ファブリス Wrote:Ok, found this:

Quote:Generally speaking for VM software that requires any hardware support at all you only need what Intel calls VT-x, you do not also need VT-d. The -K processors don't support the latter, but that doesn't matter for the most part (there are cases that require VT-d of course but not for basic VM support).

Yeah, that sounds about right, it's a non-essential technology that gives VMs direct access to hardware. I don't have Vt-d myself, my VMs run on Vt-x. But when I build a new system I'll get a "non-k" because I don't oveclock any more so there's no reason to go with a "k" CPU. It's true though that Vt-d is of limited use right now but you're building a new rig. Virtualization is making big progress every year so maybe in a year or two you'll wish you had Vt-d. One scenario I can think of is a hypervisor but that's a whole other topic (exciting as it may be).

ファブリス Wrote:Out of curiosity do you use an Apple ID or iTunes credentials on your OS X partition?

The short answer is "yes". However, I torrent my apps so my Apple ID is meaningless. You can still pay for OS X and apps if you wish, a lot of hackintoshers do. I doubt anything would happen to your legit ID. I don't think they really care that much about Mac hardware these days and are more interested in selling software. In fact they even renamed "Mac OS X" into "OS X" so Mac as a hardware brand seems to be going away.

Oh, btw, I was running OS X on an old 80 GB HDD that I got for free. Then I bought a nice new SSD specifically for OS X. So, the OS takes 10 seconds less to boot up, whoop-tee-doo. I don't typically reboot anyway, I just put it to sleep. It comes back from sleep in 1 sec on SSD and in 2 secs on HDD. In day-to-day normal OS use I don't even notice any difference at all. I think you're better off using an SSD for games or some disk intensive video editing or something. Windows may benefit from running off SSD more though, it's always paging and churning the drive.

ファブリス Wrote:What does your boot sequence look like? Can you still go in the BIOS for the PC settings?

I'll use my shiny new iPad 3 to record a video of my machine boot up. Holding the iPad in one hand, keeping it in focus and trying to use the keyboard with the other hand requires some real skill though.

shinsen Wrote:

oefirouz Wrote:It is important to note that Ubuntu has a lot of support, which benefits Mint, because it is built on top of Ubuntu.

As an LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) user I feel obligated to note that not all Mint is built on Ubuntu. In fact, I prefer LMDE because it's less bloat, more speed and it's a rolling distro. The "rolling" part was a big deal for me when I migrated away from Ubuntu and its upgrade cycles that made me feel like I was essentially having to reinstall my OS on a regular basis. This was during the shift from Gnome to Unity though, when Ubuntu lost much of its user base to Mint.

LMDE is going to be my next OS! Currently I have Cinnamon on Ubuntu, but I want the leanness of Debian.

And you're absolutely right, I was just simplifying because I think most people's first experience with Mint will be with one of the Ubuntu derivatives.

ファブリス Wrote:just a matter of drag and dropping files into Vim, which also opens right where I wanted it

I seem to remember that there is no ~/.vimrc file by default. You may want to copy your old one or just create a new one and add the following to it:

Code:

autocmd BufReadPost *
  \ if line("'\"") > 0 && line("'\"") <= line("$") |
  \   exe "normal g`\"" |
  \ endif

That should make vim remember cursor positions.

[ファブリス]

I meant VIM opens where I want it with the "winpos" command, so VIM configuration is not an issue.

However I don't like to use a split window for browsing files in Vim myself... Hence I'm used to have a Finder window neatly positioned, and it would always open up exactly where I want it, next to Vim, for drag and dropping files. That's what I was referring to.

Something like that:

[ファブリス]

@shinsen: I registered on the tonymac forum I'll post my parts list before I order to get their feedback. I thought I'd ask in case you already know this: do you think the SSD has to be a specific controller for OS X?

oefirouz Wrote:...I would recommend Linux Mint with Cinnamon desktop. It is built on top of ubuntu

Mint is built on top of Ubuntu (which is built on top of Debian).....lol.....

ファブリス Wrote:do you think the SSD has to be a specific controller for OS X?

It doesn't matter. To save you time on researching I can suggest Plextor. They get very positive reviews on sites like Anandtech, they have a pretty new Sandforce controller, they're a great bang for the buck and it's always awesome when your hardware says "Made in Japan" on it

Some sites suggest Trim Enabler for SSD's but I don't think you need it for Sandforce. I don't use Trim Enabler.

chamcham Wrote:

oefirouz Wrote:...I would recommend Linux Mint with Cinnamon desktop. It is built on top of ubuntu

Mint is built on top of Ubuntu (which is built on top of Debian).....lol.....

and Debian is built on top of the GNU userland which is built on top of Linus' kernel which is build on top of....

[ファブリス]

shinsen Wrote:

ファブリス Wrote:do you think the SSD has to be a specific controller for OS X?

It doesn't matter. To save you time on researching I can suggest Plextor. They get very positive reviews on sites like Anandtech, they have a pretty new Sandforce controller, they're a great bang for the buck and it's always awesome when your hardware says "Made in Japan" on it

Some sites suggest Trim Enabler for SSD's but I don't think you need it for Sandforce. I don't use Trim Enabler.

Thanks again. I'll look these up, otherwise I was thinking about Intel SSDs. I read too many reports of failing OCZ's, I'd rather pay a small premium and go for something reliable rather than go for max read/write speed.

ファブリス Wrote:What does your boot sequence look like? Can you still go in the BIOS for the PC settings?

I recorded a video of my hackintosh booting:

I apologize for the shakiness, the iPad is meant to be held with both hands for this but I had to hold it in my left hand (it's kinda heavy).

To summarize:
- I use Chameleon bootloader to start OS X
- It has a boot selection menu which you can configure with custom drive names
- I use the bios boot menu instead out of personal preference (although if my drives were identical it wouldn't be very convenient).
- I recommend using a separate physical drive for each OS

Other than that there isn't really much else to show. I didn't go into the bios because the settings are pretty much default with only one exception - you have to set your SATA to AHCI mode. That's the only thing that's really required. Some recommend disabling quickboot but I don't have it disabled. Hackintoshing doesn't require you to replace your bios or anything like that.

You can see bios configuration and the entire OS setup process in this guide if you're curious:

[ファブリス]

Wow, that's really sweet shinsen. The chameleon boot loader looks really nice. I know I'm silly but I don't like when things feel patched up. This looks great though, I didn't see any screenshot that showed the drives like that on tonymac's site. Thanks!

I think I understand better now. Your PC is booting into one designated boot drive (through BIOS or the cabling or whatever), that drive has the Chameleon software. Chameleon then lets you boot into all the other bootable drives and partitions.

So you did install both OS X and one Windows partition for games on one SSD drive right? I would probably want to do that for the main SSD drive because I don't think I'll be able to afford two. Though OS X never felt sluggish to me, it'd be a shame not to get some taste of OS X on SSD as well.

For the main SSD drive, did you first install Windows and then use Unibeast to add the OS X partition, or did you install OS X, and then use Bootcamp from within OS X to create the Windows partition?

ファブリス Wrote:I didn't see any screenshot that showed the drives like that on tonymac's site.

I use Chameleon, which I installed with Chameleon Wizard.

The bootloader that comes with tonymac's Multibeast suite is called Chimera. I think it's actually a fork of Chameleon. You're not obligated to install Chimera even if you use Multibeast to load a DSDT. If you like Chameleon better you can use it instead. There are also many different themes for Chameleon if you want to change the boot screen's look. I just never bothered to configure mine, so what you saw in the video is just the default.



You can also make your own.

ファブリス Wrote:So you did install both OS X and one Windows partition for games on one SSD drive right?

Yeah, I originally formatted my entire SSD with just Apple HFS+ filesystem (GUID). Then I decided I wanted to keep some windows games on the SSD as well, so I used iPartition for OS X to make my OS X partition smaller (just dragged it with the mouse to adjust size) and made a new NTFS partition in the free space.

ファブリス Wrote:For the main SSD drive, did you first install Windows and then use Unibeast to add the OS X partition, or did you install OS X, and then use Bootcamp from within OS X to create the Windows partition?

I had Windows on one HDD and Linux on another HDD but when I installed OS X on the SSD I had all of my HDDs unplugged (just in case). After OS X install I plugged my HDDs back in and Chameleon now detects the other partitions. If I actually wanted to use it for OS selection instead of the bios menu I would edit Chameleon's config to hide the NTFS games partition and rename the windows partition to "Windows 7".

[ファブリス]

Gotcha! I didn't know about Chameleon as I never installed anything else besides Windows via Bootcamp.

While Googleing for "chameleon" I found this other excellent site MacBreaker:

The Difference Between Chimera and Chameleon (macbreaker.com)

Probably going to spend a while still choosing a SSD.

Ok I thought you had installed a bootable Windows *and* OS X partitions on the same SSD drive, which is what I was planning to do. I'm guessing if I use Bootcamp from within OS X, it will break the Chameleon boot.

EDIT:Oh sweet, MacBreaker has a guide just for that:

How to install OS X Mountain Lion on a MBR partition with Unibeast
http://www.macbreaker.com/2012/08/mounta...beast.html

ファブリス Wrote:I'm guessing if I use Bootcamp from within OS X, it will break the Chameleon boot.

You don't need Bootcamp. What you're thinking of doing is hackintoshing your hackintosh from inside OS X in order for your PC to run Windows. You're waaay overthinking it. Also, I don't think the Bootcamp app even works on PCs, it's raison d'etre is to make a Windows partition possible on a Mac.

Are you absolutely sure you want to dual boot Windows and OS X from the same drive? It's not a very good idea unless you just can't help it. You'll really simplify your life in many ways if you keep them on separate drives. What's your budget and shopping list looking like?

If I was building a new workstation I'd maybe think about something like this:

Drivex: Purpose > Drive type > Filesystem

Drive 1: OS X install > SSD > HFS+ (can always add an NTFS partition for games)
Drive 2: Scratch drive (torrents, downloads, video edits, etc) > HDD > HFS+
Drive 3: Backups (Time Machine, SuperDuper) > HDD > HFS+
Drive 4: Storage > HDD (2 TB or more) > HFS+

Drive X: Windows 7 install > HDD > NTFS (give it a partition on one of the HDDs above or use another drive from an older computer)

For my Scratch drive I'd use a Western Digital RE4 series - high reliability, designed to run 24/7. If the budget was tight I'd also keep my backup partitions on the storage drive.

[ファブリス]

shinsen Wrote:What you're thinking of doing is hackintoshing your hackintosh from inside OS X in order for your PC to run Windows.

That doesn't surprise me for some reason. *sigh*

You're right I don't want to have both OS X and Windows 7 partitions fail on one single SSD drive at the same time. Plus, 64 Gb won't be enough for Windows.

Due to personal preferences, and usage habits, *if I really had to make a choice* I would put Windows on a SSD rather than OS X. Windows always feels sluggish to me, but OS X is quite alright on a HDD for my needs (I don't do video or audio editing).

One option would be similar to yours, but reversed. I might have 3/4 of a 128Gb SSD for Windows, and use ~32Gb as HFS+ for iTunes's collection (including iPad backup).

shinsen Wrote:What's your budget and shopping list looking like?

I was aiming for 2500 € including the 999 € Apple Cinema Display, and I'm already over budget.

Here is a copy of my parts list on Google Docs, it's editable if you wanna suggest a change to it.

The gray bullets are parts I'm undecided about.

Do I really need a CPU cooler? Probably not, but I read it may be less noisy than the stock fan under load (gaming).

Do I really need a 650W PSU? Probably not, but it's only 12 € more than the 550W model.


I'm going to "theorycraft" my partitions today then :p

Vague idea right now is to have
- 128GB SSD for Windows 7 + Games
- HDD for OS X
- HDD partition formatted as ExFAT that is writable by both Windows 7 and OS X
- Maybe a slice of the SSD (~32 Gb) for iTunes in OS X (includes iPad backup) and/or MySQL databases


Thing is I don't download much these days. Atm my Windows 7 is using 217 GB of 252, with a bunch of games I rarely play that I could delete. And 750 GB left for OS X. In OS X I'm currently using 124 GB of a 728 GB partition.

PS: On a LGA1155 does it make a difference if you use 4x4Go or 2x8Go ? I think 2 DIMs is for dual channel, quad channel is reserved to LGA2011 right? Since my W7 Home Premium is capped at 16GB I might pick 4x4 as it's cheaper.

ファブリス Wrote:Do I really need a CPU cooler? Probably not, but I read it may be less noisy than the stock fan under load (gaming).

I've read very good things about Noctua coolers being very quiet and efficient but they may be a bit pricey, around 50 euro. You could start out with the stock fan and if you don't like it get an aftermarket cooler. You could also line the inside of the PC with foam to dampen the noise.

ファブリス Wrote:Do I really need a 650W PSU? Probably not, but it's only 12 € more than the 550W model.

I think powering the video card is your main concern. Maybe research GTX 680 power consumption.

ファブリス Wrote:- HDD partition formatted as ExFAT that is writable by both Windows 7 and OS X

You can do this, just don't keep anything particularly valuable there because exfat is not very fault tolerant, it's designed for thumbdrives and memory cards, I think. Also, if I'm not mistaken Linux may have trouble reading it.

ファブリス Wrote:On a LGA1155 does it make a difference if you use 4x4Go or 2x8Go ? I think 2 DIMs is for dual channel, quad channel is reserved to LGA2011 right? Since my W7 Home Premium is capped at 16GB I might pick 4x4 as it's cheaper.

LGA1155 is dual channel, so 2 memory sticks per channel. If you went with 4x4 GB you would use both channels, but on the other hand you'd fill all slots and cut yourself off from upgrading memory in the future. DDR3 prices are currently coming down, so in a year or two you may wish you had slots for extra ram.

I noticed you had a DVD-RW drive. That's one part in my PC that I never use any more. If you're just getting it so you can use your Windows install DVD then maybe it's a waste of 24 euro because you can always make a bootable usb stick.

[ファブリス]

shinsen Wrote:You could start out with the stock fan and if you don't like it get an aftermarket cooler.

You're right, I really don't need that now. That's one item off the list.

shinsen Wrote:I noticed you had a DVD-RW drive. That's one part in my PC that I never use any more. If you're just getting it so you can use your Windows install DVD then maybe it's a waste of 24 euro because you can always make a bootable usb stick.

True.. I think I was worried about compatibility with OS X, but on further thought there are Mac models without a DVD drive... so it shouldn't be a problem. Worst case I suppose I can use my MBP for converting a DVD to ISO or copy some files off old backups.

[ファブリス]

shinsen Wrote:For my Scratch drive I'd use a Western Digital RE4 series - high reliability, designed to run 24/7. If the budget was tight I'd also keep my backup partitions on the storage drive.

Ok thanks for the recommendation, I'll get the "Western Digital Caviar RE4 500 Go SATA 3Gb/s", model WD5003ABYX.

Ideally I'd want to have write access to a storage/media HDD partition from both OS X and Windows 7. How do you solve this?

Until now I was using NTFS-3G but they went full commercial with "Tuxera" and there aren't any more NTFS-3G binaries available for Mountain Lion, afaik.

Guess I'll format as NTFS and someone will come up with a new binary for Mountain Lion eventually...

I use a commercial driver from Paragon to access HFS+ from Windows. Since I use OS X most of the time I decided on HFS+ as my main filesystem for data. The idea is to keep your data in the filesystem that is native to whatever OS you'll be using as your main.

I guess the most multi-OS compatible way to store data would be a NAS. So if you were to get a $25 Rasperry Pi, for example, you could run FreeNAS and share the data over the local network via SMB (and maybe sftp over the internet if you wanted). It's probably overkill though if you don't have a lot of data and at least one external USB drive you're willing to keep running all the time.

[ファブリス]

I've settled on Intel SSDs eventually for the reliability and the warranty, though the Crucial M4 looked just as good. I was going for two 120 Gb SSDs (one for Windows 7, and one for OS X) then I noticed the 330 was 180 Gb for the same price! So that works out nicely with a Intel 330 180 Gb SSD for Windows which will allow me to use Steam on the same drive (I don't have tons of games) and a Intel 520 120Gb which has a longer warranty and is plenty enough for my OS X needs.

My motherboard is on a piece of carton atm, testing out the RAMs with memtest86.

I think I'll install Linux Mint first on the HDD, that would be the quicker and easier OS to install I think. So I will end up with one OS per drive.

I have to test the HDD first because I couldn't get this one on Amazon, I have only 10 days for a (very unlikely) replacement.

Anyone know a good program on Linux for testing a HDD? Something that lets me do a quick pass (thorough test on a 1TB drive will take all night I imagine >_>). Or should I get something on USB stick like memtest86 for this?

Ubuntu has something called "Disk Utility".

I think the actual package is "gnome-disk-utility".
So if your Linux is Debian-based, you can do a quick
"sudo apt-get install gnome-disk-utility".

For drive health, look at the "S.M.A.R.T." status, and you can even
run some S.M.A.R.T. self-tests.

[ファブリス]

Ahh ok thanks Got Linux on a USB stick and damn it booted fast! Didn't have trouble with Intel's HD 4000 graphics (I haven't connected the Nvidia GPU yet). I'm reading up a little bit on SATA cables. Last time I built a PC it was on IDE :p

[ファブリス]

So shinsen, do you use a WD RE4 drive? I've got a 1TB version and there is no way this thing uses "advanced acoustics which minimize noise". Wow, it's very noisy. Not so much the spinning, but the grinding when its doing random access.

Something like that, is this normal?

I don't have a frame of reference that's the problem though I can't imagine the drive in my iMac made so much noise the shell wouldn't dampen it that much. I'm thinking of returning it and getting a regular drive. It's not even useful alongside a SSD as it keeps doing random intermittent accesses when I'm not doing anything at all on the computer.

[ファブリス]

I have another newb Linux question!

Can I safely skip the swap partition? (LinuxMint) Is it like Windows where technically it works without swap file, especially if you have lots of memory, but if you run the computer 24/24h it will run out of memory with some applications like MySQL server because of the way memory is released?

I'm not too keen on having lots of partitions in the File Explorer, especially ones that I have no direct use of. Or is there a way to hide partitions from Windows?

ファブリス Wrote:I have another newb Linux question!

Can I safely skip the swap partition? (LinuxMint) Is it like Windows where technically it works without swap file, especially if you have lots of memory, but if you run the computer 24/24h it will run out of memory with some applications like MySQL server because of the way memory is released?

I wouldn't say you shouldn't have a swap partition, but for the most part Linux will run fine without it, especially if you have a lot of ram. To be honest, I have 16 gigs of ram and my system rarely ever writes to swap.

If you want the safety of a swap partition without it clustering your Windows File Explorer, you could also think about making a swap file instead of a swap partition. I know there is an easy way to do this, but I can't think of it off the top of my head. If you google for it, it should come up. (Keep in mind, a swap file is ever slightly slower than a swap partition. But really, if you have to write to swap at all, you'll be feeling it bad regardless of whether it's a partition or a file.)