Aperture 2.0 on a 12" PowerBook

I own a 12" PowerBook with a GeForce FX Go5200 graphics card. For whatever reason that I've yet to discover, Apple has declared the GeForce FX Go5200 ‘bad’ as far as Aperture 2.0 is concerned, and attempting to install it (the trial version, at least) results in the message: “Your video card does not meet the minimum requirements to run this software.” By the time I figured this out, a copy of Aperture 2 is already en route to my house…

Of course, there's always a workaround. The following instructions apply to the downloadable trial; I'll update it when my copy arrives retail version, and should let you install Aperture whatever the system hardware. I doubt Apple will provide support in this case though. I'll leave it to you to figure out how to do the same for the downloadable trial…

1. Insert the DVD.
2. Open Terminal.app, and type at the prompt:

   mkdir -p /tmp/aperture
   cp -r /Volumes/Aperture/{Aperture.mpkg,Packages} /tmp/aperture/
   open /tmp/aperture

   You should see Finder pop up with the contents of /tmp/aperture
3. Ctrl-click on ApertureTrial.mpkg, select ‘Show Package Contents’.
4. Navigate into the Contents folder, and open Aperture.dist using TextEdit.app.
5. Search for ‘installation-check’; this should take you to the line:

   <installation-check script='installationCheck()'/>

6. Insert a pair of <!-- and --> in the appropriate place:

   <!-- <installation-check script='installationCheck()'/> -->

7. Save the file.
8. Go back to /tmp/aperture and double-click on Aperture.mpkg.
9. …
10. Profit.

You can now remove the install files by typing the following into Terminal.app: rm -rf /tmp/aperture

I wrote this entry after the fact, in the hope that others might find it useful. (Which is to say, I haven't actually tested my own instructions. I didn't even use the same programs: I'm much more comfortable with bash and vim…) Let me know how you get on.

*eagerly awaits his copy to pop through the letterbox*