.5.1 and upgraded as you instructed using Dell EFI 1.2a. Now, can I repair permissions or should I just leave it all alone--- everything works except the BT stays on, but I plan to use a BT dongle anyway.

Thanks sooooo much.

[yottabyte21]

why isnt it this easy for an HP Mini 1000 (1030nr), and on your Dell, does sleep work? like if you close the lid it goes to sleep and then resumes when opened. also wifi works reliably and battery indicator is accurate?

[lantzn]

Yes sleep and wifi work correctly. The reason it does is because the Dell mini 9 has similar hardware to the Mac mini.

[tobylawrence]

Won't this whole system have lag?

Because its only 1.6Ghz Single Core where as most Macs are 2.something dual, quad and even octocore

[Quadamag3]

OS X is very efficient - no doubt thing's in operation will be slower than say a 1.6GHz MacBook Air due to the much slower Processor architecture.

But with a 32GB SSD, it will be very snappy.

[TJBV08]

What is the total cost of the whole project of using OSX on the mini9, programs and istems needed to do so?

[lantzn]

It varies depending on which mini9 you buy, the Runcore drive size and how much you paid for OS X 10.5.

You need 3 things;

1. a mini9 Windows or Ubuntu (doesn't matter what OS because your not going to use that drive) used Craigslist or eBay

2. RunCore drive for mini9 (the smaller the cheaper of course) Check with mydigitaldiscount[DOT]com for prices

3. Retail Mac OS X 10.5 install disk (getting cheaper now that 10.6 is out) There are also education discounts.

Under $400 or less easily.

[lantzn]

I just saw at the Dell site they brought back the Dell mini 9 as an encore. It's bare bones, linux, 1GB ram at $199. When choosing the bluetooth and 1.3M vidcam it brings the price to $240! That's an outstanding deal. Grab a 2GB memory upgrade from neweggDOTCOM and a Runcore and your good to go.

[blackirondude]

Dude you rule!

I'm on my mini9 in OS X right now!

[lantzn]

Yes they make great little Macs don't they.

[Pronoun54]

Great tutorial, thanks! I am getting my Mini 9 in about a week.

[Pronoun54]

Will this work with the 16GB drive I get with the Mini 9. Does the Dell drive have a USB port on it?

[lantzn]

No but go to mydellmin[DOT]com and use the DellEFI Method under the OS X section.

[tanmacs]

Can 10.4.11 work on it or not?

[lantzn]

Not, 10.5 only.

[streetcarvideos]

do iphoto works fine?? and the video stuff??

[lantzn]

Yes iPhoto works fine but the iLife installer DVD may give you trouble (something to do with hardware specs). Most of us just drop a copy of iPhoto onto a thumbdrive and transfer the app over that way. What do you mean by video? Playing MP4, MOV, etc using QT, iTunes or Safari? Or do you mean video editing? The first works fine, the later doesn't because iMovie needs a Core 2 Duo to edit AVCHD. Beside editing video on a DM9 would be painfully slooooooow.

[kentaro444]

I will try this method for 10v with Runcore ProIV SSD tomorrow. Thanks for sharing this method with us.

[kentaro444]

It worked for 10v.

[cinc12500]

The sleep works OK with this method? I have a stock Dell 32Gb SSd in my Dell Mini 9 and OS X 10.5.5 absolutely WILL NOT sleep (kernel panic). Pain in the rear to keep turning it off and on - otherwise works GREAT !!!

[lantzn]

What method did you use to install? Why aren't you updated to 10.5.7?

This DellEFI method works with 10.5.6. Sleep works perfectly with this method. I really like the new DellEFI 1.2a5 and 10.5.7 combination.

[lantzn]

I just test these instructions using OS X 10.5.7 and DellEFI 1.2a5 and it went perfect.