New Graphics Support Discovered in OS X Lion: Sandy Bridge Intel Onboard, NVIDIA GeForce 5xx

Now that the cat is out of the bag, we can reveal some information about diverse new support for graphics in OS X Lion. The following graphics solutions have been reported as working. Please do not view this post as buying advice- all of this is experimental, and may or may not be stable.
While Intel's 2nd Generation Sandy Bridge onboard graphics solutions aren't powerful enough to be used for gaming, they do outperform older discreet cards such as the 8400 GS. In fact, Apple is using these chips in the latest Mac mini, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. We've personally confirmed HD 3000 from the Core i5-2500K working with full acceleration in OS X Lion.


These powerful next generation "Fermi" cards have initial support without any additional drivers in Lion. The NVDAGF100Hal.kext that is used for the Quadro and GeForce 4xx drivers is included by default. CUDA has to be installed separately, but has also been updated for 10.7. Although we haven't tested personally, these cards have been confirmed working in OS X Lion.

We're excited about all of this new functionality! If you have enabled full resolution and QE/CI acceleration, please share your experiences at the above threads in the forum. Good luck and have fun!

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xMove + MultiBeast: Install OS X 10.7 Lion on any Supported Intel Core 2 or Core i based PC

Any OSx86 installation guide can seem daunting at first glance, especially when trying to remember cryptic terminal commands and sorting through volumes of misinformation on the web. This guide requires no coding, terminal work, or Mac experience of any kind.

Because Apple is only distributing OS X Lion through the Mac App Store, we had to rethink our retail installation method. What follows is our recommendation for the easiest, cleanest and most Mac-like installation process. For best results, follow this guide to the letter. 

This guide is for the Retail OS X Lion App downloaded from the Mac App Store. If you are using the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive, a new guide is coming soon. 

You will need: 

A System Running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later with:
  • Intel Core 2 or above, 64 bit CPU
  • Mac App Store Account + $29.99
  • Internet Access to Download 4GB OS X Lion App through Mac App Store
  • 4GB space available in /Applications
  • 8GB additional free space on your hard drive
  • Mac Pro 3,1 system definition and the latest Chimera Bootloader from MultiBeast
Don't have Snow Leopard yet? To install Mac OS X Snow Leopard from the Retail DVD follow iBoot + MultiBeast

STEP 1: Purchase OS X Lion from the Mac App Store

     1. Boot into your existing Snow Leopard installation.
     2. Download the OS X Lion App directly from the Mac App Store - it will automatically open.
     3. Click Continue.
4. Target your currently booted Snow Leopard drive and hit Install. This will not install the OS or affect this drive in any way. It will simply install the files necessary to do so later in the process. 
     5. Click Restart to reboot.

STEP 2: Prepare the Installer Partition

     1. Boot back into your existing Snow Leopard installation.
     2. Open /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility
     3. Highlight your Snow Leopard drive in left column.
     4. Choose the Partition tab, and Click the + to Add a Partition.
     5. Name the secondary partition Installer with a size of 8 GB and click Apply

     6. Click Partition.
     7. Close Disk Utility

STEP 3: xMove

     1. Download xMove
     2. Double-Click xMove, and choose Installer as Destination. 

WARNING: DO NOT choose existing Snow Leopard as the Destination.
Do not interrupt the process- it will only take a few minutes. When done, you'll have a secondary partition on your drive containing the OS X Lion Installer!

If xMove fails, you haven't installed the Lion App to your currently booted drive- and it cannot find the necessary files. A quick way to remedy this is to manually mount the InstallESD.dmg and run xMove again. 

STEP 4: Boot Installer & Install OS X Lion

     1. Reboot- at the Chimera boot screen, choose Installer
     2. It will boot directly to a familiar Mac OS X Installer complete with Disk Utility.
     3. Install OS X Lion over existing Snow Leopard or onto any empty drive or partition.

If you've installed directly over an existing Snow Leopard installation, you're done! You should already have done proper post-installation steps on your existing Snow Leopard drive, so skip Step 5 and simply reboot into Lion!

STEP 5: MultiBeast
MultiBeast is an all-in-one post-installation tool designed to enable boot from hard drive, and install support for Audio, Network, and Graphics. It contains two different complete post-installation solutions: UserDSDT and EasyBeast. In addition it includes System Utilities to rebuild caches and repair permissions and a collection of drivers, boot loaders, boot time config files and handy software.

Choose one of the following options directly following a fresh installation:  

UserDSDT is a bare-minimum solution for those who have their own pre-edited DSDT. Place your DSDT.aml on the desktop before install. Audio, Graphics and Network will have to be enabled separately. Check out our DSDT Database to download your motherboard's pre-edited DSDT.

EasyBeast is a DSDT-free solution for any Core2/Core i system. It installs all of the essentials to allow your system to boot from the hard drive. Audio, Graphics and Network will have to be enabled separately.  

     1. At Chimera boot screen, choose your freshly installed Lion drive
     2. Complete setup and registration routine
     3. When you get to the desktop, run MultiBeast
     4. If you have a custom pre-edited DSDT, place it on your desktop and choose UserDSDT
     5. All others select EasyBeast
     6. Select System Utilities
     7. Reboot to OS X Lion

You may also use MultiBeast to install further drivers to enable ethernet, sound, graphics, etc... Be sure to read the documentation provided in MultiBeast Features.pdf about each option. Both UserDSDT and EasyBeast install the proper bootloader by default, so you'll not need to check that option.

     8. Optionally, you can now use Disk Utility to delete the Installer partition.

Congratulations!


You now have a fully updated bootable version of OS X Lion on your CustoMac! If you have any trouble, there are plenty of folks in the tonymacx86 forum with similar hardware to help out! Special thanks to all the hard work and effort of everyone involved in the community, all of our Mods for testing and retesting this method, and to Adamsmasher and Complx for the new logos!

If you've had success using xMove + MultiBeast, consider a contribution to help keep the sites going.  We're constantly updating and tweaking our tools to help you.

Thanks in advance!

-tonymacx86 & MacMan

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Get Ready for OS X Lion: Update to 10.6.8 on a Socket 1155 Sandy Bridge System

Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 was Apple's first release that includes universal kernel support for Sandy Bridge systems. Performing a Combo Update on these rigs can cause system crashes and general instability. We've created this simple guide that will allow any Socket 1155 Sandy Bridge system to update cleanly to 10.6.8 and be ready for Lion.

1. Install and configure system using iBoot + MultiBeast
2. Run UpdateHelper
3. Reboot
4. Run 10.6.8 Combo Update
5. Reboot

What's causing the kernel panic? Mac OS X doesn't recognize Sandy Bridge systems, as every one was shipped with a special version of 10.6.7. Since we use either the 10.6 or 10.6.3 retail DVD, then try to update to 10.6.8 it doesn't know what to do with certain configurations as it's completing the update, and crashes.
UpdateHelper deletes the ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext from IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext plugins folder (in System/Library/Extensions). The Combo Update will replace this kext.

Hope this clears up any 10.6.8 confusion, and helps you get ready for Lion!

For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!

MultiBeast 3.8 Update


Today MultiBeast was updated to version 3.8. The latest version is now available at tonymacx86.com/downloads.

Please do not upload or redistribute MultiBeast to any other sites. 

Full list of changes:
  • Added to Customization -> Boot Options -> Generate CPU States. Adds GenerateCStates=Yes and GeneratePStates=Yes to /Extra/com.apple.boot.plist.
  • Added ATI 48xx Patch for 10.6.8 from netkas
  • Added to Drivers & Bootloaders -> Kexts & Enablers -> Miscellaneous -> IOPCIFamily Fix
  • Changed Drivers & Bootloaders -> Kexts & Enablers -> Miscellaneous -> FakeSMC Plugins to a menu choice.
  • Added to FakeSMC Plugins -> Motherboard Plugins which only installs the motherboard plugins.
  • Added to FakeSMC Plugins -> AMD RADEON Plugin which only installs the AMD RADEON GPU plugin.
  • Added to FakeSMC Plugins -> NVIDIA Plugin which only installs the NVIDIA GPU plugin.
  • Removed Chameleon 2.0 RC5 - Prerelease; superseded by Chimera
  • Removed NVEnabler; superseded by Chimera
  • Updated FakeSMC to 3.1.0 Revision 493
  • Updated FakeSMC Plugins to 3.1.0 Revision 493
  • Added IOPCIFamily Fix to EasyBeast
  • Added IOPCIFamily Fix to UserDSDT
If this utility has helped you, please consider a contribution to support further MultiBeast development. Thanks in advance, and enjoy!

-tonymacx86 & MacMan
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!

Get Ready for OS X Lion

It's July, and OS X Lion is almost here! We thought we'd run down a preparation list of recommended tasks so you can be ready once it's available. 
Necessary for Lion Update
Apple has provided a concise rundown of how to update to Lion on Day 1 here. The requirements are the same for CustoMacs. To proceed with a retail installation, you absolutely need the following.
  • Intel Core 2 or above, 64 bit CPU
  • A computer running the latest version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8)
  • iTunes Account + $29.99
  • Internet Access to download 4 GB Lion Install App through iTunes
  • 4 GB hard drive space available in /Applications
Recommended Best Practices
When performing any full operating system upgrade, unexpected things can occur. To avoid data loss, these best practices should be adhered to. This upgrade should be a breeze, but if things do go wrong, you can always go back to your working Snow Leopard installation.
  • Buy a Second Hard Drive
  • Clone your Snow Leopard Hard Drive
  • Back Up Your Data
Stay tuned for our full OS X Lion retail installation guide- coming Day 1!

-tonymacx86 & MacMan
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!