Acer Travelmate 6291: Installing Mac OS X Tiger in Logical Partition
4 days full of patient downloading 4.4GB Mac OS X image from my office was not too worthless. Suddenly, I got interested in Mac after seeing from a site on internet how beautiful is their Mac desktop installed in x86 Intel machine. For somehow, my curiosity was shows up on that time. After 2 tired sick days trying to install & re-install, now I feel totally satisfied having triple boot system between Windows XP, Fedora 7 & Mac OS X in my Acer laptop.As like usual, the very first action to do before installing an OS is preparing the partition storage. For this requirement, I tried to provide 10GB of new blank partition I made successfully after resizing partition from Linux Fedora 7. I then formatted this logical partition with FAT32 type since I don’t have any idea what the OS X will fits, either the partition tool seems not support to create the Mac journalized file system format (HFS+ or 0xaf).
Installing this such OS was very simple & quick. No frequent question window displayed like any other OS installation session & total time needed to starting installation was less than 30 minutes. After it first boot, Mac get started on it’s way replacing the grub boot menu from Fedora 7 & begun to showing it very artistic desktop. But wait… how the hell I can get switch back log on to Windows or Linux? Okay, I’ll think of it later. Now, it’s the time to taste my fresh Mac OS X sensation.
On my laptop, the display adapter was correctly installed & shows high quality WXGA 1280x800 resolution. The boot time to get the desktop was also quite fast. It was surprised me. Anyway, some hardware devices were not recognized successfully such as the web cam, MMC reader & even the sound card. It most worst than Linux, I thought. But, it’s fine for me for now.
Let’s take a look at about form you can find on left side of Finder menu bar. This Intel OS X86 required a specific processor to work. It needs at least SSE2 or SSE3 capable instruction set such as Intel Core 2 Duo.
The control panel window known as System Preferences are located on the dock. Some of tweaks can be done from here.
This is my partition table displayed from the same command as Linux has in a terminal.
Got tried OpenOffice 2.2 over Mac after downloading 133MB from internet. It’s an alternative cheapest office productivity solution.
The Mac start menu, very unique than any other common OS.
Widget are one of my favorite desktop session. It’s fancy appearance shows with F12 keyboard shortcut.
Also had VirtualBox for Mac & tried to run a Windows XP image. Quite interested but without any network interface enabled.
One for sure, this Mac was equipped with Apache web server installation. You have to download php module & also MySQL for Mac to enabled the MAMP (Mac Apache Mysql PHP) integration.
Only Bluetooth wireless networking technology has been recognized & working fine. I have been tested it for pairing into another device such as PDA.
Enough for my short review about insides the OSX sensation. Now, the odd questions are back. How the hell I can get switch to boot Windows or Linux or Mac? Actually, my existing Mac installation was located on 3rd partition on logical partition. This situation are bad based on osx86 online documentation. It was impossible to repair Fedora 7 boot grub menu automatically since grub doesn’t recognized the 0xaf type partition & won’t attach it normally. So, here is my first trial & error with /boot/grub/grub.conf files sampled by forum over the internet:
default=2
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,7)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title MacOS X (Tiger)
root (hd0,7)
chainloader –force +1
title Fedora 7
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7 ro root=LABEL=/ quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7.img
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
Save the changes, re-run the below command before reboot the system:
grub-install /dev/sda
The grub boot menu was back. Select the first menu, but it won’t boot. So, I tried to change into 2nd alternative boot choice. Tried to boot with NTLDR XP boot loader. For this experience, I did exactly what others forum told me. Copying chain0 file got from Mac DVD root & adding a new line in c:\boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
c:\chain0=”Mac OS X”
Save the changes & restart. After it shows XP boot loader menu, Mac boot choice still won’t boot. I was so confused until these steps. It seems that they were right. The 3rd testing session was based on Linux boot loader again, but with chain0 file copied under /boot/grub folder. Make a change on grub.conf so that it pointed to chain0 file to boot:
…
title MacOS X (Tiger)
root (hd0,7)
chainloader /boot/grub/chain0
…
Still failed with error booter message displayed. Finally, based on my own trial, I then copied all the 9 files (4.34MB) from root DVD installer into /boot/grub/i386.
Make changes to grub.conf liki below:
default=2
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,7)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title MacOS X (Tiger)
rootnoverify (hd0,7)
chainloader /boot/grub/i386/boot0
title Fedora 7
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7 ro root=LABEL=/ quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7.img
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
Save & reboot. Vice versa!... the MacOS X from grub boot menu are now work to boot the OSX with boot0 file chainloader & booting from logical partition. Any comment are open since I’m a Mac newbie.
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Sunday, September 16, 2007 11:47:00 AM
Congratulations! :)
Did you know that Lazarus is also available for MacOS i386? ;)
'Met kenal.
*sesama programmer Delphi/Pascal dan pengguna Linux. :D
Friday, September 21, 2007 6:28:00 AM
hum... clear and detail explanation..
Sunday, September 23, 2007 2:09:00 AM
hi!
wrong
chainloader /boot/grub/i386/boot0
right
chainloader /boot/grub/i386/chain0
i have problems :( my grub freez snif snif
Monday, September 24, 2007 7:24:00 PM
@anonymous: No..no... Mr. anonymous. I used to tried the chain0 bootloader file, but it seems failed & displayed weird message that it couldn't boot the Mac. Probably, it would succeed when the Mac installed on primary partition. In my case, it installed on 3rd extended logical partition.
Have you read entirely my article? I got some annoying situation when I face these. Anyway, my Mac boot fine when I used the boot0.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 10:26:00 PM
Hi again,
I installed it casually on the same, at 3 extended logical partition, and when i put boot0 on the chainloader it boots my linux with grub again, with chain0 it freezes.
I mounted the Mac dvd and copy all the files to my linux partition and put the route at chainloader line at the menu.lst but don work
What i am doing wrong?
thanks.
PD. sorry my english is poor
Thursday, September 27, 2007 4:01:00 PM
@anonymous: it must be something happened out there & it was not typically the same with my case. Have you tried others combination of chainloader file? with boot1 maybe?
I was so surprised too when I succeded to boot with boot0 file which no one had documented anywhere over the internet.
May the luck goes with you...
Saturday, October 06, 2007 9:52:00 AM
why don't you tell us how you installed macosx on your acer. you missed that out completely.
i'm trying to install macosx on my intel box. how do i do it?
Monday, October 08, 2007 12:12:00 PM
@anonymous: I didn't plan to explain anything happened during mac osx installation step by step detailly since you might find it over the internet (and it didn't typically different with others machine)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 9:00:00 PM
Thanks for that explanation... but that doesn't work for me. So I have some questions:
- What osx86 version did you use?
- In your working example, you write root (hd0,7) for OSX and Fedora. Is that correct?
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:07:00 AM
@titooy: In this case, I using MacOSX v10.4.8 for Intel and AMD downloaded the ISO image from ftp://students.ee.itb.ac.id/pub/ISO-Images/Mac.OS.X.v.10.4.8.for.Intel.and.AMD/JMOSX1048ALLPACH.iso
That was correct using the same partition loader (see the chainloader parameter in MacOS X boot.lst configuration when I copy the chainloader file into it ~ /boot/grub/i386/boot0) for the boot both machine (hd0,7).
...
title MacOS X (Tiger)
rootnoverify (hd0,7)
chainloader /boot/grub/i386/boot0
title Fedora 7
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7 ro root=LABEL=/ quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.21-1.3194.fc7.img
...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 8:59:00 PM
It works perfect now. The essential element I was missing is the file mach_kernel. With boot0 and mach_kernel, il starts the Darwin loader which loads the first active partition. In my case, it was Vista so I just removed the active (boot) flag to that partition, letting it for my OSX, and I removed the makeactive line in my grub config file.
Thanks.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 8:17:00 AM
Does anyone know how to enable the audio (ICH7 chipset) on Mac OSX? I had patched with the latest hdakext but it still seems unable to re-produce the sound. I desperate now... ;-(
Sunday, November 18, 2007 6:20:00 PM
Hi there Mr. Eko,
Can you please help me install Mac OS on my Acer Travelmate 6291, I'm a neophyte and really fascinated with OS X. Can you give me step by step (layman's term) instructions on how to do the installation. Here is my email address: ralphmontejo@yahoo.com
Thank you very much.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 5:09:00 PM
Hello Mr Eko!
I too wish would like some step by step instructions on installing Mac OSX on my Acer 6291. I plan to have it as a Mac OSX only machine.
Have you had any luck fixing the webcam, card reader, and sound?
Many thanks
MART
travellingmart [at] gmail [dot] com
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 10:10:00 AM
@Anonymous: Oops... sorry, I can't do that for you. It seems I don't have much time to fulfill your request.
@martin: Still I tried everyday without luck. But, I'll keep fighting for it ;-)
Sunday, November 25, 2007 4:45:00 AM
Hi Eko, a good post. Your article gave me all the confidence & inspiration to install Leo to logical partition. I have tested booting Leo from logical partition on VMWare. I used tboot to AF partition. It works great, though after apple logo, vmware goes for CPU reset. Atleast the boot part from logical partition is resolved. Now need to try on physical machine.
Sunday, November 25, 2007 5:24:00 AM
Hi.
When I go to :
ftp://students.ee.itb.ac.id/pub/ISO-Images/Mac.OS.X.v.10.4.8.for.Intel.and.AMD/JMOSX1048ALLPACH.iso
It says:
--------
Connected To : students.ee.itb.ac.id:21...
Incorrect login or the password anonymous:admin@microsoft.com.
---------
Please give me password for download.
Thanks.
Monday, November 26, 2007 8:42:00 AM
When i had downloaded it couple months ago, there was no password required to access it ~ as it say as free for public. I'm sorry, i've got no password for it now. Do you want to try my JaS 10.4.8 recorded on DVD?
Thursday, December 06, 2007 3:29:00 PM
Another way is to physically move the partitions is to physically edit the partition table. I did it before, but u have to be very careful. Any screw up and your hard drive may become unbootable to any OS.
Monday, January 07, 2008 11:18:00 PM
lagi nyobain leopard kalyway di tm6291..
heheh semoga ga gagal ah..
Friday, February 15, 2008 12:33:00 AM
HI, After I install 10.4.8 everythings are find but no sound, no lan, no wifi, no card reader.....but bluetooth is ok.....
So, how can I use the lan, wifi, cardreader and sound?
Sunday, February 24, 2008 12:50:00 PM
Hey man!
Your observation about boot0 and its capability to boot whatever (even non-primary, i.e. logical) partition is great.
I did a little bit more checking and found that from the 9 files you mention, only boot0 is needed.
I was able to install Tiger and Leopard both in their own logical partitions and now I'm switching between them by just flipping the active flag with fdisk while in Linux. I have only one "Mac OS X" entry in the grub's menu pointed to the Linux partition and loading boot0.
It's a Toshiba U305, I have also Vista and FreeBSD in primary partitions there. Still having some problems with the X3100 graphics, the Intel 4965 wifi and the audio, but it was expected and hopefully will get resolved soon.
It's important to note that boot0 works only when there's exactly one active partition. It would just boot it regardless what's inside - Mac OS X, Windows, Linux or something else.
Thanks!
Wednesday, March 05, 2008 4:45:00 AM
Hi!
I need help with my grub. I am booting Windows Vista, OSX (the iAtkos image you used) and Ubuntu on my Sony Vaio. I think maybe there is something wrong with my grub, because I followed the same steps as you and had no success. My grub looks as follows:
title OS X
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader /boot/grub/i386/boot0
title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
I wonder if Ubuntu is different, or if I am doing something wrong. Maybe if you can upload the 9 files in your boot CD, I could use those to check if that is my problem.
Thanks again!
Friday, March 14, 2008 2:22:00 PM
@anonymous: You can download here (1.84MB ~ 9 files). The file are in zip format contain files: boot, boot0, boot1h, boot1u, boot.cat, boot.efi, cdboot, chain0 & mach_kernel.
Friday, June 13, 2008 7:39:00 PM
mas,,, saya tertarik banget nih mw install mac osx di travelmate 6292 saya... display, sound, wireless, cam berfungsi gak mas????
Monday, June 16, 2008 8:21:00 AM
@harry: Yang jelas bisa masih cmn terbatas di bagian display & bluetooth. Sisanya, kayak: sound, wireless, cam & Card Reader... sampai saat ini belum saya riset lagi & masih tak berdaya ;-(
Eksperimen saya disini juga cuman membantu saya untuk keperluan dibagian pengembangan software. So, walaupun gak bisa denger musik...but it's worth lah... ;-)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:41:00 AM
Received "Boot chain error" - how can I repair the MBR? Using /grub/boot/i386/BOOT0 - received: "Stage 2#" - regards :)
Thursday, January 15, 2009 1:34:00 PM
Try to safe boot with CD installer again
Monday, September 14, 2009 8:09:00 PM
I have the TravelMate 6292, too.
Can you tell me which Image you used exactly? I tried 5 or 6 and they all crash here and there.
My email is ilfhi@gmx.de
thanks!
Thursday, February 11, 2010 2:48:00 AM
i try to install on TravelMate 6292 too.
Can you tell me which Image you used exactly?
My email is lohlah82@yahoo.com
tx