Installed iPC OSx86 10.5.6 on Dell Dimension 1100

Updated on 8-May-09:
After a few re-try, I finally figure out a few things which is not done correctly in my previous post. Please refer to the end of this post.

After a few hours trying and searching on the Internet (Most information are came from http://www.osx86project.org/), although my Dell Dimension 1100 is not listed in the HCL of any version of iPC OSx86 which included v10.5.6, but I still managed to install iPC OSx86 v10.5.6 (Leopard) on my Dell Dimension 1100 Desktop PC which with the following configuration:

• Intel® Celeron P4 2.6GHz


• 1 GB SDRAM (At least 512MB)


• 80GB IDE Hard Disk Drive


• EMPREX DVD Writer (IDE)


• Video: Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics 2


• Audio: Integrated 2.1 Channel Audio


• Network Interface Card: Integrated Broadcom440x 10/100 Ethernet

Here are the steps to install from DVD:

1. Boot from DVD, Select English as Default Language.


2. Use Disk Utility to configure the partition,
   
   
   • Select the hard drive on the left sidebar
   
   
   • Click on partition
   
   
   • Select a "1 partition volume scheme" and choose Mac OS Extended (journaled) as format.
   
   
   • Finally click the option button and choose GUID as the partition scheme.


3. Now you are in the home stretch, and at the easiest part. It's all downhill from here. Install Leopard following the on screen instructions, the only thing to remember before clicking the Installation button, is to click Customize and un-select "Additional Fonts".


4. And also in order to make iPC work on your Dimension 1100, you need to manual select the following package:
   (Note: The red ones are removed, and the blue ones are newly added.)
   
   
   • iPC OSx86 10.5.6 Base System
   
   
   • Kernels: 9.5.0 Voodoo Kernel
   
   
   • Video Drivers -> AGPGart 2.7.1 Intel GMA950 (No QE/CI) (Will figure it out later)
   
   
   • Audio Drivers -> AC97 Audio AD1980
   
   
   • Ethernet Drivers -> AppleBCM440XEthernet Drivers Intel 82566MM/DC
   
   
   • Chipset Drivers -> LegacyAppleIntelPIIXATA drivers
   
   
   • USB Drivers -> PCGenUSBEHCL Drivers Patched USB Drivers
   
   
   • Power Management
   
   
   • Fixes and patched:
     

     Seatbelt.kext 10.5.5

     
     

     PS/2 Keyboard fix

     
     

     ApleSMBIOS ToH

     
     

     ACPI Fix

     
     

     CPUS=1 One Core Fix

     
     

     IOUSBMassStorage Fix

     
     

     Finder 10.5.5 + Keyboard.prefPane

     
     

     USB Mount Fix

     
     

     IntelCPUPMDisabler

     
     

     Patch DSDT

   
   That's the bare minimum for system so that it boots up fine and all devices have drivers.


5. Just wait around 20 minutes, the system will prompt restart or says will restart after 30 seconds.


6. The most important thing here, you should "On the first boot make sure to boot with the -f boot flag! Do this to make sure that all installed kexts are loaded properly." And it's only required once. You can find the same note on the license agreement page before you install iPC OSx86 Software.


7. Ok! After reboot, you should go into the welcome screen and continue your 1st time configuration for Your MAC!!!
   
   
   

Tips:

1. Here is work around for Audio:
   
   First make sure by the clock you have the sound icon and you can move the slider. If you can do both please follow these steps to enable audio.
   
   Goto Applications...Utilities and select Audio Midi Setup. Now in the Audio Devices section you should see a checkbox with Properties For to the left. Select that dropdown list and select the second option which will have the same name. Once you do this the left side input will be removed and the right side output will now have options.
   
   Under the Audio output section look for the drop down box with 2CH-16bit. Select the drop down and change it to 6CH-16bit. Now click on configure speakers button. Now change the left front drop down to "3" and click on the button right above that has the text Left Front and if you hear sound your set. Also make sure to change right front to "6" and click on the botton to make sure sound is heard. Once sound is heard from both speakers your sound is now working and itunes and anything else can have stereo playback from the onboard audio of the Dell Dimension 1100.

   
   
   



2. Manually Change the Screen Resolutions:
   
   Edit the following file by using VI tool or other editor in Application Terminal.

   
   

   # sudo -s
password: xxxxxxxx

# vi /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist
   
   

   
   To automatically use a certain graphics mode
   

   
   For VESA 2, Add:

   
   

   <key>Graphics Mode</key>

<string>1280x1024x32</string>



   
   For VESA 3 (Dell Dimension 1100 & IBM NetVista 8307), Add:

   
   

   <key>Graphics Mode</key>

<string>1280x1024x32@85</string>

   
   
   Then save the file and reboot the PC, Enjoy!



3. Don't give up! Even your PC is not listed in the HCL (http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) of iPC OSx86, but you always can find the similar configurations for your PC. And if you have questions, I am willing to answer any question that I know, please leave your comments.

Added on 3-Apr-09:

1. The USB mouse which connected to KVM via PS2 adapter is not working on OSx86. And after I switched to PS2 Mouse, it's working fine with KVM.



2. Some of my Friend tried on IBm ThinkPad T41, it's working fine but except Wireless LAN and Network Interface Card. My next step, I will try to buy a second hand T41 and give a try.

Added on 6-Apr-09

1. The package selection of customize installation was not quite fit the original drivers on Dell Dimension 1100 Desktop, so I made a few changes, please refer to the red and blue changes in the above section.


2. On the 1st reboot, you should do it with the -f options, this is in order to load installed kexts correctly. I didn't notice this at all, since I didn't really go through whole license agreement page. I suggest everyone who would like to install OSx86 should go through it.


3. The QE(Quartz Extreme)/CI(Core Image) is not working for my video correctly. I will try to figure out this part.


4. And I pretty happy with my current setup, and it's working more smoothly than before. Specially when it's booting up.

Added on 8-May-09

I found some problem with my Network Card, sometimes it couldn't get the IP address from DHCP server, since the network card driver is not load properly. So I just add the following boot flags into com.apple.Boot.plist:

# vi /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

And add:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>-f -v</string>

And reboot your PC, then the problem is gone.

Install VMWare ESXi 3.5 on an IDE drive

When I tried to install VMWare ESXi 3.5 on IBM NetVista, but the installation was crashed. Then I tried to install it on IBM ThinkCentre. I got the error message "Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 image to".

After I googled, I found the following article which helps me to correct the installation on IDE Drive.

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_install_to_IDE_drive/ESXi_install_to_IDE_drive.php


Here is the whole article:

By default, if the ESXi install can not find a supported device to install to, then the installer will quit with the error message: "Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX Server 3i 3.5.0 image to." If it is the case that the IDE drive in your host is recognized by ESXi, then you will be able to modify the install script TargetFilter.py to recognize your IDE device as a supported install device.

Install Process:

1. If you have encountered the error shown above, you can press ALT-F1 to access the console of the ESXi install. You'll be prompted for a login and you can use 'root'. The password for root with be blank. As mentioned above, this process assumes you have an IDE drive that ESXi can recognize. You can use the command lspci to show the list of devices that ESXi can recognize and then compare that with this list of devices. Also if you run fdisk -l, you should see your IDE drive listed.



2. After you have console access you will enter the command
   
   
   vi /usr/lib/vmware/installer/Core/TargetFilter.py
   
   
   (note that the path and filename are case-sensitive).



3. Scroll down in the document until you find the section "def IDEFilter(lun)". You will be changing the text:
   
   
   return interface.GetInterfaceType() == ScsiInterface.SCSI_IFACE_TYPE_IDE
   
   
   to
   
   
   return interface.GetInterfaceType() == ScsiInterface.SCSI_IFACE_TYPE_ISCSI
   
   
   If you have not used vi before, move the cursor to the end of "TYPE_IDE" and the press the Insert key. The press backspace to delete IDE and type in ISCSI. Then press the ESC key, type in the command :wq and press Enter to save the file and exit.



4. You will now be back at the console. If you had stopped the installer at the screen show below, you can press ALT-F2 to return to the screen and press Enter to start the install, but it will still generate the error shown in the image above. You will need to press ALT-F1 and then type in install and press enter.



5. When you run the install command, it is important to note that the installer will switch you back to the ALT-F2 (DCUI) screen. Press ALT-F1 to return to the console again. You will see the below screen again with the prompt to press Enter to install. Do so and the install will proceed.



6. Press F11 on the next screen and you should then see your IDE drive as show below. Press Enter to continue and after a few minutes the install should complete and you will be prompted to reboot.



7. After the reboot, you will be able to connect with the VI client and see that ESXi has installed to and created a VMFS partition on your IDE drive.

The 1st post

This is new blog which I created on 17-Feb-2009.