anybody here ever build a Hackintosh?

[boogers]

i picked up an old dell latitude and threw an ssd in it and maxed out the ram. i read online that this model is actually pretty good for building a Hackintosh.

essentially you create a usb with a fat32 partition, create an EFI folder with the correct hardware extensions and drivers, and a .dmg of macOS.

currently doing a build using macOS Ventura. i've gotten the initial boot chime and into the OpenCore boot but it ALWAYS fails. pulling my hair out over here

so yeah, anybody here ever build one? any tips?

 

[Rice N Beans]

I was gonna do that, but OCLP makes it easier to just buy something semi-recent and have the latest macOS. You can even buy those awful Core2Duo Macbooks and have it be usable.

For the Hackintosh, I dipped out since kext things aren't exactly normalized for the sole purpose of a Hackintosh. Things like OCLP are focused on Macbooks, specifically. Maybe things are different now, but it was too much fishing for something I could throw Linux on and be better positioned.

 

[boogers]

I was gonna do that, but OCLP makes it easier to just buy something semi-recent and have the latest macOS. You can even buy those awful Core2Duo Macbooks and have it be usable.

For the Hackintosh, I dipped out since kext things aren't exactly normalized for the sole purpose of a Hackintosh. Things like OCLP are focused on Macbooks, specifically. Maybe things are different now, but it was too much fishing for something I could throw Linux on and be better positioned.

im just doing it for fun and to learn. i don't know much about modern macs but i'm crazy about retro ones.

got an iMac G4 and rebuilt it. i pulled out the 22 year old HDD and replaced it with a microSD to PATA adapter and now it boots off a swappable 64GB microSD. triple boots Mac OS 9, Mac OS X 10.4, and OpenBSD. completely maxed out the RAM as well. it boots Mac OS X in about 15 seconds. that's pretty damn impressive for a 22 year old computer!

hands down the wildest computer i've ever opened up. its amazing how they engineered this thing:

 

[Rice N Beans]

im just doing it for fun and to learn. i don't know much about modern macs but i'm crazy about retro ones.

got an iMac G4 and rebuilt it. i pulled out the 22 year old HDD and replaced it with a microSD to PATA adapter and now it boots off a swappable 64GB microSD. triple boots Mac OS 9, Mac OS X 10.4, and OpenBSD. completely maxed out the RAM as well. it boots Mac OS X in about 15 seconds. that's pretty damn impressive for a 22 year old computer!

hands down the wildest computer i've ever opened up. its amazing how they engineered this thing:

Yeah loved most of the pre-Ives anorexic Mac hardware. They were way better engineered without the soldering-and-marriage nonsense of the current ones. Need to get my hands on a Mac Mini for messing about with.

But to circle back, I've unfortunately given up on it way back. Ensuring the boot was problem #1, and the kext monopoly was another. Granted, I prob didn't have the right laptop for it, but you get the idea. If you got more surefire hardware then go for it. Let us know when you overcome something that was a pain in the ass.

 

[boogers]

Yeah loved most of the pre-Ives anorexic Mac hardware. They were way better engineered without the soldering-and-marriage nonsense of the current ones. Need to get my hands on a Mac Mini for messing about with.

But to circle back, I've unfortunately given up on it way back. Ensuring the boot was problem #1, and the kext monopoly was another. Granted, I prob didn't have the right laptop for it, but you get the idea. If you got more surefire hardware then go for it. Let us know when you overcome something that was a pain in the ass.

im having trouble with the SSDTs. i dumped the profile to disk and everything looks legit but i dunno.

im thinking i probably need to double check my bios settings. theres no reason it shouldn't boot.

this guy got it working but he used Clover instead of OpenCore. i may try that but i've read that OpenCore is a lot easier to work with

GitHub - ngdanghau/Hackintosh-For-Dell-Latitude-E6540: Installing macOS Mojave on DELL latitude E6540

Installing macOS Mojave on DELL latitude E6540. Contribute to ngdanghau/Hackintosh-For-Dell-Latitude-E6540 development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Rice N Beans]

im having trouble with the SSDTs. i dumped the profile to disk and everything looks legit but i dunno.

im thinking i probably need to double check my bios settings. theres no reason it shouldn't boot.

this guy got it working but he used Clover instead of OpenCore. i may try that but i've read that OpenCore is a lot easier to work with

GitHub - ngdanghau/Hackintosh-For-Dell-Latitude-E6540: Installing macOS Mojave on DELL latitude E6540

Installing macOS Mojave on DELL latitude E6540. Contribute to ngdanghau/Hackintosh-For-Dell-Latitude-E6540 development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

For what it is worth, I too used Clover at the time. OpenCore wasn't around yet then. I think the other alternatives were things like Chameleon never worked in my attempts.

I have messed with OpenCore for the Mac side, and I've read people using it for Hackintosh, but that's as much as I know. I can vouch for OpenCore being painless for Macbooks.

 

[B86]

I've tried on multiple occasions but it's just too much. There is always something that doesn't work right and you have to troubleshoot for hours to fix it or a piece of hardware is always not compatible. You can just forget iMessage/Facetime altogether...

 

[boogers]

I've tried on multiple occasions but it's just too much. There is always something that doesn't work right and you have to troubleshoot for hours to fix it or a piece of hardware is always not compatible. You can just forget iMessage/Facetime altogether...

im taking it as a challenge. ill update if i get it working

 

[Majestyx]

i built one beginning of pandemic. rocked with it for a year and a half. even dual booted to windows to play games. the kext thing was annoying but it was a cool lil project.

 

[boogers]

ayyyy yo i did it! it took me a few hours and about four blunts but i managed

 

[KnickstapeCity]

ayyyy yo i did it! it took me a few hours and about four blunts but i managed

You got a big dikk, breh

 

[Rice N Beans]

ayyyy yo i did it! it took me a few hours and about four blunts but i managed

OpenCore?

Also, congrats!

 

[boogers]

OpenCore?

Also, congrats!

yeah OpenCore. i was shocked the wifi works. pretty good hardware support so far. it runs a little hot but im sure i can fix it.

 

[The Phoenix]

I was gonna do that, but OCLP makes it easier to just buy something semi-recent and have the latest macOS. You can even buy those awful Core2Duo Macbooks and have it be usable.

For the Hackintosh, I dipped out since kext things aren't exactly normalized for the sole purpose of a Hackintosh. Things like OCLP are focused on Macbooks, specifically. Maybe things are different now, but it was too much fishing for something I could throw Linux on and be better positioned.

Can you go a bit more in depth about OLCP? I've never heard of it and a cursory look at their site doesn't explain much. Are you saying OLCP makes building a Hackintosh easier? Or it makes running old Mac hardware easier? Or something else altogether?

 

[Rice N Beans]

Can you go a bit more in depth about OLCP? I've never heard of it and a cursory look at their site doesn't explain much. Are you saying OLCP makes building a Hackintosh easier? Or it makes running old Mac hardware easier? Or something else altogether?

OCLP in simpler terms is an "advanced bootloader" for getting OSX going. It can make both of what you've said true, but as always the mileage varies.

I can't speak on personal Hackintosh success. I can say that OCLP seems like it would run better for the Hackintosh purpose, especially on later versions of Mac OS. Again, only read passing stories, but I have seen plenty of successful installs with OCLP.

For Macs - specifically Macbooks in my experience - I've had nearly zero issues. The host machine is probed for hardware, the suggested defaults are in line and you don't really have to deviate, and the kexts are pulled for your device to get as much working as it can. Even quirky Mac problems (like the dead Radeon GPUs) have easy ways to sidestep the problems. It handles all the patching and you just do nothing for the most part.

In contrast, Clover (another bootloader to get Mac OS going) was breaking me with its specific folder structure, the kext hunting and versioning whack-a-mole, and that was crashing out the installer. Alternatives like Chameleon (like Clover) never worked to even get to the installer. I gave up, but this was waaaay before OCLP was even an option.

I'm sure @boogers could give better insight. That painful Hackintosh process got me to cave and buy a used Macbook. On the flip side not too long later I learned about OCLP.