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A cMP Owners Day to Celebrate

t8er8

t8er8

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 4, 2017
252
100
Quebec, Canada
I was not expecting Apple to continue support with the cMP in future releases, no matter how small this OS update might seem to be, it’s incredible how they’re still continuing support for these machines.

I’m just blown away, but at the same time very happy with this news. Goes to show that Apple still recognizes cheese graters to be the powerful machines they are.

I’m excited to see where this OS update takes us cMP users.

Mojave still requires a metal compatible gpu, but if you buy a cMP nowadays it’s very unlikely you won’t upgrade the gpu, and I think Apple knows we’re upgrading our gpus on these macs so we can squeeze as much power out of them as we can.

Anyway, today’s a day we should celebrate, for the continuation of many people’s favourite Apple product lineup.
 
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bookemdano

macrumors 68000
Jul 29, 2011
1,514
846
2009 cMP owners should be celebrating harder than anyone. With a GFX card update (and assuming they've already done the 5,1 firmware flash) a computer Apple sold nine years ago looks like it will be fully supported with their newest OS. Every other model line cuts off at 2012, and it's looking like an unofficial hack will be very difficult for those machines since most of them have integrated graphics.

And what Apple doesn't give to 2009/2010/2012 cMP owners (NVMe booting, USB3 booting, maybe other things) smart folks here in this very forum may be able to give us.

Nice time to own a cheese grater :)
 
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Biped

Biped

macrumors regular
Sep 7, 2017
175
202
The stockholm syndrome in this thread is rich.

Pretty sure the latest version of ubuntu will still run on my Pentium D grandpa machine, could probably build a kernel with MFM/RLL support .... ( hyperbole )

The fact that Apple who is notorious at pre-emptive obsolescence, is supporting the 5.1 ( I'm happy ( for you ) it will btw ) hints at how badly they dropped the ball for pro market. If they had a current viable solution on the market, bet you anything you wouldn't have 5.1 support.
 
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bookemdano

macrumors 68000
Jul 29, 2011
1,514
846
Biped said:
The stockholm syndrome in this thread is rich.

Pretty sure the latest version of ubuntu will still run on my Pentium D grandpa machine, could probably build a kernel with MFM/RLL support .... ( hyperbole )

The fact that Apple who is notorious at pre-emptive obsolescence, is supporting the 5.1 ( I'm happy ( for you ) it will btw ) hints at how badly they dropped the ball for pro market. If they had a current viable solution on the market, bet you anything you wouldn't have 5.1 support.
Click to expand...

Doesn't mean people who own 5,1s can't celebrate that the last truly upgradable Mac lives another year. It's not stockholm syndrome. No one is gushing over Apple in this thread. We're just glad our machines didn't get the axe this year.
 
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redheeler

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,657
9,324
Colorado, USA
bookemdano said:
2009 cMP owners should be celebrating harder than anyone. With a GFX card update (and assuming they've already done the 5,1 firmware flash) a computer Apple sold nine years ago looks like it will be fully supported with their newest OS. Every other model line cuts off at 2012, and it's looking like an unofficial hack will be very difficult for those machines since most of them have integrated graphics.
Click to expand...
Either the support period for all 2011 Macs is too short, or the unofficial compatibility period for 2009 Mac Pros is unusually long. The glass is half empty or half full - as the owner of two soldly-performing quad-core 2011 Macs, I see it more as the former. :)

Similarly, Mac Pro 1,1 and Mac Pro 3,1 also got a full decade unofficially running the latest Mac OS on an upgraded GPU. A decade isn't bad at all, though even after all this time with 1,1 / 2,1 stopping at El Capitan and 3,1 stopping at High Sierra both these machines still have more than enough power to run Mojave, if it weren't for unnecessary requirements like the kernel being compiled for SSE 4.2, which might be more efficient on newer CPUs but completely kills compatibility with the older CPUs.
 
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bookemdano

macrumors 68000
Jul 29, 2011
1,514
846
redheeler said:
Either the support period for all 2011 Macs is too short, or the unofficial compatibility period for 2009 Mac Pros is unusually long. The glass is half empty or half full - as the owner of two soldly-performing quad-core 2011 Macs, I see it more as the former. :)

Similarly, Mac Pro 1,1 and Mac Pro 3,1 also got a full decade unofficially running the latest Mac OS on an upgraded GPU. A decade isn't bad at all, though even after all this time with 1,1 / 2,1 stopping at El Capitan and 3,1 stopping at High Sierra both these machines still have more than enough power to run Mojave, if it weren't for unnecessary requirements like the kernel being compiled for SSE 4.2, which might be more efficient on newer CPUs but completely kills compatibility with the older CPUs.
Click to expand...

Apple didn't intend to give 2009 cMP owners the ability to run Mojave (or even High Sierra). It's entirely accidental since there were so few changes in the cMP from 2009-2012 and people figured out the 2009 could be flashed with the 2010 firmware.

The modular models like the Mac Pro are always going to have an easier time gaining unofficial support because so much of the hardware can be swapped. Can't say the same for MacBooks, iMacs and Mac Minis.

If you buy a Mac, you can reasonably expect Apple to give it new OS's for 7-8 years. Maybe unofficially longer, in very rare cases maybe shorter. But the 7-8 years thing is a good rule of thumb.
 
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Varmann

macrumors regular
Jan 3, 2010
154
71
It is the latest 3 (or 4, including -12) generations that is supported. For iPhone it currently is 5 (or 6, separating 8 and X) generations. I guess we have to be content with that.
 
AidenShaw

AidenShaw

macrumors P6
Feb 8, 2003
18,667
4,677
The Peninsula
If you depend on a cMP, and you don't have a strong "Plan B" to deal with Apple dropping cMP support and coming out with "Cube 3.0" as the mMP - you are foolish.

Apple has sent major promised features out for beta testing, and then dropped them before release (Bing for "Carbon64').

writing-on-the-wall[1].jpg

​
 
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crjackson2134

crjackson2134

macrumors 601
Mar 6, 2013
4,847
1,957
Charlotte, NC
t8er8 said:
I was not expecting Apple to continue support with the cMP in future releases, no matter how small this OS update might seem to be, it’s incredible how they’re still continuing support for these machines.

I’m just blown away, but at the same time very happy with this news. Goes to show that Apple still recognizes cheese graters to be the powerful machines they are.

I’m excited to see where this OS update takes us cMP users.

Mojave still requires a metal compatible gpu, but if you buy a cMP nowadays it’s very unlikely you won’t upgrade the gpu, and I think Apple knows we’re upgrading our gpus on these macs so we can squeeze as much power out of them as we can.

Anyway, today’s a day we should celebrate, for the continuation of many people’s favourite Apple product lineup.
Click to expand...

Apparently you're not allowed to enjoy the moment. Kudos for daring to try, I'm with ya'
 
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redheeler

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,657
9,324
Colorado, USA
bookemdano said:
The modular models like the Mac Pro are always going to have an easier time gaining unofficial support because so much of the hardware can be swapped. Can't say the same for MacBooks, iMacs and Mac Minis.
Click to expand...
The main problem for unofficially running newer versions of MacOS tends to become the graphics card. In the cMP you can simply swap it out for a newer one. But with other Macs (including the nMP), you're stuck (other than eGPU, which is slowly becoming a more viable option).

This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that Apple makes code changes which break the proprietary / closed source GPU drivers bundled with Mac OS, so if Apple no longer includes a kext for your GPU then SOL. This affects my 2006 iMac and is the main reason it can't run El Capitan, while a 2006 Mac Pro with upgraded GPU can.

On top of that, more recently we have the revelation that Mojave's WindowServer still has an OpenGL renderer, intentionally disabled to enforce the strict Metal requirement.
 
flyinmac

flyinmac

macrumors 68040
Sep 2, 2006
3,579
2,465
United States
parrotgeek1 said:
It turns out this isn't true. We just assumed that's why it kernel panics. Even more bizarrely, it works in a virtual machine but not real hardware, on C2D
Click to expand...

That’s interesting. So in “theory” High Sierra and Sierra should run on a Mac Pro 1,1 / 2,1 then? We just haven’t figured out where the block is???

If it’ll run in a VM on a system without SSE 4.x???
 
P

parrotgeek1

macrumors 6502
Jun 14, 2016
309
377
CA, USA
flyinmac said:
That’s interesting. So in “theory” High Sierra and Sierra should run on a Mac Pro 1,1 / 2,1 then? We just haven’t figured out where the block is???

If it’ll run in a VM on a system without SSE 4.x???
Click to expand...
No, the MacPro3,1 has SSE4.1 and that is what 10.14 needs. We thought 10.14 needed SSE4.2 but it doesn't. 1,1/2,1 have neither of those.
 
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