The Hackintosh 101 Thread

[LittleNemoNES]

...

 

[JDub02]

I've been thinking about gutting my old tower and building a Hackintosh. My wife is getting into photography and I think the Mac photo management/editing software is pretty good. I just can't justify the cost of the Mac hardware. The higher end stuff is fairly competitive, but on the lower end, they're just way too much $$ for the specs.

 

[jmattos]

Can you recommend a barebones system that will work?

 

[fyleow]

..

 

[wwswimming]

how well does 3D studio max run on a Hackintosh ?

 

[dclive]

The rule so far is - The same as it would run on a Mac with the same speed and same graphics card, I'd imagine. Has anyone found any exceptions to that rule?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: dclive
The rule so far is - The same as it would run on a Mac with the same speed and same graphics card, I'd imagine. Has anyone found any exceptions to that rule?

So far everything has run well on mine, from Photoshop to Maya to Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro on my Quad Hack, mmm...

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: fyleow

Originally posted by: JDub02
I've been thinking about gutting my old tower and building a Hackintosh. My wife is getting into photography and I think the Mac photo management/editing software is pretty good. I just can't justify the cost of the Mac hardware. The higher end stuff is fairly competitive, but on the lower end, they're just way too much $$ for the specs.

The general consensus seems to be that Aperture and Lightroom are both just as good and Lightroom is available for Windows too.

I've really enjoyed Aperture 2.0, the latest release. 1.5 was absolutely terrible and I hated it, but even my wife switched over (hardcore iPhoto fan) and has been producing some amazing work with the built-in color tweaking tools outside of Photoshop.

 

[robisc]

I just built a Shuttle K45 with parts I had around for about $110 not counting the original costs of the CPU, HDD and RAM, specs are Shuttle KPC K45, e6500 Core 2 duo, 2 GB A-Data RAM, 74GB Raptor HDD and so far everything works pretty well, except for the graphics limitation with the GMA 960 onboard video, I can't it to 1680X1050 that my monitor supports, but this little box is smoking fast running 10.5.2, the Xbench score is faster than a lot of Mac pros in the Xbench DB for a lot less $$. Now if I could just get the resolutions straightened out I will be golden.

 

[Modelworks]

I got to say I am impressed.
I have not used mac much since os9.
Today I installed OS X using the kalway 10.5.2 disc
I used a separate hard drive for the install.
It literally took less than about 45 minutes to install and worked first try.
I just read the readme and followed it.
It was actually the easiest os install I have ever done, and I have done a lot of them from linux before a gui to vista installs.
It might be that I just had the right combination of hardware, but so far I'm really liking it.
I wanted another os alternative and did not like vista and all my applications are graphics (photoshop type stuff) related, so linux was lacking there.

I can't say I will buy an apple pc, hate the price and the hardware.
But I already purchased a copy of OSX.


It also enabled both my monitors as dual screen without me having to tweak anything.
Sound , network all working without doing anything. Onboard sound on my motherboard is using the alc882 chipset so it worked with the drivers on the disc. network is realtek chipset.

The only error I saw was it complaining that a usb port was over current.
Only the mouse plugged in and its working.

It also did not detect my original keyboard that used the ps/2 port.
Plugged it into the usb and its working fine now.
xbench score was 172.4
Hardware that I used for the install.
Abit AB9Pro
4GB ram
E4500 cpu overclocked to 3.3Ghz
EVGA 8800gts 640MB video
Seagate 250GB SATA formatted just for mac.
Samsung DVDR burner SATA

I'm switching between my other os drives, with windows, etc using the bios.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: wwswimming
how well does 3D studio max run on a Hackintosh ?

So far Autodesk has not released a version that works on apple pc or OSX.
I have a copy of cinema 4d though and that has native windows and mac versions.
Cinema 4d is a really capable program and I can't think of anything that 3dsmax can do that cinema 4d can't.

Not knocking 3dsmax in any way.
I 've used it since it was 3d studio and ran under dos.
Its just the interface is getting really dated to what is out there now.
Even Maya is looking old in the interface department.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: wwswimming
how well does 3D studio max run on a Hackintosh ?

So far Autodesk has not released a version that works on apple pc or OSX.
I have a copy of cinema 4d though and that has native windows and mac versions.
Cinema 4d is a really capable program and I can't think of anything that 3dsmax can do that cinema 4d can't.

Not knocking 3dsmax in any way.
I 've used it since it was 3d studio and ran under dos.
Its just the interface is getting really dated to what is out there now.
Even Maya is looking old in the interface department.

I think that Cinema 4D is really the only company that pays attention to the Mac market. Maya is pretty slow to update and Lightwave is better, but still slow. A good alternative might be to run a VM with the app you want in it. But Cinema 4D is great, if you're looking for something like 3DS Max on Mac.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: robisc
I just built a Shuttle K45 with parts I had around for about $110 not counting the original costs of the CPU, HDD and RAM, specs are Shuttle KPC K45, e6500 Core 2 duo, 2 GB A-Data RAM, 74GB Raptor HDD and so far everything works pretty well, except for the graphics limitation with the GMA 960 onboard video, I can't it to 1680X1050 that my monitor supports, but this little box is smoking fast running 10.5.2, the Xbench score is faster than a lot of Mac pros in the Xbench DB for a lot less $$. Now if I could just get the resolutions straightened out I will be golden.

I'd recommend just getting a compatible video card. Does the K45 have a spare PCI port or something inside?

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: wwswimming
how well does 3D studio max run on a Hackintosh ?

So far Autodesk has not released a version that works on apple pc or OSX.
I have a copy of cinema 4d though and that has native windows and mac versions.
Cinema 4d is a really capable program and I can't think of anything that 3dsmax can do that cinema 4d can't.

Not knocking 3dsmax in any way.
I 've used it since it was 3d studio and ran under dos.
Its just the interface is getting really dated to what is out there now.
Even Maya is looking old in the interface department.

I think that Cinema 4D is really the only company that pays attention to the Mac market. Maya is pretty slow to update and Lightwave is better, but still slow. A good alternative might be to run a VM with the app you want in it. But Cinema 4D is great, if you're looking for something like 3DS Max on Mac.

Zbrush has a native Mac client, but I only have the pc version.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: wwswimming
how well does 3D studio max run on a Hackintosh ?

So far Autodesk has not released a version that works on apple pc or OSX.
I have a copy of cinema 4d though and that has native windows and mac versions.
Cinema 4d is a really capable program and I can't think of anything that 3dsmax can do that cinema 4d can't.

Not knocking 3dsmax in any way.
I 've used it since it was 3d studio and ran under dos.
Its just the interface is getting really dated to what is out there now.
Even Maya is looking old in the interface department.

I think that Cinema 4D is really the only company that pays attention to the Mac market. Maya is pretty slow to update and Lightwave is better, but still slow. A good alternative might be to run a VM with the app you want in it. But Cinema 4D is great, if you're looking for something like 3DS Max on Mac.

Zbrush has a native Mac client, but I only have the pc version.

I mean as far as a general 3D app. Zbrush is more focused on sculpting the same way Poser is focused on people and Vue and Bryce are focused on landscapes.

 

[robisc]

Originally posted by: KaidoI'd recommend just getting a compatible video card. Does the K45 have a spare PCI port or something inside?

It does have one PCI slot only, although the onboard GMA 950 (not 960 as I originally posted) should work well, as this is what is used in a lot of Apple hardware albeit not the fastest of course.

 

[xyyz]

this thread needs a sticky.

anyways, here's the question:

is there any max os x server distribution?

 

[hoihtah]

ok, over the last few weeks, i've been busy installing 10.5.2 on 4 systems at home... and trying to get all things straighten out.

from my experience, most desktop systems will install fine... but getting my hp laptop (pavilion dv8333cl) almost made me pull out my hair.
but still, compared to the days when osx first leaked out to intel systems, everything is pretty straight forward.

if you have a spare system, give it a go.

i find kalyway 10.5.2 to be most compatible... if anyone's wonndering.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: xyyz
this thread needs a sticky.

anyways, here's the question:

is there any max os x server distribution?

If you use a script like BrazilMac, you can use Mac OS X Server.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: hoihtah
ok, over the last few weeks, i've been busy installing 10.5.2 on 4 systems at home... and trying to get all things straighten out.

from my experience, most desktop systems will install fine... but getting my hp laptop (pavilion dv8333cl) almost made me pull out my hair.
but still, compared to the days when osx first leaked out to intel systems, everything is pretty straight forward.

if you have a spare system, give it a go.

i find kalyway 10.5.2 to be most compatible... if anyone's wonndering.

Laptops are absolutely the hardest to get working right with Hackintosh. I don't know of a single laptop that works 100% (unlike desktops).

 

[robisc]

This build was done because I could never get the new Shuttle KPC K45 working correctly with many issues, so I tried this one, the problems I ran into were with SATA HDDs and the SATA DVD drive, I couldn?t get the Kalyway 10.5.2 disc to boot using the SATA DVD drive so I used an IDE drive, with that drive once into the install I couldn?t get any SATA HDDs I tried to show up in the disk utility so there was essentially nowhere to load the OS, so I had to go with both IDE drives. Other than this issue, the install went well and was easy, after the install the Gigabit Ethernet didn?t work so I had to use the kexthelper app and load the new drivers I found linked from wildwobby?s site. This machine seems to be very stable and fast, I have yet to run Xbench but will do so and post the results here. There is also a RAM limitation issue of ?only? 3.3 GB showing up in the BIOS and in the OS but this is a hardware limitation not an install issue. All in all a good system so far and like I mentioned everything works well except for Timemachine and it hangs when trying a restart but shutdown causes no issues. Complete specs below:

Shuttle SD30G2 barebones
Intel Core 2 Duo E6500 2.33 GHZ
4 GB A-Data RAM DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Lite-On IDE DVD Burner
Seagate 250GB IDE HDD
Onboard Intel GMA 950 graphics
Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard combo
Westinghouse 22 inch LCD
Hauppauge WinTV HVR 950 Hybrid USB TV card running Elgato EyeTV

 

[xyyz]

shuttle sd30g2.

E2180
2GB Tracer PC8000
Emprex CDROM IDE
Seagate 160GB 7200.10
EVGA 7200 GS

My recommendation is to tweak the configuration through the "custom" button during the install.

oddly the first few times there were no issues with the shutdown, but the last time it didn't want to shutdown.

 

[mshan]

Are there any Lenovo laptops that would be easy to convert into a dualbooting hackintosh?

 

[ColdFusion718]

Originally posted by: mshan
Are there any Lenovo laptops that would be easy to convert into a dualbooting hackintosh?

Take a gander at this page.

 

[Kaido]

Please please please PLEASE please be Atom-based:

http://gizmodo.com/393815/excl...heir-first-mini-laptop

More details and photos:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...ee-pc-killer-revealed/

Runs XP and Ubuntu Linux, so I have my fingers crossed that it will be Intel-based and Hackintosh-compatible. If so, I will DEFINITELY be picking one of these babies up!