My goal for this project was to convert an old laptop (in this case, an ancient dell that my grandma no longer had a use for) into a hackintosh. When this did not pan out, I then learned how to create linux boot media and uploaded GNOME onto the ancient machine instead, after bricking it a few times. Despite how much work I do on computers, I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to operating systems and hardware. While I can flounder around on Mac and Linux systems, I’ve never really been in possession of a machine with either of those operating systems on it, so I haven’t had the opportunity to mess around with them a bit.
Making a Hackintosh was my primary goal here, so where better to start than hackintosh.com for learning how to do it? This site had great general tips concerning which MacOS version I should use based on my hardware — sierra, and then snow leopard if that didn’t work out — as well as links to more tutorial-style guides. The guide on tonymacx86.com was particularly extensive, and I based most of my attempts on the advice given here. The youtube channel Linus Tech Tips also had some excellent recommendations concerning boot settings from PC and what have you. Finally, what was perhaps the most informative and daunting was the osx86project wiki, which had an incomplete index of different PCs indexed, along with whether or not they worked as hackintoshes. I could not find mine, so I was flying blind as to whether or not this would even work.
I had two big problems, the latter of which ended up being terminal. The first was that I did not own a macbook, and this is a required step to getting the software onto a bootable USB drive. After pestering my friends for access to their passwords and promising that I wouldn’t hack their macbooks past the point of no return, I was able to download sierra, transform my usb into a bootable drive, and be on my merry way. The next problem was that apparently some of the hardware in my laptop was simply not compatible with MacOS in any shape or form. I couldn’t have known this until I attempted to install the OS, and a few hours and attempts later, I was left with the conclusion that it just wasn’t in the cards for my laptop to become a hackintosh.
Luckily, the good folks at GNOME have made their operating system to be much more open minded than the people at Apple. I decided on gnome after searching for Linux operating systems that were at least aesthetically similar to MacOS, and with a ticking deadline, decided to pull the trigger. Luckily, the lessons I learned from creating a bootable drive with Sierra paid off, and it was a breeze to wipe that drive, put Linux Gnome onto it, and have that work. I think I underestimated the age of my grandma’s laptop, as there are all sorts of things that don’t quite work just yet, like the internet connectivity. That being said, I’m sure that there are plenty of tutorials to help me develop it, and at this point I’m just relieved to have a computer that isn’t just white error text on a black screen.
Attempting, failing, and then re-attempting to install a new operating system has taught me quite a bit about how software and hardware interact, and has given me a bit more patience when it comes to working with computers. I never really realized just how much of my computer experience was being nicely conveyed to me through UIs and automatic processes until I stripped those elements away, and knowing a bit more about how these things affect how you utilize a computer. While I started this project impatient and intimidated, I think I’ve learned how to roll with the punches when it comes to tech, and to be more comfortable messing with what makes computers tick in the first place.
Tonymacx86 is a font of knowledge when it comes to making Hackintoshes, and has been doing so for years. Linus Tech Tips is a youtuber whose videos are quick, and go into surprising depth when it comes to hardware and software. In addition to the sources mentioned above, I would like to credit gnome.org for having free, open operating systems to download. Without them and others who create open source operating systems, my old laptop would be little more than a large paperweight. I would love to give making a hackintosh another shot, but I’ll have to put in a bit more research into exactly why my recent attempt failed.
https://hackintosh.com/#hackintosh_tutorials4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAoOAa_izh0
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