2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and macOS Sierra

[flyinmac]

16GB + 5770s + SSDs = FTW! Probably one of the best most reliable FUN computers Apple ever made!

The old Mac Pro is the last of the true tinkerers Macs. I've spent a lot of time in recent months overhauling and cleaning and modifying my Mac Pro. It's served me good over the years. And now I get to rip it apart and beef it up.

Best $2500 I ever spent to purchase a computer. Served me 10 years. No other mainstream computer has remained this useful to me for so long. And with its recent updates, it's got several more years left ahead of it.

It's now thoroughly cleaned inside and out, and supercharged and ready to take on the world again.

This might be the first mainstream computer to serve 20 years with me.

The last computer to get near that was my trusty Commodore 64. But that was as a hobby machine. Not as my daily use productivity machine.

If this Mac Pro does another 5 to 10 years, and serves productively, then it will certainly have paid for itself many times over.

No other Mac or PC has ever given me more than 3 to 5 years of total useful life, even extending past its obsolescence.

I had iMac G5's that didn't even survive 6 months before their death. My G4 computers provided about 2 years of usefulness each.

My G3 machines served about 4 years. And my 80386 served about 5 years.

Everything else from my z80's & 8086 to Pentium series averaged maybe 1 to 2 years.

So I'm quite pleased with the long service of my 2006 Mac Pro.

Any other machine (including Macs) would have been replaced numerous times in the last 10 years.

 

[hwojtek]

Would he accept a gift if a bunch on here chipped in and bought him a Macpro 1,1 or 2,1 or both?

Not quite sure but it's worth asking. Since I am based in Europe, I can work out a way to deliver a local (Spain) Mac Pro to him without a lot of fuss...

 

[F1Mac]

Not quite sure but it's worth asking. Since I am based in Europe, I can work out a way to deliver a local (Italy) Mac Pro to him without a lot of fuss...

tututut not so fast! Make Sierra work on our antiquities first then we'll talk.

 

[hwojtek]

tututut not so fast! Make Sierra work on our antiquities first then we'll talk.

He did it with El Capitan, I believe any sign of appreciation to Pike is highly welcome.

 

[F1Mac]

He did it with El Capitan, I believe any sign of appreciation to Pike is highly welcome.

There is also a donation section on his site iirc, I made one when he was doing the El Capitan bootloader and will gladly make a new one this time around - he deserves it and it is imo the least we can do.

 

[Tower-Union]

This is all I could find regarding donations, but I agree he deserves something!

https://pikeralpha.wordpress.com/donations/

 

[blindpcguy]

so any progress getting sierra running on the 1,1 or is el cap the end of the line

 

[qu1j0t3]

@hwojtek I think that mikecorp wanted to say that he's running 10.11.3?
MP1,1 came with Tiger preinstalled so he is hardly running Panther on it... Or is he?

@mikecorp , Going from 10.11.3 to 10.11.6 will replace your boot.efi files, so you'll have to have either daemon working, or other OS X to replace those files from.

Are you 100% sure? I have been running pike's boot.efi with El Capitan 10.11.5 for a while. I tried the 10.11.6 update and it left my Mac Pro 2,1 unbootable (it would get to the console screen with a rectangular white cursor in top left, flashing every few seconds). Strangely though, the boot.efi's were not replaced, though it's possible it did not fully complete the update. I still do not know exactly what part of the 10.11.6 update caused the problem. I had to do a Time Machine restore back to 10.11.5 using the El Capitan installer.

 

[blindpcguy]

il be doing a clean install on mine once my new ogpu comes in hopefully 10.11.6 works out of the box. with the boot.efi

 

[apple_iBoy]

Are you 100% sure? I have been running pike's boot.efi with El Capitan 10.11.5 for a while. I tried the 10.11.6 update and it left my Mac Pro 2,1 unbootable (it would get to the console screen with a rectangular white cursor in top left, flashing every few seconds). Strangely though, the boot.efi's were not replaced, though it's possible it did not fully complete the update. I still do not know exactly what part of the 10.11.6 update caused the problem. I had to do a Time Machine restore back to 10.11.5 using the El Capitan installer.

I'm doing okay with 10.11.6, no issues to report.

 

[haralds]

I'm doing okay with 10.11.6, no issues to report.

Same here. Check that boot.efi and ownership/permissions are correct. Also try a safe boot.

 

[TheNuutti8]

What about this solution + boot.efi patch?
http://dosdude1.com/sierrapatch.html

I'll try this method on my mp1,1 on this weekend just for fun

 

[Ant3000]

This says it is for early 2008 Mac Pros - a 1.1/2.1 is 2006. As has been noted already, it isn't just the boot.efi causing the problem with the 1.1/2.1 Mac Pros, it is hardware related.

 

[netkas]

you are now waiting for xnu kernel source for 10.12 to appear here - http://opensource.apple.com/

 

[richgoga]

you are now waiting for xnu kernel source for 10.12 to appear here - http://opensource.apple.com/

Has anyone actually tried to boot macOS Sierra with my latest commit? Thing is. What I found in the kernel is the old fpu switch for SSE/SSE2 but the string SSE4(.1/2) is not used anywhere in the kernel. The SSE4.2 CRC32 instruction is also not used in the kernel so it may actually not be that bad for old hardware after all.

Any thoughts? Hoping this isn't the end of the road.

 

[Ant3000]

I am a bit more optimistic having read the above comment from Pike. If not then El Capitan should be OK for a while to come. I am not sure if Adobe CS6 is fully supported on Sierra or some other key apps I use, so this may be another reason to be satisfied with having got this far. Some things are already broken in CS6/El Cap and Adobe isn't going to fix them even if it could and I am not renting their software. My guess is Sierra will break even more stuff - at least in the short term.

 

[netkas]

Any thoughts? Hoping this isn't the end of the road.

SSE4.1 instructions is not in kernel, its in few libraries, like libobjc. so most of apps just crash when launched.

 

[dougp59]

gofundme.com/2qp97dv8

Hey macrumors community. As you know Piker-Alpha has been instrumental in allowing our older Macpro 1,1 and 2,1 rigs to continue to operate with newer versions of MAC OSX all the way up to El Capitan.

He's done all of this WITHOUT having access to his own 1,1 and 2,1 Macpros from 2006 and 2007!!!

With the release of Sierra now upon us, Apple has done some more jazz to make it harder for the work ALREADY done by Piker-alpha and his band of coding brothers to use the same re-engineering to allow Sierra to work on our older systems.

Perhaps a donation of hardware will encourage him on.

The plan is to raise $1500 to buy a 1,1 and a 2,1 and donate them to Piker-alpha.

We'll have one of the European based guys from the thread make the purchase and ship it. Perhaps owbp or hwojtek.

In the event Piker-alpha turns down this effort, all money will be refunded.
[doublepost=1474559858][/doublepost]I just seeded the Go Fund Me with $25. Let's do this!!!

 

[hrutkaymods]

gofundme.com/2qp97dv8

Hey macrumors community. As you know Piker-Alpha has been instrumental in allowing our older Macpro 1,1 and 2,1 rigs to continue to operate with newer versions of MAC OSX all the way up to El Capitan.

He's done all of this WITHOUT having access to his own 1,1 and 2,1 Macpros from 2006 and 2007!!!

With the release of Sierra now upon us, Apple has done some more jazz to make it harder for the work ALREADY done by Piker-alpha and his band of coding brothers to use the same re-engineering to allow Sierra to work on our older systems.

Perhaps a donation of hardware will encourage him on.

The plan is to raise $1500 to buy a 1,1 and a 2,1 and donate them to Piker-alpha.

We'll have one of the European based guys from the thread make the purchase and ship it. Perhaps owbp or hwojtek.

In the event Piker-alpha turns down this effort, all money will be refunded.
[doublepost=1474559858][/doublepost]I just seeded the Go Fund Me with $25. Let's do this!!!

I got my 1,1 for $139... why $1500? I can see sending him some very generous donations but wow that's a lotta money. the max I could see with shipping to get him a Pro is maybe $300?

 

[dougp59]

I got my 1,1 for $139... why $1500? I can see sending him some very generous donations but wow that's a lotta money. the max I could see with shipping to get him a Pro is maybe $300?

We are talking two seperate Macpro purchases. A 1,1 AND a 2,1. Also the basic units usually need more RAM and a supported video card (like a Radeon 5770). Those cards alone are usually at least $150 US each. So that's just $300 for the graphics card. Never mind an SSD or new hard drive.

The $1500 should cover everything for both units plus shipping and if there is any juice left over, donate that to Piker-alpha too. I figure at the going rate of Senior programmers here in the US, this guy has easlily donated $100K worth of time towards this project.

 

[owbp]

Donation and money - I'm totally on board with that.
Also i know that hwojtek already said that he can arrange shipping and i can help with that (have friend in Trieste, Rome etc... And i also have only 6hrs drive to Italian border).

The main thing to consider is does Pike actually needs and, more important, wants Mac Pro 2006/2007?
That's the question i would first ask him before doing anything else.

 

[F1Mac]

The main thing to consider is does Pike actually needs and, more important, wants Mac Pro 2006/2007?
That's the question i would first ask him before doing anything else.

Yep, I doubt he needs one.

On a side note, I'm on Sierra since yesterday at work, and frankly, if El Capitan is the last OS that can run on our 1/2,1s, then I'm perfectly fine with that. Overall performance is the same. We'll have security updates for the next 3 years and so far I'm not impressed with Sierra. It's cool to stay up-to-date, but....Anyway, just sayin'

 

[flyinmac]

We are talking two seperate Macpro purchases. A 1,1 AND a 2,1. Also the basic units usually need more RAM and a supported video card (like a Radeon 5770). Those cards alone are usually at least $150 US each. So that's just $300 for the graphics card. Never mind an SSD or new hard drive.

The $1500 should cover everything for both units plus shipping and if there is any juice left over, donate that to Piker-alpha too. I figure at the going rate of Senior programmers here in the US, this guy has easlily donated $100K worth of time towards this project.

I'm in full favor of encouraging his work. And love your plan. But I am curious why a 1,1 and a 2,1. Both machines are essentially the same, aside from a flash to 2,1 bringing the 1,1 up.

It's essentially a matter of which CPU's are supported. Otherwise they're identical.

The flash update brings a 1,1 up to a 2,1. And any end user attempting to get Sierra on their machine should have no problem doing that first step to flash update to a 2,1.

So I would think either a 1,1 flashed to 2,1, or a 2,1 in a dual core (2 duals / 4 cores total) @ 2.66 GHz would be the way to go.

That configuration would cover the entire range of 1,1 and 2,1 as far as being a representation of all 2006 / 2007 machines.

Essentially, if it will work on that, then it will work on all 1,1 and 2,1 machines.

I could see providing an nvidia 8800, and ATI 5770, and perhaps a 3rd graphics card that is a modern unflashed PC Card. For testing scenarios.

Basic SSD drives are around $40 for small capacity to test trim etc. and SATA drives are cheap for having sufficient main storage partitions.

Otherwise, 16 GB is sufficient for RAM.

Remember the idea is to have the machine represent what most people with a 1,1 or 2,1 would have.

Those who have updated their machines like mine, will be able to utilize the hack just as well. It's the base machine that needs represented.

 

[owbp]

Yep, I doubt he needs one.

Don't want to claim anything because i can't find it right now, but i remember reading somewhere (his blog?) that he isn't interested in old Macs. On the other hand, if I am wrong, we will get him one in next few days!

On a side note, I'm on Sierra since yesterday at work, and frankly, if El Capitan is the last OS that can run on our 1/2,1s, then I'm perfectly fine with that. Overall performance is the same.

Yes, never wanted to shout about it because many users are still having troubles with El Cap (Macbooks, iMacs subforums...) but for me it is the only OS equal to Snow Leopard in terms of speed and bug free performance (Mavericks was also ok, but not as El Crap™, as people like to call it ).

 

[dougp59]

Donation and money - I'm totally on board with that.
Also i know that hwojtek already said that he can arrange shipping and i can help with that (have friend in Trieste, Rome etc... And i also have only 6hrs drive to Italian border).

The main thing to consider is does Pike actually needs and, more important, wants Mac Pro 2006/2007?
That's the question i would first ask him before doing anything else.

Can you ask Piker?
[doublepost=1474564566][/doublepost]

I'm in full favor of encouraging his work. And love your plan. But I am curious why a 1,1 and a 2,1. Both machines are essentially the same, aside from a flash to 2,1 bringing the 1,1 up.

It's essentially a matter of which CPU's are supported. Otherwise they're identical.

The flash update brings a 1,1 up to a 2,1. And any end user attempting to get Sierra on their machine should have no problem doing that first step to flash update to a 2,1.

So I would think either a 1,1 flashed to 2,1, or a 2,1 in a dual core (2 duals / 4 cores total) @ 2.66 GHz would be the way to go.

That configuration would cover the entire range of 1,1 and 2,1 as far as being a representation of all 2006 / 2007 machines.

Essentially, if it will work on that, then it will work on all 1,1 and 2,1 machines.

I could see providing an nvidia 8800, and ATI 5770, and perhaps a 3rd graphics card that is a modern unflashed PC Card. For testing scenarios.

Basic SSD drives are around $40 for small capacity to test trim etc. and SATA drives are cheap for having sufficient main storage partitions.

Otherwise, 16 GB is sufficient for RAM.

Remember the idea is to have the machine represent what most people with a 1,1 or 2,1 would have.

Those who have updated their machines like mine, will be able to utilize the hack just as well. It's the base machine that needs represented.

Well, it may come down to he get Sierra running on 2,1. But NOT on 1,1. It would be hard to switch back and forth!