How I Got Mac OS X Tiger for Intel (x86) Working Great:
September 8, 2005
Note: This guide has some material that is only for OS X for Intel 10.4.1, for installation and help with both the 8F1111 and 8F1099 seeds of 10.4.3 go here. The hardware section of this guide is good for all OS X for Intel seeds.In this guide I will describe and teach you how to install Mac OS X Tiger for Intel (x86) on your PC, with as few problems as possible. After the installation we will work on getting your new Mac running as smooth as possible (SAP). I recommend that every one, even you they don't use any guides here, read the parts about fixing problems. They will help!
The Hardware
When I first heard about a successful installation of Mac OS X Tiger for Intel (x86) (A.K.A. OSX86) I started looking for cheap hardware that was supposedly 100% compatible with OSX86. I have since succeeded in finding the perfect combination. My plan was to use my existing case, cd rom drive, 30GB hard drive, and 512MB RAM stick, since almost every type of the aforementioned items where compatible with OSX86. For motherboard, CPU, and the like I bought these items:
1. Motherboard -- Reports are floating around that the motherboard in the machines using Intel that Apple was giving to developers was very close to a Intel D915GUX motherboard. That motherboard uses the following chip-sets:
Intelิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ 915G Chipset
I/O Control
LPC Bus I/O controller
Audio
Intelิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ High Definition Audio subsystem using the Realtek ALC860 audio codec.
Video
Intelิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ GMA900 onboard graphics subsystem
LAN Support
The board provides one of the following:
Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem using the Marvel* Yukon* 88E8050 PCI Express* Gigabit Ethernet Controller
10/100 Mbits/sec LAN subsystem using the Intelิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ 82562EZ Platform LAN Connect (PLC) device
After some researching I found this motherboard: ASRock 775Dual-915GL Micro ATX Intel Motherboard. The 775Dual-915GL has a Intel 915GL Northbridge, and an Intel ICH6 Southbridge, the same stuff the Intel board has. The 775Dual-915GL has a Realtek ALC850 8 channel AC'97 audio codec chipset, pretty close to what the Intel board has. The 775Dual-915GL also has a fully compatible Ethernet chipset and SATA chipset (using SATA now, works great). The biggest thing about 775Dual-915GL is that it has an Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900 video card, the only card that is fully supported by OSX86 because it is the one that the Intel Developer Machines (sold to developers by Apple) have. It has Core Image and Quartz Extreme automatically enabled on the installation of OSX86, and it supports high resolutions. Sure, the card is nothing compared to the latest and greatest from Nvidia and ATI, but the fastest of videos cards will run like a used bargain-basement model under OSX86 because there are no fully-functional drivers for any Nvidia or ATI cards in OSX86.
2. CPU -- Okay, so the word is that both AMD and Intel CPUs work great, as long as they are SSE2 and SSE3 enabled. You can use a CPU with just SSE2, except you will need to do some hacking to get only some PowerPC applications running, and your general computing experience will be slower with SSE2. If you don't have SSE2 and you try installing OSX86: when you bootup your computer it will lockup after it gets to the gray Apple logo.
After some research, I figured it would probably be best to get an Intel CPU for two reasons. (1) The low-end CPUs in the Intel line had SSE3, while low-end AMD CPUs had only SSE2, and for my tight budget that makes Intel my friend. (2) It appeared that most problems people were having were only happening with non-Intel products. The CPU I chose was: Intel Celeron D 330J 533MHz FSB LGA 775 Processor. I would recommend, if you happen to have some extra cash, that you get a Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading, note the bold.
Now, onto the stuff that does not brake the bake. I installed OSX86 on my PC by transferring the "Deadmoo" image to my PC's hard drive using a hard drive case connected to my real Mac, I will get to how I did that later, a long with other ways that I did not try. Here is what you will need for my method (you will need all -- if not most -- of this stuff for other methods). I recommend you follow parts of this guide even if you don't use anything close to my method to install OSX86 on your PC.
Required Stuff
1. tiger-x86-flat.img Commonly referred to as the "deadmoo" image, it can be found on bittorent sites by searching for "VMWare files for patched Mac OS X Tiger Intel" or "tiger-x86-flat.img" or "tiger-x86.tar.bz2" Find this file! It is the disk image that contains OSX86.
2. There are now ways to install OSX86 on a PC with Windows already on it (linked guides to follow), but I would recommend a new hard drive with at least 8GBs storage.
3. Now, if you will be using the real Mac method you will need to get a hard drive case, if your Mac does not have a spot for a 2nd hard drive. Hard drive cases can be found pretty cheap.
4. If you will not be going the real Mac route, you will find that a lot of the guides ask for you to burn yourself a Linux LiveCD. I would use Ubuntu.
5. Remind myself to delete number 5.
The Guides (and most importantly, my guide)
There are many different guides for many different kinds of situations, some use one hard drive, with Windows install already on it, some assume you bought a new system and hard drive. This little guide, meant for use with a hard drive that can be erased, is as simple as it can get when it can get when it comes to the basic installation of OSX86 on your PC. Again, this guide is meant for those with real Macs. Thanks to Vinc0r for writing what my guide is based on. I am going to have to "translate" this guide for Linux users, I also have some really cool ideas about over-the-network installation. On with the
Before we get to the actual steps in the guide you need to:
1. Using any method you want, get your blank (or erasable) hard drive connected to a Mac.
2. Have the tiger-x86.tar.bz2 on your computer!
Lets get started!
1. We need to get the disk image out of tiger-x86.tar.bz2, unfortunately Stuffit Expander corrupts this particular compressed archive, so we will use the Terminal (in Applications/Utilities ).
Type this into a Terminal window: tar -jxvf then type a space, then drag the file "tiger-x86.tar.bz2" onto the window. Press "ENTER." The computer will show NO activity until it is done, this is normal! Depending on how fast you computer is, just go for a walk, or reread your favorite computer manual for an hour.
2. Okay, so now you should have a folder named "tiger-x86" in the same folder were the "tiger-x86.tar.bz2" file was. We have to make sure that the contents of that folder are not corrupt.
Go back into Terminal and type ls -l then type a space, then drag the "tiger-x86" folder into the Terminal window. Press "ENTER." You should now see this in the Terminal:
ls -l [where your tiger-x86 folder is]
-rw------- 1 [username]1474560 8 Aug 19:59 floppy.flp
-rw-r--r-- 1 [username] 6441910272 9 Aug 19:03 tiger-x86-flat.img
-rw------- 1 [username] 8664 9 Aug 20:00 tiger-x86.nvram
-rw------- 1 [username] 343 9 Aug 18:34 tiger-x86.vmdk
-rw------- 1 [username] 0 8 Aug 19:49 tiger-x86.vmsd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 [username] 1144 9 Aug 18:24 tiger-x86.vmx
-rw-r--r-- 1 [username] 32417 9 Aug 04:03 vmware-0.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 [username] 30160 9 Aug 03:38 vmware-1.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 [username] 32253 9 Aug 03:37 vmware-2.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 [username] 33479 9 Aug 20:00 vmware.log
If you don't have 6441910272 next to tiger-x86-flat.img you either downloaded some bad file from a bittorent site or you decompressed the archive wrong, and you should just stop right here.
If you do have 6441910272 next to tiger-x86-flat.img you are pretty much home-free! Time to install Tiger!
3. Go into Terminal and type df. Hit "ENTER." You should now see something like this in the Terminal window:
df Filesystem 512-blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2 147902984 71824768 75566216 49% /
devfs 185 185 0 100% /dev
fdesc 2 2 0 100% /dev
automount -nsl [243] 0 0 0 100% /Network
automount -fstab [297] 0 0 0 100% /automount/Servers
automount -static [297] 0 0 0 100% /automount/static
/dev/disk2s2 204720 183224 21496 89% /Volumes/SomeVirtuaDisk
/dev/disk3s3 77903136 51976704 25926432 67% /Volumes/OSX86
My target disk is the "OSX86," so it is /dev/disk3s3, but don't use the "s3" bit because it is about partitions. I will call my disk /dev/disk3. Find out the /dev/disk
4. Before we copy the disk image to your hard drive unmount the target hard drive in the Finder by dragging its icon to the Trash. If you don't you will get a "device busy" error when copying.
5. Lets copy the disk image to your erasable/blank disk!
Open up a Terminal window and type "sudo dd if=" then drag the "tiger-x86-flat.img" image into the Terminal window, then type "of=/dev/disk43 bs=16k". Change the "/dev/disk43" to the location of the hard drive you got in step 3. Hit "ENTER." The computer will show NO activity until it is done, this is normal! Depending on how fast you computer is, just go for a walk, or reread your favorite computer manual for an hour. This might take a few hours. You might be able to change the "bs=16k." I do not know yet.
The Terminal will spit out some text when it is done.
The tiger-x86 disk will be remounted on the Desktop when the copying is done.
6. Okay, so after that is done, put that hard drive, that you just copied the disk image to, into your PC, I think it might need to be set as master (anyone sure of this?). Boot up your PC! Go ahead! It will boot into OSX86! The password for the user account on the image you just copied to your hard drive is "bovinity" You are almost good to go. You will find that your computer is very slow and sluggish, this is because a file on your computer is trying find the TPM chip that is on the Intel Developer Machines. Read onto "Things Everyone Will Need to Do After Installing OSX86" for tips on how to fix this, plus other problems you are likely having.
Things Everyone Will Need to Do After Installing OSX86
Okay, so you have OSX86 on your computer, but you are having problems, such as having a fast computer, but OSX86 still acting sluggish (a HUGE problem a lot of people are having), or, even though you have a SSE3 CPU, you can't run PowerPC applications. Here are solutions to the problems almost everyone (if not everyone) is having. Since almost every one is having all of these problems I will write this part as one big guide, not a "do this if you have this problem" thing.
1. Fixing unexpected slowness. There is a file on all newly-installed OSX86 PCs called "AppleTPMACPI.kext," it tries to find a TPM chip that is only on the real Intel Developer Machines. It uses all system resources trying to accomplish its impossible task. Here is how to delete it:
Navigate your OSX86 Mac to this folder: "/System/Library/Extensions/" Delete the file "AppleTPMACPI.kext" in this folder, reboot. Your computer will spring to life.
I got this email regarding the removal of the AppleTPMACPI.kext file:
Hi Sam,
I have seen your report about x86 macos X in internet. After fighting with it to remove the appletpmacip extension from the library folder, I have found that I can mount the image on a mac before writing it to a hard disk, and remove the extension there.
Hope it helps.
Bye.
Un saludo,
Darิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘ิ๘o Guerrero.
2. Make your SSE3 computer run even faster. If your OSX86 computer has SSE3, and you installed off the "deadmoo" image this tip is for you. I did not even know aboat this until recently. Basically the "deadmoo" image is using a kernel that ignores the capabilities of SSE3 CPUs, deadmoo took it out. So lets use the original kernel! First download that new kernel! Lets install it.
Double click on the file you downloaded to expand it, if you have not already. Change the name of the expanded folder to "mach_kernel_new" Go into Terminal (found in Applications>Utilities) and type cd, then a space, and drag the expanded folder into the window. Hit ENTER. Now type cp mach_kernel.new ~/Desktop/mach_kernel. Now type cp /mach_kernel ~/Desktop/mach_kernel.bak (to backup your old kernel incase something goes harably wrong, delete when everything works). Now type sudo cp ~/Desktop/mach_kernel then type a space. Now type / (just a forward slash). Hit ENTER. It will now ask for your password. If you don't know it, it is probably "bovinity." That's it! Reboot your computer and enjoy.
3. If your motherboard has an Integrated Intel Media Accelerator 900 (like the motherboard recommended above) you will want to have Quartz Extreme and other video technologies enabled. The enable process is more than simple: go to the folder: /System/Library/Extensions on your OSX86 Mac and move the file in there called AppleIntel830.kext out of that folder (if it asks for your password: enter it. Don't know it? It's probably "bovinity"). Reboot your computer. That's it.
4. I have a SSE3 CPU but I can't run PowerPC applications (no iTunes)! Help! Okay, calm down. If you installed from "tiger-x86-flat.img" you have this problem. It's because that image has had SSE3 support patched-out. The file patched-out is called CoreGraphics. Here's how to fix it:
Find an untouched version of the "CoreGraphics" file and put it on your OSX86 Mac. Rename the CoreGraphics file to CoreGraphics.bak Move the file (CoreGraphics.bak) to:
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A
Go into Terminal, type "cd /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A" , then type:
chmod 755 CoreGraphics.bak - Hit "ENTER."
sudo chown root:wheel CoreGraphics.bak - Hit "ENTER."
sudo mv CoreGraphics CoreGraphics.i386 - Hit "ENTER."
sudo mv CoreGraphics.bak CoreGraphics - Hit "ENTER."
Okay, now just reboot your computer! After reboot, you computer will have better graphics, and will be able to run PowerPC applications!
Okay, all of your basic problems should be resolved now. Having hardware-specific problems? Read onto the "Hardware-Specific Problems" section.
Hardware-Specific Problems
Sound card not working right? Can't get high-rez screen resolutions? Can't use network card? There are possible fixes for all of these problems. If you are using the motherboard I recommended above, you should not have any hardware problems and should be good to go.
Sound Problems
Currently, there is a solution to bad sound through the AC97 chipset. Here is a solution.
Wireless Problems
A lot of wireless chipsets and cards and adapters don't work in OSX86, even if they work with real Macs. This is because the drivers must be compiled for Intel. Some cards do work, though! And they work great! Go here for a page listing cards that work, and how to make them work. Some work is being done to get wireless cards that use the Airport chipset to work. Currently, some people are able to use wireless cards with the Airport chipset, and some are not.
Also, wireless USB cards that use the RT2500 802.11b/g wireless chipset, by Ralink Technology, have full driver support on OSX86 (so WEP and WPA work). Cards that are known to work:
DWL-G122
BELKIN F5D7050 Wireless 802.11g
Get RT2500 802.11b/g wireless chipset drivers here! Get the Mac USB 10.4.X one.
Hard Drive Problems
Not all SATA controllers work, here is a list of the ones where support for them is built into OSX86:
AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext
AppleVIAATA.kext
A discussion about this is going on here.
If you are using ATA for your hard drive in your OSX86 PC, and tasks that involve accessing a hard drive are slow (A.K.A. Copying files, loading video game levels, saving files), there is a solution to your problem that might be found here.
VIdeo Problems
If you have a video card that is a 830M/845G/852GM/855GM/865G Integrated Intel Media Accelerator, and you can't access different resolutions, you might find some help in this forum thread.
If you have an Intel GMA 915GM or 910 video card and you can't access high resolutions you might be able to find help in this forum thread. That forum thread also shows you how to activate Quartz Extreme on those cards
Hard Drive Configuration
Installed OSX86 on your PC using a disk image and can only use 6GBs of disk space? Want to share your NTFS partition with your Mac? Answers here.
Network Card Problems
If your network card did not start work automatically, there still may be help for you! Here is a forum thread about fixing some network card problems.
Run PowerPC Applications on SSE2
Here is a short guide with an amazing hack to help you run PowerPC applications on your SSE2 CPU, not as good as a real SSE3 CPU, but it gets the job done.
Tips and Tricks
By now you should have a PC running OSX86 like a charm, but there is even more you can do to get things running smoother! Here are guides that cover quick tips and tricks:
Tips And Tricks - OSx86
Covers:
1 Use any USB printer driveSpeedBoost
2 Get disk burning to work with non-Apple drives
3 Replace SSE3 with SSE2 Patch
4 Fixing Browser Plug-in Issues
5 Making Preview Display Correctly
6 Deadmoo's password
7 Deadmoo's root password
8 Console Login from within OSX
9 Getting Safari to work
10 Recover from application crashes
11 Messing with the boot options
12 Xcode and developer tools 2.2 preview 1
13 Make the CTRL Key the COMMAND key
14 Hard Drive Configuration
15 Wireless
This guide shows you some speed tweaks for OSX86, I already covered the major one with you, the other two are pretty specialized.
Other (useful) Guides
So, that guide not your style? If you want to install OSX86 along with Windows, directly off an install DVD, or some other exotic method their is probably a guide for you!
If you have a system with a hard drive that can not be erased this guide is for you!
If you have a DVD burner, and a blank DVD, check this out! That page shows you how to make a bootable, patched, Intel OSX86 DVD.
For a windows only OSX86 install method go here! Thanks Josh!
Here is an excellent list of OSX86 installation guides.
I will be adding to my guide as often as possible. And also plan on making a new guide (based on my current guide) for Linux soon.
Useful Sites/Cool Ways to Use Your OSX86 PC
OS X x86 (Intel) - Downloads - Software Natively Compiled for OSX86 (Plug Alert: My site)
Darwine - Run Windows Applications Almost Natively on OSX86
Done
You have finished! It has been a surprisingly long journey from start to finish, I know, but we both made it! I hope your new Mac is working great, and you learned something along the way. Please feel free to add to this guide by emailing me at: sam@theplaceforitall.com I would also love to hear any success stories using this guide!
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