Guide: Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger OSx86 for Eee PC
Written by Mr. X on May 1, 2008
General
?
Welcome to the first fully supported OSx86 Guide for the Eee PC. Unlike other guides, we’re going to keep this one updated, so you have the latest (and best) step-by-step walkthrough. As the title indicates, we’re going to give a walkthrough for Tiger first… we’ll get to Leopard later.
?
Note: Please read our brief legal primer before proceeding, and if in doubt, consult a legal professional. We believe that these instructions, when followed properly, are legal. However, we cannot assure that installing Mac OS X on unsupported hardware is legal in your area.
If you are confused about which you should install (Leopard or Tiger), please check this quick primer as well…
?
You’ll need a few things for this guide:
1) A #1 paperclip (trust us)
2) JaS OSx86 10.4.8 Installation DVD (sorry, we can’t help you get this one, it is available on file sharing and BitTorrent web sites).
3) A genuine Mac OS X Tiger or Leopard install disc (don’t steal software)
4) An ASUS Eee PC 4G or 8G (ready to be completely erased)
5) A USB 2.0 DVD-ROM Drive
?
Please note that Wi-Fi is not working currently. To date, nobody has created a driver for the Atheros wireless networking card inside of the Eee PC.
Step 1: The Paper Clip
Source: InsanelyMac
As shown above, you need to take a small paperclip and clip off one of the loops. Now, insert the paperclip into the two points of the VGA port as shown. Be gentle, but push it all the way in so that it makes contact.
Why are we doing this? Inserting this tricks the graphics card into thinking there’s an external monitor. Due to a bug in Mac OS X, this is necessary to enable hardware acceleration (and to get things to display properly).
Step 2: Starting the Tiger Installer
Start by connecting your USB 2.0 drive, and insert the Tiger OSx86 disc into the drive. Power on the Eee PC. Press F2 to go into BIOS settings. Scroll over to the Boot tab, and change boot device priority so that the USB 2.0 drive will be set to the top.
Now, exit BIOS settings (be sure to save changes). The Eee PC will reboot. It should, at this point, pick up the Mac OS X install disc prompt. Press any key when it appears, so that the system will start up from the disc.
After several minutes, the Mac OS X installer prompt will appear. Select your?language?and continue to the main screen.
Step 3: Formatting the SSD Drive
We now need to format the SSD Drive (the Hard Drive) for use with Mac OS X. This is due to the drive being formatted for either Windows or Linux at the factory, which the Mac OS X installer does not expect.
To do this, go to the Utilities menu and chose Disk Utility. When it launches, you will want to click the green button in the top-left hand corner of the window, to resize the window to fit the screen.
Now, select the SSD Drive by clicking on the hard drive icon in the left column. Then, click on the Partition tab.
You want to change three things in this area. First, chose 1 Partition from the pull-down Partitions Menu. Then, give the partition a name (like, Macintosh HD or Eee SSD). Finally, click the Options button and ensure that the partitioning format is set for Master Boot Record (MBR). Ignore the note in the window that suggests you should chose GUID/GPT partitioning (MBR is what you want).
Finally, click the red close button in the top-left corner of the window to return to the installer).
Step 4: Installing Mac OS X Tiger
You now are set to go through the Tiger installation. Follow the on-screen instructions through the Read Me and License Agreement areas. Select the Eee’s SSD Drive as the install target (it should be the only drive listed, if it is missing, re-read and repeat Step 3).
Now, when you are at the install confirmation window, click the Customize button. You want to make a few changes. First, uncheck Foreign Languages, Printer Drivers, and X11 if they are selected. This is necessary to make the installation fit on the Eee PC’s small drive.
Next, click the patches tab and select the following patches: Intel ATA Patches, Laptop.Power.Management.bundle, and Intel GMA 900 drivers. These three are buried under a few tabs, but all three are easy to locate.
Finally, click the Install button. Tiger will now install. After awhile, your Eee PC will restart, and the Setup Assistant will appear.
Step 5: Hurdling the Setup Assistant
When the Setup Assistant appears, you have a couple of options. You will notice that the bottom of the screen is cut off. So, you can’t see the Continue and Go Back buttons that need to be clicked.
You have two choices: Remove the paperclip and plug in an external monitor. Or, use the tab key blindly to click the keyboard button.
Using the tab key is very easy actually, but you may accidentally go back a couple of times when you wanted to continue. The good news is, there are a few tricks to make this go faster. Simply fill out the forms and press the tab key once/twice (depending on the window) to reach the hidden Continue button.
Follow the prompts until you get to “Chose my internet connection.” Select “This Mac does not connect to the internet.” Don’t worry, it’s only used for the setup assistant, it won’t affect using the Eee PC online. This will skip several settings windows.
Now, you should be at the window that asks for your name, address, and contact information. Hold the Alt key and press Q. This will bring up a prompt to exit the Setup Assistant. Click the Skip button. Note that you have to get to this point in the Setup Assistant before the instructions will appear.
You will be taken to the user name setup window. Give yourself a username and password, then tab to the hidden Continue button.
Finally, at the following window, press Alt-Q again. You will be given an option to Quit the Setup Assistant. Press Quit.
Step 5: Post-Install Cleanup
The first thing you should do is run Repair Disk Permissions. Installing OSx86 leaves some disk permissions incorrect, and this quickly fixes them. To do it, open your hard drive, go to Applications, then Utilities. Open Disk Utility.
Click on the Eee PC’s SSD drive, and then click the Repair Disk Permissions button that appears.
Next, you will notice that the battery status is missing. To enable this, go to Apple Menu > System Preferences. Click on Energy Saver, and then go to the Options tab. Click the box that is unchecked to enable the menu icon. You can also get time and percentage options by pulling down the menu that appears.
Step 6: Enabling GMA 900 Hardware Acceleration
Right now, the system may seem quite a bit slow. That’s because the graphics chip (the Intel GMA 900) is not yet fully accelerated.
To enable this, download Diabolik’s GMA 900 Enabler (ZIP). Open the zip archive, and launch the resulting package file that will appear. Follow the installer instructions, and complete the installer. Reboot the system when prompted.
After this, you should have Quartz Extreme and Core Image acceleration. You can verify this using the System Profiler utility.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you have now installed Mac OS X Tiger on your Eee PC. We strongly advise you to be careful when installing Software Updates that will appear from Apple. Updates such as Mac OS X 10.4.11, and various recent Security Updates, will cause your Eee PC to not start up.
You may be asking how to update from 10.4.8, to 10.4.11. We have tested all the currently-available update options, and found none of them to be reliable. We suggest you stay at 10.4.8, as it is the most stable, latest build that works well on the Eee PC.
Of course, stay tuned to MacEee.com as we’ll keep you updated with new drivers, patches, and updates that we find and that will develop.
If you have questions, issues, or just need help completing setup, post in the comments below.
Create :
http://www.maceee.com