https://holyarmy.org/tags/apple/ Recent content in Apple on Holyarmy.org Hugo en-US Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:32:39 +0000 https://holyarmy.org/2009/02/building-a-hackintosh-successful-attempt-1/ Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:32:39 +0000 https://holyarmy.org/2009/02/building-a-hackintosh-successful-attempt-1/ <p>Since getting a Mac Book Pro for work, I’ve become quite the fan of OS X. As a unix/software guy, I really enjoy having the power of a BSD/Unix system readily available, without having to install some hack like <a href="http://cygwin.org/">cygwin</a>. (I’m not knocking cygwin, it’s a really nice Windows add-on, but I prefer not to run Windows, in general.) I also like the OS X user interface, and lately, that it runs the very cool <a href="http://boxee.tv/">boxee</a> media center software. So, I wanted to build a boxee box. My options were AppleTV, Mac Mini, or Hackintosh. The Mac Mini was more money than I wanted to spend for an untested solution. The AppleTV would probably be a good solution, especially now that it’s getting more testing from the boxee community, but I wasn’t sure about it. Finally, I thought that a Hackintosh would be a cool project, give me not just boxee but a full OS X system, and I could buy the parts for $235 from <a href="http://newegg.com">newegg</a>. That’s a cheap computer, and especially a cheap Mac.</p> <p>I went with an Intel D945GCLF2 motherboard. It’s a mini-ITX board with built in dual Atom 330 processors, the kind of CPU’s used in the new and inexpensive NetBook computers. It’s a very low power solution, but with the dual processors most of the research I did suggested it should do 720p HD content. It has a S/PDIF header for digital audio out, but requires an extra cable and I have yet to test it. VGA out is less preferable than DVI, but again, this is cheap, and my Samsung 46″ LCD has VGA-input, so it certainly works. Also, it’s limited to a single 2GB DIMM, so max out that RAM early. 🙂</p> <p>I bought the following from newegg:</p> <ul> <li>D945GCLF2 motherboard – $80</li> <li>Any old PATA (SATA should work, too) DVD Burner – $25</li> <li>2GB Kingston 240-pin DDR2 667 SDRAM – $21</li> <li>APEX MI-100 Black/Silver Mini-ITX Case w/ 250w PSU – $56</li> <li>80GB Western Digital SATA Hard Drive – $37</li> <li>Shipping/Handling + rush processing – $15</li> </ul> <p>Total cost: $234</p> <p>Full disclosure: I later bought a cheap USB bluetooth dongle ($25) and Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (full retail, ouch) as that was the best wireless control solution, but any USB keyboard and mouse combo should work fine for normal usage.</p> <p><strong>INSTALL GUIDE FOR RETAIL OS X on D945GCLF2</strong></p> <hr>