OSX on Toshiba U405s2856

[dreadlocks1221]

I just bought a nice toshiba u405s2856 and it came preinstalled with vista. My plan to install osx was to install the iatkos4i one one partition and then install ubuntu linux on the other and hopefully grub will pick up the other 2 OS's without a problem.


Does anyone have any suggestions as I am new to trying to get Mac OS on a windows machine?

my hardware is

Intel Core 2P8400
3gb ram
320 hard drive
intel graphics

[Dies]

Back up anything you care about, then just dive in.

If your a linux user, assuming your hardware cooperates, then this shouldn't be a big deal for you. You know the drill, something doesn't work right, you google, you try this and that, rinse, lather, repeat.

BTW I would suggest you use EasyBCD (http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1) instead of Ubuntu's grub, just use the advanced option at the end of the Ubuntu installer and tell it to install to the partition instead of MBR then set it up in Vista.

Also, while using one of the available distros is good initially, just to figure out what you need to get your hardware working, once you know which "third party" drivers/mods you need, you should definitely consider installing from the retail DVD, making only those changes necessary to support your system.

And last but definitely not least Little Snitch (http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html) is a MUST.

Good Luck.

[nfoav8or]

Leo4All's website has a good how-to already written out so I'm just going to point you there and tell you to ask questions as you go if you run into any roadblocks. I agree with Dies, make sure you back up anything you don't want lost by placing it on a separate HD because messing with all the partitions when OS X is still new to you might be a little daunting and you could end up redoing everything later on anyways.

Enjoy.

http://leo4all.com/ (http://leo4all.com/?page_id=38)

BTW... you'll find different variations to this how-to because there are different ways of doing it... for example back with Tiger (10.4): http://coolblog.profit42.com/2007/07/03/updated-osx-10410-dual-boot-guide/ (http://coolblog.profit42.com/2007/07/03/updated-osx-10410-dual-boot-guide/)

:cool:

[dreadlocks1221]

thanks for all your advice, I'm going to give it a try now and let you all know how it goes

[dreadlocks1221]

Ok I get it to install but then I get to the Yukon PXE or the prexecution environment and then it says media test failure-check cable, operating system not found.

[nfoav8or]

Ok I get it to install but then I get to the Yukon PXE or the prexecution environment and then it says media test failure-check cable, operating system not found.

Are you talking about the boot screen that initially pops up? This is the PC's bios showing you that it is working.

First let me ask what you have installed thus so far? what did you change? How closely did you follow the instructions on the linked site I pointed to?

To get your system to recognize your install you need your Hard Drive's partition table to have a partition marked as active.

1. Boot into your Mac installation DVD
2. Select Utilities -> Terminal:
a. diskutil list
b. fdisk -e /dev/rdiskX where X is the drive # you installed to seen in step A
c. update
d. f Y where Y is the partition you installed to seen in step A
e. w
f. answer y
g. q
h. reboot

Your system should boot to the OS you pointed it to.

[dreadlocks1221]

you actuallt got a response in before I could type mine lol.

I tried that and had no luck

I also tried getting back into windows and installed easy bcd I got the error nst_mac.mbr missing

I also tried formatting everything and installing mac and now I just get a blinking underscore

[nfoav8or]

Well this might be a problem of how you installed it. I'm not that familiar with iAtkos... I know I tried it once and didn't like it on my system... but then again, I use an AMD processor. When you boot up and go to Disk Utility, can you see your disk on the left? If you can, select the disk (not the partition) and look down at the bottom of the Utility window to see what kind of Partition Map Scheme it is. When installing windows on your machine, it is going to require MBR instead of GUID (which is favored more by Mac OS X, but not required).

If you decide later to not include Windows (but to rather use VMware Fusion to allow you to run Windows from within OS X) like I did, then I would say to go ahead and just install Mac to your system cleanly (without any other partitions including anything else) in a GUID Partition Scheme (because then you can edit this easily to add partitions for linux later).

That was a mouthful... whew. Any questions?

EDIT: The blinking underscore is your computer telling you that it can't find a bootloader for your system on the hard drives.

[dreadlocks1221]

I did install it as MBR, maybe I selected the wrong packages, I thought it may be easier to install mac, then windows, then linux. Should I use a different mac installer?

[nfoav8or]

Well you have the right idea with how you want it to run, but you need to remember that every time an operating system installs itself (except some linux distros) they want to be the default system booted up. So you need to think of what you will be using most of the time and how you will use it. This will enable you to select the correct order for your install right off the bat.

As for the distro of OS X you are using, I don't think it is a bad one, I simply haven't had any experience with that "flavor" of a system. All OS X 10.5 systems are going to be about the same in order for them to be considered legit systems... what varies is what is included within the install DVD (what applications and utilities are included) and what it allows you to install on (hardware specific... i.e. Intel/AMD, chipsets, graphics). I would do a little digging to find out more about what would line up with your system a little better. Remember that we can tell you what we think is best, but you ultimately are the one installing on YOUR system.

Personally I've found Leo4All to be a good all-around install for both the Intel and AMD sides of the street. People have also said Kalyway is good too. iPC (when his distro is released) will be a great distro for both as well. Look in to your system specs a little more. We need a little more information before we can really "prescribe" what we might think is best for you.

Cheers.

EDIT: what packages DID you install?

[dreadlocks1221]

thanks for your advice. I would probably use mac and linux most often and then probably windows. what do you think of Toh?

[nfoav8or]

I think ToH is a little dated at this point. You want something that is at least 10.5.2 compliant. This will allow you to update from within the OS to 10.5.5 which is the latest version with the most compatibility.

[dreadlocks1221]

Im working on getting leo4all now, I'm hoping itll be easier to triple boot with OSX installed first, thanks for your advice

[nfoav8or]

Well there are ways of getting things to boot in order, no matter what order you install them. Just remember to use MBR as the Partition Table Scheme and don't get too frustrated when things don't turn out exactly as you want them.

When you are customizing your installed system on the DVD, make sure you understand what you are installing before checking the boxes as having different "fixes" installed at the same time can be conflicting and may not allow your system to boot properly.