Installing Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook
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Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 1/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 1/27
Here you can see the Mini 9 (still running Windows XP) sitting on top of the MacBook Pro 15-inch unibody.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 2/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 2/27
(Note: sorry about the iPhone photos, it was the best way to tweet the experience.) nnIn this photo we see the lovely OS X installer’s pick your language screen. Good times ahead!
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 3/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 3/27
Before installing OS X you have to launch Disk Utility and format the SSD as a single partition. Don’t forget to go to Options and select GUID Partition Table or it won’t work.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 4/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 4/27
Before installing click the “Customize” button and uncheck as much as possible to save space. I unchecked everything except the Canon and Xerox printer drivers.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 5/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 5/27
Installing Mac OS X on the formatted SSD takes about 47 minutes so smoke ’em if you got ’em.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 6/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 6/27
After patiently waiting the 47 minutes for Mac OS X to install, you may be greeted by an ugly “Install Failed” error message. Don’t worry, this is normal.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 7/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 7/27
Maiden OS X boot from SSD is taking a loooooong time. Starting to worry.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 8/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 8/27
Success! I’ve never been so happy to see the Welcome screen 😉
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 9/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 9/27
Bunch of software updates needed. I installed 10.5.1 initially. That’s Monolingual running in the upper right.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 10/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 10/27
After making enough room to install Mac OS 10.5.6 (you need at least 4.9GB) prepare to wait a while. For some reason the SSD is painfully slow, taking over 2 hours for this process.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 11/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 11/27
Finally, the Restart button! The mini 9 gets weird after being left idle for more than an hour. The screen often stops refreshing on long installs. A couple of clicks and key presses usually wakes it from the coma though.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 12/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 12/27
After the 2 hour download of 10.5.6 and fumbling to make to accept the Restart command, be prepared for another long wait. This time after necessary pre-shutdown install.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 13/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 13/27
This is the Mini 9 boot menu you get by holding down the zero key at boot. Arrow down to the optical drive to boot from the Type11 bootloader.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 14/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 14/27
Type11 bootloader – choose your boot device.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 15/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 15/27
Type11 bootloader – start with options or just hit Return for no options.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 16/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 16/27
Last step is to run the DellEFI Installer which lives in the DellMini9Utils folder on Type11 bootloader CD.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 17/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 17/27
The DellEFI Installer. Look at all the nice things that it does for you 🙂
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 18/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 18/27
Go with the default options and resist the urge to, say enable Quiet Book and two-finger scroll. I’m just sayin’
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 19/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 19/27
All done, ready for reboot.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 20/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 20/27
The Dell boot screen, which is kind of weird to see before booting OS X. Press 2 for setup and 0 for boot options.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 21/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 21/27
Ah, the Mac OS X desktop in its native (non-stretched) 1024*600 resolution. Life is good at this point.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 22/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 22/27
This is the slimline Blu-Ray drive from FastMac that I used for my OS X install. Sure, you can install entire from a flash drive (8GB or larger) but I don’t recommend it. $100 for the BD reader, $300 for the 1x BD writer, $400 for the 4x writer.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 23/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 23/27
My first Kernel Panic on the Mini 9. Luckily, I haven’t had one since. Hopefully just a fluke?
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 24/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 24/27
Your honor, this is the retail Mac OS X CD that I purchased for $129 that I installed on my Mini 9. Note that I didn’t use a pirated/slipstreamed version of OS X. I recommend that you do the same (besides Software Update works, which is killer!)
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 25/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 25/27
The Mac OS X desktop in all its glory. Wheee!
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 26/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 26/27
Man, I need a lot of Software Updates! I installed them all without incident and with room to spare on the Mini 9’s 16GB SSD.
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 27/27
Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 netbook 27/27
The next thing I did was sync my Safari bookmarks via MobileMe. The first software I installed was: 1Password, Tweetdeck then AdiumX.
