I have 2 Dell 518 Inspirons, there great little PC's come in quad core and are very OSX compatible.. but I need some assistance to make these a no brainier OSX install..

I have installed Kalaway 10.5.2 and everything works except video..

I have installed 10.5 from the retail disc, using a boot 123 disc from my dell mini install.. It runs native but then I dont have sound.. or video supported.. so i didnt bother messing as the kalaway was closer and i could use it to diagnose whats what..

I,m kind of a hackintosh noob, I've only done a few OSX on x86.. and much of it was from past development.. but i have a couple real Apples and lots PC know how.

The one oddity I am having is with Kalaway, I installed a Nvida 7300LE PCIx video card that I know worked on my other OSX install on a Dell xps 400 but I cant get it to work on the 518?

But ideally I want a full retail install for these machines..

I have one 518 up on vista to pull any hardware info if needed.

IF any one wants to make me and other 518 owners really happy, and help guide me through how to make a retail boot install for these Im game to do anything you want to try.

Right now I have the one 518 up on Kalaway 10.5.2.. with generic video.. everything works but video.

You can pick up these quad core 518 dells in the dell outlet store for under 400 bucks if you watch the site.. and that a q8200 640gb drive 4 gb ram, firewire, gb ethernet and the stock onboard video card with one VGA out, Id assume most people would plop in a nicer card. And they actually are pretty nice looking machines.. and there smoking fast!

Any takers..

I just ordered 2 extra sata drives for this project So I can image the last working install and quickly restore if it gets hosed.. saving some turn around time between attempts.

Got Kalaway 10.5.2 working perfectly with my nvida 7300LE, everything is flawless currently, full QE and Core , sound, fire wire ect.. and smoking fast also.

Now, can I make a boot 123 version, I did install using a boot 123 method and did get a working os, but no sound etc..

Being I have a fully working hackintosh on 10.5.2 and that I could install from the retail DVD I know it possible.. but I'm lost as to how to proceed any further and on the best tract to get the cleanest version of a "How To" for other Dell 518 owners.

So I have this thing running Kalaway perfectly, and I have installed the OS from the retail DVD and it works, however then I'm lacking a few things like sound .. How can I determine the "drivers" that kalaway is using so I can install them on the install of the retail version..

The box is running great on Kalaway, but I want a retail install so I can use the updater etc..

I've looked through the about this mac and see lots of stuff loaded.. any easy way to determine what Kalaway added?

Any ideas?

I agree. The 518 is a great little machine for the $$.. I have one running iDeneb 10.5.5 and have had hit and miss problems because I was running ATI 3450 graphics. The sound also eluded me.

After installing a new power supply, I found an inexpensive ATI 4870-1gb and at 6gb ram, it's a nice little workhorse in the parametric modeling environment.

But, like yourself, I have had a lot of problems trying to boot retail. None of the 132.iso's have worked with me. I also wish to have a clean install, and if necessary mess with a small boot partition, drivers and leave the install clean for updates from the mothership.

If you have any secrets on what approach you took to boot retail, I would appreciate hearing about how you did it. I'm also looking for a fix for the sound problem like yourself.

Thanks, and good luck with your pursuit. I think it's a good ideer.