I have been using a MacBook and iPhone for some time now and recently wanted to switch my desktop PC to OS X (from Windows 7).
After reading on the internet about good experiences running OS X on regular hardware and a colleague doing the switch successfully I gave Hackintoshing my PC a whirl.
The install without any problems by using the Empire 1063-ATI bootloader:
http://prasys.info/osx86hackint0sh
After installation OS X booted without any problems but not everything worked like it should.
The following problems were to be fixed:
- the ATI 1950 Pro videocard wasn't supported (no resolution higher then 1024x768, no dual screen, no Quartz Extreme of Core Image support)
- Not all USB ports worked and the USB ports that worked were not at full speed (2.0)
- No sound support
* To fix the videocard problem I followed this manual:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t223631.html
Below a a summary of the posting with some typo corrections
1) Set GraphicsEnabler=Yes in the bootloader.
2) Get resolution switching working:
2a) As root, ie sudo su -, go into ATI1900Controller.kext/Contents (You backed up this kext's directory before you started, right? "cp -a ATI1900Controller.kext ~")
2b) Edit Info.plist (I'm using vi from the commandline)
2c) Change the key word "IONameMatch" to "IOPCIMatch" at the appropriate spot
2d) Change name match string from whatever 7249 to "0x72801002" for the X1950 Pro
2e) Save your changes
2f) Run "kextcache -system-caches"
2g) Reboot
At this point you should have resolution switching working, in my case on both DVI heads work in 1600x1050 (and it came back at one point from blank screen to my surprise because I forgot to disable power management stuff).
3) Get QE/CI working, Part 1:
3a) You need 0xED for this series of steps.
3b) Become root in Terminal (ie. "sudo su -")
3c) Copy "/System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX1000.kext" to your user's Desktop (ie. "cp -a /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX1000.kext /Users/<username>/Desktop")
3d) Change the ownership of the extensions so your user can edit it with 0xED. Change the ownership: "chown -R <username>:staff /Users/<username>/Desktop/ATIRadeonX1000.kext"
3f) As your regular user <username>, launch 0xED
3g) Open "ATIRadeonX1000.kext/Contents/MacOs/ATIRadeonX1000" in 0xED, you'll find it on your Desktop, right?
3h) Search and replace the two occurances of "0x81FA6072" with "0x81FA8072" and save and exit. Make sure you're hex searching and overwrite writing.
At this point if you've come this far you're half way to having working QE/CI, the bin editing above was the hard part, now you just have to change one entry in it's Info.plist.
4) Getting QE/CI working Part 2:
4a) Become root again or go back to your open Terminal window.
4b) Edit the Desktop copy of the kext's Info.plist. (ie. "vi /Users/<username>/Desktop/ATIRadeonX1000.kext/Contents/Info.plist")
4c) Find the "IOPCIMatch" key section.
4d) Somewhere in that long list of cards in the following <string> section, add the X1950 Pro's ID "0x72801002", remembering that the list is separated with spaces.
4e) Save your changes
4f) Copy the modified kext back into /S/L/E with "cp -a /Users/<username>/Desktop/ATIRadeonX1000.kext /System/Library/Extensions"
4g) Fixup the ownership on the kext directory with "chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX1000.kext"
4h) Run "kextcache -system-caches"
4i) Now reboot
* To get full USB support (all USB ports, full speed 2.0)
1) cd /System/Library/Extensions/
2) sudo mv AppleHPET.kext ~
3) kextcache -system-caches
4) reboot
* To get full sound support I used this posting:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=196473&mode=threaded&pid=1361909
1) Download the ALC882_matemago.zip file and unzip it
2) Remove VoodooHDA.kext
2) Install the AppleHDA.kext (in /System/Library/Extensions) and HDAEnabler.kext (in /Extra/Extensions) with KextUtility
3) Reboot
Everything has been running perfect since 9 september 2010 and I only had to repeat the fixes for the 10.6.5 update. For now I'm very happy with the very stable system.
Handy articles and websites when creating a Hackintosh:
1) http://lifehacker.com/321913/build-a-hackintosh-mac-for-under-800
2) http://www.hackintosh.nl
3) http://prasys.info/osx86hackint0sh
4) http://p5w-dh-deluxe-osx86.wikidot.com/start
5) http://www.insanelymac.com (especially the forums)