My configuration:

-          Dell Mini 9 (BIOS v.A05)

-          16gb stock STEC SSD

-          2gb of Crucial RAM

-          Stock Wifi card

-          No Bluetooth or WWAN card

-          Retail copy of OS X 10.5.6

If you have a configuration similar to mine it should work exactly like this guide.  If you are outside my specs, all indications point to things working exactly as this guide describes but I can make no guarantees.  All I can say is good luck and enjoy.

To install on the Mini 9:

Prep Work-

Before you do anything else make sure you have your Wifi and Bluetooth turned on in whatever operating system you currently use. (When I first tried to install OS X I had Wifi turned off in XP and was unable to reactivate it in OS X.)

What you will need:

-          Netbootmaker (NBM)

-          Netbookinstaller (NBI)

-          A retail copy of OS X 10.5.X*

-          8gb flash drive

-          Intel Mac running OS X 10.5.X

list all prep steps mention that the optional in stall folder can be deleted to make room for update

Installation-

1. Insert your flash drive with the OS X installer on it. If you have the settings correct it should automatically boot from the flash drive into the installer.
2. Once there select your language. Click the arrow to continue.
3. On the next screen click continue. Then agree to the EULA.
4. When it asks you were to install click on the menu bar, under utilities select disk utility from there click on your SSD drive (not on the partition but the drive itself).
5. From the tabs in the right pane choose partition.
6. Under Volume Scheme choose 1 partition.
7. Click the options… button under the graphical partition diagram. In the resulting screen choose GUID. Click ok.
8. Click ok in the name box name it whatever you want (I believe but have not thoroughly tested this) but keep in mind the name must be in caps and there cannot be spaces. I have had no issues with the name MINI9.
9. For the format box choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
10. Once the partition has been configured and named click apply.
11. After all the partitioning finishes click the red box in the top left to close disk utility.
12. Back to the drive selection choose the freshly formatted SSD.  Click continue.
13. On the install summary click Customize. Deselect everything except Essential System Software.
14. Click continue to begin installation.

During install it hung on about a minute time remaining for a little while but be patient.

1. When the install is done it should complete successfully let it restart normally. Restarting can take some time so be patient.
2. Upon restart choose to boot from the SSD.

You are now done with the initial installation of your new operating system. Take a breath, we aren’t done yet, but we are closing in.

Post Installation-

It may take a little time to startup but once it does you should see the welcome video and hear the music.

1. On the 1st screen that comes up choose United States. Click continue.
2. Now choose U.S. continue.
3. Do not transfer my information should be chosen leave it as is and click continue.
4. If you have a wireless network it should show up in the selection box. Choose your network and enter your password if needed. Click continue.
5. It will ask you to enter your apple id (I didn’t I’m not sure what it will do but I would advise against it). Just click continue.
6. On the registration screen click continue.
7. In the box that comes up click continue.
8. Then on the account creation screen enter your information. Click continue.
9. On the account picture screen either take a picture using the webcam (which works) or choose from the default pictures. Click continue.
10. If it asks you to try mobile me click “I don’t want to try mobile me” and click continue.
11. Click go to finish configuration and enter your new desktop.

Updating and Basic Configuration-

1. Once at the desktop, run NBI. (NBI can be found in your applications folder.)
2. Choose your SSD under volume.
3. Under Install options choose install chameleon 2 rc2, install dell mini 9 extensions, generate a system specific dsdt.aml file and enable remote CD (optional, if you want to use a CD drive on another computer). Click install.
4. When asked enter your password click ok.
5. Download the 10.5.7 combo update from apple.com
6. When the update is downloaded. It should mount and then you can install the update.

You may be wondering why I don’t just go straight to 10.5.8. Well I have a 16gb SSD and managing disk space is essential. I tied to jump straight to the newest update, 10.5.8 but the installer informed me I did not have enough disk space this necessitated installing the 10.5.7 update fist.

1. When the install is complete click restart. It may take a minute to restart, be patient.
2. At the bootloader you will see a blue bar regressing, push any button and you will see a choice of where to boot from. If your flash drive is still inserted you will see that along with the SSD. Use the arrow keys to highlight the SSD.
3. Type –x and it should show up in the lower left hand part of the screen. Then hit enter to boot into safe mode.
4. If the boot fails then try it again. It should only fail once.
5. Once at the login screen enter your password to get to the desktop.
6. Run NBI again. Select the same options you did before, after installation completes restart normally.
7. Once back in at your desktop download and run the 10.5.8 update. This time you will have enough space.
8. Once the install completes, restart and boot back into safe mode using the steps above.
9. Once at your desktop, run NBI again with the same options as before. (I’m not totally sure this is necessary, but it won’t hurt.)
10. When you restart if you have any issues booting up e.g. stuck at blue screen etc. this is what I did to fix it:
    1. Hard shut down and then boot back into safe mode (this will start with no problems).
    2. Under the utilities folder run Disk Utility.
    3. Click on your partition and choose First Aid.
    4. On that screen choose fix permissions. The utility will run for a while and once it is done you should be able to boot back into your OS normally.
    5. Enjoy your new OS.

In the next post I will talk about more advanced configuration. Stay tuned.

* If you use a CD that is 10.5.5 or lower you will need to follow some specific instructions