What exactly does Rebel EFI do? Any way to replicate?

adt2 · #1 02-23-2010, 02:59 AM

Okay, I've had about all the fun I can stand in trying to get my hackintosh up and running; I've tried a handful of solutions, none of which results in a usable, dual-boot configuration. One thing that HAS worked, though, is Psystar's Rebel EFI software. Pop the disc in, boot from CD, swap CD with SL retail disc, install OS X, swap discs, reboot, and install Rebel EFI on hard drive, and voila - perfectly-behaved Snow Leopard on my Toshiba laptop. Only thing I can't figure out is how to make it dual-boot.

Why is this solution brain-dead simple, and seemingly impossible to reproduce? I've seen flaming missives directed at Psystar all over the 'net for "stealing" and/or "repackaging" other people's software for profit, but as near as I can tell, they're the only outfit that has actually figured out how to take all that software and make it into a commercially viable, one-click solution - which, like it or not, most of the computing world is in favor of. Count me among those who would rather pay a small price for the convenience of something that just works, instead of paying zero but having to spend weeks doing trial and error work.

Okay. End of rant. My point was, what is it that Rebel EFI is doing / installing / hacking / breaking to allow SL to run so easily on my machine? How can I duplicate that functionality, since Psystar is no longer selling new licenses, and the one license I bought is already in use on another machine? Any way to make it dual-bootable?

Alternately, is there a good way to install retail SL onto an external USB drive and boot from it (i.e., not use my single internal HDD at all)? I won't be using my SL install except occasionally, so speed and inconvenience aren't that big a deal to me.

Thanks in advance.

SportsGuy · #2 02-23-2010, 03:15 AM

Yeah, as long as you have chameleon or whatever you use on either your hard drive or your usb drive. I have this with Leopard, but I haven't tried it with Snow Leopard. I installed it with a distribution dvd the same way i would have on my computer.

adt2 · #3 02-23-2010, 03:18 AM

Sorry - this is going to sound snippier than I mean it to, but which question are you answering? My problem is that I have not for the life of me been able to decipher how to install Chameleon or any of the other bootloaders "manually" - hence the attraction of the Rebel EFI setup.

SportsGuy · #4 02-23-2010, 05:14 AM

have you tried empire efi?

srs5694 · #5 02-24-2010, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adt2

Okay, I've had about all the fun I can stand in trying to get my hackintosh up and running; I've tried a handful of solutions, none of which results in a usable, dual-boot configuration. One thing that HAS worked, though, is Psystar's Rebel EFI software. Pop the disc in, boot from CD, swap CD with SL retail disc, install OS X, swap discs, reboot, and install Rebel EFI on hard drive, and voila - perfectly-behaved Snow Leopard on my Toshiba laptop. Only thing I can't figure out is how to make it dual-boot.

Why is this solution brain-dead simple, and seemingly impossible to reproduce? I've seen flaming missives directed at Psystar all over the 'net for "stealing" and/or "repackaging" other people's software for profit, but as near as I can tell, they're the only outfit that has actually figured out how to take all that software and make it into a commercially viable, one-click solution

One thing to keep in mind is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to Hackintoshing. Rebel EFI might work on your system, but take it next door and try it on your neighbor's computer and it might fall flat on its face. Some other approach might work for your neighbor but not for you. I've installed OS X on three computers, and trust me, it's different for each one. Generally speaking, it's easiest and works best if your system has hardware that's similar to what Apple uses in its computers, and it gets harder the further you deviate from that.

Quote:

My point was, what is it that Rebel EFI is doing / installing / hacking / breaking to allow SL to run so easily on my machine? How can I duplicate that functionality, since Psystar is no longer selling new licenses, and the one license I bought is already in use on another machine? Any way to make it dual-bootable?

I don't have a copy of Rebel EFI; however, my understanding is that Psystar just took a bunch of open source Hackintoshing tools and put them together in one package. The free Empire EFI utility does the same thing.

As to dual-booting, that's both simple and complex. You've got to partition your disk or have two physical disks, you may need to deal with a hybrid MBR configuration or juggle installations to get OS X to work on a regular MBR, and you've got to install and configure a boot loader. If you're lucky or if you're using the right tool, all this will be done for you automatically or semi-automatically and you can sleep-walk through it. If not, you'll tear your hair out trying to get it to work, whether you start with Rebel EFI, Empire EFI, a "distribution" like Hazard, or anything else. I suggest you read up here and do a Web search on keywords like "dual-boot," "OSx86," "Chameleon", "Windows," and "hybrid MBR" (in various combinations) to find more information. There's a lot of information out there, but I don't have bookmarks for anything (aside from my own hybrid MBR page, which isn't OSx86-specific).

adt2 · #6 02-24-2010, 04:25 PM

I hadn't tried Empire EFI, but I downloaded it and gave it a shot yesterday at your suggestion; no dice. I get the nice bootloader screen, but when I insert my SL disc and hit F5, I get a bunch of terminal text on screen, and eventually it just stops. I can't remember what the final line of text said, but it was something about "...timed out."

So, I went back to iDeneb, but this time I used the 10.5.8 version. It works, except that for some reason it doesn't recognize my laptop's keyboard. If I plug a USB keyboard in before booting, it works just fine. I figure I can investigate that one and try to repair it.

Now my problem is, how do I get Win7 loaded in the other partition, and still use the Chameleon bootloader that iDeneb installed?

SportsGuy · #7 02-24-2010, 11:04 PM

I don't know if it's the best way to do it, but I put in my recovery disk in and repair the startup, and then in Windows, I use a program called EasyBCD and add Mac to it, and then it lets me start up Chameleon.

But there are probably better ways

bonfigleo · #8 02-26-2010, 04:07 AM

You don't need the rebel efi disk for anything beside install and 1st boot. My process is as follows:

1. Boot with "Free Trial" of Rebel EFI and select snow leopard DVD.
2. Install OS
3. Boot with Rebl EFI and select the hard drive I installed onto.
4. Download the chameleon installer package and install chameleon. http://chameleon.osx86.hu/file_downl...2-r640.pkg.zip
5. Download the latest Chameleon and copy just the boot file to the root of your drive
http://chameleon.osx86.hu/file_downl...684-bin.tar.gz
6. Reboot into your new awesome Snow Leopard