Hey floptical, thanks for the reference. I will still check for any opinions also.
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The Merged Hackintosh Thread
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Hey floptical, thanks for the reference. I will still check for any opinions also.
The same it does on a regular intel mac. A lot of Leopard prepatched ISO's like iAtkos have PPC support removed though since it makes it almost twice as small and barely anything uses rosetta now anyways. People who patch their own discs will still get PPC support.
I would wait a while, Mac Mini seems to be the perfect solution for you. I'm waiting too, but I do also video editing, so that's why I consider to build my own Mac if Apple do not upgrade the Mini. The Mac Mini I own now, is a perfect machine, powerful enough for all the CS 3 stuff, actually the best Mac I ever owned (I have only 1 kernel panic in last 10 month) so it should suit your needs for sure and don't forget, how quiet and power effective it runs.
P5K is the perfect mobo. Spend a little time looking around for one (NewEgg has returned one's every so often or on Anandtech and Ars marketplaces). I picked mine up for $90, added 4GB RAM for $80, 3.0Ghz 45nm C2D for $189, $70 XFX NVidia 7600GT (least expensive card fully supported that had dual-DVI ports), and an Antec Sonata III w/ 500watt nearly-silent power supply, all in all cost me $519. It blows any Mac I've ever had out of the water.
With that said...some caveats. If your time is worth money, don't do this. If you like it when things like time machine and .mac just work, don't do this. If you like it when a system update doesn't hose your whole install, don't do this.
Otherwise, have fun!
With that said...some caveats. If your time is worth money, don't do this. If you like it when things like time machine and .mac just work, don't do this. If you like it when a system update doesn't hose your whole install, don't do this.
Otherwise, have fun!
I think I would like the challenge to do this. Will wait a few months to see if Apple offers a mid tower or a good Mini upgrade. Then I will decide what to do. I like getting inside all my computers making changes, so building one would be a kick. For that reason, I will not buy an iMac. Thanks for your thoughts. I will need more encouragement as time goes by.
You will have wireless issues, semi-functional firewire, and the on-board eSATA connector will not function (while the rear eSATA connectors will be just fine). But otherwise, I agree completely!
What problems with Time Machine are you referring to?
I will not use wireless, Firwire once in a while since I do have an external HD that is both Firewire & USB. Have no use for eSATA plug in hard drives. So, are you saying that internal SATA hard drives will not work? Does a normal power off shut down work? What about the CD eject?
I will not use Time Machine nor .Mac.
If that is the case, what is a better motherboard?
The wifi version works for internet access and linking (i.e., disk mounting, Screen Sharing, etc.) to other macs on your network using ip addresses, but they do not show up in the Share pane in a Finder window. (They will, however, show up in the Share pane if you're connected by ethernet cable.) You also cannot share your internet access through the wireless card.
For firewire, you have to boot with the device plugged in and turned on. You can connect/disconnect THAT DEVICE as many times you want, but you cannot connect a different device without rebooting.
All 6 internal SATA connectors work perfectly (see my sig link for details), but the PATA bus does not (from my understanding - I've never tried it).
Yes, sleep, shut down, powerup all work fine provided you use the stock Apple kernel ("vanilla").
I cannot comment on mobos other than mine, but all the current P5K boards should behave the same. Other Asus boards are commonly used as are GIGABYTE boards. Insanelymac.com and the wiki were what I used to build my system. If you're building with OS X in mind, then it's much easier than trying to get a system you already own to get OS X to work well.
I've killed my Hackintosh - it was only ever an experiment 'cause I like to tinker anyway. But for reference it was installed on a Hewlett Packard nx9420 laptop. Everything worked for me with the exception of my card reader, firewire and wifi - intel 3945 based I think - there's a great big thread on driver development on another forum 
I used Leo4All v2 and it worked out of the box without any fiddling. I had drivers for my graphics card and I was able to run my screen in native resolution, sound worked just fine, ethernet great - was on the wired net in minutes. I even managed to do an update or two. And yes the hard disk was SATA and worked just fine. Couldn't boot without the CPUS=1 switch though, so it was only using one core.
I had it running as a dual boot with Vista on another partition. But then Vista screwed up big time and I needed a stable machine for client meetings so I reformatted it. I have access to a MBP now so I didn't really need the Hackintosh - I only set it up in the first place because I needed to learn MacOS and didn't have access to one.
I used Leo4All v2 and it worked out of the box without any fiddling. I had drivers for my graphics card and I was able to run my screen in native resolution, sound worked just fine, ethernet great - was on the wired net in minutes. I even managed to do an update or two. And yes the hard disk was SATA and worked just fine. Couldn't boot without the CPUS=1 switch though, so it was only using one core.I had it running as a dual boot with Vista on another partition. But then Vista screwed up big time and I needed a stable machine for client meetings so I reformatted it. I have access to a MBP now so I didn't really need the Hackintosh - I only set it up in the first place because I needed to learn MacOS and didn't have access to one.
Thanks. I went there and signed up. Such a wealth of info there.
Now, my next step is to decide on the Asus P5K E or the P5K VM mobo. Anyone have a preference, or other mobo to suggest?
^ go to the hardware components list wiki http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.5.2 (currently not working now, should be back up soon).
^ not sure but i got some screenies a while ago from the 10.5.1 list of all the ASUS mobos that all work perfect or need a few patches. sorry about the quality i had to get under 244 KB.
pretty much all SSE3 and 4 Intel chips, NVIDIA 8 series cards and the normal PC parts like hard drives and memory work. its just you need to pick the right mobo and then get the audio working. wireless is a bonus if you can get it working.
pretty much all SSE3 and 4 Intel chips, NVIDIA 8 series cards and the normal PC parts like hard drives and memory work. its just you need to pick the right mobo and then get the audio working. wireless is a bonus if you can get it working.
Thanks for the info. The mobo I am considering is the Asus P5KE. Your list shows P5E, P5K PRO, and P5KR. These appear to be a little different than the one I am leaning toward. I will keep checking.
best advice... check @ wiki.osx86project.org and choose a mobo that best supports the functionally for your needs.
I used an x38 board.... Kind of pricey but I did not have to patch anything.
I used an x38 board.... Kind of pricey but I did not have to patch anything.
