iATKOS S3 Readme
iATKOS S3 Readme
iATKOS S3 Readme
Welcome all..
This is the iATKOS S3 Snow Leopard 10.6.3 Intel Installation DVD readme..
Thanks to all OSX86 community and all the computer guys that shared their ideas, gave
feedback, reported errors and even fixed them sometimes.
And @zapf2000, thank you for all of your supports, cheers to ggrn.de people again..
Special thanks to all of our operators for making our forum a useful place..
uphuck
Attention:
1- This DVD is designed for Non-Apple x86 Intel CPU computers.
Minimum: Compatible motherboard, Intel SSE2 CPU, 512MB RAM, 15GB free space on
target partition, compatible VGA card.
Recommended: Intel Core CPU, 1GB RAM, 15GB free space on target partition, Snow Leo
compatible nVidia 6600 or newer / ATI X1300 or newer / Intel GMA 950 or X3100 VGA
card.
Motherboard (the most important part) should be compatible for booting iATKOS S3 DVD
and installing natively.
2- This DVD includes Apple's Mac OS X Leopard 10.6.3 (10D573) installation, some
basic drivers and x86 patches.
3- IMPORTANT NOTICE - Make sure that the md5 checksum of your iATKOS iso
image matches the one posted on our website. Do this MD5 check just before mounting
or doing anything with the iso image! Otherwise you may have a faulty DVD image. Use
quality media/burner and burn slowly.
4- MAKE SURE YOU TAKE NOTE OF YOUR Hardware IDs, Device IDs and device
names before installing this system. This is very important. If you aren't sure what
devices/hardware you own nor its IDs, then 3 options:
-Boot iATKOS S3 DVD, run "Hardware Info" from Utilities menu and take notes.
-Fire up a Linux Live CD (ie. Ubuntu Live CD), type "lspci -nn" in terminal and take
notes.
-Windowsers, get Everest Ultimate Edition and take note of your hardware.
6- If something goes wrong, please don't panic, Scroll down for the Troubleshooting
guide. If that fails, take a screenshot (or a picture) of what went wrong and post it in
the forums. Make sure you have done the 3 Revival steps and troubleshooting steps
before posting in the forum!
7- Do not forget one thing: IF THE INSTALL ENDS WITH SUCCESS, THEN MOST
LIKELY IT CAN RUN ON YOUR HARDWARE. This means if you have a major
booting error after installation like kernel panic, "still waiting for root device" error,
hang on grey apple screen etc. then this is mostly related to your faulty selections during
install, read the instructions carefully and do a very basic install until you boot your
new system with success.
Information:
- 64-bit/32-bit thing:
Mac OS X Snow Leopard is a hybrid operating system which can boot in both 64-bit and 32-
bit modes. This iATKOS S3 release boots in 64-bit by default, if you select the 32-bit package
or any of the 32bit-only driver(s) then the system will boot the kernel in 32-bit by default.
To load a driver/module/kext in 32-bit (i.e. a 32-bit only driver) you must boot the system in
32-bit, vice versa for 64-bit. All of the drivers and patches except the 32-bit only ones in
iATKOS S3 are hybrid (64/32bit), this means you can load/use them in both 64-bit and 32-bit
modes.
64-bit applications can run in 32-bit mode and vice versa for 32-bit applications, but modules/
drivers/kexts will be loaded as the same architecture (64-bit or 32-bit, in other words x86_64 or
i386) you boot in, 32-bit modules in 32-bit mode, 64-bit modules in 64-bit mode. Therefore
applications that need their own 32bit-only modules (kexts) may fail in 64-bit mode. If you
choose any of the 32-bit packages during iATKOS S3 install, then your system will boot
in 32-bit mode by default.
- iATKOS S3 includes scripting and many actions for using software updater just like
real Macs on most PC hardware. This is mostly possible like the old releases of iATKOS
but we can never know what Apple will do in next main system update, so it may not
result in %100 success. Please read the related section below.
- You can make upgrade or refresh installs to your existing OSX86 system using
iATKOS S3 DVD. Please read the related section below.
- Easy installation on Software RAID volumes, nearly all procedures automated. Please
read the related section below.
- GPT (Guid Partition Table) and MBR (Master Boot Record) partitioned harddrives:
GPT is a partition table type for x86 computers which is also Intel Mac's partition table type. Its
structure is different from MBR and so it has some nice features. The whole GPT multiboot
procedure may not be so friendly for newbies, so they should go on using MBR, performance
of the system will not differ from GPT to MBR.
MBR has a limit of 4 primary partitions (which is a must for booting an OS, however linux can
boot from logical partitions by MBR) but GPT has no such thing like primary or logical,
therefore you can create up to 128 bootable partitions on GPT disks. HFS+ partition resizing is
only possible on GPT drives and it is such a comfortable feature. All windows series (win 3.1,
win95 and win98 are MBR only) can be installed to a Hybrid GPT drive which can be easily
created using OS X disk utility, just create one or more FAT32 partition(s), make sure that they
are at the first 3 order and there you have the Hybrid GPT for windows installation.
New Linux bootloader Grub2 supports GPT, so nearly all updated Linux distros can be
installed to pure GPT drives.
For Software RAID feature on Leopard and Snow Leopard, you must have GPT partitioned
drives.
In the near future, most of x86 computers will run on GPT drives.
- This dvd may not include all the necessary drivers required by your setup. Additional
steps may be needed to be taken by the user to setup and use such components.
- Main system is fully stock! That means it can't run on PC hardware without selecting
none of the patches.
Clean Installation:
Backup your personal data before the process. A target partition (primary partition for
MBR) or disk will be needed for installation. Use a clean harddisk with no personal
data/OS as for target if you are not an advanced user and unplug all the harddisk
drives connected to your motherboard just to be safe. If the target disk includes
personal data and/or any OS, we advice Parted Magic Live CD for partitioning and
such operations for preparing a target. You can also do the partitioning and create
targets by using OS X Disk Utility.
1- Run Disk Utility via Utilities menu and erase (format) the target for clean install.
- You can choose MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (Guid Partition Table) via partitioning
options. If you want to change your existing partition table type, note that all your existing data
on disk will be gone! Please do not play with partitioning options if your are not an advanced
user.
4- Click Install.
For upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard; if you have some 3rd party drivers (32-bit
only) that is sure compatible with Snow, then you should boot Snow Leopard in 32-bit. You
can select the 32-bit package during install for booting Snow Leo in 32-bit by default. After
upgrade, you can of course search for the updates of the 3rd party softwares/drivers that you
use in Leopard for Snow Leo compatibility and to use them fully in 64-bit.
Your 3rd party applications, personal data, user settings and user accounts will be reserved but
all system files/drivers/applications will be gone, so you will need to setup your selections just
like a clean install.
There may be some incompatibility issues of some applications and drivers with Snow Leopard
as you know, this has nothing to do with the upgrade procedure or this OSX86 release.
3- Click Install.
* Customize:
There is already a basic default profile chosen. You should add only device drivers for your
hardware setup at first trials of your OSX86 install if you are a newbie, then you may try
adding other packages to find out the best combination for your PC. Adding a few packages to
default profile will probably be enough for most hardwares, read the package details carefully!
Basic Info:
- Many less compatible systems need a modified kernel instead of the stock kernel, you
may try with selecting a modified kernel if you have problems after install.
- There may be more than one way to make your VGA card work; Efi String,
GraphicsEnabler, Enablers and modified drivers for your VGA card (gma950, x3100
and ATI packages etc.). You need to choose only one of Efi String/GraphicsEnabler/
Enablers and a modified driver/patch for your card if so needed. GrahicsEnabler is
under bootloader options, Efi Strings and Enablers are under the target VGA card
drivers section.
- Do not select any of the packages that you are not sure what it is for.
- Do not select the driver of a network card that is not presented in your hardware
setup.
- Read the descriptions carefully.
Software RAID:
Information:
- Software RAID combines two or more physical harddisks or their partitions (RAID slices)
into a single logical unit. RAID's various designs involve two key design goals: increase data
reliability and/or increase input/output performance.
- You can create RAID volumes and install Snow Leopard on RAID using iATKOS S3 DVD.
- Boot helper partition: OS X Software RAID systems boot using boot helper partitions and
so the bootloader will be installed to boot helper partition instead of the RAID slice. If one of
the RAID slices of your target RAID volume is disk0s2, then its hidden boot helper partition
named as "Boot OSX" is disk0s3. Do the math for the others.
- Create RAID volumes: You can easily create RAID volumes using OS X Disk Utility. Do
the partitioning if you need to, click on the target disk and then click on RAID tab, choose
RAID type, name it and by pressing "+" create a new RAID set. Add the target partitions or
disks to RAID set by dragging them and when you are done, click to "Create" button. The
added partitions or disks will be the slices of your RAID set, in a few seconds your RAID
volume will be mounted and ready for installation.
4- Click Customize and select what you need, no special combination for RAID,
procedures automated.
5- Click Install.
- Sleep Enabler: This package includes SleepEnabler.kext which may cause kernel panic after
the update, so delete it before applying the update or boot with 'pmVersion=0' option.
- GMA 950 drivers (32bit): These packages include AppleIntelGMA950.kext and
AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext. These drivers may be overwritten by applying the
update. Copy these kexts from /System/Library/Extensions directory to some other location,
reinstall them after applying the update before reboot. You can install these kexts using kext
utility located at /Library/Tools or if you are an advanced user then you can reboot to single
user mode "-s" and install them manually.
- X3100 Framebuffer (32bit): This package includes AppleIntelGMAX3100FB.kext and
AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext. These drivers may be overwritten by applying the
update. You need to reinstall these drivers after applying the update before reboot. Copy these
kexts from /System/Library/Extensions directory to some other location, reinstall them after
applying the update before reboot.
- ATI 48xx: This package also includes ATIRadeonX2000.kext. Copy this kext from /System/
Library/Extensions directory to some other location, reinstall them after applying the update
before reboot.
- ATI Framebuffer: This package includes ATISupport.kext and ATIFramebuffer.kext. Copy
these kexts from /System/Library/Extensions directory to some other location, reinstall them
after applying the update before reboot.
- USB: This package includes IOUSBFamily.kext which may be overwritten by the update.
Copy this kext from /System/Library/Extensions directory to some other location, reinstall them
after applying the update before reboot.
- Atheros Corei7 Fix: This package includes IO80211Family.kext which may be overwritten
by the update and this may cause kernel panic on boot for systems that need this package. Copy
this kext from /System/Library/Extensions directory to some other location, reinstall them after
applying the update before reboot.
- ACPI Thermal (32bit): This will be non-functional after the update, edit the Info.plist of the
ACPIThermal.kext to match the current ACPI version of the new updated system.
Every main system update had some issues with our PC hardwares that had been covered
mostly after the release of the update, so updating like real Macs is not a thing that you can
always count on because we can never know what Apple will do for the next update. Until
now it had no major problems with x86 PC hardwares.
Multiboot:
iATKOS S3 has no integrated procedure for multibooting but preparing a multiboot GPT or
MBR system with this release is easy.
Here is a ''How To'' for GPT and MBR triple boot including Mac-Win-Linux. iATKOS S3
DVD, Debian GNU/Linux DVD and Windows7 DVD installers are used in this example.
- Nearly all PC's work on MBR partitioned harddisks, check it with Disk Utility, if so
do no touch it. If it is GPT then you need to repartition your harddisk by loosing all the
data in it. Click to partitioning options, select MBR and do the partitioning.
- Create 3 or more partitions by using iATKOS Disk Utility or Parted Magic Live CD.
HFS+ format for OS X target, Fat32 (ms-dos) for the others. OS targets must be one of
the first 3 partitions creating with Disk Utility.
- Add boot flag to Windows or Linux target and install the operating systems in any
order you like.
For windows, make sure the windows target disk is the first preceding disk by your
BIOS, unplug the other harddisks if needed. This is a general windows issue.
For linux, do not install linux bootloader to MBR, install it to linux root.
- If Windows fails to load then you may need to repair Windows (win7 or vista) (mostly
you will not face this issue): Add boot flag to Windows partition, boot Windows DVD,
select repair, add boot flag to OS X partition.
- You can also add boot flag to Linux partition to use Linux bootloader for multiboot
manipulation if you want to.
Note: Adding boot flag to MBR partitions: Boot Parted Magic Live CD, right click to partition,
select flags and click to boot.
- Check the partition table type with Disk Utility. If it is not GPT then repartition the
drive and change the partition map scheme to GPT by pressing partition options. You
will loose all the data on target disk by repartitioning.
- Create 3 or more partitions by using iATKOS Disk Utility. HFS+ format for OS X
target, FAT32 (ms-dos) for the others. Windows and Linux targets should be of the
first 3 partitions.
- Boot iATKOS S3 DVD and install OS X to target as usual. You have dual-boot with
OS X and windows right now.
- Boot Linux media and install the operating system (OS) to its FAT32 target.
Do not install the linux bootloader to MBR, install it linux root.
Do not change the boot flags.
Do not modify the partition table, it can be risky for some distros, just erase the target
and do the install.
Use grub2.
- Now you can boot to OS X and Linux using OSX86 bootloader which boots by
default, but windows fails at this stage because Linux installation broke the hybrid
GPT, so we will bring it back on this step.
Boot iATKOS S3 DVD and enter "gptsync /dev/diskX" command on terminal. X is the
BSD number of your target disk, run disk utility and right click on your disk, you will
see it.
Now you have triple boot on GPT. By default OS X bootloader will take the control by these
steps. It can boot all of them by just selecting. If you want linux or windows to take the control
of multibooting then go on reading, it is described below.
All the OS' are independent by this way, you can re-install each of them one by one when
needed. You just need to care about 2 things:
- gptsync will be needed after Linux re-install
- you need to re-install OS X bootloader after Windows re-install. Boot iATKOS S3
DVD and use one of the Manual Bootloader installers from utilities menu. If you use linux for
multibooting then this step is not necessary.
There are more combinations to make multiboot work on especially on GPT. If you know the
procedures as well, there is no thing like an uncoverable multiboot error. i.e. keep in mind that
hybrid GPT may fail when dealing with linux stuff, then the windows will not boot. Do not
use parted magic live cd for Hybrid GPT, it breaks Hybrid GPT causing an unbootable
windows. There comes the gptsync, it creates a fake MBR code on GPT drives that make
Windows feel like it works on MBR partitioned hdd. You can always apply gpysync if hybrid
GPT is broken somehow. After bringing back the hybrid GPT partition using gptsync,
windows will work again. After gptsync, you can add boot flag to other partitions by using OS
X or Linux fdisk if you like to boot from another OS. i.e. if you want to boot from linux and
use grub for multiboot manipulation instead of chameleon.
For OS X fdisk, boot iATKOS S3 DVD and open terminal:
fdisk -e /dev/diskX # X is the BSD number of your target disk
p # p is the fake MBR partition list
f Y # f for adding boot flag to the target partition, Y is the partition number you want to boot
from
w # w to write changes
q # q for quit.
In this multiboot example I created 4 volumes, 3 for OS' and 1 for storage. OS volumes are
first 3 ones. As you see on this fdisk print out and disk utility screen below, fdisk lists the 4
partitions of fake MBR of my hybrid GPT. You can not see the "Data 2" partition (disk0s5)
there because it is the 5th one. 1st partition is the hidden efi, for this reason the OS' are to be
installed to first 3 volumes.
--------------------------
disk utility layout:
250.06GB WDC WD250…
-OS X
-Windows
-disk0s4
-Data 2
--------------------------
Unmounted disk0s4 volume is ext4 linux partition (hd0,4) in this example. I added the boot
flag to Linux partition using OS X fdisk and modified the grub.cfg file to boot all of them via
grub2.
### here is the grub.cfg lines of this example for multibooting
menuentry "Snow Leopard" {
insmod hfsplus
set root=(hd0,2)
multiboot /boot
}
menuentry "Windows 7" {
set root=(hd0,3)
chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux……
###
- If you're facing hangs, freezes or kernel panics (which is present as a shutdown symbol on
the screen just after boot) type in "-v -x" (without quotes) in the boot command of the
bootloader. This would give you verbose output which is useful for us to help you or for you
to post in the forums so that we can trace it down.
- "Waiting for root device" - It means that OS X doesn't see your hard disk or boot device. You
can face with this during dvd boot or after system install during hdd boot. Chances are:
If you face with this during HDD boot, then most likely you may have installed the wrong
drivers. You need to reinstall, read the readme carefully.
If you have this error during DVD boot, then change your SATA mode from RAID to ACHI
or even to IDE, and also you need to check other bios settings that might be the usual problem,
read the "mickey mouse guide" on our forum for bios settings. This usually does fix the
problem. If not, then you can try to install using a USB media. You need to restore the S3
DVD iso image to the USB media and install chameleon to it. You can do it on both OS X and
Windows systems, search our forum or google for instructions. If still no light, then may have
really incompatible hardware for this OS.
- CPU errors - Try to boot with "cpus=1" without the quotes. It happens on certain CPUs due
to BIOS/DSDT bug. Your DSDT may need patching. You may also need to enter busratio
vaules for such cpus, i.e. "busratio=20". Search for them. There are 5 kernels to boot the S3
DVD. qoopz 10.3.0, qoopz 10.2.0, pcj 0.9 10.2.0, atom 10.3.0 and the modbin 10.0.0 kernel.
the default is qoopz 10.3.0.
"mach_qoopz" for qoopz 10.2.0
"mach_pcj" for pcj v0.9 10.2.0
"mach_atom" for atom 10.3.0
"mach_modbin" for modbin 10.0.0
- Blue or black screen during HDD boot - This means that OS X doesn't see your monitor
properly or your graphics card isn't working correctly. Firstly boot with "-x -v" commands to
reach up to GUI, then you can search the internet for the solution for your graphics hardware.
Secondly reinstall the OS again, but this time make sure you don't select any graphic drivers. If
you can login to GUI you know what to do so.
- Keep in mind that sometimes certain kext patches may not work for your system even though
they are the same chipset but a slight variation may cause it not to work on your PC. The result
may be a kernel panic again, reinstall back but this time don't select any funny patches/drivers.
This would resolve your problem.
*******************************************
web:
http://www.uphuck.com
http://www.osx86.es
IRC:
irc.atlantis-irc.net #uphuck.DVD
core.osx86.hu #iATKOS
******************************************
Good luck. If you enjoy your Mac OS X Snow Leopard System, then buy a real Mac.
Remember that this system is only for testing Mac's amazing system. Using OS X without a
license is not right.