Blog | OSX | mechdrew

The current guide will now lead you through the installation process from scratch to a fully-functional 10.6.4 installation. There are a few subtle differences throughout the guide. An important note is that there currently isn’t a 10.6.4 friendly version of NetbookBootMaker, so I had to include the newer NetbookInstaller app that meklort released in the package. Just follow the guide, it will help tell you what needs to happen.

You may notice there is a slight naming and style change with the this guide. I’m trying to trim out all of the useless fluff, especially since I can’t write a one-size-fits-all-netbooks guide without going into too much detail. I’m also preparing to convert the guide over to a wiki format so that other users can pitch in with corrections and handy articles without my intervention. That part is still in the works, but for now this will do.

The donation page has been updated, I’m not taking PayPal donations anymore but I do have some other ways to payback, check the page for details. I decided that with the neglect this site has been under I shouldn’t accept money donations until there is substantial work done here again.

And for anyone wondering how the 1012 handles OS X: it works, but… meh. I still prefer the 10v experience. The 1012 could get better soon with meklort’s further development, but for now the 10v is better.

Good news, folks! meklort has put together the 0.8.3 release candidate 5 for NetbookInstaller and NetbookBootMaker. Among the important changes in RC5 (compared to RC4) are a faster booting time, fixed dsdt.aml generator, temporary fixes for the Dell Mini 9 audio and 10v BIOS A06 issues, and rudimentary GMA 500 support for the Dell Mini 10 and similar netbooks. Remember, this is a release candidate, and not every bug has been squashed yet. But it is recommended that this be used in place of any reference to NetbookInstaller or NetbookBootMaker in any of the guides.

Learn more over at Meklort’s Blog

Since this will most likely be made into the final release for 0.8.3, I will be updating the guides this next week to reflect this change. I’m hoping to have them done by Christmas, but I can’t guarantee it so please be patient. Update: Please, please, please DO NOT contact me about bugs, feature requests or adding models to the software. I don’t do the programming!!!

Since some do not know about meklort’s site yet, I’m relaying some information he posted yesterday about the development of NetbookInstaller and NetbookBootMaker. From his blog:

I’ll be releasing NebookInstaller 0.8.3 RC5 no later than the 20th (or 21st) of december. If all goes well, NetbookInstaller 0.8.3 final will be released on Christmas day (after all, it’s Christmas, and it’ll be 6 months from the initial NetbookInstaller release).

I find this exciting, personally. Since the final will probably be the same as RC5 and might be released on Christmas day (“If all goes well”) then I will probably update the guides (all four of them!) hopefully in time for Christmas but no later than the new year. There’s a bunch of fixes waiting for us in the next release so the process should go more smoothly no matter which guide you use.

Previously I had mentioned that I was waiting to update the NetbookInstaller 1 guide because NetbookBootMaker 0.8.3 RC4 had a glitch that caused it not to work properly on Leopard. Since that time I updated the NBI 3 guide with a new NetbookCD, and it turns out it has a problem as well (although not major). Recently it came to light that there is a second issue with NBBM/NBI: if a dsdt.aml file is not present, it will not create one. It will update a preexisting dsdt.aml, but not create it. So feel free to use the software as an update tool, but for now the main guide will stick with 0.8.3 RC3 for fresh installs.

(The dsdt.aml file allows the netbook to properly communicate with the power management and BIOS features of the motherboard. Without it, startup is slow and function keys will not work.)

I’ve uploaded the newest NCD ISO, version 0.8.3 RC4 (based on the same version of NetbookBootMaker which was recently released) which fixes 10.6.2 support. The guide has been updated to reflect his, as well as some changes to the guide to help out those who are going to 10.6.2.

Good news! meklort has released another release candidate for 0.8.3 which fixes the 10.6.2 kernel issue. Use only if you need to update to 10.6.2, since I won’t be updating the guide to reflect the update just yet. You can get it from the Google Code download page.

Why am I not updating the main guide? Because there is a bug in NetbookBootMaker currently for regular Leopard users, and I prefer to use only one NetbookBootMaker file for the entire guide. You’ll know it has been addressed when I update the guide. I will in the meantime be working on updating the NBI3 guide since I have a new NetbookCD ISO ready to go for it. It should be up later tonight.

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.

Since the 1.1 version, a few changes have been made overall to the NetbookCD project. First of all, it has officially become a part of the NetbookInstaller suite, so the version number is going to be the same as NetbookInstaller, 0.8.3. I know this is slightly confusing, especially to those who are new to the scene, but overall meklort and I think it will help keep things consistent.

Thanks to some work meklort has done, NetbookCD now behaves similar to a flash drive that has been prepped with NetbookBootMaker without modifying the Install DVD, meaning that it will automatically install the extensions and bootloader when the Mac OS X installation is finished. Currently it only works on Snow Leopard, but the final release should have this feature on Leopard as well.

Finally, meklort has modified the Chameleon cdboot code so that only one ISO is needed for both 10.5 and 10.6, no need for dual versions like it is with 1.1 and before.

Since it still needs a few tweaks, the 0.8.3 is branded as a Test version. You can try the new and improved NetbookCD by downloading it from the following links:

ISO (54.4 MB)
Compressed ZIP (30.9 MB)

I finally got the NetbookInstaller 4 : Direct Install from Mac to SSD/HDD guide written and posted. I’ve also done a little rearranging on the guides page. There seem to be a few too many people trying to use the old methods, which is somewhat ridiculous considering that they are outdated and no longer supported. As such they are still at the same address but I have moved the links to a new page, which can be accessed from the Guides page. Now that I have the actual install guides updated from the DellEFI days, I have one more monumental task: the Windows-only guide.

Good news on that front, though: meklort has been working on making the NetbookBootMaker app into a cross-platform program that will run not only on Mac OS X but also on Windows and Linux. I will try to create a guide before then, but once that new app is out everything could change. No time table on the new version, and don’t ask me, I’m not directly involved in the development.

I’ve finished the 1.0 version of NetbookCD, now updated for the new 0.8.3 RC3 version of NetbookInstaller/BootMaker. Links can be found on the Downloads page and in the NetbookInstaller 3 guide.