Apple 2 PC (Hackintosh)

How to clean OSX (remove temp files and speedup your mac)

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Clear OSX Space

The following set of procedures free some unnecessary files from your OSX drive and free space, also it sometimes help to fix slowness problems, but please be very very careful with the "sudo rm -f" command it is very dangerous so make sure you type it correctly.

Run cron tasks now

sudo periodic daily weekly monthly

Delete logs from your home folder

cd ~/Library/Logs
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/*

Delete cache from your home folder

rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/Downloads.plist
cd ~/Library/Caches
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*

Flush Directory Service resolver cache (DNS, etc)

dscacheutil -flushcache

Update application pre-binding

sudo update_prebinding -root / -force

Repair disk permissions on boot volume

sudo diskutil repairPermissions /

Clear the global cache database

cd /Library/Caches
sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/*

Flush system cache entries

cd /System/Library/Caches
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/*

Flush LaunchServices Database (helps with multiple "Open With" entries)

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

Flush Apple Type Server (ATS) cache (resolves issues with corrupt fonts some times)

sudo rm -rf `lsof | grep com.apple.ATS/annex.aux \
| grep Finder | cut -c 66-139`
sudo rm -rf /private/var/folders/*/*/-Caches-/com.apple.ATS

Repair disk permissions on boot volume

sudo diskutil repairPermissions /

restart your OSX and enjoy a cleaner and more free space on your OSX

Shay.BC.

Advertise your iPhone App for free

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:54:00 +0000

http://www.apps2c.com

if you are an iPhone developer then you must know that its hard to publish and advertise your iPhone / iPad / iPod / iPad 2 (iDevice) app for free, i tried sending the app link, and free download serials to several reviews sites / blogs and Vlogs (video blogs most on youtube) and they all wanted money (and lots of it!) the prices ranged between 150$ up to 1500$!!!

first it makes the whole review idea to non legit since the publishers get paid to review certain apps and say good things about them, also if you pay more you will be featured on the main page / home page and reviewed with 5 start review, so it made me wonder how many other good apps out there didn't pay to the review sites and therefor did not reach us or got our attention,

that is why i built the Apps2C site, it is a FREE advertising site for your iPhone app, you can add a description, category, youtube video that demonstrate your app,

users can rate the app, and you can add links to your site, app-store download link etc. try it now, its free and it will be free forever, that is my promise to you, put your app today, publish it, add reviews and rank it, share the link to it with your users and social network friends, it will drive more traffic to your iDevice apps,

hope it will help all of you out there trying to publish / advertise your app,

GoodLuck,

Shay.

Remembering Steve Jobs (Images)

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:45:00 +0000

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011, the true apple genius, what can i say on this legend that world leaders hasn't already said? i decided to create a tribute of 134 images collected from the web in his memory,

he will be missed.

OSX86 online Support

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:57:00 +0000

OSX86 online Support is finally here!

Starting tommorrow (27.09.2011) I (ShayBC) will be available to support your hackintosh / OSX86 problems at: http://doupto.com/169346 look for my service (also: http://doupto.com/169345), its only 5$ to solve your problem and i will personally help each and every one of you that will order with your problem regarding OSX86 / Hackintosh / Mac or every other OSX related problem, if you have question or want to understand how my support will help you, you can contact me on http://doupto.com/

please note that i will support issues regarding:

OSX86 (Usage, Install, Boot, Crash, how-to, general questions)

Hardware issus (hackintosh/macbooks/iMacs)

Driver/Kext problems

OSX (Tiger / Leopard / Snow Leopard / Lion)

Parallels / VMWare

IOS devices

Objective-C development

IOS Devices development

...and any related issue

ShayBC.

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:55:00 +0000

DoUpTo.com is givving away 15,000$ in a simple competition, all you have to do is shoot a short video (up to 2 minutes) which features a giraffe (real / toy / animated / drawn - whatever), once you have the video simply upload it to DoUpTo.com

you can support my movie here

and share the link at your faivorite Blog/Facebook/Twitter account etc and ask your friends to watch and rate\like\comment the video, the most funny / creasy video with the highest watch count will win a first prize of 15,000$, simply the easiest way to make money,

so go ahead and start uploading you video,

http://www.DoUpTo.com

good luck,

Shay.

"Wakey-Wakey" iPhone App to help parents

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:42:00 +0000

Hello,

I have written an iPhone/iPod/iPad app for parents that would like to help their children with their morning routine to be more joyful, and that will help the children to get to the door on time, and make it easier to the parents in the morning, more then that, kids are gaining time manage skills while using this app,

version 1.0 is available for free on the app store, and if you would like to purchase the full copy its only 0.99$,

the app is called "Wakey-Wakey", you can see screenshots, videos and read about it on the site: obyect.com

Shay BC.

new iMac just around the corner

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:06:00 +0000

according to several sites and rumors, apple is going to renew the look and spec of the old known iMac, this supposedly should happen in mid of october this year (15/10/2009), the last rumor is comming from AppleInsider:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/24/apple_ready_and_waiting_with_redesigned_imac_line.html

the rumor say that the current iMac models prices will be reduced by 100$ - 200$, regarding what is comming for the next model starts with blue ray drive, sd-card slot, multi-touch support, slimmer chassis, and what not, but the history shows that eventually the changes were much smaller like CPU upgrade or bigger storage capacity,

The last time Apple updated the iMac was in early March 2009, when the company doubled the amount of RAM, increased storage space and dropped in faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors while keeping prices stable for all but one model, the least-expensive 24-inch iMac. (InfoWorld)

keep checking...

Intel used Hackintosh in demo

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:41:00 +0000

Engadget show an image and video of intel at a demo using an intel based PC running hackintosh, see here:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/24/video-intels-light-peak-running-an-hd-display-while-transferri/

Apple applications blog

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:26:00 +0000

I found this blog while searching apple applications, it has hundreds of app reviews with screenshots and good explenations, hope you can enjoy it as i do,

http://www.techfob.com/search/label/MacPedia

Still waiting for root device II

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:49:00 +0000

This post is a continue part of my previouse "Still waiting for root device" post that covered several solutions including:

use RD=DiskXsY darwin switch
BIOS configuration
flag OSX86 partition as bootable

this post will display more good options to get pass this error, starting with the simplest:

1. Download another distribution
the simplest solution is sometimes the less obviouse, although you probably thinking "what good can another copy of Hackintosh do for my hardware compatability error?" well the thing is that OSX86 is a shrinked OSX with hacked, tweaked, opensource drivers for a PC, this what makes you PC compatible with OSX, one distribution does not include the same drivers as the other, also versions of the same published contains different drivers, for instamce Leo4All_v2 may work on your machine but Leo4All_v3 might not. so be sure to download as much distributions you can until your problem is solved.

2. Plug USB/Firewire drive (even DiskOnKey)
another simple solution is to plug an external drive like a USB or Firewire drive or even a USB DiskOnKey (size doesn't matter, in this case anyway) in your USB port and reboot the system, with the Hackintosh OSX86 DVD in the DVD drive, once the darwin countdown appear press F8 in order to get the boot prompt and use the RD=DiskXsY switch (switch use is explained in this post in greater details) and point the disk number and partition number to the external drive. this solution is only to get the installtion started, not a permanent solution, after the installation is running you can choose different combination of drivers until the installed system will load without the need to use the USB plug trick.

3. Use External DVD
if you can access external DVD drive or a SATA drive then try using it, most of the times the problem is hardware inconsistency with the driver installed on the DVD, this means that you might have a DVD that the booting driver set (this set is different then the driver it contains in order to install on your system) includes SATA harddrive driver, and your harddrive might be SATA but the DVD is IDE, and ofcource it can be vice versa, that the HD is IDE and the DVD is SATA and driver is one of them (IDE/SATA), so try to make it consistent, use the same HD and DVD type (even by plugging external DVD so it will be USB instaed of SATA or IDE) and find a distribution that will load them.

4. Play with Master/Slave settings
sometimes when your PC contains IDE hraddrive and IDE DVD you need to play with the master slave configuration (use this option only if you know what it means, this option involve openning the PC case and play with harddrive/DVD jumpers)

5. More darwin swiches to try
there are more swich you can try beside rd=diskXsY, you can read about them in this post, try these next swiches: platform=X86PC -x -f cpus=1, try them in different combinations until you succeed.

6. Create an HFS+ partition prior to the installation
if the installation cannot find your root device although you tried previouse sulutions then try creating an HFS+ partition and point to it using the rd=diskXsY at boot time.

from windows create a partition of AF type (HFS+ type), do it like this:

from windows press Start->run and write: cmd and press enter
write diskpart and press enter

write: list disk (it will display all available HD)

select the number of the one you want to install Leopard on like this: write: select disk NUM_OF_DISK and press enter (replace NUM_OF_DISK with the number of the disk you want)

next write: list partition and press enter

it will display all the partitions on that disk, now delete the partition you planed to install on like this: delete part NUM_OF_PART and press enter (replace NUM_OF_PART with the partition you wanted to install leopard on), if you don't have such partition then skip to the next part

create a partition of the AF type like this: write: create partition primary id=AF and press enter

write: active and press enter

reboot and try to load the installation from the DVD again

7. Copy the Extensions folder from DVD to the Harddrive
this solution is for all of you that got the "Still waiting" error after the installation processed finished and first reboot occurred. if this is your case then it means that you have succeeded to boot into the DVD inorder to install (so the correct drivers for your system reside in the DVD boot extensions folder) but when you finished installing the drivers you selected they just won't boot and the Still waiting for root device appears, then all you have to do is to copy the DVD boot extensions folder into your installed copy and by that boot from your harddrive using the DVD drivers, do it like this:

boot from the install DVD, from utilities menu item select the terminal and write the following commands, but replace the word Leopard with your installation partition name (you set it during installation):
cd /System/Library
mv /Volumes/Leopard/System/Library/Extensions /Volumes/Leopard/System/Library/Extensions.bak
cp -R Extensions /Volumes/Leopard/System/Library
cd /Volumes/Leopard/System/Library
chmod -R 755 Extensions
chown -R 0:0 Extensions

after this the system should be able to boot on its own, you may need to flag the partition as bootable read how to do this here.

8. Change the ATA driver on the DVD
this last suggestion is very good but very hard to nail. it involves hacking the IOATAFamily.kext. this is the kext that is responsible for the attached hardware on your machine (ATA= AT Attachments, SATA = Serial ATA) like IDE hard drives or CD/DVD we will insert your controller Vendor ID and Device ID to it. follow these instructions:

boot into windows

open control panel

find your Disk controller

right click and choose properties

chose the Details tab

the first line contains something like this: PCI\VEN_30BE&DEV_004A...

Vendor id is the 4 characters after the word: VEN_

Device id is the 4 characters after the word: DEV_

write on a paper the sting like this: 0x + VendorID + DeviceID (without plus or space for instance this example should be like this: 0x30BE004A)

next stage involve using MacDrive and some util that will mount your install DVD ISO file (like alcohol), you need to mount the DVD after installing MacDrive that allows you to access Mac file system,

cd into the folder:

make sure you have at least these folders in there: AppleGenericPCATA.kext AppleOnboardPCATA.kext IOATAPIProtocolTransport.kext AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext AppleVIAATA.kext AppleNForceATA.kext IOATABlockStorage.kext

also make sure you have the folder: /System/Library/Extensions/JMicronATA.kext (if you use a JMicron controller and IDE hard drive)

next open in an editor the file: /System/Library/Extensions/IOATAFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleVIAATA.kext/Contents/Info.plist

find this tag: <>IOPCIPrimaryMatch< /key >

after it you will find a tag: <> with allot of strings like you wrote on the paper in it.

add your string (one you wrote on the paper, but first make sure it is not already there, if it is - abort this step (Solution 8) completely) with a space between it to the others (location isn't matter as long as it is in the tag like the others)

save it

delete the file: /System/Library/Extensions.mkext

save the ISO file with these changes, burn it onto a DVD, boot from it with -F at the darwin prompt.

hope all these solutions help you,
ShayBC.

You might want to read these related posts:
Still waiting for root device
Darwin Boot Options
Download Hackintosh OS X Leopard
Blinking cursor after OSX86 install
Restore bootable partition

Make secondary install bootable

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:53:00 +0000

This post explain how to make a Leopard (hackintosh) secondary install bootable, any computers that has more then one OSX86 installd have a primary install and secondary install, a secondary install can be install on USB driver, Disk-On-Key, another partition, as long as you can boot more then one OSX86 on that computer, that means that you will load the working OSX86 and from there repair the non-bootable OSX.
for only and primary install read this post.

please note that this proccess will work for MBR and GUID partition scheme, if you don't know what this means, or want to learn how to check which of the two partition scheme you have then you can read this post.

in order to make your secondary partition bootable, please follow these next steps:
1. boot into your working OSX86 partition
2. download this file and extract it, for this post i will extract it in the root folder / so now i have a folder named: /MakeBootable
3. make sure you know what partition scheme you have (MBR or GUID)
4. open terminal (Applications->Utilities) and write the following commands
5. sudo -s (and write your password)
6. cd /MakeBootable (this is the folder you downloaded and extracted at step 2)
7. diskutil umount force /Volumes/Leopard (replace the word Leopard with your non-bootable drive name)

the result should look like this:

Volume Leopard on disk1s1 forced unmounted

if you don't know the name of the drive (that is non-bootable) then you can write this:
mount -t hfs

then you get a list of all known drives in your system the result should look like this:

/dev/disk0s2 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
/dev/disk1s1 on /Volumes/Leopard (hfs, local, journaled)

8. now write the command:
dd if=./mbr/boot1h of=/dev/rdiskXsY bs=512 count=1
(replace the letter X with your non-bootable drive number and the letter Y with your non-bootable partition number, in this example it will be: rdisk1s1)
also if you have MBR partition scheme then leave the word mbr as written in the example, if you have a GUID partition scheme then write guid instead of the mbr word then it should look like this: dd if=./guid/boot1h of=/dev/rdiskXsY bs=512 count=1

the result should look like this:

1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes transferred in 0.008498 secs (60250 bytes/sec)

9. write the command:
dd if=./mbr/boot0 of=/dev/diskX bs=400 count=1

(replace the letter X with the number of the non-bootable disk, in this example it will be 1 then for this example it should look like this: disk1)
also if you have MBR partition scheme then leave the word mbr as written in the example, if you have a GUID partition scheme then write guid instead of the mbr word then it should look like this: dd if=./guid/boot0 of=/dev/diskX bs=400 count=1

the result should look like this:

1+0 records in
1+0 records out
400 bytes transferred in 0.018606 secs (21498 bytes/sec)

10. write the command:
diskutil umount force /Volumes/Leopard
(replace the word Leopard with your non-bootable drive name)

the result should look like this:
Volume DiskOnKey on disk1s1 forced unmounted

11. write the command:

./startupfiletool -v /dev/diskXsY ./boot_v8

(replace the letter X with your non-bootable drive number and the letter Y with your non-bootable partition number, in this example it will be: disk1s1)

the result should look like this:
HFS+ filesystem detected
Looking for 1 word free
reading 4096,4096
Marking word 196
writing back 4096,4096
allocated blocks 32 at start 6272

now the disk should be bootable and should be able to boot on his own, you may do the steps in this post or this post as a completeing procedure in order to make sure that the OSX is the first partition to boot from.

Shay.

Make primary install bootable

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:24:00 +0000

how to make a primary installation OSX partition bootable?
sometimes you are going to need a solution for a non bootable partition that was previousely bootable or after successful installation the partition remain non-bootable.

please note that the solution sugested here is for a primary installtion, which means it is for the main and only OSX installation on your computer and you have no way to boot into another OSX system. although it is possible to restore a secondary OSX installaion to be bootable again using this method, there is a simpler solution and it is described at this post.

primary installaion = the first and only OSX installation on your computer.
secondary installation = second (or greater) installation of OSX type (means you have more then one OSX installed on your computer) a disk-on-key/external USB/Firewire drive can be considered a secondary installation for this matter.

also note that this post is for MABR partition scheme (and not for GUID partition scheme). if you don't know what MBR or GUID partition scheme means then please read this post first.

in order to make an OSX86 partition bootable follow these next steps:
1. boot leopard DVD into Single Mode (you can red how to do that here)

2. type the next commands at the command line:
cd /usr/standalone/i386
ls

the result of these two lines should be a list displaying all the files in the i386 folder,
please make sure that at least these files exist:
boot0
boot1h
boot_v8
startupfiletool

if these files does not exist they can be copied from the installation DVD, in order to copy the files from the DVD use the method explained in this post. the files can also be downloaded from here.

3. if this is the case then type:
dd if=./boot1h of=/dev/rdiskXsY bs=512 count=1
(replace the X letter with the drive number that the OSX is installed on, the first drive is 0 the second is 1 and so on. replace the Y letter with the OSX partition number, the first partition is 1, the second partition is 2 etc. example: my computer has only one drive so my drive number is 0, and i have windows installed on the first partition and OSX on the second partition, so my OSX partition should be 2, therefor my parameter should be: rdisk0S2)

you should see an output result similar to this:
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes transferred in 0.008498 secs (60250 bytes/sec)

4. now type this command:
dd if=./boot0 of=/dev/diskX bs=400 count=1
(replace the X letter with the OSX drive number, first drive is 0, second drive is 1 etc. also please note that it is diskX and not rdiskX as the previouse command)

you should see an output result similar to this:
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
400 bytes transferred in 0.018606 secs (21498 bytes/sec)

5. type in the next command:
./startupfiletool -v /dev/diskXsY ./boot_v8
(replace the X with the number of the OSX drive and Y with the number of the OSX partition)

you should see an output result similar to this:
HFS+ filesystem detected
Looking for 1 word free
reading 4096,4096
reading 8192,4096
reading 12288,4096
Marking word 510
writing back 1288,4096
allocated blocks 32 at start 81856

now the disk should be bootable and should be able to boot on his own, you may do the steps in this post or this post as a completeing procedure in order to make sure that the OSX is the first partition to boot from.

Shay.

Honey i'm home

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:33:00 +0000

hi,

i know that i have been away for several month from the blog, but in my defenece i have to say it was for the greater good, i took the time to create a hebrew blog and a forum that helped a hundred people or so, small group, i know, but in israel it is alot.

i wish to revive this blog but i am thinking of writing more on mac related issues tips, tricks, applications review site spoted etc. ofcource that i will also write posts regarding hackintosh, the thing is that hackintosh subjects are hard to find since most have been written and covered allready, most of my work is support people through email or forum, i have decided to add donation button so it will keep me motivated, if you find my work helpfull please consider donating, i hope i can help you guys more this way.

if you wish you may send me mail and request issues to cover on the blog, kind of a wish list, also there are about 4-5 mail i received and yet to answer but be sure i will get to them on the comming weekend.

thanks guys for reading this blog, drop me a line and let me know what you like most about it.

Shay.

Install Package from terminal

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:52:00 +0000

this post will explain how to install packages from command-line interface (terminal or Single User mode),

where to get packages?
first thing you need to do is get the package, if you have downloaded it then cd to its location for instance:
cd /Users/shay/Downloads
if you have it only in the leopard install dvd then cd to the packages location like this:
cd /Volumes/Leo4Allv3-10.5.2/System/Installation/Packages
Note: your dvd name will probably be different then "Leo4Allv3-10.5.2"

next you should create a temp folder where you can work at:
mkdir /mytemp
and copy the desired packages to there:
cp -R powermanagement.pkg
and move to the folder (so each command you execute will be executed in relative to that folder):
cd /mytemp

what is a package?
a package is a compressed file or folder (can come in two forms), that can be executed due to its extensions pkg.
after execution a graphical installer will be launched and after several clicks a script will install files and folders into your hackintosh/Mac system.

how to extract package?
the package file can be extracted into a folder form using a command line tool named pkgutil,
you can check if your package is a flat file package or a directory package like this:
try to: "cd powermanagement.pkg"
if the result is: "-bash: cd: powermanagement.pkg: Not a directory"
then you are dealing with flat file, in order to install it from command line you need the folder form so lets convert it to a folder form, you do it like this:

pkgutil --expand powermanagement.pkg powermanagement_ex.pkg

so now you may "cd powermanagement_ex.pkg" successfully.

what's inside a package?
if you look inside the pkg folder (from finder right click and choose "Show Package Contents") or from command line using the cd command you will find the next folder structure:

the most important files are:
Archive.bom - this file contains information of what is the content of the package, where it should be installed, etc.
Archive.pax.gz - this is the actual content of the package zipped (this is where we are heading)

you may sometimes find in folder Resources a shell scripts that should be run pre install and post install these scripts handle creation of folders, deleting temp files, fix permissions etc.

how to extract package content?
you can expand the Archive.pax.gz in order to get the files and copy them to the destination folder manually (and by that install the package) like this:

(the first cd command is adviced so files and folder extracted will not overwrite existing system files and folder, ofcource you may want to create a new folder and cd to it instead of the myTemp folder)

cd /mytemp
gzip -d powermanagement_ex.pkg/Contents/Archive.pax.gz
pax -r '*' <>

the result will be the contents of the package sorted in the destination folders at the current directory, in this example:

how to manually install the package?
after extracting the content you need to copy each file to its destination,
this package for instance, have System as root of files meaning the kext files should be on your hard drive at /System/Library/Extensions etc.
the simplest way to "install them will be to copy the whole tree like this:

cp -R /mytemp/System /

this will tell leopard to copy the current folder System into the root (so if it exist it will populate it if not it will be copied)

last thing to do is to go over the post install script and see if there are other actions need to be taken as part of the install process, display the content of the script like this:

cat powermanagement_ex.pkg/Contents/Resources/postinstall | more

in this case the script will look like this:

so in this case we need to copy the files to system (we already done that), and fix permissions, a faster way will be to do this:
chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions
chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions

or even safer like this:
diskutil repairPermissions /System/Library/Extensions

Summary
so lets go over the commands we need to do in order to install powermanagement.pkg from command line:
cd /Volumes/Leo4Allv3-10.5.2/System/Installation/Packages
mkdir /mytemp
cp -R powermanagement.pkg
cd /mytemp
pkgutil --expand powermanagement.pkg powermanagement_ex.pkg
gzip -d powermanagement_ex.pkg/Contents/Archive.pax.gz
pax -r '*' <>always use pacifist or packageutil or simply double click the pkg file if you are in GUI in order to install the package.

is there a difference between manual install and GUI automatic install?
yes, during GUI install the installed package is registered in mac install database and a receipt is kept there with the information of the installed files, location etc. this info may come handy when you want to reinstall, uninstall, or verify that the install is intact.

more then that most install create backup and allow uninstall feature in a later time, although you can do backup, a complex install makes uninstall process almost impossible.

Shay.

What is MBR and GPT?

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:55:00 +0000

If you have encountered a disk problem in hackintosh then, you might came across the terms MBR which is an acronyms for Master Boot Recored and GPT which is an acronyms for GUID Partition Table.

every hard drive is separated into partitions, even if it has only one partition it has a table describing that mapping, that mapping contains data like: how many partition on the drive, what is the size of each partition, what is the starting address of each partition etc. the partition table info can be described in two manners (actually more but we are interested only in these two), the one is MBR and the other is GUID, this manner is named Partition Scheme.

the partition schemes differ from one another by the way it holds the addressing of the partitions (CHS vs LBA), and by the max size they support for each partition, where is the boot recored kept etc. MBR is used in PC that uses a BIOS, GUID is used in computers that support EFI (like Mac). you can read more about it here.

when you install a hackintosh you need to prepare a partition for OSX, if it is a new partition on existing (already partitioned, from windows) disk, then there is no doubt you have an MBR partition scheme (well 99%), but if you prepare the disk from the OSX installation using the Disk Utility, then you have an option to choose from 3 types (MBR, GUID, Apple Partition Table Scheme).

Note 1: Apple Partition Table is not good scheme for a bootable HD for hackintosh, it is mostly for PPC.
Note 2: if you choose to repartition your hard drive from the Disk Utility or any other tool, it will cause loss of all information on that hard drive (including any Windows flavor you have installed on it).

you can repartition your hard drive from leopard installation or existing leopard installation in this way:
open Disk Utility.
right click on the drive you wish to partition from the left hard-drive tree, and choose the "Partition" option.

from the "Volume Scheme" drop-down menu choose the number of partitions you would like to create on the disk.

from the lower "Options..." button choose the desired partition scheme, i would suggest MBR.

if you would like just to know what partition you are currently using then open "Disk Utility".
and from the left hard-drive tree choose the drive you wish to query, (Note: the drive and not its partitions)

then look at the right lower corner next to the label: "Partition Map Scheme" and you will see your partition scheme (Master Boot or GUID)

Shay.

Leopard 10.5.2 in Hebrew

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:24:00 +0000

not sure how interesting it is for this blog (more related to my hebrew blog), but i have recently found a package that updates Leopard 10.5.2 interface to fully hebrew interface (it looks strange but some people may like it).

the package works with other versions as well but it supports only half of the available strings (i tried it on a 10.5.3 hackintosh), i haven't found any problems, the only thing that bothered me is that there was no uninstall script, and since the package only adds a hebrew lproj folders to the appropriate applications, bundles, kext, and utils, then it is only a matter of removing them,

i created an uninstall script, backup and restore script for the hebrew lproj that exist before the package install, it will create a folder named "Backup" in the root drive.

before you install:

backup using Time Machine
create a user with english only interface
download the file from this link

to install write these lines in the terminal:

cd /path/to/downloaded/folder
./backupHebrew.sh
enter your password and press enter
execute the install package: LeopardHebrew.10.5.2.pkg
restart the computer (it may take a minute longer to load, just this time) and if you set your interface to hebrew, you will see hebrew interface.

to uninstall write these lines in the terminal:

./UnInstallLeopardHbrew.sh
enter your password and press enter
reboot
if problems with hebrew interface occurres (that did not happened before the install) then write:
./restoreHebrew.sh

more screenshots are available at my hebrew forum at this post,

hope this will be of some use to some one,

Shay.

OSX86 Library

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:13:00 +0000

today Tim Smart published his site "OSX86Library" on insanelymac, the site is meant to be a an HCL database for osx86,

the main idea behind it is to allow people about to buy a new computer to consider the ultimate hardware compatible with OSX86. (like psystar does), the site is still under construction but you can already submit your hardware list, there is an eye candy UI involved you should check it out.

Enjoy.

Leopard version list

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:53:00 +0000

hi,
i have compiled this list to help you not download "the wrong version" so i hope this "map" can guide you to a better release and build.

osx86 releases available:
iATKOS_v1.0i.iso (10.5.1)
iATKOS_v1.0iR2.zip (PPF (patch) so the 10.5.1 ISO will convert to 10.5.2)
iATKOS_v2.0i this is an 10.5.2 release
Leo4allv3final
KALYWAY_LEO_10.5.1intel_SSE2_SSE3.zip (Kalyway 10.5.1 for Intel and AMD)
kalyway_Leopard_DVD_intelSSE3_9a527 (Kalyway 10.5.1 9a527)
kalyway_hack_10.5.2ComboUpdate (updates kalyway 10.5.1 to 10.5.2)
Kalyway_10.5.2_DVD_Intel_Amd.iso (new - published on 10.04.08)
JaS OsX86 10.5.2 Intel SSE2 SSE3.iso (JAS comeback)
Leopard-10.5.2-AMD-EFI.iso (Zephyroth Leopard 10.5.2 for AMD)
ToH_x86_9A581_RC2.iso ( Mac OS X 10.5.1 Leopard ToH -RC2 SSE3 SSE2 Intel)
BrazilMac-9a581-Patch.zip (old BrazilMac-9a581-Patch patch real leopard DVD)

Leopard builds, status and release dates (compiled from MacRumors):

9A241	10.5 Developer Preview	(August, 2006)
9A241e	10.5 Developer Preview	(September, 2006)
9a283	10.5 Developer Preview	(October, 2006)
9a303	10.5 Developer Preview	(November, 2006)
9a321	10.5 Developer Preview	(December, 2006)
9A326	10.5 Employees Preview	(December, 2006)
9A343	10.5 Developer Preview	(January, 2007)
9A377	10.5 Developer Preview	(March, 2007)
9A377a	10.5 Developer Preview	(March, 2007)
9a410	10.5 Developer Preview	(April, 2007)
9A466	10.5 WWDC07 Preview	(June, 2007)
9A499	10.5 Developer Preview	(July, 2007)
9A500n	10.5 Developer Preview	(August, 2007)
9A527	10.5 Developer Preview	(August, 2007)
9A528a	10.5 (Server) Developer Preview	(August, 2007)
9A528d	10.5 Developer Preview	(September, 2007)
9A557	10.5 Release Candidate	(September, 2007)
9A559	10.5 Release Candidate	(September, 2007)
9A581	10.5 Gold Master	(October, 2007)
9A581	10.5 Retail	(October, 2007)
9b13	10.5.1 Developer Preview	(November, 2007)
9b16	10.5.1 Developer Preview	(November, 2007)
9B18	10.5.1 Release Candidate	(November, 2007)
9B18	10.5.1 Update	(November, 2007)
9C??	10.5.2 Developer Preview	(December, 2007)
9C16	10.5.2 Developer Preview	(January, 2008)
9c23	10.5.2 Developer Preview	(January, 2008)
9c27	10.5.2 Developer Preview	(January, 2008)
9c30	10.5.2 Developer Preview	(February, 2008)
9c31	10.5.2 Release Candidate	(February, 2008)
9c31	10.5.2 Update	(February, 2008)
9d10	10.5.3 Developer Preview	(March, 2008)
9D11	10.5.3 Developer Preview	(April, 2008)
9d12	10.5.3 Developer Preview	(April, 2008)
9D19	10.5.3 Developer Preview	(April, 2008)
9d22	10.5.3 Developer Preview	(April, 2008)
9d23	10.5.3 Developer Preview	(April, 2008)
9d27	10.5.3 Developer Preview	(May, 2008)
9d29	10.5.3 Developer Preview	(May, 2008)
9d34	10.5.3 Release Candidate	(May, 2008)
9d34	10.5.3 Update	(May, 2008)
9E6	10.5.3 Developer Preview	(June, 2008)
10A96	10.6 Developer Preview	(June, 2008)

in order to find what build you have installed:
1. open the apple menu
2. choose "About this Mac"
3. press "More Info..."
4. choose "Software" node from the left tree
5. look at "System Version"

Shay.

Google Analytics June 08

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:22:00 +0000

here is this month analytics report, and there is also a pdf and xml format attachments at the bottom of the post.

Analytics_apple2pc.blogspot.com_2008.pdf
Analytics_apple2pc.blogspot.com_2008.xml

Enjoy.

Some News

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:33:00 +0000

sorry for not investing in the blog for the last month, but in my defense I am occupied with other hackintosh related matters including:

the hebrew hackintosh blog

and the hebrew hackintosh forum

i am also working on a Hackintosh direct download driver site (hope to release it in the coming month, will release a link once it is up)

also i have decided to develop the LG keyboard driver and i have help from a developer from mexico goes by the name of apple.mla123, it will take some time until we release the first version.

we need some testers if you are willing to help please send me a mail and i will send you RC versions as they come out, thanks ahead for that.

I have also created osx86 search engine (that i added to the head of the blog) it took me a whole day to filter the list of related and up-to-date sites here are the site that i am indexing, i will keep it up to date as i come across new sites, also if you know of a site that would be good to index please let me know.

http://www.necnet.de/krass.man/Installers
http://www.neonkoala.co.uk
http://nvinject.free.fr
http://www.osx86library.com
http://pcwizcomputer.com
http://osx86tools.pcwizcomputer.com
http://chameleon.osx86.hu
http://windows-mac-osx86.qarchive.org
http://www.uphuck.com
http://www.macgeekblog.com/blog/archive/category/osx86
http://www.maconpc.org
http://www.maceee.com
http://osx86help.we.bs
http://www.maconlysource.com
http://netkas.freeflux.net
http://www.xplodenet.com
http://blogmarks.net/search/osx86
http://swik.net/osx86
http://my.macdotnub.info
http://www.engadget.com/tag/osx86
http://wordpress.com/tag/osx86
http://lifehacker.com/tag/osx86
http://pcwizcomputer.com/blog
http://leo4all.uni.cc/index.php
http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/index.php
http://forum.infinitemac.com
http://www.infinitemac.com
http://osx86leo4all.wikidot.com
http://www.osx86.theplaceforitall.com
http://osx86install.blogspot.com
http://osx86.wikidot.com
http://osx86.thefreesuite.com
http://forum.osx86scene.com
http://osx86heb.darkbb.com
http://apple2pc.blogspot.com
http://osx86heb.blogspot.com
http://dev4mac.blogspot.com
http://www.insanelymac.com
http://wiki.osx86.org
http://www.hackint0sh.org
http://wiki.osx86project.org
http://netkas.org

Shay.

Power Management on 10.5.3

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:35:00 +0000

10.5.3 update has ruin my Power Management icon in the menu bar, i fixed it using this method:

ether use this auto installer or use the manual method described here:

1. open terminal

2. write: sudo -s

3. enter password and press enter

4. write: vi /System/Library/Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleACPIPowerSource.kext/Contents/Info.plist

5. press / (and don't press any thing else this will enter search mode)

6. write: com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform and press enter, it will locate the driver line
7. using the keyboard arrows goto the next line
8. press i (in order to enter edit mode)
9.change the value 1.1.0 to 1.2.1
10. press escape from the keyboard
11. press : (enter prompt mode)
12. write: w! (and press enter, it means write to disk even if read only file)
13. press : (to enter prompt mode again)
14. press q (to exit vi editor)
15. repeat steps 4 - 14 for the files:
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleACPIThermal.kext/Contents/Info.plist
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleACPIPlatform.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ACPIPS2Nub.kext/Contents/Info.plist

16. download this file to your Downloads folder

17. write: mv /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PowerManagement.bundle /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PowerManagement.bundle.10.5.2 (it will backup your old Power Management bundle)

18. write: cp -R ~/Downloads/PowerManagement.bundle /System/Library/SystemConfiguration

19. write: chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PowerManagement.bundle

20. write: chmod -R 755 /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PowerManagement.bundle

21. reboot

22. from finder goto folder: /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras

23. double click the file: Battery.menu

thats it, you should see the power icon in the menu bar,

Enjoy the power.

How to Update Hackintosh 10.5.2 to 10.5.3

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:41:00 +0000

when you install your hackintosh you get a leopard OS X of a certain version i got mine from uphack iAtkos 10.5.1 yours might be different, check what version you have using the "About" dialog (from the menu bar apple press "About this Mac")

once you know what version you have, and if you have PC_EFI installed (EFI emulation, read here on how to check) Note: if you don't have EFI and Vanilla kernel you will break your system, causing it to constantly reboot, make sure you have vanilla kernel using EFI patch.

Note: when using the none vanilla kernel in iAtkos 1.0i (upgrade) i got these crash screens after updating to Leo4Allv3 Final and restoring user/applications (thanks to my Time MAchine) i successfully managed to upgrade 10.5.3, so check the insanely forum for feed back from people before installing, and of course backup!

lets look at the 10 steps:

1. first download the update from apple at this address with a size of 531MB. (DO NOT use Software Update it will not work!!)

2. backup your /System/Library/Extensions folder just in case restore is needed

3. open terminal and write these commands:

sudo -s

enter your password and press enter

while sleep 1 ; do rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext ; done

(this line should not return to prompt since this is a loop script)

it will check every 1 second if a file named: "AppleIntelCPUPowermanagement.kext " is found in the extension folder and when it appears it will delete it, the script will run and not return to prompt (do not kill/close it yet), if you wish to verify it is working, create new folder and rename it to: "AppleIntelCPUPowermanagement.kext " and then copy it to /System/Library/Extensions, it should be immediately deleted

4. install the downloaded package and let it finish

5. when the install end DO NOT press restart yet!

6. now stop the script by pressing control and C (ctrl+C) but do not exit sudo and do not close your terminal or you will not be able to get back and it will brake your system.

7. next you need to edit the apple restart script that checks if this is a hackintosh and decides if to start the system or display and error screen, you will tell the system to load directly to leopard, do this by:

cd /System/InstallAtStartup/scripts

and edit the script named '1'

vi 1

8. now the console will display the content of the file, using arrows scroll down to the end there you will find a line like this near the end:

kextload /System/Library/Extensions/Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext

press I (stands for insert) to enter edit mode

9. delete the value:

/System/Library/Extensions/Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext

and replace it with this value:

/System/Library/Extensions/dsmos.kext

press Esc to exit edit mode and press : to enter vi prompt and then write !w (stands for write changes to disk even if file is read only) and press enter, after that press : and write q (stands for quit) and by that you exit the vi.

10. now if you see any changed kext (in the /System/Library/Extensions folder, you can sort by date and see the latest from the update), if you want to change them back to your kext then you may restore them from previous backup step and finally press the Restart button on the install screen.

after restart it will boot to boot screen and perform another restart (without loading the leopard GUI), then it will boot into the blue screen (before login window) and will stay there for 3-4 minutes then the login window will appear and now you have 10.5.3 installed.

check the about dialog should look similar to this:

you should be also seeing the 10.5.3 trademark feature in the "Time Machine" Options:

i couldn't see this change on my "Time Machine" preferences but i have the Software update saying i am up to date and About dialog showing 10.5.3.

Enjoy.

Leopard 10.5.3 Update available for Mac

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:22:00 +0000

Apple released today the 10.5.3 update for leopard, it is available through the system update as a 420M download or via the Apple support site as 10.5.2 update or comboUpdate.

this release is not ready for hackintosh yet, but it will be soon enough, it include several bug fix, Time Machine improvements, Clearer images for Spaces, and some bugfix for other apps like iCal, mail etc.

the complete list of changes and download is available at these links:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1141

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Shay.

Apple OS X Server Admin Tools

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:28:00 +0000

if you haven't heard of Leopard Server 10.5.2 then you should know that there is such a release of leopard, a server side, note that there is no distribution yet for OSX86, but you can patch it using the old methods of brazilmac, also you can install some OSX86 release and then open the server dmg and install it (so i heard, never tried it).

but if it is the tools and apps that found on the server (and don't come with client leopard) you are looking for, then you can download the leopard server full version (about 6.5G) and extract the tools using pacifist and run them on your leopard.

apps included in the server release includes:
iCal Server
wiki
Podcast producer
Spotlight server
iChat Server
Mail services
Web Hosting
Directory
etc.

if you are looking for the cool blue aurora desktop image, it can be found here.

also if you would like to control your server from a remote leopard client then download the remote server admin tools, you can get it for free (apple give it away), it can be downloaded from version tracker at this link or directly from apple at this link.

after download has completed mount the dmg, and install the package it will install these tools:
Server Monitor
Server Assistance
Server Admin
Server Preferences
System Image Utility
Workgroup Manager
Xgrid Admin

here are the screenshots:

Enjoy.

Install Leopard - Leo4Allv3

shay.hackintosh@gmail.com (Shay.BC) — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:49:00 +0000

this is my second tutorial step by step for leopard installation guide, simply follow the images, if you don't know what to do then use the written explanations, if you are still having problems comment here or use my mail address and i will try to help. also try accessing the first guide located here, perhaps a better explanation can be found there and of course use the troubleshooting menu item in order to solve more complicated situations.

this guide follows the Leo4Allv3 beta it is a Leopard 10.5.2 distribution.

first burn the Leo4Allv3 (beta or final) on a DVD as slow as you can, insert it and boot the computer, first screen you will see is this, press any key:

next you will see a black and white text screen, unlike other distro Leo4All never display the gray apple screen.

after loading you see abeautiful sunset background loading

first screen appears select your install language and press continue arrow

next you see a progress bar screen

and a welcome screen with "More Information" button,

press continue,

accept the license agreement that scrolls down,

next comes the "Select Destination" screen that allow you to select the destination hard drive, if you see a blank screen like this, it means you don't have any suitable hard drive or partition to install on (yet). if you see a hard drive that you want to install on, click on it and press continue, also read on from "Boot Step" images.

next press on the menu item Utilities and select "Disk Utility"

this screen will appear, identify on the left the hard drive you wish to install leopard on, and right click it and press "Erase"

it can be also a partition (not a hard drive) like in this image,

you may also click on the hard drive or partition to select it, and from the center tabs select "Erase" tab

after selecting "Erase" option (ether way) you need to select the "Volume Format" this is the file system you will use, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled),

at the "Name" field enter the name you would like to call that partition, it will be the name at the darwin boot menu, and the Icon of your main HD on the desktop, try not using space, special characters or non-english characters.

next press the "Erase..." button

and again on the "Erase" from the scroll down window, to confirm

notice the progress bar at the lower part it will take about 5 seconds or so,

when the progress bar disappear, choose "Quit Disk Utility" from the "Disk Utility" menu

you will return to the "Select Destination" screen only this time the recently deleted hard drive or partition will appear with the name you entered.

Boot Step:from the Utilities menu select the Terminal menu item and this window will appear,write: fdisk -e /dev/rdiskX where X stands for the hard drive number you are going to install leopard on (starting from 0 as the first drive 1 as the second etc.)

follow the commands written here and appearing in the image (a more detailed explanation can be found here start at point 4 or follow next lines):p and press enterit will display all available partition on the hard drivef Y and press enterwhere Y stands for the partition number you want to install leopard onu and press enter,w and press enter,if it gives a warning and asks a question like in the image (A Reboot will be required) press Y and press enter,q and press enter (to quit).

next select "Quit Terminal" from the Terminal menu,

at the "Select Destination" screen select continue it will lead you to the Install Summary screen looking like this:

notice the "Customize" button at the lower left corner of the screen,

it allows you to preview and change the packages installed with leopard, at first installation you would like to leave the defaults, if things go wrong you can reinstall and start changing the selected packages, starting with selecting different kernel until it will install correctly, if your after installation the screen looks black the select different Video kext from the "Third Party Drivers", try many combinations until you will nail it.

after pressing done in the Customize screen, and pressing Continue in the Install Summary screen, you will see this progress bar checking the validity of the DVD, (making sure it is legit and every bit is readable), you can press skip if you trust your dvd,

if the dvd is damaged or dirty or not burned correctly then you will eventually get to a screen saying installation failed since the dvd could not be validated looking like this:

if validation is OK then the Installing screen with the progress bar will appear and will take about 10-15 minutes.

at the end of a successful installation you will reach this screen that will count back 25 seconds till reboot, you may press reboot yourself or wait for the timeout to reach and the install will reboot itself

after reboot you will see this screen (note no welcome video, such a shame), press ok

next screen will ask you to press the key next to the left shift, press it once

the screen changes and ask you to press the key next to the right shift key, press it once,

now you will be notified that your keyboard has been identified, press Continue

at the next screen select your country,

if you can't see yours, you may use the lower "Show all" checkbox, it will reveal all countries available,

next select your keyboard second language,(again you may use "Show all")

this screen helps you to upgrade from previous mac (via fire wire, network, or other partition on this mac),

if you don't own previous mac or you don't want to migrate your user home directory then select "Do not transfer my information now" and press Continue,

next screen ask you to select the way you connect to the internet, choose your method or you can leave it for now and install network later,

if you selected an internet connection, then you see this next screen asking you for the parameters, such as IP Address, router address (use the help of your ISP support)

if you supply faulty configuration you will see this scroll down that allow you to press cancel in order to retry entering the data or ok, to continue without internet setup,

next you will be asked to enter your apple ID and password, leave it empty and press Continue,

next screen asks for your registration information, fill what ever you want, please note that if you have internet connection then this data will be used to send registration to apple,

next screen asks you to supply information of where and how you are going to use this mac, i select home and other, and uncheck the "Stay in touch" checkbox,

at the "Create your account" screen you setup a user that will be used to login into this mac, enter your username password and hint and press Continue,

at the next screen select the time-zone by clicking on the world map at your area and tuning using the bottom drop down menu, and press Continue,

last, adjust the clock and time, press "save" and continue,

next screen will remind you not to forget registering your data with apple, (since you are a hackintosh member, please forget), press Done,

and at last you should see your leopard home screen,

there can be many problems along the way, do not forget to use comments and Troubleshooting from the blog menu.

Enjoy.