MP 1,1-5,1 cMP & Mojave - time to upgrade

[retlif]

Hi!

Due to a bug in latest Xcode, more and more programs require 10.15+

This means that I need to upgrade.

My configuration:
3.46 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
NVMe 970 EVO 1TB
SATA SSD 840 EVO 250GB
Radeon RX 570 8 GB
+
BCM94360CD

What is currently the best strategy for cMP:

upgrade to Catalina?
Upgrade to Big Sur?
Upgrade to Monterey?

What can I expect? Any problems?

Any BT/Handoff issues?
Or Wifi issues?

I have the original iSight (Firewire) and I understand that above 10.15+ it is no longer usable?

What should I use: package from Martin Lo or OCLP?

Is there anything more I should know or think about?

I've been following the "OpenCore on the Mac Pro" thread and others but it's been hundreds of posts and I think we could all use a small recap.

TIA

 

[retlif]

Thank you very much for all the answers!


Maybe it will be useful for someone:
I decided for Big Sur (I had 11.6.1 on disk) and Martin's package ( 0.7.6 ) without any changes in config.

I updated directly from Mojave (10.14.6).

After about 45 minutes, the installation was successful - although I expected problems.

After updating to 11.6.2 and rebooting - when I didn't expect any problems - the Panic kernel appeared. Fortunately, reinstalling 10.6.2 with Recovery helped.

In the OC bootpicker the mouse (first Magic Mouse) and the bluetooth keyboard (Logitech MX Keys) did not work. It looks like bootpicker hangs but it is just a connection issue. Surprise: Keyboard and mouse must have HID proxy mode! Only original and sufficiently new accessories are likely to work. Luckily you only need to have a cable mouse handy... Great user experience!

Unpleasant surprise:
Music does not see Mojaves's iTunes library. It looks very bad - as everything has to be reimported - but the solution is trivial. The iTunes library's file must have the extension *.itl. Mine did not. Why? I have no idea. It's probably just a great new Apple.

Pleasant surprise:
the duo PlexConnect + PMS works without problems.

Impressions:
Overall, Big Sur has clearly lost its quality when it comes to design. Some elements are packed tightly together (for example: Dock & Menu Bar Preferences) while others are spread out (for example: Menubar or menus). New icons are ugly, and unnecessarily standardized: for example shape is an important factor that has been simply removed from the system in the name of some misunderstood uniformity. There are many imperfections here. These are all small details and nuances but the first impression is negative - the GUI is a step backwards. This may seem subjective, but I assure you it is not. A long, long time ago at Apple they paid attention to this.

If I find any more problems I will add to this post later.

See you!

 

[MVMNT]

There were answers? I can't see them - in a similar scenario myself.

 

[retlif]

There were answers? I can't see them - in a similar scenario myself.

No
That was a bit sarcastic. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[Madhatter32]

I'm thinking about Catalina for the reasons the OP sets forth.

 

[skodises]

I'm on Catalina now, via the Dosdude1 patcher. Solid as a rock.

I'll eventually move up to a later release, but I haven't talked myself into doing the OC thing yet. I always like to stay at least one major release behind, anyway, to avoid the early-adopter blues...

 

[howdytom]

I have stumbled the wonderful Open Core Legacy patcher project. Prior installing I am looking for some longterm experience. How reliable is the Open Core Legacy patcher? Did you encounter any issues e.g booting with the MacPro in your daily work? Some comments mentioned hanging on cold reboot and usb 1.0 connection issues. Can you share some comments about speed? Is macOS Big Sur slower than Mojave? I am using a Macpro5,1, NVme with a Metal compatible graphic card and loved to use Open Core.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays ?

 

[retlif]

Well, I can't speak about longterm impressions. As I wrote I decided for Martin's package not OCLP. When it comes to speed I do not see any noticeable difference. Geekbench 5 even shows a slightly better result in Big Sur but it is not a big difference.

Another little detail: I had to enable HDMI Audio in OC and then force the handshake by inserting and removing the plug into the socket.

The historic iSight does not work, but this was known from the beginning. Goodbye my old friend. Thank you for your service!

 

[sfalatko]

I have stumbled the wonderful Open Core Legacy patcher project. Prior installing I am looking for some longterm experience. How reliable is the Open Core Legacy patcher? Did you encounter any issues e.g booting with the MacPro in your daily work? Some comments mentioned hanging on cold reboot and usb 1.0 connection issues. Can you share some comments about speed? Is macOS Big Sur slower than Mojave? I am using a Macpro5,1, NVme with a Metal compatible graphic card and loved to use Open Core.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays ?

To get real insight into OCLP check out their discord - it is supposed to be very active with the developers participating.

As to Catalina, Big Sur, and Monterey - I have found they all run well on a cMP 5,1.

 

[avro707]

I'm on Catalina now, via the Dosdude1 patcher. Solid as a rock.

I'll eventually move up to a later release, but I haven't talked myself into doing the OC thing yet. I always like to stay at least one major release behind, anyway, to avoid the early-adopter blues...

You are definitely more than one major release behind.

I think it's pretty safe to run Monterey 12.1 or 12.2 (which is beta at the moment) 12.1 has been really solid so far and 12.2 (on the 128GB dual processor machine) has also been good. Both of them really fast. I just use the Martin Lo Opencore package.

The single processor 32gb 3.46 machine is really stable as well.