Log of stuff I tried when trying to run OS X on an Eee PC 1000HA. 1) I read about the idea at http://eeeboot.org/
2) I used this post to install OS X directly to a hard drive.
3) I copied some of the files from eeeboot.org onto the hard drive
4) I removed the stock hard drive from the Eee and put the OS X hard drive from step #2 into it.
5) I booted up the Eee with exactly zero expectations that this would actually work.
6) The machine showed the Bios flash screen, and left me with a blank screen and a blinking cursor.
So, yeah. Not so much.
7) Disabled Onboard LAN as suggested here which was the only BIOS setting that I had which wasn’t as recommended. Rebooted. No joy.
I’m wondering if I’m going to need to upgrade my BIOS firmware:
ASUS EEE PC ACPI BIOS Revision 1206
Core Version 1206
Build Date 10/17/08
EC Firmware Version: EPCB-017
8) Burned EEEboot.1.09.iso to a CD. Then realized I have no external CD-ROM drives in the house. My external DVD drive went into my Ubuntu machine, which is at the office. Which means the CD-ROM that I took from that machine is probably also, at the office.
9) I put the original Windows XP hard drive into an external, bus powered, USB case and attached it to the Eee. I set the BIOS to boot from the external hard drive, and Windows would boot but immediately blue-screened and rebooted again. Too bad, that could have been handy. Not sure if that is a Windows limitation, but seems possible. I may try installing EEEBuntu on an external drive, but not until I have OS X running, or I’ve given up.
UPDATE: 2009-01-31
I gave up trying to do this without a DVD drive, and followed the instructions listed above.
And it worked perfectly.
Except for the Wifi.
I tried all the new drivers and the RALink and finally just opened up the case and unscrewed the WiFi card that came with it and found out it is not an RALink card. It’s an “Azureware AW-GE780 PCI-E” which has no OS X drivers.
So I need to get a different card. I’ll probably try to get an Airport card so it will work with OS X and XP (Boot Camp drivers, baby!)
Here is the key to getting this to work: Go slowly.
I’m going to say that again because it bears repeating: Go Slowly. Read carefully. The instructions linked from http://eeeboot.org/ worked fine, but there is a lot of information packed in there. Some things work better if you do them in the proper order. Some will work out of order. But save yourself time and frustration by doing it in the order shown there.
For some reason my Audio was not working at first. The author suggested that I try reinstalling the audio kext file. Once I did that (and rebooted) it worked fine.
Tip: set the auto login for the eee pc at first. You’re going to be rebooting a lot while you are setting this up. Do it, don’t skip any, but go ahead and make it a little easier for yourself.
Update: 2009-02-08
I purchased a MacBook compatible Airport card from JuneTrading for $40 but if I had to do it over again I would buy it from eBay. There is a guy on eBay who consistently seems to have this card and sells it for $25-$30 via the “Buy It Now” option. I didn’t order from him because he ships from Hong Kong (well, that, and I loathe eBay). Well, guess what, so does JuneTrading. [n.b. JuneTrading and EzDealWorld seem to be the same company].
I unscrewed the back of the eee PC, and removed the old WiFi card. The only trick here is the two little wires connecting the WiFi card. They come off by pulling straight up (be gentle but firm) and be sure to re-attach them to the new card in the same way.
WARNING: Be very careful to tuck the PCI-E wires back underneath the plastic edge before putting the cover back on so they don’t get caught under the plastic or cover the screw hole.
Unfortunately, that card did not work. It would only see my “G” network, not my “N” network. So I returned it, or will, when the replacement I ordered from Applecoreonline arrives.
Yuck, eBay and PayPal. On the other hand, it was “buy it now” and he’s not in China or Hong Kong, so hopefully I’ll get it sooner. I paid about $36 including shipping. There was a “Make A Deal” button and I considered it (after all, the folks in Hong Kong/China are selling the same thing for about $10 less) but decided I was more interested in getting it, and fast, than haggling.
[Update 2009-02-12: the new card arrived, popped it in, and voilà! Wireless-N, baby!]
What’s Next?
I wish the internal Ethernet worked, but so far no one seems to have gotten that to work. Apple sells a [USB Ethernet adaptor](http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB442Z/A] which apparently works, but I don’t really want one of those.
A) it’s $30 and
b) It’s a dongle.
So I guess I’ll live without it. The pain is that since the eee PC doesn’t have a DVD drive, if I want to watch movies on it, I have to copy them over WiFi, and even at “N” speeds, you can’t beat wired ethernet.
Bluetooth – The 1000HA doesn’t come with built-in Bluetooth. You can add it, but according to the instructions this involves 10+ screws, and buying the proper part which may or may not come with the wires you need. There are a few options, but really, I’m not sure that the whole thing is worth it. Why? Well, I plugged in a D-Link DBT-120 which is a known-to-be-Mac-compatible Bluetooth adapter and it “Just Worked.” The problem is: it’s a dongle. It sticks out about an inch, which means that it could break off (taking my USB port with it) and it won’t fit in the little silicone pouch/sleeve that came with the computer unless I disconnect it, meaning that I will probably lose it.
This looks a lot better. That’s the dongle that comes with a Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks which is also Mac compatible. If I could just buy the dongle, I would, but if I have to buy the zuper cool mouse that goes with it, so be it. (Cost: $50)
RAM — It comes with 1GB of RAM, and it works pretty well. But come on. For $28 I can get 2GB of RAM (and installation should be darned easy) and OS X will be much happier. No-brainer.
Final Tally: * for a working Mac compatible eee PC: $380 including replacement Airport card * add $35-$50 for Bluetooth (on the low end you’re going to have to find the parts and install them. On the high end, you’re getting a super cool mouse and a tiny dongle.) * add $30 to upgrade to 2GB of RAM (which you don’t, strictly speaking, need but which will make it much nicer overall)
(I ended up selling my Apple Mighty Mouse which I had never really used all that much for about the same price as the new Logitech mouse, so that cost was about net-zero.)
Final Point on Price: I already had the Family Pack of Leopard, which gives me 5 legal licenses. Since Leopard is installed only on my MacBook, Powerbook, and iMac, I still had a license left over.
This machine may eventually replace the Powerbook, which I have already had to pay someone to replace the hard drive (because I can’t access it myself without taking the whole thing apart), and another $160 to replace where the AC adapter plugs in (which they didn’t fix properly). Bluetooth on the Powerbook is also flaky, as is the DVD drive. This is a machine which has been gently used (with the exception of an unfortunate “bump” that broke off part of the AC adapter inside the Powerbook) and sold for close to $3,000 (including Applecare, which covered a previous hard drive replacement a few years ago) about 4 years ago.
Do I feel badly about installing OS X on “unapproved” hardware? No I do not.
One Last Tip
Apple’s “Remote Disc” is a feature they added when they introduced the MacBook Air, which doesn’t have a built-in optical drive.
Guess what else doesn’t have a built-in optical drive?
But you can enable the “Remote Disc” feature using these commands in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser EnableODiskBrowsing -bool true
defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser ODSSupported -bool true
tip via MacOSXHints via macrumors.com
You may have to restart Finder and/or your computer to make this work.
The limitation is that you can’t use this for accessing anything except data (no watching DVD movies over your network!) but that’s not a bad deal at all.
That’s All For Now
Again, my huge thanks to Gregory Cohen for putting these initial instructions together and for the help/direction he gave on Twitter (He’s @iiyoyoguy on Twitter if you want to follow him there).