Take a Mint after your Apple Front Page

With the three main platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) each with their various versions (XP, Vista, 7, Leopard, Panther, Ubuntu, Mint, etc.) it gets extremely complicated to test programs and websites to ensure they look and function correctly. With an old machine, you can create a simple dual boot Hackintosh/Linux machine to use as a simple test bed. I develop all of my applications and websites on a standard PC with Windows XP/Vista/7 already so this dual boot machine is just to help test these alternative environments. Having access to all three platforms has its benefits too by providing accessibility to specific file formats and software particular to each platform.

During this process, I used a Kalyway Leopard OSX 10.5.1 which has the integrated EFI emulation built in. Being Macs and PCs are built on the same Intel platforms now, the only thing that separates them is the Operating System and the motherboard’s BIOS. The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is the software built into a motherboard that provides access to the hardware. This typically is where you can adjust date, time, boot order, and where system builders will “overclock” their CPU. Because Macs operate in a proprietary environment, they use a special kind of BIOS that users don’t have access to (one main reason why I’m not a Mac fan). To get the Mac OS installed on a standard Intel PC, you have to emulate this special BIOS called EFI. There are pieces of hardware that you plug into a USB port on the motherboard that do this, but I opted to go the software route.

Please note that the Mac OSX software will not install on just any PC. You should try to install it using a similar configuration of your average Mac. You can find this information out at the Apple website or find various PC configurations at the OSX86 Project website.

Computer Specification

• Lenovo ThinkCentre MT-M 8215
• Intel Pentium 4 640 / 3.2 GHz
• Intel G945 Express Chipset
• 1GB DDR2 RAM Intel GMA 950

In certain Hackintosh builds, you may need to use this special boot loader. The steps for use are further in this post boot_v8 download: http://bit.ly/lszqd

Before we begin, you should enter the BIOS and make sure that your Boot drive is the CD/DVD drive since we will be booting from a couple of discs.

MacOSX Installation

Step 1: Setup Partitions

With the MacOSX DVD in the drive, boot the computer to start the installation.

During the initial installation, you’ll have to click on Utilities > Disk Utility to get the drive partitioned.

I setup my hard drive with a standard 2 partition setup. Each partition used up 50% of the drive.

I recommend using names for the partitions, so when you format your drive, specify a drive name. I used “hackintosh.”

Leave the second partition as “Free Space.”

Step 2: Select Install Options

You will have to customize the Kalyway installation for the type of computer you have.

Click the customize button and these were the options I selected:
both boot options: EFI_grub, and EFI MBR
SSE2 option

Setup 3: Finish Installation

I skipped the checking of the DVD and just went through the installation.

Because I’m using some older hardware, my installation would fail sometimes causing the screen to go black. No worries if this happens. Just check your installation customization options and restart the process. It will complete eventually.

After the computer reboots, it will let you customize your user profile settings and boot you into the desktop.
Now it’s time for the Linux setup…

Linux Mint 6 Felicia Installation

Step 4: Setup Partition

Swap the Mac OSX disc with the Linux Mint CD.

During the bootup, Mint will boot from the CD to a Live CD environment for you to start the installation.

Go through the basic setup information and when you get to the partition setup, make sure you setup a “manual” setup.

This is where you’ll have to create you own SWAP partition and your own ROOT partition in the “Free Space” on the drive.

I created a SWAP partition which was a primary partition and was setup to 2048MB or twice the amount of RAM installed on the computer.

I created another partition which was a primary partition and booted to “/” using the rest of the free space.

Step 5: Finish Installation

Let the Mint installation finish and reboot.

By default, Mint will be the “active” OS and won’t let you boot into the Mac partition until we customize the GRUB bootloader.

Step 6: Modify Linux Grub Boot Loader

You will have to download and copy the required files for boot_v8 to customize the bootloader.

Extract the .tar file to your Linux desktop.

Open the terminal or command prompt type “sudo” and enter your password.

Copy the boot_v8 to the /boot/ directory use the “cp” command.

Next, you’ll have to modify the GRUB bootloader by using the command:
sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst and enter in my root password to edit the file.

I added the following information:
title Hackintosh
root (hd0,2) - note two is the partition that worked for me.
kernel /boot/boot_v8

Reboot and was able to successfully boot into MacOS or Mint.