10.5.5 on the Dell Inspiron/mini 9

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[edit] Installation using an official Leopard install DVD

It is highly recommended you do a Retail Vanilla install, rather than a hacked slipstreamed distro install. This section outlines how to do this. This way, you can avoid downloading a slipstreamed version, an action which is of questionable legality. The slipstreamed installs are also highly difficult to update, just using Apple Software Update is very likely to brick your install. Please purchase a copy of Leopard for your installation, it's cheaper than the inferior Microsoft alternative.

Users darkten and Type11 have discovered ways to use a retail Leopard install DVD. Both methods involve booting the Mini 9 with a customized booter that contains drivers for the Mini 9 necessary for OS X installation. Both methods result in the same working Mac OS X environment on the Dell mini with the exception of the location of the Dell-specific drivers. The Type11 method creates an EFI partition where the drivers reside. With darkten's method, drivers are placed in a folder called Extras. Unfortunately, Darkten no longer maintains his version, so only the Type11 method works properly at this point in time.

[edit] Type11 method

Type11 posted this how to over at MyDellMini - HowTo: Install OS X the right way (Type11/Boot132) (you might want to check there for the latest up to date instructions). The original text has been edited for readability.

Here is a method for installing OS X on the Mini 9 using the EFI bootloader to load everything from the 200 MB EFI mount. The advantages to this are:

  • Even if you format the main partition it will boot
  • It is the new preferred way from the EFI bootloader guys
  • Time Machine restores can be done without any extra effort
  • This method is most resilient to change but also can require more trouble to add new kexts

The following are known not to work using this method (or any other):

  • Sound, after resuming from sleep. You have to reboot to restore audio output. Input still works.
  • Card reader will lock up if there is a card mounted when you go to sleep, but there is a work around in progress for this.

Here is the method:

  1. Boot from this ISO image burned to a disc (v6.0 Updated 12/08/08). This is a modified version of Boot-132. By default, an external DVD drive can be selected by pressing Esc and choosing device 9f at the boot menu.
  2. Once booted, switch the disc to the Leopard retail DVD. If you have problems, try switching the external drive off and on.
  3. During installation, use Disk Utility to format the target drive as GUID.
  4. Install will fail at the end, but this is OK. Reboot.
  5. Upon reboot, boot from the ISO above again. This time, choose device 80 for internal drive (or other device ID if you didn't install to the internal drive). Enter -f at the "boot:" prompt when booting. This forces the OS to reload all kexts. If it freezes, restart and try this step again.
  6. Hopefully, at this point you will boot into Leopard! Use Software Update to apply the latest updates from Apple. Reboot (you will need to use your boot CD made from the ISO image above to return to Leopard).
  7. On the boot CD, there is a disk image file called install.dmg. Mount this and run the script MiniScript.
  8. Answer questions (you can choose to turn on quiet boot mode).
  9. Reboot (the script takes a bit to run, so don't panic).
  10. Install Apple updates through Software Update.
  11. After updates, if something doesn't work, boot with -f.
  12. Rerun the audio installer from install.dmg above. You must do this because Software Update probably ruined your audio drivers.

At this point you should have a fully working system that loads the necessary kext modules from the EFI partition. If you have issues after updating to 10.5.5, the first thing to try is to rerun MiniScript.

Some notes on this install:

To install kext or mount the EFI partition, do this in Terminal: 

sudo -s
mkdir /Volumes/EFI
mount_hfs /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/EFI # (**THIS ASSUMES INTERNAL DISK IS USED; IF NOT PUT IN RIGHT IDENTIFIER) 
open /Volumes/EFI

Now you can copy new kext files into /Volumes/EFI/Extensions. When done, run: 

sudo -s
/Volumes/EFI/update.sh
cd /
umount /Volumes/EFI # (**IMPORTANT: IF YOU DON'T UNMOUNT AND RESTART IT CAN MESS UP PARTITION**) . . . .

[edit] Using USB flash drives to install

It is possible to use two USB flash drives to install Leopard, eliminating the need for an external DVD drive. One drive is used for booting and the other is used to store the Leopard installation DVD contents.

To make a bootable USB stick on a Windows machine:

  • Format the USB stick in the FAT32 format.
  • Download Syslinux 3.63.
  • Expand that zipfile. In the win32 subdirectory there is an executable called syslinux.exe. At the command line, run syslinux -ma f: (assuming F: is the drive letter referring to your freshly formatted USB stick; replace with the correct one if necessary)
  • Copy the contents of your desired ISO image (not the image itself) to the USB stick, taking care not to overwrite anything that syslinux put on the USB stick.
  • You now have a bootable USB stick.

To make a Leopard install USB stick, you will need a working Mac:

  • The USB stick will need to be be enough to contain everything on the retail DVD (or ISO image).
  • Use Disk Utility's Restore function to "restore" the DVD (or ISO) to the USB stick. Make sure you check the "erase destination" box.

Now you can boot from the bootable USB stick. Make sure to insert it into one of the USB ports on the left side of your Mini 9, and insert the Leopard USB stick in the right-side USB port. From here on out you can pretty much follow Type11's instructions. The USB sticks will have a different device ID in the bootloader (e.g. not 9f) but this is easy enough to figure out through experimentation.

[edit] Further tweaks

To make About This Mac show the correct information: Run file AboutThisMac.zip.

You can disable hibernate and remove its file (which stores the contents of your RAM) to save space on your SSD. Do this in Terminal: 

sudo pmset hibernatemode 0
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage

Or use this GUI utility and set to RAM only.

These space-recovering utilities should be run only after installation is complete:

[edit] What does not work

  • 3-in-1 Card Reader with anything other than SD or SDHC (MMC for example). . .
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