Hackintosh in a PowerMac G4

[ritalin]

Well I've been playing with iWeb and here is attempt No 1 of my hack (it's mostly cut and paste, bad ritalin). Is it just me or does iWeb suck just a little. I found it quite fiddly to use.

[aquamac]

Actually, I think you made a pretty professional job Ritalin. Looks a lot more professional than a lot of websites. My fav photo is the one where the CD is half inserted in the front of the case, great, now why didn't Apple come up with a cool idea like that, 2 drives like that in a Quicksilver would have been awesome! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Leopard will work.

[ritalin]

Thanks or the compliment.

I'm fairly confident about Leopard. I sold my G5 so it had better work :-)

Really, if it doesn't work I will live with 10.4 for a good while yet. Tiger is a really good system and to be honest I don't see a killer feature in Leopard that I'm dying to get my hands on. They could have something awesome up their sleeve that I will find really compelling, but I can't think what that would be.

Drivers for new hardware is probably the thing that would push me to upgrade the OS. I like the look of the up and coming NV 8300 cards. If these make it to a Mac you can bet the minimum spec will be Leopard.

[aquamac]

Yeah, I'm thinking Leopard can be made to work too. I borrowed a Quad core "Kentsfield" for the weekend, It is fast!! Overclocked it to 3.2 Gigs (unlocked multiplyer will let you clock to 4.2 Gigs) and it was rockin'. My old processor is gonna feel a bit slower on Monday. I need, want one of these!! OK, forget the need, I just want one period.

[ritalin]

Yeah I can see the attraction! I just watched this clip about the cell processor and thought "I want one". Power is alluring isn't. I've been watching the progress of YDL on the PS3. It looks good, now if they could get a virtual PPC machine running...

Back on topic... I don't know if you would be interested (probably already seen this anyhow), but there is a new kernel that supports SpeedStep. I'm using it now. My CPU has throttled back to 1.5GHz and is running cooler. There is no noticable performance loss that I've seen. Under full load the CPU runs back to full speed.

[ritalin]

ritalin said:

I've been watching the progress of YDL on the PS3. It looks good, now if they could get a virtual PPC machine running...

PS3 RUNS WINDOWS ON YDL
www.t3.co.uk/news/247/games/playstation_2/ps3_runs_windows

[aquamac]

Will the Speedstep kernel work with all installations? Can you email me a copy.

[ritalin]

Done.

More info here

[ritalin]

Blow me sideways! I've just done some more tinkering in the BIOS, and this SpeedStep kernel has got sleep (suspend to RAM) working.
It goes to sleep and wakes up just like a real Mac, and that's FAST!

[ritalin]

Overclocking or underclocking the FSB seems to break it. This doesn't matter to me as I underclock to keep the temp down. Now SpeedStep does the same job so no need to underclock anymore.

[aquamac]

Hi Ritalin,

Didn't work for me, in fact it broke shutdown & Restart didn't work anymore. Have just re-installed from my back up drive. Perhaps we are using different kernels anyway. I am using the latest from semthex's site, Prasys did a little console program that goes online picks up the latest Semthex kernel and installs it then repairs permissions, quite amazing really. Thanks for helping though, I would quite like to get sleep going one of these days!

[ritalin]

Sorry about that

Here is some good info thats worth printing and keeping handy.

How to back up your kernel
- Open Terminal (in Utilities folder) and type:

sudo cp /mach_kernel /mach_kernel.old
(type your password)

How to update your kernel
- Download a kernel archive and unzip/unrar the archive.
- Place the mach_kernel file on your Desktop.
- Open Terminal:

sudo cp /mach_kernel /mach_kernel.old
(type your password)
sudo cp -f ~/Desktop/mach_kernel /
sudo chown root:wheel /mach_kernel*
sudo chmod 644 /mach_kernel*

- Then reboot.

If the kernel doesn't work
If you have difficulty booting after installing, try pressing F8 at boot and typing:

-v -f

If you still have difficulty booting, use the old kernel by pressing F8 at boot and typing:

mach_kernel.old

Then to restore your old kernel:

- Open Terminal:

sudo su
mount -uw
cd /
mv mach_kernel mach_kernel.bad
mv mach_kernel.old mach_kernel

The pkg I sent, as well as replacing your kernel, also instals:

/Library/StartupItems/ACPICPUThrottler

ACPICPUThrottler will prevent the old kernel from booting. So you would need to do the following before you could restore your old kernel:

Press F8 and boot in -s mode
fsck -fy
mount -uw /
rm -fr /Library/StartupItems/ACPICPUThrottler

[reddrag0n]

Nicely done. Great mod. But i was wondering how the side door stays in place? On my mod, it took alot of work, but i was able to retain the locking plate so the door wouldn't suddenly open on me.

But still 3 thumbs up for the mod. ;D

[ritalin]

reddrag0n said:

Nicely done. Great mod. But i was wondering how the side door stays in place? On my mod, it took alot of work, but i was able to retain the locking plate so the door wouldn't suddenly open on me.

But still 3 thumbs up for the mod. ;D

Well spotted! Yes, I decided to dump the locking plate. One of the plastic catches was bust anyhow. The sliding lock mechanism still works (where you pull the tab at the rear and can fit a padlock). So I modded that so it is sprung in the locked position. This prevents the door from falling open. For added peace of mind I fit a small padlock to prevent accidental opening, it works well.

Now the sleep is working all I need is a Mic/Line-in and the machine is 100% done AFAIC.

[reddrag0n]

Cool, that's one idea i never thought of. Hmmm, maybe next time in a G3 or G4 case. I'm still trying to find a small enought PC board that will fit in a Mac Pro case. Then that would be a mod and a half.

But till then, keep on modding.