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.