Best OSX Version for AMD: Kalyway, Zephyroth etc?

[AfxTwn]

Hi,

I am a newbie to the OSX86 world and want to dual boot it along with my Windows XP. My current specs are:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ processor
ASRock ALiveNF5-eSATA2+ R3.0 motherboard
Nvidia nForce 520 chipset
2GB of DDR2 Ram
Nvidia GeForce 6600 graphics card
2x Maxtor 6L200M0 189GB Sata HDD
Creative Audigy 2 Platinum soundcard

I have downloaded the Kalyway 10.5.2 OSX and burned it to a DVD as this was recommended on a few websites as a good/stable operating system for AMD PC's. I am not sure if it this is the best one as I have seen lots of other versions mentioned and I am also not sure whether it will install ok on my Sata hard drive. Could someone please tell me what would be the ideal OSX version to get for my specs and if it will be ok to install as a dual boot on my Sata hard drive. I currently have XP installed so I know I would have to partition my drive and I have downloaded Partition Magic 8 but I am not too sure how to do this.

I have previously tried to install OSX but I messed up a lot as I forgot to select the customize option and choose which parts I wanted to install (I also am not too sure what to select but I would imagine I just install anything that matches my PC's specs like the AMD stuff or nVidia stuff).

Any help would be greatly I appreciated.

[Taisto]

As for me there is no best, or perfect Leo install either for Intel or AMD. Try install Zephyroth 10.5.2 Rev2 or LawlessPPC Phenom&AMD 10.5.4 relase. They both work on Athlon 64X2 CPUs. You shouldn`t have any problems with GFX Card - I have ATI and i`m not really in topic but i guess there`s a lot of kexts and installrs for GF6XXX Cards around. I`m not sure about nForce5 chipset - saw ppl reporting it as "no working" but im not sure.

So, what i`m trying to tell - you won`t find a relase which is perfectly matched with your hardware. You have to look for kexts, and solutions either way. So my vote - Zephy 10.5.2 Rev2 or LawlesPPC 10.5.4 - they install nice, without much problems, and they have kext folder on DVD image so you can put there all kexts you need to run installer properly - than You can solve hardware and booting problems ( with Vista the installer of DualBoot works without any problems - about XP there`s solution on this forum or insanelymac forum )

[naquaada]

Kalyways 10.5.2 DVD is the worst one I had because he made strong personal modifications on the DVD as in the system. I won't recommend it.

Zephyroths 10.5.1 - 10.5.2 DVDs have a good installation menu, but some errors in the system: Toast and a few other applications will crash, it's not possible to play mounted Video DVD images and X11 is not properly installed.

eddie11c's Leo4All V3 (10.5.2) is a very good image. He used a different background pic and the driver installations are a bit difficult, but the system is working fine, no errors.

The most actual image is LawlessPPC's 10.5.4 image, it is special designed for Phenom CPUs and more actual chipsets. It's a remake of Zephyroth 10.5.2 but the errors should be fixed. I haven't tried it yet, but there are at least two threads about it in this forum.

[nami]

I recommend LawlessPPC 10.5.4 i have tried others but this is the best you can get in my opinion, running without any problems. If you wanna wait some time (not much) Uphuck is going to release IatkosV4 for amd, they usually have good DVD

[Voyn1x]

I've used both Zephyroths 10.5.2 and Leo4Allv3, they have both worked well for me. Apparently eddie11c completely rebuilt the filesystem in Leo4Allv3 to fix lots of permission issues.

Leo4Allv3 also installs a handy script that sits in the root of the drive in which you can remove video drivers and repair extensions. When I first installed Leo4All using the nvidia drivers for my 6600GT, they caused my machine to kernel panic. Using this script I was able to remove the nvidia kexts and boot.

[nfoav8or]

I'm going to put in a personal plug for the Leo4Allv3 Installer vs the LawlessPPC for you simply because I like EFI handling my video card. I'm still not all tech-savvy with Chameleon yet though, so it may be possible. Zeph's Image was great (I personally used his 10.5.1 version with his <u>AMD Software Updater</u> to get my system up to date.

LawlessPPC's image gets you up to date right away (being 10.5.4 already). I've installed it myself (<a href="http://www.infinitemac.com/account/231/">check my profile</a> for system stats) and have no complaints on how it runs. It is a BETA and he did say he was working on a new one based on the feedback generated from the discussions here so just keep that in mind if you choose that route.

These reasons are mostly personal preferences for my selection. The guys above (Voyn1x and naquaada) have stated better "reasons" for choosing a system.

One more thing you can do to help yourself out is to look at is the hardware specs people have posted (either in their comments or in their profile), compare their installation DVDs, and look for problems they've had if they have similar hardware.

A little research goes a long way in keeping future headaches away. Good on you for asking.

[LawlessPPC]

Just to re-inforce what nfoav8or says. This is the reason I have the hardware I currently have. I read the thread started by shadow3k about installing on Phenom. Then followed his post description to install 10.5.1 (with a few changes). This is why I give a mention to shadow3k in the readme for the distro

L8rs
LawlessPPC

[AfxTwn]

Wow, well thaks for the great response so far. It seems that the LawlessPPC is getting the most votes at the moment, luckily I burned the Kalyway 10.5.2 to a DVD-RW so I can just delete that and burn the Lawless version instead. I shall have a look at a few more guides to see exactly how best to install it (I think I've got the gist of partitioning my hard drive now, finally).

The main problem I have come across is that there isn't any one true "idiot's guide" to installing OSX on a PC. In the process of doing this myself I am going to write a definitive guide which takes absolute newbes like myself through the process stage by stage. It would be great to have one source telling people all about kexts and kernels etc as I have found that you end up having to read through a tonne of information on various forums only to wind up even more confused than when you started.

I know that this is probably mostly my fault for not knowing enough about programming or computers as a whole but I still feel that the OSX86 world needs to be a lot more newbie-friendly, after all we were all newbies at one stage.

Ok, I shall get off my soap box now lol. Thanks again for all the advice so far.

[Taisto]

@AfxTwn

Sorry for how it can sound but - Zephy 10.5.2 and LawlessPPC are truly idiot-friendly installers (ofcourse when everything is going as it should...problems are the whole different story :) ) When i first installed it, i had no experience with mac os nor linux - and I managed without any problems to working OS - than with help of community i installed everything and now my laptop runs like a MacBook Pro ( almost ;) ). Only thing You must know is how to erase partition, and remember to customize Your instalation ( checking boxes with drivers shouldn`t be any problem ). But in one thing i have to agree - finding one source for all kexts grouped with categories like laptop models or device names, guides and tips is bloody difficult - maybe with new forum we can make such a "repository" ?

[LawlessPPC]

@AfxTwn

well said. Ive tried to make my distro as noob friendly as possible (no bootloader choices or kernel choices). Thats why its says in the read me if the DVD doesnt boot its not designed for your system. The only options you need to select are what hardware.

L8rs
LawlessPPC