To get everything working I followed this installation order; first I installed OS X on a 50 GB partition using iDeneb v1.3, after that I installed Ubuntu 8.10 on a same size partition. When you install Ubuntu, grub is automatically set as default bootloader. So the first problem I faced was how to get the OS X installation into the grub bootloader at startup.

Adding a new operating system to the grub bootloader is done by configuring this file.

/boot/grub/menu.lst

Adding OS X into this list was done by inserting these values.

title            Mac OSX Leopard
root           (hd0,3)
kernel        /boot/boot_v8
boot

The boot_v8 is a file I downloaded from a random site and put into the /boot folder. I don’t actually know what the file is doing, all I know is that it must be there.

If you enter grub (with root permissions) by typing sudo grub in a terminal window I will describe a couple of nice commands for you.

Find out where your grub files are located. What is returned is the hard-disk number followed by the partition number:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

(hd0,3)

Say you messed up your MBR and wants the grub back in business. First you must know where your grub files are located, which we found out in the command above (find).  We need to tell grub where the files are.

grub> root(hd0,3)

The last step is setting grub as the MBR on the primary bootable device (master hard-drive). When this is done we can quit and reboot. The grub will hopefully pop up when the system boots up.

grub> setup(hd0)

grub> quit

reboot

If you ever mess up your bootloader the Ubuntu installation CD is your savior. Boot up a live session and open up a terminal window and follow the commands above and you’re saved.

I will give an absolute tutorial on how to install OS X on the Compal IFL90 later this month.

For the last couple of weeks I have been playing around with Mac OS X on my Compal IFL90 laptop. When Apple went from using the Power Mac architecture to using the Intel architecture a community called OSx86 was born. They have been working making OS X compatible for non-apple computers. The main problem is off course driver support.

Multibooting
First off I installed OS X on a 50 GB partition. After that I installed Ubuntu 8.10. At boot I simply choose OS X or Ubuntu 8.10 in grub.

Drivers
The biggest problem for Hackintosh users is the lack of drivers. As you all know, Apple only have to support a handful of hardware components. Developers from all around the world is doing something about this by porting open-source drivers to OS X. But still there is a lot of work remaining. If you’re planning to build yourself a Hackintosh you must check for driver compatibility before anything else! I actually have alot of driver problems myself. For example the driver for my Intel 4965 AGN simply doesnt exist, yet, but is under development. My nVidia 8600M GT is fully supported with the nVinject driver. I also have sound working. I connect to Internet through a Ralink RT2501 USB Dongle.

Stability
My system is not that stable yet, overheating and kernel panics occurs randomly and are quite annoying

Beauty
I am a big fan of OS X. Still, I hate Apple for overpricing their products. But my next computer is definitively going to be a MacBook or a MacBook Pro. Time will tell. Im still falling in love with OS X.