Installing OS X on DELL Mini 9 / Vostro A90

Preparation Stage 

It is recommended to prepare the following before embarking on the actual implementation.

1. Download DELLEFI 1.2a5.zip
2. Open DELLEFI 1.1.zip and unzip everything to BootUp USB Drive
3. Download DellMiniBoot123v8.02b1; Unzip DellMiniBoot123v8.02b1.zip to get DellMiniBoot123v8.02b1.iso
4. Download PowerISO; Install PowerISO
5. Open DellMiniBoot123v8.02b1.iso with PowerISO
6. Extract everything in DellMiniBoot123v8.02b1.iso to BootUp USB Drive
7. Download AboutThisMac.pkg
8. Copy AboutThisMac.pkg to BootUp USB Drive
9. Download Mobile broadband script
10. Copy Mobile broadband script to BootUp USB Drive
11. Download syslinux.zip; Extract everything in syslinux.zip to C:\syslinux
12. In your XP or Vista, start a command prompt window
13. Type the command on the prompt: cd \syslinux\win32
14. Type the command on the prompt: syslinux -ma <BootUp USB Drive letter; For example, E:>
15. Download TransMac (15days trial); Install TransMac
16. Insert original Mac OS X Install DVD in your DVD drive
17. Insert OSX Install USB Drive into any available USB port
18. Download OSinstall.mpkg; Remember where you store it in your PC/Notebook
19. Run TransMac
20. In TransMac application, right click on DVD (which is shown on the left hand column in TransMac) and select "Save Image of Disk". This will take awhile for the image to be saved on your Hard Disk
21. After image is saved successfully, in TransMac application, right click on USB drive (shown on the left hand column in TransMac) and select "Format Disk" and "Format with Disk Image". Select the image that you have created in step 20. A window pops up "Ready to Format Disk". Click "OK" button. This will take a while.
22. Still in TransMac, on the left hand column, click on "HFS + volume" (this should be right below your USB Drive) . Drag OSInstall.mpkg that you have downloaded in Step 18 to the right hand column in TransMac.
23. Upgrade DELL Mini 9 BIOS to A04.
    Download A04 BIOS here
    This executable runs on XP.

Implementation 

1. Insert BootUp USB Drive on the left side of the DELL Mini 9 and the OSX Install USB Drive on the right side.
2. Press the power button on DELL Mini 9 to start the system
3. Press 2 when you see the DELL logo to enter BIOS Setup Utility
4. Go to Advanced Tab; Enable USB BIOS Legacy Support and Disable USB Wake Support
5. Go to Boot Tab; Select USB Storage; Press F6 until it is right at the top of the list
6. Go to Exit Tab; Select "Exit Saving changes"; On the Setup Confirmation Window, Select Yes
7. The system will now reboot. If the system hangs at the DELL Logo, press the power button down for a few seconds until the system powers down. Then press the power button once to start the system
8. Let the boot up process takes place normally without any intervention. You should finally reach a screen with a prompt: "Press Enter to start up the foreign OS". Press "ESC" on your keyboard. At the prompt: "Enter two-digit hexadecimal boot device", Type: 81
9. You should see the drive (OSX Install USB Drive) that contains your OSX Install Image. Press Enter to boot up from this drive. (If you don't see that, press "ESC" at the "boot:" prompt and at the prompt: "Enter two-digit hexadecimal boot device", Type: 82)
10. After a few seconds, the Mac OS X environment appears. The first window asks you to choose the language. Select your language and press the "->" button
11. In the next screen, do not click continue first. At the top of the screen, click "Utilities", select "System Profiler"
12. In System Profiler, on the left hand column, select USB. On the right hand column, select the USB drive that represents your OSX Install USB Drive (which is inserted on the right side of your DELL Mini 9). Information about this USB drive will be shown. Scroll all the way down until you see BSD Name. Take note of the name (for example, disk1s3). Also take note of the volume name which you can find immediately after the line "Volumes:" and before the line "Capacity"
13. Now, exit from System Profiler by pressing ALT-Q on your keyboard
14. On the top of the screen, click on "Utilities" and select "Disk Utility"
15. In Disk Utility, select your SSD and click on "Partition". In the Name field, enter any name. In the Format field, choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Leave the size as it is for now
16. Select "Options..." and set it to GUID. Exit Options
17. Click on "Apply" to start formatting the SSD
18. Press ALT-Q to exit Disk Utility
19. On the top of the screen, click on "Utilities" and select Terminal
20. A terminal pops up
21. At the prompt, type: mount -u -w /dev/<BSD Name that you identified in Step 12>. Example: mount -u -w /dev/disk1s3
22. At the prompt , type: cd /
23. You should see the file (OSInstall.mpkg) which you have prepared in Preparation Phase Step 22.
24. At the prompt, type: cp OSInstall.mpkg /Volumes/"<Volume Name identified in step 12>"/System/installation/packages. For example: cp OSInstall.mpkg /Volumes/"MAC OS X Install DVD"/System/installation/packages
    
    (Note that the " " is required if the volume name is separated with spaces)
    
25. Press ALT-Q to exit Terminal
26. Click "Continue" button on the screen
27. Click "Agree" button on the next screen
28. In "Select a Destination" screen, select the SSD and click "Continue"
29. Click "Customize" button on the next screen
30. Now, this is a tricky part because you are operating blindly on what you are about to see here.
    On the first line "Essential system Software", click on the right point arrow sign. This will expand the list of software. Don't be surprised if there are no names shown. It is safe to untick line 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,14,15. Take note that according to the author who figured out which line can be removed (in Part H), some people may not have the exact type of OS disk (somehow... can someone comment on this?) You can always install them back if you really need them later.
    
    You will also need to remove "Printer Drivers", "Additional Fonts" and "Language Translations" in order to fit into the 8GB SSD space. Press "Done" when the "Remaining:" is not RED.
31. Press "Install" button. The installation will take a while. At the end of installation, there will be a warning screen. Ignore the warning and press "Restart" button. This is important: After you press "Restart", there seems to be a long pause. Be patient and wait until the system restart. Do not try to shutdown the system at this stage!
32. Do not remove both USB Drives from your Mini 9. The system will reboot itself and enters Mac OS X.
33. When you are in the OS X environment, double click BootUp USB Drive drive icon found on the desktop. This will open up the file folder for this USB Drive. Also open the folder of the SSD Drive
34. Copy and paste "Dell Mobile Broadband" (from this folder) to your SSD Drive folder in this location: <root>/Library/Modem Scripts
35. On your desktop, Click on System Preferences. Then select Network. Select Dell Wireless 5530 HSPA Mobile. Click on "Advanced..." button
36. Change Vendor to "Other"
37. Change Model to "Dell Mobile Broadband"
38. Press Ok
39. Configuration should stay as "Default"; All other fields (Telephone number, Account name, password) is blank
40. Click "Apply" button
41. To test your HSPA connection, click "Connect" button. In Singapore, I subscribe to Starhub 3G service. The connection takes about 12 seconds
42. In BootUp USB Drive folder, "Open" AboutThisMac.pkg; Install by following screen instruction
43. In BootUp USB Drive folder, "Open" DELLEFI; Choose Easy Installation option; Install; When installation is complete, a window pops up "All done, ready for reboot"; Click Yes
44. Another window pop up: Updating Boot caches. Click "OK". The screen goes blank and that is when you pull out both your USB Drives

Post Implementation 

1. Power up your system
2. Press "2" to enter BIOS setup
3. Go to "Advanced" Tab
4. Press F5 to toggle USB BIOS Legacy Support to "Disabled"
5. Go to "Boot" Tab
6. Press F6 to move the Hard Drive to the first position
7. Exit and Save