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I wanted a netbook for downstairs computing so I recently brought a Dell Mini 9 cheap from Grays Online. A lovely little machine and the first thing I did was blow away the default Windows XP and install Ubuntu. That all was fine until I learned that people had got the Mac OSX operating system running on Dell Minis.

I was a Mac user back in the 90s with a Mac IIsi and then graduating to one of the early Powerbooks. My Powerbook died just before I left the US in 96 and I drifted into Linux then Windows upon returning to Australia.

The chance to use Mac OSX was too good to resist. I did some research and found the following instructions. From eBay I got a 2GB ram chip and then brought a Toshiba 8GB USB stick. I had a few 2GB ones lying around for the boot loader. Of course, I got a copy of Snow Leopard from the Apple store.

My first hassle was creating the 8GB USB with the Mac install DVD image. I had trouble with the instructions as is but some research lead me to try TransMac. That did the trick. Per the instructions, Image Writer works fine for the bootloader but use Transmac to create the Mac install USB.

Then it was plug in the USB drives and install. All worked fine and I rebooted again (using the USB with the bootloader) to finish by installing the bootloader.

It took an afternoon but most of that was taken with buggering around getting the Mac Install image onto a USB drive.

It is all working perfectly now. No trouble with the on-board wireless card which caused some headaches when I installed Ubuntu.

If you have a netbook, try converting it to a Hackintosh. It is a great way to get a cheap Mac.