Paul's complete guide to installing OSX Leopard on your MSI Wind / Advent 4211

[Guest Tulisan]

Firstly, just the usual thanks for this tutorial - it seems excellent! I have an Advent 4211 reserved in PC World to pick up today (currently typing on an Air!).

Anyway, my question: the Dell 1500 works fine? I was going to get a 1490 as in the tutorial but 802.11n is important to me as I've a Time Capsule. So can you confirm it works just as well as the 1490?

Thanks!

Yup, dell 1500 works with no problems at all. It's the one installed on my Wind and the 1490 on my wife's Wind. I'm also able to connect to my windows network through my linksys N router. Just don't forget to remove the stand off, or risk frying your wifi module due to short circuit.

[Guest GavinNI]

Yup, dell 1500 works with no problems at all. It's the one installed on my Wind and the 1490 on my wife's Wind. I'm also able to connect to my windows network through my linksys N router. Just don't forget to remove the stand off, or risk frying your wifi module due to short circuit.

Sweet! Then I think I'm pretty much sold. Battery life will suck but I'll just get a higher capacity battery shipped over from the States at some point. My only annoyance will be the lack of built-in mic (for iChat) and the lack of earphone socket - this is a real shame as it would have made a great wee device to watch videos on during flights etc. It seems odd that so much works great (wifi, BT, webcam etc) but the mic and earphone socket doesn't... is it something fixable do you reckon or is this something we just have to accept?

[Guest WearTheFoxHat]

Had this recommended for sound:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...em/SP-USB-MIC-1

Not sure if they ship to UK tho.

[Guest Myjazz]

Not sure if they ship to UK tho.

Well they seem to have international delivery options, so I guess I could get one in France...

Have you tried this device ? is it OK ?

[Guest midireebs]

Hi,

Thanks for giving us someplace to post results...

Got my MSI wind this morning and tore the wifi out of a dead HP NX6325 which is a broadcom 4311 and it fits... used the msiwindosx86.iso with kernel unchecked in the install and everything works! (Although I havnt tested the audio ins and outs yet).

Thanks for the inspiration!

midireebs

[Guest GavinNI]

Success! Earlier today I purchased an Advent 4211 from PC World (*shudder*). I also bought a cheap external DVD drive and got to work following Paul's guide. It worked exactly as Paul said and I'm very pleased with the results so far.

A few random notes and observations:

I had to install the Realtek networking driver as a few people have mentioned - otherwise it fails at the Welcome screen (I haven't got my compatible wireless card just yet...)

Battery kext needed installed a couple of times as others have noted

Battery life doesn't seem too great - it's hard to tell because the meter seems to fluctuate a little more than I'm used to (but then this is the first discharge of the battery). I'll be upgrading the battery as soon as possible anyway

The Advent logo is too wide to be covered up by an Apple logo (unless you put it at a wonky angle like someone has done) - pity! Will HAVE to think of a solution for this :D

The Windows logo doesn't appear to come off too easily off the Windows key

The Windows sticker peeled off nicely though :D

My hard drive is clicking far too much - I think it's probably not going to last long (nothing to do with putting on Leopard and now that I've done so much to this machine, I can't really take it back I guess, too much hassle so will probably just replace it eventually)

Mine doesn't seem to waken up when the lid is opened until the power button is touched once - then it springs to life very quickly

I thought my webcam wasn't working but you actually have to turn it on initially by pressing Fn-F6 - doh!

Trackpad button is very clicky and cheap but tapping on the trackpad works fine

Right trackpad button works fine for right-click

The return key is a very nice size but the full-stop key is pretty tiny and easy to miss

The keyboard is otherwise fine and not bad at all

It's handy having USB ports on both sides (unlike my Air)

My unit might also have a dodgy fan - it's grinding now and then and if I lift the unit (thus flexing it very slightly), it grinds even more.

The power cable is pretty damn nasty - the little PSU itself is fine but they've included a big ass nasty heavy cable that goes from the adaptor to the socket. I'm going to look into getting a plug that goes straight into the PSU (kind of like the plug that Apple include with their PSUs, so you can avoid the extended weighty cable) - it's the rounded three prong type (not the normal kettle lead type) but shouldn't be a problem I'm sure. There's too much weight and bulk in that cable

Ethernet required a reboot but seems fine since

It's snappy! Performance is very decent indeed

Thanks again Paul. If anyone has anything they want me to test or try out, I'm happy to help.

[Guest Martyboy83]

Paul I have successfully installed Leopard on my advent 4211. Everything working fine. Have managed to get wireless working using a tiger compatible USB dongle.

Have you managed to get Parallels working? Every-time I run the PC just hangs?

Also are you using any torrent clients? I have tried transmission and Azueres/Vuez and although I can't pin it down to them I keep getting kernal panics whilst using them. Pc will only run for 5-10 mins.

If I don't use torrent clients my 4211 seems to remain perfectly stable so far, had it up for 2-3 hrs without hitch.

Also any ideas if you can recover XP from the original recovery USB that you make, as the recovery partition has been wiped!!! :D

Has anybody else also noticed that the 4211 is magnetized at the front left and right side above usb ports?

Thanks for the Great guide. :D

[Guest GavinNI]

Further to my list of notes above, I've discovered a couple of problems:

Ethernet works fine until sleep. After sleep, it doesn't come back to life (reporting cable unplugged) until computer is restarted. I assume the replacement wireless card won't have this issue when I get it?

Trackpad sometimes seems to forget what tracking speed I've selected after waking from sleep and goes extremely fast, despite the setting in Sys Prefs. I just need to reclick the setting for it to go back.

Anyone else notice these?

[Guest midireebs]

Well sure enough tested Griffin iMic usb for audio outs and ins... works like a champ! The top bar in system prefs (show all button and minimize/maximize/close) dissapears which probably means the appleintegratedframebuffer and the 950 kext need some modding or a different combination of the various versions... I thought the mac mini was using a GMA950 chipset? Shouldnt this issue already be worked out? Ill go dig on insanely and see what can be done...

midireebs

PS: go get the "moreichateffects" addons... the star wars hologram effect on the cam looks awesome! Also Wallsaver looks great with the hyperspace screensaver running behind the desktop icons! FUNKY!

[Guest midireebs]

Just tried Garageband with the m-audio iControl... works great! Tested the Blue Snowball mic... works great! Tested Edirol UM-2 usb/midi device... works great! Looks like this thing is going to work for DJ'ing gigs!

[Guest WearTheFoxHat]

Battery kext needed installed a couple of times as others have noted

Battery life doesn't seem too great - it's hard to tell because the meter seems to fluctuate a little more than I'm used to (but then this is the first discharge of the battery). I'll be upgrading the battery as soon as possible anyway

The Advent logo is too wide to be covered up by an Apple logo (unless you put it at a wonky angle like someone has done) - pity! Will HAVE to think of a solution for this :D

My hard drive is clicking far too much - I think it's probably not going to last long (nothing to do with putting on Leopard and now that I've done so much to this machine, I can't really take it back I guess, too much hassle so will probably just replace it eventually)

Mine doesn't seem to waken up when the lid is opened until the power button is touched once - then it springs to life very quickly

The power cable is pretty damn nasty - the little PSU itself is fine but they've included a big ass nasty heavy cable that goes from the adaptor to the socket. I'm going to look into getting a plug that goes straight into the PSU (kind of like the plug that Apple include with their PSUs, so you can avoid the extended weighty cable) - it's the rounded three prong type (not the normal kettle lead type) but shouldn't be a problem I'm sure. There's too much weight and bulk in that cable

Yeah I need to try that again ! - Still not detecting battery every time!

3 Cell battery with Coolbook installed will give about 2-3 hours of usage.

Yeah currently mine has the apple sticker beside the advent .... but have a spare sticker when I can be arsed to remove the "advent logo"

My hard drive clicks frequently too, but its not worrying me. Its a replacement 250GB one.

Same here. But I dont use sleep.

aye pretty hefty power cable ... keep me informed if you find a replacement.

[Guest WearTheFoxHat]

Further to my list of notes above, I've discovered a couple of problems:

Ethernet works fine until sleep. After sleep, it doesn't come back to life (reporting cable unplugged) until computer is restarted. I assume the replacement wireless card won't have this issue when I get it?

Anyone else notice these?

There's a fix for that earlier on in this thread. Paul posted some code that you can implement.

[Guest midireebs]

Just discovered a couple issues this morning... having used the msiwindosx86,iso...

Screensaver doesnt kick when its supposed to... works in wallsaver behind the icons? Weird!

My NX6325 wireless card drops the connection every few minutes/turning airport off then on again seems to bring it back to life... I doubt it is the standoff shorting issue because I used 3 layers of antistatic tape on the bottom of the wifi card... I better go look at the kext... ? (amendment: It was my crappy router)

Trackpad clicking works with this imaged install. Even with the minor issues its awesome!

Edited September 15, 2008 by midireebs

[Guest midireebs]

Just discovered a couple issues this morning... having used the msiwindosx86,iso...

Screensaver doesnt kick when its supposed to... works in wallsaver behind the icons? Weird!

My NX6325 wireless card drops the connection every few minutes/turning airport off then on again seems to bring it back to life... I doubt it is the standoff shorting issue because I used 3 layers of antistatic tape on the bottom of the wifi card... I better go look at the kext... ?

Trackpad clicking works with this imaged install. Even with the minor issues its awesome!

[Guest Myjazz]

also seems to cause double posting issues :D

Edited August 18, 2008 by Myjazz

[Guest bingggo]

How does Skype videoconferencing run on the Wind - is there any video lag for the person on the other end?

I've noticing while skyping between my Acer Aspire One (similar hardware altho different webcam, running Leopard) and MBP on the home network that the Aspire is transmitting (or the MBP is receiving) video with a .5-1s lag... whereas there is essentially no lag the other way around. Not sure what the cause would be...

Cheers. B

[Guest Jimmy B]

Hi., just dropping by to say 'thanks' to Paul for all the hard work here.

Installed on my Advent 4211 pretty much as per instructions. I don't have a USB DVD drive, so I did the initial Kalyway install from my MBP onto a laptop drive in a USB enclosure, and then swapped the drive into the Advent and continued from there. I'd tried to get the MSIWindOSX86 image but the download speed was so slow I just went ahead with Paul's original method.

Had a gig of ram lying around anyway, threw that in along with a cheap 802.11n Broadcom card from eBay. All working pretty d@mn well so far. Had to reinstall the battery kext, as others have mentioned, but that's about it. USB audio dongle on its way, and in the meantime I have a M-Audio Transit I'll test out tomorrow. So far, though, I'm mightily impressed with my 'MacBook Nano'. I'll take a photo of it with the rest of the lineup - 17" G4, 15" MacBook Pro, Black MacBook, G4 Pismo (now retired), and of course the Advent.

Worth mentioning that this is my second Advent. The first was borked - ran it on XP for a couple of hours and it was hanging or randomly restarting every five to ten minutes. So for anyone who buys one with a view to modding it, make sure it's all working out-of-the-box first.

Cheers - and thanks again!

[Guest bingggo]

Has anyone received the new MSI (with 6 cell?) that has a different touchpad with more limited scrolling? It's discussed here: http://forums.msiwind.net/general-discussi...hpad-t2133.html

I don't really care if its fancy scrolling is limited, as long as basic functionality (and preferably tap-to-click) is still supported in OS X?

[Guest midireebs]

I used the msiwindosx86.iso to install and I have the tap-to-click option working but no 2 finger scrolling. Mine is the U100-***035 w/ the 3 cell battery. We have a pink 6 cell wind at my store but I dont think I can go through life w/ a pink notebook just to get longer battery... I'll wait until they ship some 6 cells individually.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I have the new 6 cell wind with the different trackpad. In fact, under OSX (aside from losing the trackpad menu) you get more functionality through the 'scroll corners'...

Tap to click works fine.

P

[Guest angstmann]

I have the new 6 cell wind with the different trackpad. In fact, under OSX (aside from losing the trackpad menu) you get more functionality through the 'scroll corners'...

Tap to click works fine.

P

But can you turn OFF tap to click so that it doesn't accidentally click if you happen to brush it whilst typing? This is my main concern about the new trackpads and their use under OS X. At the moment, with tap to click on, I can't type more than a sentence without my cursor flying all over the place and ending up with complete gobbledegook on my screen. Highly annoying.. so tap to click is currently OFF on my setup.

So to recap, can tap to click be turned OFF at all with the new trackpads?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

You can't turn off tap to click AFAIK.

P

[Guest boatdrinks]

I have read through all of the excellent posts. There are some references to the Dell 1500 Wireless card that supports 802.11n, is this the same as the Dell 1510? The Dell 1510 is the only one that I can find, will it fit into the Wind?.

Also has anyone tried a 3G internal card?

Edited August 21, 2008 by boatdrinks

[Guest boatdrinks]

Installed on my Advent 4211 pretty much as per instructions. I don't have a USB DVD drive, so I did the initial Kalyway install from my MBP onto a laptop drive in a USB enclosure, and then swapped the drive into the Advent and continued from there. I'd tried to get the MSIWindOSX86 image but the download speed was so slow I just went ahead with Paul's original method.

Had a gig of ram lying around anyway, threw that in along with a cheap 802.11n Broadcom card from eBay. All working pretty d@mn well so far. Had to reinstall the battery kext, as others have mentioned, but that's about it.

Could you elaborate a little bit more about how you used your MBP to get the installation started? Also, could you describe how to reinstall the battery kext?

[Guest Jimmy B]

Could you elaborate a little bit more about how you used your MBP to get the installation started? Also, could you describe how to reinstall the battery kext?

Sure.

You need:

- Everything in Paul's list, minus the external DVD drive

- An Intel Mac

- A USB 2.5" HD enclosure

- A 2.5" hard disk destined for your Wind / Advent - either remove the one that's already in it (and swap the wifi while you're in there), or get a nice big new HD. I upgraded the HD in my MacBook Pro last month to a 320gb, 7200rpm one, so I used the old 100gb drive for my Advent.

1 - Download and burn Kalyway 10.5.2

2 - Install your 2.5" HD into your USB enclosure and plug into your Mac

3 - Insert Kalyway into your Mac, and reboot from it#

4 - Follow Paul's steps 4 - 27, but use the USB HD as your destination. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO ERASE AND FORMAT THE DRIVE IN YOUR MAC BY MISTAKE!

28. When the 'Install Succeeded' screen appears, shut down your Mac. In my case I restarted it from the USB HD to check that all was well. Then eject the Kalyway DVD and reselect your original startup disk

28 1/2 - remove the HD from your USB enclosure and install it in your Wind / Advent. Do the memory & wifi if you haven't already.

29 onwards are as Paul's instructions - I used a 1GB USB stick for all the patches etc.

Reinstalling the battery kext is as in Paul's step 45 - the one you need is ACPIBattery.kext

I had also thought about installing from an 8gb iPod nano. But compared with erasing the iPod, making it look like a bootable iso and then restoring all the tunes and video back to it, this was probably easier.

And here's a couple of photos: