I've been trying for a while to get OS X to run on my Dell Inspiron 1525. The following walk through I found on antyalias's wordpress blog helped me out immensely!
http://antyalias.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/hackintosh-10-5-7-running-on-dell-inspiron-1525/
There are a few additions/revisions I had to add to the guide above. Make sure to review all the steps before you actually start installing...
0. Very Important! Go and buy a copy of Apple OS X before you go through the rest of these steps. It's only fair to the guys over at Apple since you'll be running their software on your laptop ...or at least trying to run their software - haha!
1. Get a copy of iPC 10.5.6 and burn it to a DVD.
2. Download Dell_1525_Driver_Update_2009_05_27.zip and save it to a flash usb drive.
http://hotfile.com/dl/4015785/3a47b7d/Dell_1525_Driver_Update_2009_05_27.zip.html
Please email me if this link dies and I can upload it somewhere else for ya.
Update 1-16-2012
The above link is no longer active, go ahead and try this one instread:
http://www.mediafire.com/?
3. Download Mac OS X Update 10.5.7 on apple site and save it to a flash usb drive.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL826
4. Plug in a monitor to the VGA port and make sure the monitor is on during the install.
5. Boot from the iPC DVD and press F8, type -v. Lots of messy text will appear and you'll see code running. While the code is running, tap Fn+F8 so that the code shows up on the monitor instead of the laptop. When the install is ready to begin, the screen will go back to the laptop automatically. This took about 5 minutes for me so be patient!
6. Open Disk Utility and format your drive to Macintosh Extended Journal and name it Macintosh HD. Erase and continue.
7. View the option for Customize and select only these packages:
>Select iPC OSx86 10.5.6 Base System 6.3 GB
>iPC OSx86 10.5.6 Intel AMD SSE2 SSE3...
>>Drivers...
>>>Chipset Drivers...
>>>>Select Intel ICHx SATA Drivers 132 KB
>>>USB Drivers...
>>>>Select Patched USB Drivers 2.9 MB
>>>Power Management...
>>>>Select Clamshell Display Support 36.0 KB
>>Fixes and Patches...
>>>PS/s Device Support...
>>>>Select PS/2 Keyboard Fix 1.4 MB
>>>DSDT Patches...
>>>>Select Patch DSDT 628 KB
>>>AppleSMBIOS Patch...
>>>>Select AppleSMBIOS-27 Rev6 MacBook 52.0 KB
>>Applications...
>>>Select Kext Helper b7 3.8 MB
8. Install and Restart. Then remove the iPC DVD
9. Boot from the hard drive. Your screen will go blank after apple logo dissappears. Wait a minute... really, wait 60 seconds. Make it 75-80 seconds to be sure.
10. Perform "The Sleep Trick"...
Unplug your power cable. Close the lid screen. Wait until hard drive light idles (this means no fast blinking). Then open the lid screen again. Your screen desktop should appear. Don't waste your time, setup your information (SEE !!NOTE!!).
!!NOTE!!: If this does not work for you (it didn't for me!) you will be asked to restart. Go ahead and do restart. THIS TIME when the laptop is booting, hit F8 to get the boot options... then tap Fn+F8. This will swap the text on your laptop to the monitor. Now you can continue normally with the boot. Repeat the steps above for "The Sleep Trick" and you should be able to get to the desktop.
11. Drag/copy the dell drivers and 10.5.7 updates from your flash usb drive to the desktop.
A. Open the sleep trick folder & drag dsdt.aml to Macintosh HD. this will fix the blank display on your GMA X3100 graphics card. Now you won't have to use the sleep trick anymore (well, I still have to so this is something I still need to fix on my computer).
B. Install chameleon for fake boot interface. Restart.
12. Install the 10.5.7 updates package that's on your desktop. Open the disk utility and repair permissions. Restart.
13. Install other kext and package inside dell driver pack.
* Install Wifi broadcom package
* Install Power Management
* For audio. Drag 1525_Codec to AppleHDAPatcher_v1.16
* Install Samba if you want to share files with other windows computers on your network.
* Install SD Card Reader using kext helper.
* Open the disk utility. Repair disk permissions. Restart.
That's it! Enjoy your hackintosh!
Depending on your setup, you may have to go through some of the same extra steps I had to go through. It helped me to have an extra monitor to get through the sleep trick. For some reason I just couldn't get the video to show back up on my laptop. Also, I forgot to run the disk permissions repair at one point and so I had to boot to the install DVD, run the repair, and then try booting again. Kind of a pain but worst comes to worst and you can start over from the beginning.
The install disc I used was iPC 10.5.6 and I was able to successfully upgrade to 10.5.7 but my Ethernet connection didn't work anymore. Also, I have yet to find any compatible drivers for my Intel wireless card. I've been wanting to get a compatible card but I don't really need it i guess :) So far things are running pretty smoothly on about 3 GB of RAM. One of my main goals was to get GarageBand to work on my Dell... mission accomplished!
Here are some more pages I found useful in my OSX86 quest:
http://tgrounds.blogspot.com/2009/04/leopard-os-x-1056-on-your-pc.html
http://mintywhite.com/vista/triplequadboot-pc-windows-ubuntu-mac-osx/
http://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Version-10-5-6-Leopard/dp/B000FK88JK
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MB966Z-A-iLife-09/dp/B0014X5XEK
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ipc+10.5.6+download
There is no excuse for it. No form of technologic wizardry will bring it back. Your hard drive is dead and you neglected to make any backup of your files whatsoever. Years of family pictures and important documents, gone. Your personal collection of hilarious cat pictures, all gone. Sure, you could send in your hard drive to a restoration service (that could cost you a pretty large amount of cash), but couldn't this tragedy have been avoided?!?! Keep the following quote in mind when you think about your hard drive:
"There are only two types of hard drives - the ones that have failed and the ones that will fail."
So what can you do next time you're working on an important project??? BACK IT UP!!! In fact, you should back up all your "mission critical" files on a regular basis if they're so important.
You might be asking yourself, "What am I supposed to do? I don't have a USB drive/external hard drive/DVD burner, how am I gonna do this?" Well, if you have an email account @hotmail.com and an active internet connection then you've already taken a step in the right direction!
Windows Live! SkyDrive - http://skydrive.live.com
An online storage tool where you can store up to 25GB of files for FREE! Even though I have a Gmail account, I was able to sign up for Windows Live! without having to sign up for a @hotmail.com or @live.com email account. Go to https://signup.live.com and use your existing email account to set up your live account. You can access your SkyDrive account by going to http://skydrive.live.com were you can add folders and start uploading files.
If you're running Windows and you've signed up with an account, you can use a program called
It's a a free program from Metageek.com! You can use this handy-dandy tool to analyze the wireless network around you.
In this post I'll explain how to download and install inSSIDer.
In this post I'll explain how to download and install inSSIDer.
1. In a Web browser enter the address http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/download
2. When the File Download dialog box appears click Save.
3. After the program has downloaded click Open to begin the installation process.
4. Accept the default settings to install inSSIDer on your computer.
===
NOTE: inSSIDer is an award-winning free Wi-Fi network scanner for Windows Vista and Windows XP. Because NetStumbler doesn't work well with Vista and 64-bit XP, Metageek built an open-source Wi-Fi network scanner designed for the current generation of Windows operating systems.Source: Metageek.com – http://www.metageek.com/products/inssider
===
6. Depending on the number of wireless signals that inSSIDer picks up, your screen will look similar to the picture at the top of this article.
7. There are several sections and columns listed in the program window…
The Start/Stop Scanning Button will turn the program’s scanning feature on and off.
The drop down menu will allow you to select the network device you want to analyze.
The Channel Graph section will display either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz spectrum on the Signal Strength graphs below
Vendor lists the name of the device’s manufacturer. This is determined by the MAC Address of the device.
The check box will show/hide the device on your signal strength charts below. This becomes very useful when performing a site survey so that you can isolate specific devices.
MAC Address lists the physical address of the device that is broadcasting a wireless signal.
SSID is the name of the device.
Channel lists the frequency on which the device is operating.
RSSI means signal strength.
===
NOTE: The term RSSI, used in the interface of inSSIDer, is not accurate.The unit dBm is related to the signal strength, and is generally negative, ranging from -30 to -100 (in the most cases).
RSSI is an arbitrary value, ranging from 0 to 255 (it varies between manufacturers), used by the wireless adapters to determine, for example, when the channel is free or when they have to do the roaming to another AP.
Sometimes, tools converts and shows this RSSI value as percentage, what causes the confusion with the signal strength.
Source: Meta Geek Forums - http://www.metageek.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2968
Source: Meta Geek Forums - http://www.metageek.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2968
===
Security displays the type of encryption (if any) that is currently implemented.
Network Type shows what the device is functioning as.
Speed lists the data rate of the device.
The First Seen & Last Seen columns display when the time when the device was in range.
Location displays GPS coordinates of the device.
===
NOTE: As you move closer to the device, if the signal is stronger in 2 consecutive readings, inSSIDer updates the location of the AP.Source: Meta Geek Forums – http://www.metageek.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2999
===
I was recommended this brand of wireless card about a year ago. Compatible with Windows/Linux/UNIX, this is the type of card you would use for rigorous wifi analyzing or wardriving.
Ubiquiti Wireless Card SR71C 802.11N/G/B/A w/ 2 Antenna Jacks & Clip-on Antennas
http://www.data-alliance.net/-strse-137/Ubiquiti-SR71C-SR71-dsh-C-MIMO/Detail.bok
Ubiquiti SR71X Wireless-N Card for Express Card Slot. Has Antenna Jack. 802.11N/G/B/A
http://www.data-alliance.net/-strse-104/Ubiquiti-SR71X-300mW-802.11N/Detail.bok
You can find more products on their website (http://www.data-alliance.net). They also sell these on eBay. Just search Ubiquiti.
I had an issue where a client's antivirus program (Symantec EndPoint) was outdated and there was no way to update the virus definitions from the program. The LiveUpdate button was disabled when the program was installed.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\LiveUpdate\AllowManualLiveUpdate
The value must be 1 to enable the LiveUpdate button on Clients side.
Linux. There are so many different flavors out there! Which one is right for you?
zegeniestudios.net's Linux Distrobution Chooser was very helpful for me when I was looking to step into the world of Linux. It's a very easy to follow quiz-type questionnaire that will point you in the right direction if you're looking to find the right one for you:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
Check it out!
Bandwidth and download speeds can be tricky to understand. If you don't know the math behind it, you could end up being seriously let down once you commit to a service plan. Every service plan will advertise their speed but keep in mind it is the maximum speed, not what you'll be getting all the time. Adverse weather conditions, distance from your provider, other people on your network, or restrictions imposed by your provider all contribute to this.
To start off, here are a couple of equations to solve the difference between bits (advertised speed) and bytes (what you're probably use to seeing when downloading):
Advertised max speed in kbps divided by 8 = Your max download speed in KB/sec
OR
Your download speed in KB/sec times 8 = Advertised max speed in kbps
OR
Your download speed in KB/sec times 8 = Advertised max speed in kbps
- If you sign up for a 768kbps plan, your max download speed will be around 96 KB/sec
- If you sign up for a 1.5mbps plan (that's 1500 kbps), your max download speed will be around 187.5 KB/sec
- If you sign up for a 5mbps plan (that's 5000 kbps), your max download speed will be around 625 KB/sec
Below you will find more information on the math behind all of this. It's a lot of technical jargon but if you want to know why those equations work you should read on...
...you have been warned!
Here's a breakdown on sizes:
MegaByte (MB)> KiloByte (KB)> Byte (B)
Most people know bandwidth speed by what shows up when they download a file. You'll typically see something like "X" KB/sec for your file download speed.
KB or kB = KiloBytes
MB or mB = MegaBytes
(notice the upper case B)
MB or mB = MegaBytes
(notice the upper case B)
Let's say you're browsing around for a new internet service provider. They advertise a two plans. Their "Budget Plan" has with a maximum download speed of 768kbps. Their "Choice Plan" has a maximum download speed of 1.5Mbps.
kb or Kb = kilobits
Mb or mb = megabits
(notice the lower case b)
Mb or mb = megabits
(notice the lower case b)
At first glance, your 768kbps plan might look amazing, but keep in mind that it will not let you download at 768 KB/sec. Why? It all comes down to how computers handle numbers and information.
Computers work in a language called binary. It's the most basic form of computer language. In binary, a "bit" is either a 1 or a 0. A "byte" is 8 bits. For example: A string of ones and zeroes (bits) like 10101101 is called a byte. Notice that there are 8 bits in that byte.
Confused?
There are a couple of equations to figure all this out:
Advertised max speed in kbps divided by 8 = Your max download speed in KB/sec
OR
Your download speed in KB/sec times 8 = Advertised max speed in kbps
OR
Your download speed in KB/sec times 8 = Advertised max speed in kbps
To convert kbps to mbps, divide your amount in kbps by 1000:
1500kbps = 1.5mbps
5000kbps = 5mbps
5000kbps = 5mbps
About Me
- technick.85
- United States
- Hark! I bring you treasures from the internet!
I'm fascinated with technology and what it has to offer. Being involved with technology in an educational environment, I've discovered a few interesting tips and tricks along the way.
Most of these entries are just my notes on issues I've had -
maybe you'll find my notes useful too?
Connect with me via LinkedIn!
