jjasniew Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 New to hackintoshing hobbyist here. When I stumbled upon OSXLatitude, I thought "Wow, these folks have it all worked out - you can intelligently pick a machine with the best chance of everything working" So I looked across the matrix and thought Asus X44H looks pretty good; checks right across the board for ML and I dont care about the biometric thing anyway. So I bought one. After going through the procedure, I was met with a Kernel crash. It took some substantial research (and I understand that's par for the course) to figure out that for this particular machine, you either have to patch the BIOS or use a patched versions of AppleIntel ... kext, which I was able to dig up elsewhere and install. Why didnt the EDP "know this" about this machine, while all the compatibility checks indicate everything works? Similarly with the audio. The compatibility list says audio is a go, and it turns out audio requires some massaging to get it to work as well; a different kext from the one installed via EDP, and editing within that kext. That I dug up elsewhere... Similarly with the battery; battery's got a check, however it always indicates 0%, although it can tell if the AC is plugged in. Battery indicator is pretty important on a laptop! So it seems for this machine, even though a subsystem may be indicated as working via EDP, it's not necessarily so. Am I being picayune by wondering if anyone actually has a X44H and tests it periodically against EDP, or if it's assumed EDP "should" work because it did the last time, or because we heard someone got everything working eventually? By "heard someone" I mean I'm not seeing a lot of X44H material in the forums, where someone documented just how this machine earned its checkmark for each of the categories claimed to be functional. I mean, if not out of the EDP box, then how else? I'm just sharing my "user experience" so far; I think the idea of a place that makes it easy and the network based automatic EDP is great! For those machines without a "user guide" indicator, you're truly on your own; you can ask questions and hope someone takes the time to answer, but it will be a challenge and with nothing explicit to guide you, the checks arent so definitive - more like "possibly" or "with some work" or "If you're lucky". Sorry, I've worked for 30 years in validation of computer components, where we never trust a vendor's part to do what they say it will. You have to check and document everything; nothing gets a pass until you've seen it happen personally. Who saw the X44H actually do each of what's claimed? Thanks and Best Regards, Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Bronxteck Posted February 2, 2014 Administrators Share Posted February 2, 2014 i assume you got paid for those 30 years.... or did you do out out of free will. We started as a dell only site hence the name of the site, and at that it was only D series latitudes. we try our best but our personal lives come first. then as we can we help. there is no obligation to do so, but we do. we are not for profit and barely sustain the domain fees mostly coming out of our own pockets to help others. do you see adds anywhere here. now if this was OsxAsusX44H.com and i paid to get a working product then maybe i would be upset a bit. things happen. thank you for letting us know. as far as i recall none of the maintainers of EDP has one of those machines. so as you mention we do not have the platform to test. sorry about your issues with it. but i am glad you got it working. and i am sure you now have a better understanding of how and what makes you machine tick. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darvinko Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Aside from the things Bronxteck has already mentioned, I'd like to add a few other items. I participated in finding a way to install Mountain Lion on a Dell Latitude E6400/E6500 laptop. Fortunately, there were several other members with the same machine, a good bit of knowledge and time to commit to working on it. As much as our machines were closely spec'ed, there were factors that created issues as well as unexplained circumstances that allowed certain aspects to work for some, and not others. Among the factors that were noted were: different flash drives can produce different results (often related to read/write times) type of machine used to create the installer (virtual machines, hackintoshes, real Macs) source of OS (torrents often had a propensity to failure) failure to properly configure BIOS and human error. When there are fewer people (as is likely the case for your machine) changes to plists (as you experienced with audio) are not always noted, or forgotten. Especially if you have configured your build in Lion and updated to ML for example, you might report it working, forgetting about changes you made. I have always viewed this site as a resource, a place where I can try what others have had work for them, learn a little about how these things work, figure out what doesn't, try a few things, and contribute to the community by offering what I have found to work or what hasn't worked. I enjoy the challenge of finding the solutions for my circumstance. I have always tried to help others find solutions, explain how to complete certain tasks, but I also feel strongly that these things are a mutual undertaking, a little effort leads to a lot of understanding, making the student capable of contributing to the community. We all hope that, just as you shared your audio solution, you might volunteer to help correct any potential problems with EDP by volunteering to "test it periodically against EDP" to help the next member (new or old) who decides to use that machine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcguru Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I am new here too, so can see both sides to the story. As BronxTeck points out this is a volunteer effort, and that must be allowed for. Yet we are mostly technical professionals doing this as a hobby, and I suspect that like me, you all endeavour to make your hobbyist work as good as, or maybe better than, the work you do for pay. As you say "One team that cares and loves the thing we are good at". Certainly this site gives an impression of being very professionally created. I take Joe's post as simply saying that there is a danger that the overall professional look of the site may mislead a newbie to assume everything will work as stated in the compatibility list. The truth of course was stated by Darvinko: there are all sorts of complexities, including upgrade path, BIOS versions, and things that can cause issues, even the make of flash drive used. To take the Latitude D series as an example, it makes a huge difference whether you have a UMA or nVidia graphics motherboard, yet this is not mentioned on the outside of the computer. Similarly those familiar with the HP Pavillion range of laptops will know that you can't tell anything from a marketing label such as "dv6" for that "model" name includes very different motherboards, some AMD some Intel, with different graphics, concealed inside identical cases. So I feel that you could do more to post a warning, along the lines of Darvinko's post, before a newbie can read the compatibility list. It would also be nice if the list included the number of members who had tried that particular entry, and a link to their comments. Of course this would need a more formal feedback system to encourage every member to post their experience, even if it only stated "worked as stated". That would have made it easy for Joe to post his experiences (including what he had to do to fix the problems) as a guide to others and as feedback for the team who maintain your marvellous EDP. So thanks to all you talented people for your hard work but don't be afraid to state the limitations of your EDP tool. As I always tell my customers, "We do the impossible every day, but miracles may take a little longer". Paul, aka "The PC Guru", Austin TX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjasniew Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 I would like to underscore that I am actually quite happy with the results of my hackintoshing, using the methods provided by OSXLatitude. When there's an opportunity to express "what do you think", I'm inclined to take it and say so, figuring someone will get something beneficial somehow. Yes, I am quite fortunate to get to work in the industry for so long. An interesting aspect about being paid is that the stockholders and beancounters get grumpy after a while and the proverbial time comes to "shoot the engineers" and bring product to market. This always bookends the effort to create something like UEFI, which I've noticed the hacking community ultimately sails right through. Cant shut it off in BIOS? We have a fix for that - which one would you like? Jailbreaking Apple's signed apps? What, they count in days for the next rev of iOS to be cracked?! Pretty impressive stuff, given that any documentation for how any of this works isnt just given out. I'm thinking that you guys are the future, as you know more about computing than the people who make it, because no one in this day and age can afford to pay someone for the time it takes to really know it that well. Same with the next increment in a particular technology; it's necessarily bounded by this matter of fact and "you guys" will figure it out somehow and quickly. So what I think is made with a lot of respect for what you do, actually. I realize there are zillions of variations in a specific model; after all Intel has to sell every piece in every bin, so that E6500 can be comprised of a range of hardware components. Getting just the right instance is a challenge and the model matrix that OSXlatitude has put together is a nonesuch step towards sorting it all out. The alternative - trawling the web to see in which forum and in which topic entry someone was able to tease out a success with a particular machine - is hardly attractive. Perhaps, similarly to how some models in the list have a guide link, there could be a forum link to all user experience, questions, etc for that machine. Another "comsumer idiot" level indicator might be to have the 5 star UX rating of EDP for that machine. 5 stars - bada-bing - perfect. 4 stars - couple of things - click the machine's forum link. 3 stars - you're going to have to replace hardware / only certain instances of the base model work - click the machine's forum link. Just some random thoughts... Thanks and Best Regards, Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npjohnson Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Just to add to this... does that list say anywhere GIARENTEED TO WORK? I mean as you said with the audio... it DOES work, it just took fiddling, which is really what Hackintoshing requires. The Asus system you refered to probably functions decently with some work. Notice it doesn't say hard to get working, it just says that it can be made to work) Maybe next time, throw up a post labeled "problems on Asus (model, etc.)." At which point I and many other people would happily help you resolve the problems as we are Actively on many topics... so if you would post specific problems with your model, we can give our best answers. Neither the E6420 or the E5420 are in EDP, but using a bit of time and work, they both run very well now. I am willing to help you try to fix the issues you have, but as I said, broad complaints go nowhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CARDAC Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Hello there Sir.. Well - thanks for your post... excuse my stupidity... but what is EDP... please... I want to build/assemble hackintosh machines, for cheaper versions of Mac machines... I believe that this can be done without too much trouble....!! All tests and experiments have shown me that I have a pretty big chance of doing this... (A lot of people would like to have Mac machines, rather than Windows..!!! I just have some small problems... and I looking for any help I can get.. If you interested - you may email me direct sabspence at gmail dot com... Thanking you kindly regards CARDAC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npjohnson Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 EDP is the program that autobuilds certain (supported machines, the compatabillity list at the top of this page.) What you need to do to get support is go to the dorum page and go to post installation or installation (whichever you need help with) and post a new forum (make sure to check for duplicates first!!!!) Or if there is a premade guide, use that. Best of luck. Oh and make sure to put your computers names and specs in your post so we know what we are dealing with. (Dont post priblems on this thread) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Bronxteck Posted February 26, 2014 Administrators Share Posted February 26, 2014 hey guy the last thing i would be posting is that you want to monetize our free project for your personal gains... we will not support that or your clients issues. we are definitely not your tech support. because of intentions like this.... it is why most of the developers that make a difference in the hacking community have left the scene. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcr Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Question regarding the compatibility list matrix chart. I am clear on what the various symbols in the chart mean, except for one. The symbol that looks like circular double arrows (very similar to a sync symbol). It seems to be mainly found under the WiFi column, so "I'm guessing" it means 'variable or depends or subject to change'. But that also is very close to what I would think the Question Mark symbol means as well. If the meaning of the symbols is documented on the forum, my apologies, I REALLY tried to look for it before posting this message. A suggestion might be to add a simple Legend on that page explaining what the symbols mean. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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