[MacNet64]

Hi
I'm new to the forum. I picked up a Mini10v last week to hack and I've spent the last couple days trying to make it a reality. I'm a longtime Mac user, so I used my desk system to setup the USB thumb drive installer from my SL disc. I also replaced the RAM with a 2GB chip. Yeah, that was like playing Operation with a pipe wrench, but I did it.

I started with downloading the 8.4 Installer and following the directions listed on Gizmodo. After fighting with that for a little while, I dug deeper here and found where I was going wrong. (By the way, this is a terrific forum. You guys are great.) I should have been following Mechdrew's notes instead of an online magazine. I went back to the 8.3 Installer, followed his guide directly, and it worked like a charm. Everythign seems to be working fine - trackpad, sound, video, I'm online (fast), and setup my user account. I ran into one issue so far, and I have a couple questions, probably newbie Q's. Please point me to the correct FAQ if they are.

1. I set everything to my liking in Sys Prefs. When I rebooted, it all reverted back to defaults. Even lost my MobileMe login settings, trackpad settings, etc. Any suggestions?

2. What should I install next? Any specific fixes that need to be installed from kexts? Everything, including the camera and iChat, seems to be working. (for now)

3. I want to install the 10.6.2 update. Should I also replace the 8.3 Installer on my thumb drive with the 8.4, and update that on the Mini when I update to 10.6.2? Any landmines that I should watch out for?

I appreciate any help and look forward to sharing help when I can.

Thanks
Barry