Dell Mini 9 How to install Windows 7 from a USB Key without a DVD

OK so I thought Windows Vista is great for my quad and this new beta of windows 7  sounds better because of the good reviews.

I  have no external dvd rom on my mini 9 so i opted for the usb thumb drive method. Space is limited on the SSD hard drive so i revised my process from netbookguys instructions.

A great how to is here http://www.netbookguy.com/blogs/netbook/archive/2009/01/20/how-to-install-windows-7-from-a-usb-key-without-a-dvd.aspx

I did not use all of his instructions. Instead of extracting the whole iso I only extracted the `boot` folder on the iso. This folder has the bootsect.exe

Boot Sector Manipulation Tool
basically this saved me space and acheived the same results. Instead of using xcopy I extracted the files directly with winrar to the usb drive after the bootsect was used.

took about 7 mins to extract on the mini 9.

works great

Moto Q + Windows mobil 6.1 + bluetooth

I never thought bluetooth would be useful on the moto q up until now.

i never had anything bluetooth to pair my phone up with that it would be worth it. that is until now. my mini 9 came in about a week ago and i purchased the bluetooth adapter thinking it would come in handy. it occured to me that i might be able to tether my internet to my laptop via bluetooth. I was right

So I have used pdanet before in the past with my desktop just to see if it would work. It worked wonderfully. Sprint may not be everyones favorite but i was able to get unlimited text and data added to my plan for free.

I have a work laptop and it would not let me install pdanet drivers on it so i could not use my Sprint Moto Q phone to get on the internet. Ive always surfed the internet from the phone when i am bored and thought maybe i could use my skills to get online with my newly installed bluetooth adapter on my refurb mini 9.

My moto q is running windows mobile 6.1 from sprint. Basically after pairing the phone to my mini 9 I went to my phones programs. There is a program called internet sharing. Enabling this and selecting the bluetooth option allowed the device to create a network connections icon connecting via bluetooth to my phone. Ive been surfing for the past few hrs and it works wonderfully.

I may post more if people need info just comment i get emails and do respond.

OSX Leopard 10.5 Mini 9 USB install

http://dltv.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/osx-leopard-installed-on-mini-9-w-no-dvdrom/

OSX Leopard installed on Mini 9 w/ No DVDrom

For those that google and find my post please use this at y0ur own risk.

Background: I purchased a Dell mini because it was cheap :

+310 16 gig SSD with 1 gig memory

+30 for J613H 1 Card,Wireless,Internal Bluetooth,QH/YM ordered seperate

+20 2 gig memory stick

+18 Zagg Invisibleshield

I later found out that OSX leopard 10.5 could be run on it. I was intrigued and wanted my mini to have the same OS as a macbook! How cool would that be?

So if you have (2) usb thumb drives and a windows pc you too can load OSX without the need of a CD/DVD rom. I didn’t want to spend any more than I had to enjoy my unit.

Step One: Check list
* One Vista (or possibly XP) computer…but I have only tested on Vista.
* One copy of OSX, in my case I used a retail DMG backup of 10.5.4
* USB Flash drive #1 2gig (For OSX Leopard 8+ gig flash drives are best)
* USB Flash drive #2 8gig (For Type11 – Makes PC think it’s a Mac)

Step Two: Create the Type11 Bootable flash drive
The type11 or boot123 is commonly known on the mydellmini, as the tool that allows your pc to boot OSX because it gives the OS the impression that you are in fact a real mac. Let the cloaking begin:

To make the Type11 USB Flash Drive you will need access to a Windows machine.
* Format the USB stick in the FAT32 format.
-right click and format flash drive
* Download Syslinux 3.63
* Expand that zipfile. In the win32 subdirectory there is an executable called syslinux.exe. At the command prompt line (Start—> Run—>CMD) type:
run syslinux -ma f: and press enter (assuming F: is the drive letter referring to your freshly formatted USB stick and your command line is in the right directory of syslinux; replace with the correct drive letter if necessary running this command will happen quickly. I didn’t even think it happened the first time but rest assure it works. )
* Copy the contents of the Type11 v7.7 ISO http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=8c116d784f7e1de2ab1eab3e9fa335cae14d84bdb06f32a8(not the image itself) to the USB flash stick, taking care not to overwrite anything that syslinux put on the USB stick (syslinux only placed one file on the stick that is hidden) ( I use Winrar to extract the ISO to my flash drive)
* You now have a bootable Type11/Boot132 USB flash drive
* You can test it right away by rebooting your Mini 9 and changing the boot sequence to USB boot.

Step Three:
Create an OSX Leopard Bootable flash drive
With your second USB flash drive plugged in to windows xp/vista

Download macdrive 7.0
once installed click on format or repair Mac disks
select modify Mac volumes(create, format and delete Mac volumes)
with the usb drive connected click next
you will see 2 volumes on the drive select the usb drive.
format your usb drive with HFS+

mount the dmg file and proceed to copy your downloaded .dmg contents using the below method

Open a command prompt (start —- run—cmd)
Type: diskpart and press Enter. ( it will Create the MBR for the device)
Type: list disk. A list of your connected hard drives will appear. Make sure you see your flash drive on the list. In the example below my 8GB flash drive is Disk 2. (images to come)

Type: select disk 2 (but change the disk number to whatever your drive is)
Type: clean. It should only take a few seconds to clean.
Type: create partition primary. This command should complete almost immediately.
Type: select partition 1
Type: active
Type format fs=fat32 to format the flash drive. This took about 10 minutes on my drive.
Type assign
Type exit

Now we need to copy the DMG contents to the USB drive Now that the MBR has been setup.

I assume d: DVDROM drive e: is the usb drive (d can also be a mounted DMG file of OSX leopard)

Now xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\

Step Four:
Insert the Leopard thumb drive into a USB slot on the right hand side of the Mini9
Insert the Type11/Boot132 thumb drive into a slot on the left.
Turn on the machine, make sure USB Legacy is Enabled in the BIOS.
Press 0 while booting to get the boot menu, choose USB Drive, you should see some SYSLINUX text zipping across the screen, when you get a prompt, hit enter. You’ll proceed to boot up into the Leopard installer.

Sleep is in the latest version- just make sure USB Legacy and USB Wake are disabled in BIOS.
Ill be testing these instructions soon but for those daring!

Dell Mini 9 Arrives tomorrow OSX 10.5.5 Leopard to Follow

So i recently got a Dell mini 9 because it was dirt cheap. 310 included shipping and tax.

It has 1 gig stock from Dell. My first hack would be to install Bios A03 and a 2 gig ram stick.  That will probably be about 25 bucks from Newegg.com.

Next I plan to install OSX where i will be documenting the whole process.

I am currently doing a lot of research to make this happen seeing as It does not have a DVD rom drive. USB Flash drives will have to do.

I will be attempting to install OSX Leopard from 2 USB drives.

I do not have a Macbook only a Vista Running Windows Machine to get the 2 usb flash drives formatted with the right files.