Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hackintosh

I Need to Pause the Movie and Look Something Up...

rokusan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:40:31 -0800

Which is the best method for adding codec, playing video from remote shares, and most of all usable web browsing to an AppleTV? Okay, so I picked up a $99 refurb AppleTV on a whim, with the hope of hacking it into being a fuller-featured couch computer. It's still virgin in the box at the moment.

My four main requirements are:
1. Play video from remote fileshares, not through iTunes.
2. Handle a typical wide variety of codecs, not just the Apple-endorsed handful.
3. A decent web browser, preferably Safari or Firefox
4. Use a remote keyboard and mouse (don't care what type)

I know there are many, many, many partial solutions to this, up to and including the nuclear option of installing a full version of MacOSX, which of course would achieve all of the above and much more. I'm comfortable doing that if necessary. I'm a pretty "power" Mac user and can handle Unix hackery if needed. I see there are lots of other, lesser/specialized mods out there, and I'd like to know if anyone has experience or advice for any of them:

XBMC or Boxee? Classic choices, and both include web browser plug-in apps I think, but I can't find info on keyboards/mice.

NitoTV talks a lot about USB support.

aTV Flash looks awfully sweet and is getting a lot of nice buzz lately, but the site seems to contradict itself on whether there's a web browser or not (it's listed both as a feature and as a "coming soon".) I don't think there's a demo of aTV Flash, just a paid version, so I can't test it easily, either.

Patchstick seems to be a bundle that adds most (all?) of what I want to the existing AppleTV OS, or at least makes things like codecs and Safari web browsing installable.

Or do I just bite the bullet and install full OS X on the cute little thing?

Other suggestions very welcome. I'm playing quick catchup on all this.

AppleWatchers: Mainstreaming the Hackintosh?

ZenMasterThis — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:54:20 -0800

AppleWatchers: Mainstreaming the Hackintosh? What does the hive mind know about Apple's history, culture, marketing, business models, people, etc. which would confirm or refute the hypothesis "Apple will fully embrace the use of Apple OS and applications on non-Apple hardware in the next 3 - 5 years"?

Hackintosh netbooks

Bango Skank — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:23:45 -0800

I am thinking of hackintoshing a netbook and would like some guidance from those with some experience in this area. I have several questions: 1.) Probably the most crucial question is: How difficult is this really? Some things I've read make it sound like a walk in the park and others like a huge pain in the ass that can only be accomplished by the elite. I would rank my experience/skill level somewhere between rank noob and poweruser probably falling closer to noob on that spectrum. I have only had a computer full time for the last five years or so and have no formal training. However, I am intelligent, I read tech stuff voraciously, and have been able to teach myself how to do everything I've wanted to do with a computer thus far. I don't have any experience doing stuff on the command line or running scripts but am willing and eager to learn (just haven't found a reason to yet.) I ~~don't mind~~ usually enjoy digging through forums and help pages to find the solution to problems and love the thrill of victory when I successfully make it work. I just don't want to spend a lot of money on hardware for a project that would be beyond me.

2.) What netbook would you recommend I start with? I have read that the Dell Mini 9 is an ideal candidate and even though it is no longer being produced I have seen several new-unused on eBay that are within my budget. I have also heard that the MSI Wind is a good choice, is one preferable to the other? What are the minimum specs I should be looking for?

3.) Besides the netbook itself what else am I going to need to pull this off?

4.) Once OSX is up and running how much tinkering is required to keep it running? I will not be the primary user of this machine and the person who will be using it daily does not get the same buzz that I do from fiddling with stuff.

5.) What web resources have you found most helpful for this project? I have done some Googling and read past questions but nothing has really stood out as the definitive guide yet.

Thanks in advance for the help and I will monitor this question in case any additional input is needed.

How do I get people to pay me to fix their computers?

Pseudology — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:39:39 -0800

How do I move away from my career of being a retail troll and towards tech support. I already fix my friends' computers and have a lot of experience dealing with my own. I've become fairly tech savvy thanks to the method printed on XKCD's cheat sheet. I'm also curious if anyone knows how to make a driver for a laptop mouse/keyboard that's useable in OSX Leopard. Details inside. I'm pretty much self taught as I've never taken a computer course in my life. I'm familliar With Ubuntu 9.04, Windows XP and OSX. As a matter of fact, I can put all three of them onto a PC laptop and have them all boot and work properly (except for a working mouse/keyboard in OSX that aren't external USB plugin). I can also take said laptop completely apart to gain full access to the motherboard.

My next project involves building a server and putting a website on it but I'm waiting on a piece of sh*t computer to install the server on to. This will be my first time building a server or a website.

Given this experience, what other skills should I pick up before trying to make a go of this stuff proffessionally? More Importantly, how do I break into a computer related career?

I'm also trying to learn how to write programs but don't know where to start. Ubuntu has a lot of handy applications for writing code in multiple programming languages but which ones do I learn.

Finally, on the side, is it possible to create a driver for my laptop's keyboard/mouse that OSX Leopard can recognize? It works fine if I install no keyboard or mouse related drivers and plug in an external PC keyboard and mouse. Is it also possible to somehow dredge it from the OS on the install disk (which works fine but whatever gets installed to the hard drive doesn't work).

iSight or iDon't?

genial — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:54:45 -0800

Best webcam for Mac OS X, is iSight still the one camera to rule them all? We're going to be purchasing a new computer very soon and while the iMacs look nice, I hate the inability to upgrade and the expense for what you get in terms of speed/processing power. So I'm ALMOST settled on going with Psystar and getting their Core i7 machine with OS X (I assume that could also have an effect on this question so anyone with experiences from that company please weigh in!).

We'd really like to have a webcam for the iChat video stuff with friends and family and while I know a few years ago iSight was the way to go and the prices on them have been dropping steadily on eBay, I'm wondering if the specs aren't a little dated at this point? I don't need to do amazing video productions but I don't want that low framerate, fuzzy, "amateur webcam" look either. Where is the sweet spot in terms of price/performance in that market with resolution and framerate in mind and what are the leading products?

Boot from USB DVD drive? How?

dougunderscorenelso — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:47:51 -0800

Making a Hackintosh out of an EEE PC, but failing on the first step (booting from an external USB drive). What am I doing wrong? So I bought a 900HA EEE PC thinking, "I am a relatively technically adept person, and I should be able to turn this into a hackintosh with little trouble." And I was wrong on both counts.

People with the same machine refer to this post's instructions, but I'm perpetually stuck on the first two steps due to issues with the external DVD drive.

Updating the BIOS with Alt-F2: When doing this, the DVD device whirs and searches briefly, but the system tells me "900HA.ROM not found." But it's on the DVD (and CD, once), and if I put the same file on a USB stick and update from THERE, it works. So this step is sooooort of complete, yet stil symptomatic of my problem.

Booting from the Boot-132 disk: Went into BIOS with F2, set the boot order to DVD-drive-first, and restarted. Nothing: the device doesn't even spin, and the machine boots straight into Windows, every time. If I try to use a USB stick with the Boot-132 image, it tells me it's not a system disk, which is apparently the reason this step requires I boot from a DVD/CD drive.

Has anyone had similar problems booting from an external DVD drive on any machine? I'm pretty sure the issue isn't the drive, because I've tried two fairly different drives with identical results.

Help me pick a dual-head video card compatible with OSx86 (hackintosh) and Linux

fishfucker — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:58:47 -0800

Recommend a video card that can push dual monitors on OSX86 (Hackintosh) and Linux. Lots more info about my setup inside. I have a stock Gateway GT 5636e, and two HP w2207h 22" Monitors (1680 x 1050 with HDMI). I want to buy a video card that's compatible with OSx86 and Ubuntu (or a similar workstation distro) that's dual head.

Usage: The primary use of this machine is for web development. (I'm pretty much just going to be running RubyMine/IntelliJ and a web browser). It will also see occasional Photoshop, Flash, and Illustrator work. In theory, it should be capable of working with video. I have zero intention of playing games on this machine, so I don't need gaming level performance.

Budget: as close to $50 (after rebate, if necessary) as possible, but feel free to give recommendations up to $100 if this is too low or there's a compelling reason to spend extra money for my needs. Ideally I won't have to buy a new power supply to get the new video card running (according to some newegg commenters, the current power supply is 400w and it *may* have a 6 pin pci express adapter -- I haven't cracked the seal to verify yet). Being carried by Amazon/Newegg/Fry's or anyone with fast shipping is a plus.

Compatibility: Supposedly, nVidia Geforce cards work best with Hackintosh/OSx86, which is my first choice to install on this machine, but if the OSx86 install fails, I will be installing some flavor of Linux, most likely Ubuntu. If it comes to that, I want to be able to run the whiz-bang compiz effects. Generally, I want a card that will work for either purpose, but if I have to sacrifice some minor linux compatibility (slightly harder to install, etc) for having greater OSx86 compatibility, that's fine. Actual experience and/or links to comments/threads that verify compatibility is preferred to guesses, but I'm not picky.

The Zotac 1GB Geforce 9500 is an example of the sort of cards and price range I've been looking at. Still, I am no longer clued in to what makes any particular card model better than another (last time I built a machine, whichever card had more RAM and a 'bigger' model number was usually better). Mostly, I'm worried that I am misinformed in thinking that simply because a video card has two separate DVI ports that it will be able to drive two separate monitors.

I probably won't be able to check back until midday to provide more information, so hopefully I didn't leave anything out. Thanks guys!

Hackintosh + MSI Wind?

loquacious — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:20:36 -0800

Anyone have any recent experience with Hackintosh or OSx86 on the MSI Wind netbook? I'm preparing to try out OS X on an MSI Wind, which has recently released hardware drivers for OS X negating the wifi hardware swap required for it to work.

I'm looking for links, personal experience and information about pitfalls.

Practice to Build a Computer?

crayolarabbit — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:32:43 -0800

How should I prepare to eventually build a computer from parts? I have never done any sort of electronics or computer hobbying or hacking, but being an avid interneter and an even avider cheapskate, I've decided that I want to build a computer from parts at some point, like you see people saying they do.

What sort of smaller projects should I undertake first to teach myself the basics and practice the techniques? Bonus points if the project is available in kit form, so that I don't have to worry about getting the parts wrong and can just give it an evening's work.

OS X NetBook recommendations

bonaldi — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:35:19 -0800

Four years on and Apple still don't make the tiny MacBook I want, so I'm going to have a pop at making my own. What's the best NetBook for this? I realise that there isn't a model out there that does everything perfectly, and I'll have to compromise. What really must work is sleep and wifi, but I can live without sound or ethernet.

Size is everything, but keyboard and battery life are also v. important. Has anyone got any experience with doing this, or any recommendations?

WIFI card that has drivers for OS X Leopard and can be sued for Backtrack

antisocialiting — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:41:50 -0800

Looking for a WIFI card that has drivers for OS X Leopard and can be used for Linux distro Backtrack..PS I have Hackintosh so I Have a hackintosh and am looking for a WIFI card that has drivers for it in OS X Leopard and one that is usable in the Linux distro Backtrack.
thanks in advance for any and all help

Cheap Mac

mccarty.tim — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:54:14 -0800

My mom wants a simple Mac on the cheap. I'm a nerd and willing to get my hands dirty. What's the best option for us? Handicap: I'm away for weeks at a time at college. Today at lunch, my mom and I were talking about the five year old computer I build for her back when I was in middle school. I built it for around $600, and it's been great to us so far, but power surges in the house seem to be making either the motherboard or power supply act flakey, so we're thinking about getting a new computer in the near future if need be. For college, I bought a Mac laptop and I'm in love with it.

My mom is on a practically fixed income and would like to get a barebones, internet surfing, text editing Mac. What would you guys recommend? I'm fairly handy with computers, so I don't mind some basic hacks.

A Mac Mini seems to serve her needs best, but they're pretty expensive for what they are hardware-wise, relative to a bargain PC. Would a practical solution be to get an Apple TV, set it up with a USB hub for the mouse, keyboard, CD drive, etc, and a DVI adapter and install a full version of OSX (preferably Leopard) to the machine? What matters most here is that the machine needs to be able to run just fine without me coming over to do routine tweaks weekly. Also, would the OS update itself properly like my laptop does, or would the "illegitimate" machine need manual updates?

If that's not a good option, I could go for a Hackintosh. How are those in terms of reliability? Is there any site that has a list of hardware known to work properly with OSX? Ideally, I could simply keep the case, hard drive, DVD burners, and other hardware from her current setup (an Athlon XP 2500+ based machine with a few updates over the years) while replacing the motherboard, ram, CPU, and power supply. Is there any chance Apple would "break" a Leopard install on a Hackintosh without warning? If that's true, I assume I could just disable the updates, keep up a good firewall on the router at home so that most exploits, discovered or otherwise, are out of reach to begin with, and leave things be?

I also see a few Mac Minis for sale on Ebay that look like decent deals. Some are selling for about $300 and have 1 GB of RAM and an Intel processor. However, I really am not comfortable with the uncertainty of online auctions. Obviously, this is the only one the Apple store would likely help her with.

What do you recommend I do? Please don't recommend that I install Linux or go for a cheap Dell, as I want a computer my mom can use and keep safe without too much effort. She uses it for her part-time job and my sister uses it for her homework.

making a hackintosh

localhuman — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 06:10:49 -0800

Has anyone here been able to run OSx on non-Macintosh parts (Thereby cutting the cost of a Mac in a third)? I see that some people are doing it over here but I'm just wondering if any mefites had accomplished this awesome feat.

post script: I just ordered new computer parts which I hope will be able to do this. If anyone wishes I can post what I got and we can discuss whether it will work or not.