Installation on a Dell Latitude XT Tablet

[ludoZici]

Any updates on detecting the HDD? I've picked up an XT2, same issue.

 

I checked into pulling the drive, there's an adapter card that would allow me to attach the drive to a SATA controller, I'm considering doing this.

 

Here are the questions.

 

If I pull the drive out of the XT2 to install Leopard, what version should I use? If Leopard is the issue, and doesn't recognize the PATA chipset used by the XT2 (especially without a kext to connect), will this do any good? I can see pulling the drive, loading it successfully, and the machine just sitting there with a black screen.....

 

I've booted with several Leopard flavors, Kalyway, iATKOS, iPC, MSIWindosx, all booted, none recognize the HDD. What is of interest to me, someone asked this earlier, the Air uses the same drive, obviously not the same chipset, and the MSIWindosx build is seemingly based on the Air makeup. I'd hoped that would've worked (sigh....)

 

Can we keep this thread going? Anyone else gotten any further?

[amounra]

Any updates on detecting the HDD? I've picked up an XT2, same issue.

 

I checked into pulling the drive, there's an adapter card that would allow me to attach the drive to a SATA controller, I'm considering doing this.

 

Here are the questions.

 

If I pull the drive out of the XT2 to install Leopard, what version should I use? If Leopard is the issue, and doesn't recognize the PATA chipset used by the XT2 (especially without a kext to connect), will this do any good? I can see pulling the drive, loading it successfully, and the machine just sitting there with a black screen.....

 

I've booted with several Leopard flavors, Kalyway, iATKOS, iPC, MSIWindosx, all booted, none recognize the HDD. What is of interest to me, someone asked this earlier, the Air uses the same drive, obviously not the same chipset, and the MSIWindosx build is seemingly based on the Air makeup. I'd hoped that would've worked (sigh....)

 

Can we keep this thread going? Anyone else gotten any further?

 

Interesting idea. I'm. totally interested in your results if you get this working. I need my Latitude running win7 for other purposes, so eventually I'm going of to get this working in a dual boot capacity.

 

Let us know how it turns out if you get it all working (or working at all).

[v4l]

Interesting idea. I'm. totally interested in your results if you get this working. I need my Latitude running win7 for other purposes, so eventually I'm going of to get this working in a dual boot capacity.

 

Let us know how it turns out if you get it all working (or working at all).

 

it can't work because the chipset don't work with the right kext. the problem doesn't come from the hard disk.

[Syph]

it can't work because the chipset don't work with the right kext. the problem doesn't come from the hard disk.

 

The hard disk on the Dell Latitude XT2 is detected by the OS X installer in iDeneb 10.5.5. It is not an issue. I am installing Mac OS X 10.5.5 as we speak out of curiosity with no options selected. This is probably not the best way to go, but I have no idea what settings to use and I'm just trying for the heck of it.

[Island133]

Has anyone gotten any further on the installing or bypassing the block on the HDD to install any of the distros of os x ?? or still just on the external ??

 

I'm starting to think about just a hardware "shift" not really a hack. I was thinking about physically opening the tablet to expose the connections to the MB for the SD card reader and rewiring or re soldering the points on it to the points on the USB connection on the same side. Thus allowing me to boot from usb device which would be a 16GB SD card. Let me know what you guys think about this idea. Thanks

 

Island

[Island133]

Has anyone gotten any further on the installing or bypassing the block on the HDD to install any of the distros of os x ?? or still just on the external ??

 

I'm starting to think about just a hardware "shift" not really a hack. I was thinking about physically opening the tablet to expose the connections to the MB for the SD card reader and rewiring or re soldering the points on it to the points on the USB connection on the same side. Thus allowing me to boot from usb device which would be a 16GB SD card. Let me know what you guys think about this idea. Thanks

 

Island

 

 

**UPDATE**

 

I tried to install to 16gb SD card which worked for a bit but then got hung up at the very end. Trying to see if I can run a full install on it some more, and then will try to boot back in with the cd and set-up boot from SD card.

[Opal]

The hard disk on the Dell Latitude XT2 is detected by the OS X installer in iDeneb 10.5.5. It is not an issue. I am installing Mac OS X 10.5.5 as we speak out of curiosity with no options selected. This is probably not the best way to go, but I have no idea what settings to use and I'm just trying for the heck of it.

[Island133]

Any new news ??

[ReD-DaWg-OnE]

Hopefully, with the rumors of how long the Apple tablet is taking.

[pegasys]

Well, I've just bought another XT to use for a while, I sold my last one December '08 out of exasperation - LOL.

 

There's now a kext to get the correct native screen resolution for the x1250 graphics thanks to dong who's been working on ati framebuffer:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=190586

 

Installation to an expresscard SSD drive works fine, as mentioned by maati, although the Lexar 8GB I've so far used is too slow (over an hour to install, 4 mins to boot, a definate lag noticeable in OS X), I'll try a verbatim 16GB card next. Using a 2.5" USB HD until I get a faster card.

 

Sound doesn't seem to work with voodoo hda (it crackles) but the dell post installer mentioned by cruxado and karl taylor works well.

 

Pen and touch still need calibrating despite correct screen res, which is the biggest problem at the moment, is there anything available?

 

Some option to turn touch off when using the pen would be useful, as otherwise ink jumps between the pen and the palm of your hand (if you're resting it on the screen).

 

I've been using iatkos 10.5.7 and ideneb 10.5.8 lite for installs, still haven't looked at SL yet.

[pegasys]

UPDATE

 

Pen and touch calibration issue solved!

 

Browsing the HP TX2 thread for the first time, I came across bogdan_adnan's recompiled IOHIDFamily.kext - which fixes the calibration issue for touch and pen and also turns touch off when the pen is used (TX2 also has 1280x800 screen and n-trig digitiser)

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...9169&st=100

 

At last, with a fast SSD expresscard, native screen resolution, correct pen/touch calibration , this has become a usable system

 

[pegasys]

Well, I changed the Dell XT for another laptop (I never keep anything very long ) - but thought I'd post back about the Verbatim card:

 

The Verbatim card didn't work - I'd forgotten that ExpressCard SSDs could either have PCI or USB interface and the Verbatim was PCI. I next tried a Transcend ExpressCard SSD - and despite having much slower Read/Write speeds than the Verbatim, it worked just fine - 20mins to install leopard, 25 sec to boot and no lag noticeable when booted up in the OS.

[domineus]

hi all I just recently received my dell xt2 and I tried installing mac osx - I'll just quote a response from another forum

 

I tried to install ideneb 1.3 10.5.5. After a successful install I removed the dvd from my drive and restarted in safe mode. I noticed that the apple logo spun but I saw a circle with a slash on top of the apple logo. I googled and this indicated the drive couldn't mount. So I tried iatkos v7. The weird thing about iatkos v7 was that my mouse driver didn't work when it was booted from dvd. In order to navigate I had to tab and press the spacebar after I selected english as my language. I successfully installed mac osx, but after the initial restart, I got an error saying a restart was required and the os never loaded. I booted into -v and received a mounting error as well as this error that stood out

 

bsd root disk1s3, major 14 minor 4 on iatkos v7

 

there was a mounting error as well on ideneb

boot 1: error - this was on ideneb

 

On both installs, I went through general default settings. I couldn't modify my settings in iatkos v.7 because of my mouse issues described above. I was wondering if this is enough information that will solicit some assistance.

 

All of this was after I reformatted my hd as mac osx journaled. The previous OS on the system was windows 7. Do you need more information

 

I have since reinstalled windows 7 but I was wondering if someone could help. I am a total newbie when it comes to an osx86 install. So if anyone can walk me through some steps I'd be so appreciative. I tried installing it again but my mouse isn't working on my dell xt2 in ideneb and iatkos...

[domineus]

so I managed to install it but had a variety of issues (as listed above)

this command -v -x cpus=1 cpus=2 rd=disk2s1

allowed me to install mac osx in safe mode on my dell but there are still issues. For instance there are issues with internet, sound, video drivers, and n trig drivers as well as mouse issues...so I probably needs some kexts...I'll see if I can burn them on a dvd and update my boot with the newest chameleon and hopefully that may fix many of the problems

I'll keep trying but this is tedious

[pegasys]

@domineus

I had a XT for a few weeks in Nov/Dec - but you have the XT2 - which is a different machine (different chipset, graphics, sound, etc).

 

When booting from an install DVD and you have no mouse, have you tried plugging in a USB mouse, also does the touchscreen not work?

 

If you've got no mouse and/or keyboard when booting from the hard drive, try selecting voodoo ps2 fix when installing, for audio you could try voodoo hda (didn't work for the XT), not sure about the x4500 graphics (I think others have been able to get correct res but not QE/CI), what wireless card do you have? if it's intel it won't work, if it's Broadcom it should work OOTB. I mostly used iDeneb 10.5.8 (v1.6) on the XT, vanilla kernel worked fine.

 

Btw, what exactly is the HD controller on the XT2? (I'm guessing sata ahci) is it intel ICH9M-E or similar? The SB600 on the XT was a pain.

[domineus]

@ pegasys yup installed usb mouse it may be due to n trig I haven't tried installing it with the pen inside the slot only outside. But on my first install of ideneb 1.3, the mouse wasn't an issue. I have since installed a partition of linux on my drive and I will try mac osx if need be again if I have some proper coaching though =)

 

the exact issue is the mouse will work, then zip across to the apple icon selecting that menu option with about shut down and the mouse is useless (at least left clicking, right click works well LOL). This goes beyond install as when I loaded mac osx into safemode, my mouse still was useless...at least left click. I thought there was a gma 4500 kext floating around here somewhere but I didn't save the link provided.

 

The wireless card is broadcom but initial installation wouldn't pick up my wireless but linux picked up my broadcom after installing software updates.

 

I can say as far as HD I know its SATA IRRT but not sure of any other specs

 

edit it is TOSHIBA MK1229GSGF

mouse is Alps Electric dell touchpad

no device description

 

as far as everything else I could still use a hand I am unfamiliar with kexts and everything. I can remove the linux partition as soon as I uninstall the wacom drivers on there...I guess

[pegasys]

@domineus

Never heard of only one mouse button working before, you can actually swap the mouse buttons around if you go to Sytem Preferences>Keyboard&Mouse>Mouse>Primary Mouse Button - which might be worth a try LOL. Seriously, perhaps choosing Voodoo PS2 fix when installing would fix this, I almost always have to choose a PS2 fix when installing leopard on laptops as otherwise I don't get a working keyboard or mouse (but they do usually work when booted from the install DVD).

 

For Broadcom cards, although they usually work straight away, sometimes you have to go to Sytem Preferences>Network and set them up manually by clicking on a few things.

 

If you type lspci in console in Linux, the hard drive controller should appear in one of the lines e.g. for the toshiba nb200 netbook I'm using at the moment, it appears as:

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)

[domineus]

as far as any installation settings or howtos because definitely going with the default settings didn't work well...and only safe mode booting any customizations can you suggest using iatkos v7? or should I get a different build?

 

I also found my mouse error

it seems mac osx recognizes that the dell is a tablet pc. So I had to use my pen to literally click and select things...one other thing is that during install it unexpectedly shut down

[pegasys]

@domineus

It would be worth trying ideneb v1.6 (10.5.8) over v1.4 (10.5.5) - I've found the newer version works better for me on some laptops.

 

Generally, if it quits when installing or when trying to boot the installed OS, things you could try:

 

1.try different releases e.g on a vaio FE590, I found iPC worked best, iAtkos would quit when installing

2. If the Vanilla kernel doesn't work, try something else e.g Voodoo kernel (but vanilla should work for C2D)

3. Always boot verbose mode, try see what it says before quiting (not a help if it quits during GUI installation) then google or search forum for people with same problem

4.Try find out if anyone else has your exact laptop (there's a couple of people in this thread who mention XT2, perhaps PM them).

5. Try and find out any other laptops with the same spec as yours (chipset, video, etc), better still by the same OEM

6. Look in the bios - sometimes there's stuff there that can be changed to help.

[domineus]

a few things I found out (switched permanently to iatkos v7)

it is the mac osx picking up the tablet mode that is making it difficult for clicking and selecting with right click. Which is a hassle. And of course while I selected the broadcom wireless stack, it didn't work. I will see if a connected network works in a bit...also finally is the gma intel 4500 mhd kext is missing amongst a few other kexts

 

I edited my boot.plist in hopes to get rid of the boot 1 error and that didn't work which is a shame but que sera sera

I'll take your advice concerning seeing if other members on the net have tried for the xt2 model maybe make a new thread about it

[pegasys]

@domineus

I hardly ever get boot errors, but the last time I saw one, I think I just booted from the install DVD, chose the bootloader partition, at the customize screen unselected everything (especially main system files!), then just selected chamelion 2 bootloader, 'installed', (it gives a installation failed message, never mind), and rebooted.

 

I usually partition a laptop disk using MBR scheme, 3 primary partitions, P1 windows, P2 OS X, P3 Linux, the 4th partition is then an extended partition, containing as many partitions as I need. Depending which of the primary partitions is active, when I power on the laptop, I see either windows bootloader, chamelion bootloader or grub bootloader. But I usually have P1 active and use windows7 loader. To add Mac and Linux entries, I use the program easybcd. If you have several logical Mac partitions in the extended partition, the chamelion bootloader will boot these fine.

 

The mouse problem you have is weird. Do both sets of (left) mouse buttons (for track point and touchpad) not work? The XT2 is a fairly standard laptop with GS45 northbridge and ICM-9M southbridge. I suppose the ntrig digitiser could be different on the XT2 (compared to the XT, different firmware, maybe even different hardware?), I'm not sure what else could be different.

 

Does the XT2 with Windows 7 now ship with multitouch working? if it does, perhaps it's the newer ntrig multitouch firmware that's causing your mouse problems in OS X (although you'd think the hardware mouse buttons would work anyway). BTW, when you're using the pen or touch is the calibration 100% accurate over the entire screen?

[domineus]

the left button doesn't work at some points because of the tablet pen. the right button works surprisingly as does the touch pad. Both left buttons don't work i suspect because of said pen

 

I think my biggest issue is the bootloader. ideneb 1.3 installed 1.0.12 bootloader for the mac partition and I haven't been able to update that so that is a huge issue there

 

and yes easybcd works well but I think I ruined my mac boot options failing an update of chameleon....so yea...it won't boot without these commands

 

cpus=1 cpus=2 rd=diskxsy (where x and y are parition and disk install area)

 

So currently not a lot works and I'm not sure if my processor is supported. I don't think so...

[pegasys]

I don't think it's the processor any Intel CD, C2D, ULV, Atom is supposed to run leopard vanilla kernel - I assume you have SU9300 or SU9400 ?

 

Try to update chameleon to RC2 either using the method in 1st paragraph of my last post (using a iatkos v7 or ideneb v1.6 DVD) or else delete the partition, create it again, and do a fresh install with iatkos 10.5.7 or ideneb 10.5.8

 

I remember someone telling me when I first got a XT to check that XD functionality was enabled in bios - which it should be by default.

[domineus]

I'll try with a fresh install and update chameleon I'll see if I can do it natively in windows - at least my windows partition anything happens all I have to do is repair the mbr and I have windows back that's not a huge issue at all

 

let me update my chameleon first and reinstall iatkos. I have the ideneb combo update too I may apply that

[domineus]

after going through painstaking processes, it almost works...

net works, sound works, wifi works, and even recognizes touch (not well though)

though...mouse or bootloader doesn't...but I have a mac on a dell xt2