Things just got a little easier for squeamish Hackintosh makers. One of the biggest problems with installing Mac OS X on an MSI Wind has been the lack of proper Wi-Fi support. The easiest way to fix it is to pick up a cheap Dell card and replace the one that comes with the machine. It costs around $15 and acts just like a real Aiport card in a real Mac.
But those not so comfortable with – literally – screwing around inside their netbooks now have a better option: Ralink, the supplier of wireless cards to some Wind variants, has released an updated driver for OS X (10.3, 10.4 and 10.5).
The official Wind still ships with a Realtek Wi-Fi card, so the replacement option is still the best way to go. But owners of the Wind clone Medion Akoya Mini will have the Ralink card inside (check the sticker on the bottom of the computer). There were already drivers for this card, but the interface was quite hideous and the connection had to be manually re-established after sleep or a restart.
We haven't yet tested the new setup, as both of the Gadget Lab Hackintoshes have replacement Dell cards inside, but the reports from the MSI wind forum say that it works, although the interface is still pretty fugly. MSI Wind Forum member Svinto:
What is most interesting about this development is that Ralink is effectively supporting Hackintoshes. As every new Mac comes with Wi-Fi, there is no need for anyone to buy a third party card, especially not a Mini-PCI card. These drivers are probably only going to be used in Frankenmacs. We think this is great, although the rather paranoid Apple might think otherwise.
Driver downloads [Ralink]
New RALINK drivers for wireless-n card! [MSI Wind Forums]
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