Dell Mini 9 3G Install

dell

[Rob] sent in his Dell mini 9 3G install. He bought the Dell without the 3G option, but found that he really wanted it. He installed a mini pcie bracket and found a sim connector that matched the specs he needed. Apparently they use one that it rare as it uses the first pin to indicate whether or not there’s a card loaded. He pulled the mini pcie 3G card from a cheap USB adapter. After soldering it all in place and firing up OS X, he was able to connect, without issue. He says the reception wasn’t great, so he’ll need to add an antenna. This is similar to the process seen on the Acer aspire one 3G hack. Since you’re already in there, you might as well add a GPS while you’re at it.

13 thoughts on “Dell Mini 9 3G Install

  1. From what I’ve read the added mini pci does not support the functionality of an additional SSD.

    Also, I’ve looked into adding the GPS from the previous post and it appears to generate too much heat to leave it in the case. Unless there were a way to turn it on/off as needed otherwise it’s left on while laptop is in use and eats your battery. :(

  2. That mini pci does not support the functionality of an additional SSD at all, however it does have a spare USB connection on it that is widely used (in addition to an additional +5v line found elsewhere within) by mini 9 modders such as myself.

    It’s common for folks to connect internal hubs to this port.

    I’ve got a 16gb flash drive connected to mine.

    Nice work on this hack.

  3. Hi,
    can you send me any information about this sim holder.Where can i buy it, what is the part number, manufacture. I’ve been searching in many places without success. In service manual is only description that that connector is 8@SIM-Conn nothing else.

    Regards,
    Magic

  4. He is running osx on a Dell mini, for the simple reason it becomes a very trustworthy yet very cheap version of a mackbook air. With the actual intel based chipset. Which allows the user to multi interface different applications and usages. So, instead of buying a $2500 MacBook you are buying a Dell at $500 and placing an osx operating system on it, for only a fraction of the true machine.

  5. Well that seems economical enough. I haven’t gotten into the Apple world at any level but sounds like a good idea to to me. Though I thought at one time Mac OS was only designed for Mac hardware. Did that change when Macs started using Intel/Nvidea and other standard PC hardware components?

  6. I found an HP laptop that in the manual had a place to put your SIM card from your phone. In the US that will only work with AT&T (non- I-Phone) users I believe. The internal antenna was built around the screen. When I requested that model I was told that wasn’t offered in the US. I found out it was only test marketed in Saudi Arabia.

  7. It was found that with osx leopard 10.5.6 that when apple first came out with the intel based chipset it was able to hack into the OS on any intel based pc. As long as it was an intel chipset you can run the apple OSX on any pc. There are a few that are un able to retain the os software on the hdd or the os back system. The website is hackintosh.com. If you wish to see the units that are able for the hack.

  8. And as far as the hp with the sim card only being useable for or through AT&T is BS. You can actually jailbreak the hp sim portion for use with any sim or GDM ased carrier. Ie t-mobile, etc. Same a the iPhone. The thing is ifthe service or hardware is branded for a specific carrier it is able to be jacked or jailbroken ie unbranded.

  9. Hello all,

    I know this comes a few months late..but I would want to do the same mod..but the link is dead.
    Does anyone have the original link, the part numbers (sim connector, pci-e conector)

    Cheers,
    Mihai

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