Blog | OSX | mechdrew

The title says it all… almost. Since NBI 0.8.4 RC1 no longer provides support for 10.5 Leopard, I decided to break the guide in two. The new guide features instructions only for Snow Leopard, so the list is much shorter and there should be less confusion. The Leopard instructions are still preserved (sans 10.6.x instructions) in the Guides sections should you still desire to install the older OS.

I’m working on an update guide next for those of you who already have a working Snow Leopard system.

I bit the bullet today: 10.6.0 is currently running on my Mini 10v, with 10.6.2 downloading as I type. One major reason for my hesitancy is the fact that I am running a rather touchy triple boot setup. I could get either Windows XP or Windows 7 installed with Mac OS X, but not both. I need XP for some legacy software (okay, it’s just Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition, LAN multiplayer requires IPX) and of course I’m going to have the latest Windows OS if I’m going to multi-boot. Since they don’t play friendly together with the usual hybrid GUID/MBR partition scheme that NetbookInstaller helps set up, I needed a MBR-only solution to fix it.

Granted, this was two months ago. It’s been working fine, but it took a lot of trial and error to get there. You can see why I would hesitate to mess around with it anymore. When I got Snow Leopard, I fully intended to install it, but I needed it to install on MBR, and Apple had changed the OSInstall.mpkg structure so that the Leopard MBR mode wouldn’t work.

Well, after two months I am still no closer to actually figuring out what is needed for the mod. I had to download two different pre-hacked files before it would actually work. Before I started the install process, I made a bit-for-bit backup of my harddrive using the dd command line tool just in case it screwed up everything.

I was actually very surprised that I didn’t run into more problems. The only real gripes were a very inaccurate progress bar during the install and slow performance on the first boot after that. A little help from NetbookInstaller and all is well again.

Like most others, I’m not impressed immediately by any of the upgrades, but perhaps over the next few days things will become more apparent.

Update: I just finished the 10.6.2 update. I’m impressed again by how easy it was. Instead of the normal Combo Update route, I was able to just run NetbookInstaller and then use the Software Update app. Of course, now it says the CPU is a Core Solo, and I did have a minor hiccup with sound (I had also installed some additional kexts that were conflicting with it) but overal it was really easy.

Big news folks: NetbookInstaller 2 has been written and uploaded! This guide allows those who do not have a Mac running Leopard or Snow Leopard to install Mac OS X via USB disk drives. This includes steps for Windows, Linux, and Tiger! After weighing all the options I finally found a solution for Windows that didn’t require a bunch of bloated software, and it also makes the techniques similar for all three operating systems.

I’ve also made a few adjustments to the NetbookInstaller 1 guide, and guide 3 has been updated to reflect the newer NetbookCD 0.8.3 RC3 ISO that has just been uploaded. Go check it out, have fun, and of course leave your comments or e-mails about your experience with these new updates.

Thanks to the feedback from viewers here and some forum members over MyDellMini, NetbookCD 1.1 has been released today. This release primarily consists of a fix for the Snow Leopard verison, which for all intents and purposes just didn’t work for the 1.0 Final release. Also included on both versions is a CD edition of the NetbookInstaller 3 guide, providing easier access and a reference tool for users without requiring Internet access. You can find the new releases on the NetbookInstaller 3 Guide page or on the Downloads page.