This week I’ve got my hands on a new Dell Inspiron Mini 9 – the latest netbook launched by Vodafone.  This mini laptop differs from the standard Dell stock as it comes with a built in 7.2Mbps mobile broadband modem.  The spec is as follows:

• Intel Atom 1.6Ghz processor
• 1GB RAM
• 8GB solid state drive
• WiFi, Bluetooth and 7.2Mbps HSPA module
• 8.9” screen

According to the Oracle, the laptop is actually manufactured by Compal – the same company responsible for the MSI Wind, and the recently launched Advent netbook.

The netbook comes with Windows XP Home pre-loaded as standard, however feeling inspired by Dan’s post on uneasy silence, I’ve installed Mac OS X (Leopard) on my Mini 9. I’ve got most of the hardware working, and it’s proving to be a great little machine.  I’ve even got the built in mobile broadband modem working – I’m currently sitting in Starbucks in Manchester writing this post, using Vodafone’s HSDPA service.

What’s working: screen at native resolution, keyboard, USB ports, webcam, sound, bluetooth, wifi, hsdpa module

What’s not: sleep mode (hangs on wake up), SD card reader

Here’s my notes from installing:

First things first
Before getting started, I updated the system BIOS to the latest version (A01) – grab the BIOS from here.  You’ll need to run the update in Windows.

Getting started
I’ve had the most success with the MSI Wind Leopard install, I’ve tried Kalyway, but found it too bloated and too ‘hacky’.

Having downloaded the disk image, I realised I didn’t have an external DVD drive to boot from, which was going to be problematic.  I tried and failed to get the installer to boot from a USB pen drive and an external hard drive.  In a moment of inspiration, I cobbled together an external DVD drive by using an external hard drive enclosure – I unplugged the IDE cable from the hard drive and plugged it into a spare internal DVD drive I had kicking around.  A little Heath Robinson, but worked nonetheless.  Plug it into the netbook, start it up, press 0 when the BIOS screen flashes up and select to start from CD.  Wait a few moments and the OS X installer appears.

Installing OS X
Once you’re at the welcome screen you’ll need to make a few changes before diving off to install

• First, you need to re-partition and format your hard drive.  Select Utilities then Disk Utility
• Click on your hard drive on the left
• Click on partition and change the volume scheme to 1 partition, give your new partition a name and click on apply.
• I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that this will wipe your XP system and all your files.  It will also reclaim 30MB used by the Dell diagnostic tools
• Now continue with the installer until you see the ‘Customize’ button in the bottom left of the screen.  Click it to configure your installation:
• Deselect the extra fonts
• Deselect X11
• Deselect the combined update (there’s not enough room on the 8GB drive)
• Click done
• Click on install.  You can skip the installation DVD check if you’re feeling impatient.

Mac OS will now install and reboot your netbook when it’s done. Once it’s rebooted, follow the instructions on the setup wizard.  A pleasant  surprise was the webcam works straight away – when you’re creating your user account you can take a photo.

After finishing the install, you’ll arrive at your shiny new desktop:

Clear out and update the OS

The next step is to update the OS.  I’ve only managed to get as far as updating to 10.5.3 – anything beyond this won’t fit onto the Dell’s tiny 8GB solid state drive.  In order to get 10.5.3 on, I had to clear out the OS using Youpi Optimizer – this app hunts down and deletes file for languages you’re never going to use. I deleted everything apart from the US and UK files.

I managed to free up about 850MB.  I then downloaded and ran Kalyway’s 10.5.3 updater, which worked perfectly.

Hardware

Getting the hardware working was pretty easy – follow Dan’s guide to get the WiFi and sound working.  One neat feature is that Dell’s keyboard volume shortcuts (fn-4/5/6) work perfectly, even displaying the on-screen volume indicator.

At one point I managed to screw up the display drivers – you can fix this by grabbing Paul’s driver package and installing the GMA950 and frame buffer kexts.  It’s well worth taking a look at Paul’s post, you can use his guide to fix the ‘about my mac’ screen and more.

Mobile Broadband (HSDPA / WWAN) Module

It took bloody hours to figure out how to get the module working, but in the end it turned out to be quite easy.  The drivers for the modem are contained in the OS, you just need a script to get it working.  I downloaded Ross‘ generic HSDPA modem script and made a couple of tweaks.  I increased the serial speed to 7.2Mbps and added the magic AT command: AT+CFUN=1 – this turns on the radio in the modem.  You can grab my Dell HSDPA modem script here.

• Unzip the script and place it in your root:library:modem scripts folder.
• Go into system preferences and select Network
• Select ‘Dell Wireless 5530 HSPA Mobile’ from the list on the left
• Click on advanced
• Under the modem tab, change the vendor to ‘other’ and select ‘Dell Mobile Broadband’ from the list, click on ok
• Back on the network screen, enter ‘none’ as the telephone number.  This means the modem script will use the default APN.  If you want to specify the APN you want to use, enter it in the telephone number field (e.g. ‘internet’).  Leave account name and password blank.
• Select ’show modem status in menu bar’
• Click on apply
• When you want to connect, click on the phone icon on the top menu bar, near the time.  Click on ‘Connect Dell Wireless 5530 HSPA Mobile’ and you’re away.

Here’s a screenshot of Safari working perfectly with the mobile broadband module:

And here’s a screen shot after running a speed test, very respectable indeed:

Finishing Up

Once everything was up and running, I cloned the internal drive using SuperDuper!.  This means that if I tinkle with the setup in the future and screw things up I can quickly restore it back to a working state.  I then installed a few of my most used apps – Firefox, Quicksilver and Aperture – which all work perfectly.

And that’s it, Mac OS on your Dell, with a working HSDPA module.  You can even get the netbook for free when you sign up to Vodafone’s £25 mobile broadband price plan, bargain.

BONUS! If you buy the netbook from Vodafone, enter hamilton01as a promo code and you’ll get a free Vodafone McLaren baseball cap on the 1GB price plan, or enter USBStick01 and you’ll get a free 2GB Vodafone memory stick on the 3GB price plan.