Thinkpads Forum

I'm getting a Z61t, and I'm hoping to run OS X on it. Can I do it?

I ordered over the phone, and they gave me the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Wireless because the ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN is on backorder.

From what I've read here, the ThinkPad card appears to be an Atheros chip. Does that work with OS X?

Does the Intel wireless not work?

How much hard drive space should I need to dual-boot? Typically how much space is used by Windows XP Home on a ThinkPad by default?

At the moment, I have the 40 GB drive ordered. How about the 60GB, 5400rpm SATA [add $30.00*]?

Thanks!

I would go with the Thinkpad card. Last I heard the intel wireless cards don't work on OSX

Here is how to get the Thinkpad wireless card working:

Editing plist:
cd /System/Library/Extensions

sudo nano /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortAtheros5424.kext/Contents/Info.plist

Add in .plist:
<string>pci168c,1014</string>

Setting Permissions:
sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions

kextcache -k /System/Library/Extensions

intelliot wrote:I'm getting a Z61t, and I'm hoping to run OS X on it. Can I do it?

I ordered over the phone, and they gave me the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Wireless because the ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN is on backorder.

From what I've read here, the ThinkPad card appears to be an Atheros chip. Does that work with OS X?

Does the Intel wireless not work?

How much hard drive space should I need to dual-boot? Typically how much space is used by Windows XP Home on a ThinkPad by default?

At the moment, I have the 40 GB drive ordered. How about the 60GB, 5400rpm SATA [add $30.00*]?

Thanks!

quick summary -

intel doesnt work (drivers are a ways off), and atheros is basically one of the only (if not only) chipsets that works in mac os.

hdd space -- doesn't matter, minimum is about 3GB for a mac os partition with bare essentials and a tad of room for space. If you really want to save space, don't install the printer drivers, x11, or language packs as they are all frills.

To be honest, i would get the biggest / fastest drive you can -- get the 60.

Well, as previously mentioned, the intel card does NOT work. Also, the discrete ati cards (x1300/x1400) do not currently work with 3d Acceleration enabled, although there may be some workarounds floating around by now. The integrated chipsets are fully supported however. As for hard drive space, I would say the more the better. When I was dual-booting vista/OS X, I ran out of space pretty quickly. I would consider 60 gig the bare minimum, especially if you plan to install the ilife suite on OSX (like 6 gigs at least). You might want to look into a separate hard drive in the ultrabay for dual-booting that way. It might be easier (except then you have to remove the cd-drive you're installing from...)

kulivontot wrote:Well, as previously mentioned, the intel card does NOT work. Also, the discrete ati cards (x1300/x1400) do not currently work with 3d Acceleration enabled, although there may be some workarounds floating around by now. The integrated chipsets are fully supported however. As for hard drive space, I would say the more the better. When I was dual-booting vista/OS X, I ran out of space pretty quickly. I would consider 60 gig the bare minimum, especially if you plan to install the ilife suite on OSX (like 6 gigs at least). You might want to look into a separate hard drive in the ultrabay for dual-booting that way. It might be easier (except then you have to remove the cd-drive you're installing from...)

x1300/x1400 work, just no resolution switching yet (i havn't tried them with Natit, so there might be res switching support too!)

How much work is it to get the x1300/x1400 to work now? Last time I checked people were still experimenting with editing kext's to include their hardware id's. Although, truly I'm wary at trying out OS X on my T60 again since the last time I played around with it, I burned out the GPU on my motherboard and had to get it replaced (It must have thought it was a Macbook and tried to burn my lap)