[franksterling]

hi

is there any way to make os x think it runs on a macbook air?
i have a dvd as an iso file which i urgently need to be able to playback on my mini 10v. the dvd contains educational videos for the dental practice and it is absolutely necessary to be able to use the dvd menu to jump to the different movies. unfortunately is the dvd not split into several video files which i could encode to single divx or similar and run them in any other application. so i have to use the iso file.
using vlc does not work very well. the application react very lame and buggy (for example doesnt allow me to open the dvd menu and other important things like this).
i was reading several threads now. the main problem is that the aple dvd player will not start on the mini 10v due to the missing hardware dvd drive.
i know that there are patches to use an external dvd drive but if i would carry an external dvd drive with me i could take my macbook instead.
it is absolutely crucial to use my mini 10v because this is what i bought it for.
now i read on a hp forum that there is a way to make the os think it is running on a macbook air which obviously does not have a dvd drive installed either but allows t launch the dvd player and choose a source for video playback. due to another bootloader and my lack of detailed computer knowledge (i am a dentist) it is not possible to use the method described in the forum on my mini 10v. does anyone have an idea if there is a way to do it?

best regards

jens

[minimalpc]

How about providing a link to the post you found regarding the HP?

[franksterling]

Re: HOW TO: Make DVD Player work with an external DVD drive
by LeMaurien19 » Thu Feb 25, 2010 3:55 am

^This is actually defunct already by hackintosh standards, at least on Snow Leopard, that is.
There's a better way - you can actually use DVDPlayer without internal/external drive. I can attest to this working on Snow Leopard both on my 1000 (when it was alive) and my current 311 - EFI boot.

Check which Mac your Mini is camouflaging as - the fact that you get the error when launching DVDPlayer.app tells me it's anything but a MacBook Air. The gist of it all is making your Mini be recognized by Snow Leo as a MacBook Air. You do this by :
(assuming you're on EFI boot)
1. mount EFI partion - you can use UpdateEFI from the insanelywind forums - "Basic Changes"
2. edit your smbios.plist - incorporate MacBookAir elements. You can see this guide for more details.
3. save changes to the plist.
4. since you're going MacBookAir, I suggest installing a MacBookAir fakesmc.kext - not much different from normal fakesmc.kext - it just displays the current SMC version for real MBA's which is a nice aesthetic touch.
5. hit "Finish" button on UpdateEFI.app
6. restart machine. you should now have a MacBook Air 2,1 and DVDPlayer.app should launch without complaints

HOW TO: Make DVD Player work with an external DVD drive • MyHPMini.com

on the bottom of the page

[minimalpc]

Did you try modifying smbios.plist to reference a MacBook Air as discussed in the last few posts in that thread?

[franksterling]

no. unfortunately i am not that into it that i would feel confident to experiment without knowing that it will work (failure would mean lots of work redoing the os and all the programs + data).
if there is no way then i probably just have to live with it.


regards

jens

[minimalpc]

Well, when I get the chance, I'll modify my smbios.plist to include the MacBook Air information and see what happens. I'll post back here.

[franksterling]

cool.
thanks!

[Side.Step.Society]

Just been playing with SMBIOS on my 10v. I followed this guide:

[GUIDE]Creating your own SMBIOS.plist | Prasys' Blog

First, I tried it with the MacBook Air example he had given. It indeed changed it to a MacBook Air in System Profiler and the little computer icon changed as well. Since I haven't an external drive, I couldn't really test any further. I can't imagine it doing much though since it's only a cosmetic type of thing.

I also created a custom "MacBook mini" SMBIOS plist using the new 13 inch MacBook Pro details (I find the 10v looks extremely close to the same as that) and now have System Profiler showing all the "correct" info.

It should also be noted that changing this seems to create an "Unsupported Device" error in NetbookInstaller. It still gives you an option to continue, however. I can't see it creating any problems, but I suppose there's always a possibility.

If you're looking for something that is a little more... legitimate?, like in the link/guide above, try reading this guide.

http://prasys.co.cc/2009/11/editing-fakesmc/

[franksterling]

thanks for the help!
can you start the dvd player without having a drive connected?

[Side.Step.Society]

Negative. Just gives me the error.

I think it'll probably require an edited FakeSMC kext to get anywhere.