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Mac OS X Leopard on a Dell Inspiron Mini 9

Another netbook gets the Mac OS X treatment. Both the MSI Wind and the Asus Eee PC have seen a successful OS X install. Now it’s the Dell Inspiron Mini’s turn and its transformation into a Mini-Mac appears to be relatively easy. To begin,  you will need to get a hold of a slipstreamed version of OS 10.5 that has been customized for the MSI Wind. Shh, you didn’t hear it from us, but you can find it on Pirate Bay. Burn the 3.5GB .iso to DVD, boot, and install. At this point you will have an Inspiron Mini-Mac that boots into OS X without audio or Wi-Fi. Install two additional files to enable the Broadcom wireless adapter and the audio chipset, and voila, you now have a fully functional Dell Inspiron Mini 9 running OS X.  Awesome! Kudos to Dan over at UNEASYsilence who pioneered this procedure. You rock, brotherman.

[via Liliputing]

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13 comment(s) for this post.

  1. On Oct 3, 2008 @ 9:13 am, Taylor Said:

    Wow…i kind of want to try this on my inspiron…damn vista lol

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  2. On Oct 3, 2008 @ 9:14 am, Jeremiah Said:

    Wow. This…is…amazing. Would you need to get the XP version of the Mini9, or would this work on the cheapest Ubuntu version too??

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  3. On Oct 3, 2008 @ 10:15 am, Kelly Hodgkins Said:

    the install requires 7GB of hard drive space, so it wont work on the cheapest Ubuntu model which ships with a 4GB drive.

    the mini used for the install was the top of the line Win XP version with 1GB of ram and 16GB SSD. that model will set you back about $425-450 depending on whether you want a web cam and/or bluetooth. You can save some $$ if you can score yourself a 6% off AAA coupon. with a coupon, mine came in around $412 with camera and BT. not bad for a netbook that can run OS X.

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  4. On Oct 3, 2008 @ 10:21 am, SLVR6 Said:

    Hmmm…….thinking I need a new laptop…..

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  5. On Oct 3, 2008 @ 10:55 am, mrHiDefinition Said:

    Very cool. If they could make this an automated one-click procedure for “average users” then I believe this netbook would sell off the shelf. Especially with the recent announcement that you can grab one of these little guys for only $99 with a purchase of a dell laptop.

    That’s a steal if I’ve ever heard one…

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  6. On Oct 3, 2008 @ 2:44 pm, Matt S Said:

    would this work on any laptop if i got that dvd image? I have ubuntu on my current laptop right now, but Id like to give osx a spin for comparison.

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  7. On Oct 4, 2008 @ 12:17 am, MaxPayne79 Said:

    Simply awesome.

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  8. On Oct 4, 2008 @ 12:45 am, Kelly Hodgkins Said:

    @Matt
    I think the ability of some components to function (like wifi) is dependent upon the hardware inside the laptop. So it wont work with every laptop. this particular build was customized for the MSI Wind netbook..since the dell is very similar to the Wind, the customized build works for the dell, too.

    I can confirm that it works..took me a little over an hour to do and most of that time was just waiting for the installer to copy the files over.

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  9. On Oct 4, 2008 @ 1:00 am, Matt S Said:

    heh I did a little research and I now have OSX running on my old HP pc :), just have some kinks to work out like audio lol. thanks to the people of project osx86 (insanelymac.com)!

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  10. On Oct 4, 2008 @ 9:55 am, Crunch Said:

    Yea, this is great. I’ve always wanted to try out OS X on my Thinkpad before buying a Macbook Pro. Any way to do this on a Thinkpad. I think there is, but I never bothered to jump through all the hoops. Would be awesome, though. :D

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  11. On Oct 5, 2008 @ 3:53 am, rmstudio Said:

    Some where Steve Wazo is spinning in circles on his Segway shouting “Nooooo!!!!” LoL.

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  12. On Oct 19, 2008 @ 10:58 am, millca Said:

    A few questions for you:

    1. When you installed OS X, did it completely wipe out Windows XP? Or is it dual-bootable? (I’m wondering if Boot Camp would work on the 16GB version or would the two operating systems completely fill up the computer?)

    2. When I went to Dell’s website to build this Inspiron Mini 9, it changed the model # to Inspiron 910 once I had added the 16GB HD, bluetooth, camera, etc. Is the 910 the same as the Mini 9?

    3. Where can we download the other two components you mentioned in order to get wifi and audio to work?

    Thanks! I’m looking forward to this!

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  13. On Jan 20, 2009 @ 6:00 pm, brosouth Said:

    Hi, i have a mini 9 with 1 gig ram and 8 gig ssd hard drive, do you think it will work too?

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