[Oscar]

I've often wondered why there isn't a sticky on the basics of Hacintoshing. Something telling you what the best machines are, what methods are available, and pointing you to the best guides available.

Hardware:
Best: 1. Dell Mini 10v 2. Dell Mini 9 (910)
Other options: 1010, 1012, and 1018 although each with varied difficulties.

I should say at this point that my experience is on a 10v, so the guides linked in this post will be helpful mostly to that platform, and the 910, which as I understand it, is very similar in architecture to the 10v. So if you have one of the other machines follow the forum sections dedicated to them. There is a great deal of effort being put into getting them to work properly. But I cannot speak to any direct experience with them.

Software:
The current OS X distribution available on DVD is 10.6.3, and can be purchased from Apple, the Apple store, and other authorized Apple resellers.
Aside from that, the main component that allows you to run OS X on your Mini is NBI, currently version 0.8.4 RC1, in either NetbookMaker or NetbookInstaller iterations. Don't worry too much about which is which, you will be pointed to what you need in the guides. NBI does the heavy lifting as far as patching drivers and extensions that make Hackintoshing easier on the Mini, as well as add the Chameleon Bootloader interface.
(Development of a later NBI is underway, and in pre-release. I tried it, and it broke my OS X installation. So I'd stick to 0.8.4 RC1 for now)

Methodology:
The easiest way is to 'clone' the installation DVD onto a USB flash drive. There are several methods to accomplish this, the easiest being with the help of a Mac running Snow Leopard. If you don't have access to a Mac, don't fret. You can still do it, it just will take you a few extra steps.
Less popular ways of getting OS X onto your Mini: Dell efi, and NetbookCD (as of this writing NetbookCD does not work with the 10.6.3 retail DVD).

Installation Options:
You can install OS X as your sole Operating System. This of course will require you to format your drive, erasing all data on it.
You may also choose to set up your system as a Dual Boot, leaving your current Operating System intact, and adding OS X to a second partition. Setting up a dual boot is more involved, but for many users it's worth the trouble, since they cannot for one reason or another, abandon Windows altogether. With the growing popularity of Linux (particularly Ubuntu), Linux dual boots, and triple boots are also viable.

Pre-install recommendations:
Back up all important data before any major installs. It is easy to imagine that you need to back up important documents. But I would urge you to consider backing up your OS as well. This is something I wish I had thought of ahead of time when I first installed OS X on my Mini. And given the growing number of posts I see asking how to re-install the original OS, I'm betting I'm not alone. Consider that your mini has no DVD drive. So should you have to at some point restore it to it's original state (many users have had to because they want to sell it, for instance) you will have to find an alternate method of installation. Making a bootable copy of your system, and tucking it away on an external hard drive may save you a headache in the future.
Read up on information ahead of time, and make sure you are comfortable with whatever guide or guides you are using.

Post installation Issues:
*Sound.
*Sleep.
Neither of these seem to be completely solved as of this writing. And both will work to some degree. In my experience, Sleep seems to be the bigger issue, as sound is absent only occasionally.
*Bluetooth tends to be a issue for some users.
*Wifi--to a lesser extent.
Most of the time wifi will work fine. Every now and then, it will not show, or it will 'disappear' after a period of it working properly. Usually running NBI again will fix this issue, as well as the sound issue. But you may need to do further reading of the pertinent forum posts.
*Display:
This is mostly a nuisance. Some applications (notably Photobooth, and some sections of System Preferences) will not scale correctly to the Mini's smaller display resolution, so that the bottom drops off the screen and is inaccessible. Very disconcerting if the interface is in that area. There is a terminal tweak. I actually wrote a script to address this--find it here: AppScale
*Updating:
Currently, the following version of NBI is needed for updating to OS X 10.6.4, 5 and 6: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/863180/Netbo...212351.app.zip
If you come from a Mac background, you will be familiar with Software Update, and the ease with which it updates OS X. Do yourself a favor and disable its automatic function once you've got OS X on your Mini. Inadvertent updates will often break your install. It is best to rely on the forum and read the posts about new updates before jumping in and trying them yourself.

Other resources:
It is sometimes helpful to have partitioning software at hand, a common one which I've used is Partition master Home Edition--I just used the free demo, available at download.com. I would also encourage you to create a Linux live USB, it's never been easier. From within the Linux live USB, the app that's been very helpful to me is GParted. Make sure whatever distribution you use has that included. GParted is not only handy as partitioning software, but it also has the ability to change the boot (or active) partition, which I have found very helpful. Also Disk Utility is your friend. Familiarize yourself with its functions once you've got OS X running.

Guides:
There are plenty of guides in this forum. You can browse through many of them by clicking on the GUIDES tab--oddly enough
Be mindful that many of them are outdated. Also, not all guides will be found in that section of the forum, many of them will be scattered throughout the sections they pertain to --i. e. dual booting. So do a bit of homework before deciding on an appropriate one for your particular install needs.

I've written my own guides myself, partly because as I said, many of the others are outdated. But also because as I've tried to help other forum members it has been difficult to navigate through them, and find guides that are clear.

Here's the guides I've written:

Mac-USB method
GUIDE: Installing OS X on your MINI with a mac (revisited)

No Mac USB method
OS X 10.6.3 Retail DVD-->USB no MAC; A GUIDE

A Windows/OS X Dual Boot Guide
Start with Windows, Add OS X- Guide to Dual Boot.

A hack for adding NBI Special to your USB installer:
Add NBI...351 to Install USB--> a HACK.

If you're a seasoned mydellmini.com forum member and would like to contribute to this thread, I welcome any links to other resources you feel were helpful to you when you started out, and any guides you believe are worth looking at. Thanks.
If you are new to the forum and considering your first Hackintosh Installation, I hope this information will be helpful.

cheers.

We all owe a great debt of gratitude to the developers on this site. Primarily Meklort. Also Mechdrew for being a pioneer in the creation of guides for the rest of us.

[holmes4]

As I'm sure you're aware, this forum is full of guides, with a section dedicated to them. There is not one method that is right for everyone.

[Ascender]

I sort of agree with Oscar, from a novice's point of view the guides section does seem to contain a vast amount of outdated solutions and fixes. Alot of which must be trawled through to find a simple 2 line command in terminal, for example the hibernation image is too old....... annoyance that regularly rears itself after a new install or the mod to turn Bluetooth on/off to name a couple. A more current basic guide stating the common problems faced pre and post install would be most helpful to a virgin Mini Hackintosher. I think this would negate the need that most of us had on here when we first started running OS X on our netbooks of following each thread as it happened and borking our installs trying different fixes.

[jmacie]

Funny, there is advanced search, and if you bork something you NEED to clone before experimenting. Plus, as a novice you HAVE to read a lot, to learn enough to troubleshoot hackintosh. I think most of what I've learned is from searching for an answer, and being forced to read and learn other things on my quest. So I'm sure if you wanted to spend hours and hours sorting and classifying, someone here someday might appreciate it, or ask you the same novice question asked and answered twice yesterday, two posts up.

[Oscar]

first, I'm very grateful for this forum. so i'm not trying to take anything away for what it does for its users. i thought it was awesome to find when i first discovered it.

what i will say though is that it's good. but it could be better.
and while i have considered jmacie's point that it's a learning experience to sort through the vast information that can be found here, i do think it can be overwhelming at times.

for myself i don't mind so much because i do the whole hackintosh thing purely as a hobby. so i don't mind the challenges too much, and i'm used to re-installs and what not. i've built computers before, and i've taken them apart.... in fact i've taken my mini apart a number of times... and i'm about to do it again.. i'm actually trying to break the windows partition on it so windows won't boot, just so i can figure out how to fix it. but that's just the sort of thing that keeps me entertained, and i can't imagine it's fun to too many people... point being that if i have trouble finding the answers in this forum sometimes, i would think it can be really frustrating to others. i was thinking of how hugely enhanced the experience would be if you could go through a menu system of sorts enter what machine you own, what os you want to install, what version, whether you want to dual boot or not... and the return would be links to guides and posts related to your specific need .... just a for instance... can't imagine that really happening , really.. and the forum IS already organized fairly well. my main concern is that there's so much outdated information to sort through, and wish there was a better way than just looking for a needle in a haystack.... of course, much of it is the nature of the beast. it is a forum after all, and your posts survive forever, unless someone actually takes the time and effort to delete them. anyway... my 2 cents.. thanks for the discussion guys... and Steve, like i said up front... i'm not trying to take anything away for what the site does for all of us... just think we could all strive to make it a better experience... especially for the noobs...

cheers.

[underwhelmed]

You know this is more or less a guide.

If you had put it in the guide section it would have been at the top of that section as guides are listed by the date they are posted.

[Oscar]

well, i suppose if i had permissions to post straight to the guides section i might have ...
thanks for the input.

[sash]

Thanks for the guide. By chance I needed to recreate an install usb drive and i was getting lost in the guide sections since none of them looked like what I did originally.

[underwhelmed]

Originally Posted by Oscar

well, i suppose if i had permissions to post straight to the guides section i might have ...
thanks for the input.

Sorry, I wasn't aware that guides had to be moved to the guide section by Mods.

I guess it allows for a type of peer review process and keeps the people who seem to pop up advocating "torrents" or Virtual machine installs from just filling the guides section.

Anyway, from what I've read your guides have been well written and concise.

[Ascender]

Yes but the point i was attempting to get across is the wealth of information contained in this forum has the potential to be compartmentalised down into a common problems guide, i am far from a novice Hackintosher. Besides why back up when you can simply and more efficiently fix without spending time restoring? I was simply showing some empathy towards the new guys who could feel intimidated by the complexity of some of the guides. This isn't InsanelyMac and a majority of the users on this forum are not dealing with EFI, DSDT,Kexts etc and aren't building from scratch their own hacks. The reason this forum has been as popular as it has is because thanks to the good grace and skill of Meklort he has already done the hard work of getting OS X to run on these netbooks, he has made it easy for everyone and maybe the legacy of his altruism could continue by the inclusion of Oscars idea. Not everyone im sure derives the same pleasure of systematically exploring every crevice of the OS as some of us do, they just want apple on their netbook. Why is it so hard to fathom that most just want an easily guided install with a single point of reference to refer to for troubleshooting the common tweaks that are necessary to make these netbooks an almost perfect hack? As for answering the same question over and over again, wouldn't Oscars suggestion diminish the need for you to do this? We were all noobs once, i would prefer to encourage instead of intimidate.