macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[0134168]

I have little time or money for hardware upgrade.
And, besides, due to medical reasons, I need a lower graphics standard, a full graphics acceleration Catalina would cause serious concentration issues, I have strong reasons to prefer a lower video quality experience. One of th reasons I tend o stick with this video card. If I upgraded the video card to one that supports Metal, Iin order to properly work on this machine, I would need to disable graphics acceleration and lower the video experience pretty much. Not just luminosity, but the quality itself. I need to keep it at about the quality of a Windows XP. Even on Windows 10 I do not install the graphics drivers and disable the video effects, to keep the video quality lower. So, I guess that a Metal compatible graphics card would actually mean more work for me then wjhat it is now. I know many things do not work on this reduce mode, but nothing to care about. Even if Photos app does not work, it is fine for me, I do not work with it. As long as I can do audio editing with Garageband (and probably Logic Pro too) and basdic things like Safari navigation or pdf reading works, it is even better. And since my medical condition does not seem to improve but to get worse, I need to keep this hardware configuration).
So, 32 bit apps not working anymore to be the case? Or telemetry? I remember the old Hackintosh rule: if the installer boots up to the end, the installed OS would work too on the hardware, one way or the other. So, there has to be a way to get it going.
I use the SMBIOS function of system definitions in Clover to disguise this hardware as an iMac 14.2 , if I use iMac 10.1, as are patches designed for, Catalina refuses to boot. Perhaps the telemetry plug-in can be tricked by disguiessing the CPU into another CPU (I know it is possible under Clover). By the way, installing the patches for iMac 10.1 would not suppose to remove or disable that telemetry plugin feature?

No sense
[doublepost=1568397919][/doublepost]

Anyone interested in getting Parallels Desktop 15 up and running with correct graphics support under Catalina (and Mojave), see over here.

Nice tip.

 

[Bhenault]

Hello, I don’t know if anyone can help me with this on this thread or if I’m in the wrong place, but I’m running the dosdude patch with Catalina installed. I’m having issues with updating and installing Adobe CC apps onto the system. Could this be an issue with my machine not having metal support? The previous apps I had before worked fine (lightroom and Photoshop). I have a mid 2009 iMac.

 

[dosdude1]

Hello, I don’t know if anyone can help me with this on this thread or if I’m in the wrong place, but I’m running the dosdude patch with Catalina installed. I’m having issues with updating and installing Adobe CC apps onto the system. Could this be an issue with my machine not having metal support? The previous apps I had before worked fine (lightroom and Photoshop). I have a mid 2009 iMac.

If I'm not mistaken, the Adobe apps are still 32-bit only... In which case, they will not work under Catalina. Regardless, though, this is a compatibility issue with whatever you're trying to install and Catalina, NOT the patches.

 

[Bhenault]

If I'm not mistaken, the Adobe apps are still 32-bit only... In which case, they will not work under Catalina. Regardless, though, this is a compatibility issue with whatever you're trying to install and Catalina, NOT the patches.

Thank you, I’ll have to keep messing around with it. I had the software I was using running on Catalina without problems, but I can’t seem to get anything to update, or anything new to download from adobe, so my guess would be that it could be something with the CC installer.

 

[Vyzantion]

Is there not some accessibility software that you can use to alter the colors/appearance of your display? I bet that somebody has made or is willing to make a program that'll apply whatever filter to your screen that you need. There must be a better way than using a non-accelerated system.

That said, the crash from a grey screen sounds a lot like the telemetry plugin. Try booting in single-user mode and running:

mount -uw /
rm -rf /System/Library/UserEventPlugins/com.apple.telemetry.plugin

Also, make sure that you disable any legacy video patches, if you really want a non-accelerated system, they are pointless and will cause instability/break features for no reason.

Good luck.

Edit: Every modern OS can run in greyscale mode and/or tweak the color profile in various ways. Have you tried that? I don't fully understand your situation, but it's often blue/bright lights that can affect sleep and other mental aspects. Besides, disabling transparency will lead to nearly the same appearance as a non-accelerated Mac, without the performance hit. You have options.

Tried the solution with the removal of the telemetry plugin. It did not solved the issue.

 

[ASentientBot]

Tried the solution with the removal of the telemetry plugin. It did not solved the issue.

Damn. You're going to have to try to get a panic report if we'll ever figure out what's going on.
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If I'm not mistaken, the Adobe apps are still 32-bit only... In which case, they will not work under Catalina. Regardless, though, this is a compatibility issue with whatever you're trying to install and Catalina, NOT the patches.

I'm running Photoshop and Illustrator 2018 on Catalina with no problems whatsoever. The installer is 32-bit, though, so you have to install on Mojave and then upgrade, or copy the installation from another partition.

I'm pretty sure that 2019 is fully 64-bit, but I haven't tested them much (since AMTEmu doesn't work). I'm not sure if any apps (Premiere maybe?) use Metal. Photoshop complains about my 256 megabytes of VRAM but still works fine minus a couple of the filters.

 

[Vyzantion]

How can I get that error raport, if I can not log in into Catalina?

 

[Bhenault]

Damn. You're going to have to try to get a panic report if we'll ever figure out what's going on.
[doublepost=1568407966][/doublepost]
I'm running Photoshop and Illustrator 2018 on Catalina with no problems whatsoever. The installer is 32-bit, though, so you have to install on Mojave and then upgrade, or copy the installation from another partition.

I'm pretty sure that 2019 is fully 64-bit, but I haven't tested them much (since AMTEmu doesn't work). I'm not sure if any apps (Premiere maybe?) use Metal. Photoshop complains about my 256 megabytes of VRAM but still works fine minus a couple of the filters.

I’ll have to try that then thank you. I have the CC app installed, however when I go to download it comes up with an error saying something about a corrupted file.

 

[Funkstar2]

Hi everyone,

I’m having trouble understanding the CPU requirements to avoid audio stuttering.

I currently have a Mac Pro 3.1 with two E5462. Will this cause audio stuttering?

 

[Flacko]

Hi everyone,

I’m having trouble understanding the CPU requirements to avoid audio stuttering.

I currently have a Mac Pro 3.1 with two E5462. Will this cause audio stuttering?

No , you will be ok. Audio stuttering is a cMP 4.1>5.1 problem. My cMP 3.1 with E5462 runs fine.

 

[Funkstar2]

No , you will be ok. Audio stuttering is a cMP 4.1>5.1 problem. My cMP 3.1 with E5462 runs fine.

Great news! Thank you very much

 

[Vyzantion]

Applying the patches from the dosdude1 app without the video patch allowed me to finished the installation. I guess the dosdude1 patch for Catalina is just different then the one for Mojave. Thank you all, especially to dosdude1, ASatientBot, 0403979 for their work and making it possible.
First impressions? Catalina slow at first but, in time, it gets faster, I guess the OS adapts via caches to the hardware pretty well. There are some changes I do not like, like the universality of the Apple ID, once you log in an app, you log in the whole OS. Also I can not copy an app directly from a pen drive to the Applications folder, I need to copy then on the Documents folder first, then move them to Applications.
If you are interested in getting a report for this configuration, I can get an f2 boot from Clover and get some informations from IOReg.

 

[0134168]

Applying the patches from the dosdude1 app without the video patch allowed me to finished the installation. I guess the dosdude1 patch for Catalina is just different then the one for Mojave. Thank you all, especially to dosdude1, ASatientBot, 0403979 for their work and making it possible.
First impressions? Catalina slow at first but, in time, it gets faster, I guess the OS adapts via caches to the hardware pretty well. There are some changes I do not like, like the universality of the Apple ID, once you log in an app, you log in the whole OS. Also I can not copy an app directly from a pen drive to the Applications folder, I need to copy then on the Documents folder first, then move them to Applications.
If you are interested in getting a report for this configuration, I can get an f2 boot from Clover and get some informations from IOReg.

Every macos Os X system run slower at first.

 

[TimothyR734]

Applying the patches from the dosdude1 app without the video patch allowed me to finished the installation. I guess the dosdude1 patch for Catalina is just different then the one for Mojave. Thank you all, especially to dosdude1, ASatientBot, 0403979 for their work and making it possible.
First impressions? Catalina slow at first but, in time, it gets faster, I guess the OS adapts via caches to the hardware pretty well. There are some changes I do not like, like the universality of the Apple ID, once you log in an app, you log in the whole OS. Also I can not copy an app directly from a pen drive to the Applications folder, I need to copy then on the Documents folder first, then move them to Applications.
If you are interested in getting a report for this configuration, I can get an f2 boot from Clover and get some informations from IOReg.

If you put this from ASentientbot in your /Library/LaunchDaemons folder you can copy applications from your pendrive to your applications folder

 

[olrik77]

Hello from France,

Running CAT DP 19A558d, installed over 19A546d on my MP 3,1.........smoooooth !

Thank you,

Serviteur,

 

[TTV.STREAMERBTW]

Has anybody been able to use the keyboard backlight on a MacBook Pro 4,1 running the latest Catalina Beta 8? I’ve tried a couple of different things but haven’t been able to get backlight to work every time I try to turn it on it gives me a weird symbol shown in the picture below. Thanks!

 

[kinetos]

Has anybody been able to use the keyboard backlight on a MacBook Pro 4,1 running the latest Catalina Beta 8? I’ve tried a couple of different things but haven’t been able to get backlight to work every time I try to turn it on it gives me a weird symbol shown in the picture below. Thanks!

I’ve the same problem on mine

 

[danallen]

I just spent an hour reading bits of this thread from the beginning. Then skipped to the middle, and now hopping to the end.

I have a question, but before asking, I need to say, "Holy Moley!" There are many cases of serious heroism that have already unfolded and accomplished miracles. Reading about all the setbacks caused by new code from Apple you have been through, forcing so much rework....If I had not read this thread, I would have had no idea what has been going on.

The result... I just started putting Catalina on my cMP 2012 about a week ago. Thanks to the patch, that so many people contributed to, I basically have had no issues. This has been a breeze for me, none of the agony you have endured. I am beyond impressed and not worthy. Thank you a million times for your effort.

So, everything is running perfectly for me. The thing I am wondering about is System Integrity Protection (SIP). The reason i was searching and then reading the thread was to see if the info I need has been posted already, but i have not found it.

When I boot into Catalina, SIP is not enabled. Is that normal?

 

[dosdude1]

I just spent an hour reading bits of this thread from the beginning. Then skipped to the middle, and now hopping to the end.

I have a question, but before asking, I need to say, "Holy Moley!" There are many cases of serious heroism that have already unfolded and accomplished miracles. Reading about all the setbacks caused by new code from Apple you have been through, forcing so much rework....If I had not read this thread, I would have had no idea what has been going on.

The result... I just started putting Catalina on my cMP 2012 about a week ago. Thanks to the patch, that so many people contributed to, I basically have had no issues. This has been a breeze for me, none of the agony you have endured. I am beyond impressed and not worthy. Thank you a million times for your effort.

So, everything is running perfectly for me. The thing I am wondering about is System Integrity Protection (SIP). The reason i was searching and then reading the thread was to see if the info I need has been posted already, but i have not found it.

When I boot into Catalina, SIP is not enabled. Is that normal?

View attachment 858520

View attachment 858521

Because system files are patched, and extra, unsigned kexts are being installed, SIP must remain disabled at all times when running a patched copy of macOS. Having SIP enabled will cause the system to simply stop booting, or have functionality issues. Catalina Patcher includes an implementation that ensures SIP is always disabled, regardless of what the user sets in NVRAM.

 

[danallen]

Because system files are patched, and extra, unsigned kexts are being installed, SIP must remain disabled at all times when running a patched copy of macOS. Having SIP enabled will cause the system to simply stop booting, or have functionality issues. Catalina Patcher includes an implementation that ensures SIP is always disabled, regardless of what the user sets in NVRAM.

This is great news! I was worried I got off the rails, that SIP was off due to errors in how I installed things. Now that I know SIP disabled is part of the plan for running Catalina on my box, i am all good. I will just have to be careful about how I run chmod and chown and not lose my emergency boot disk drive to restart in the event of an unfortunate incident.

I am going to guess.. rules of the road without SIP:
1. Don't try manipulating files on the "system" volume of Catalina. Leave those surgeries to the people who know what they are doing by running the patch software and then leaving it alone.
2. The "Data" volume is... open season, free for all? No?

 

[Flacko]

This is great news! I was worried I got off the rails, that SIP was off due to errors in how I installed things. Now that I know SIP disabled is part of the plan for running Catalina on my box, i am all good. I will just have to be careful about how I run chmod and chown and not lose my emergency boot disk drive to restart in the event of an unfortunate incident.

I am going to guess.. rules of the road without SIP:
1. Don't try manipulating files on the "system" volume of Catalina. Leave those surgeries to the people who know what they are doing by running the patch software and then leaving it alone.
2. The "Data" volume is... open season, free for all? No?

With your cMP 5.1 you have a few routes you can follow. Using the patcher, as you have found, will keep SIP disabled. I have been running a cMP3.1 without SIP since Sierra and provided you are careful this has not caused any problems. Other advantages of the patched route are that you get NightShift and if you have the original WiFi card then the patches give you WiFi. I also believe dosdude1 has removed the need to have the "no compat check" but I have not tried this way with my cMP5.1.
The other route that leaves SIP enabled is to install with no patches at all. Dosdude1's patcher has the option to do this which is great if you want a system with as little change as possible. However, you will have to have the NVRAM "no compat check" applied. My cMP5.1 is running like this at the moment. I do have an upgraded WiFi/BT card so it is running Catalina "OOB" if you like. To take this route set up the patcher options from the menu before you install - set APFS not to use the software patch and the automatic patching off. After install the cMP5.1 will boot up into Catalina with no further actions needed. SIP remains enabled throughout this procedure. So the choice of poison is yours! At present it seems the cMP5.1 runs Catalina very well.
Last point - make sure your ROM is the latest - 144.0.0.0.0.

 

[0134168]

Very well explained. I run Catalina in my Mac Pro 5,1 just like you. Updated Graphic card and Wifi/Bluetooth module.
[doublepost=1568539796][/doublepost]

Very well explained. I run Catalina in my Mac Pro 5,1 just like you. Updated Graphic card and Wifi/Bluetooth module. Just say that reset the NVRAm now brings complications.

 

[Fangio]

HDMI sound which was working in DP 7
With lilu And appleALC as a plugin
No longer works in DP 8

HDMI Audio works fine here in 19A558d, see attached pic.

Make sure you have installed at least Lilu v1.3.8 or later, and AppleALC v1.4.0 or later.

 

[danallen]

With your cMP 5.1 you have a few routes you can follow. Using the patcher, as you have found, will keep SIP disabled. I have been running a cMP3.1 without SIP since Sierra and provided you are careful this has not caused any problems. Other advantages of the patched route are that you get NightShift and if you have the original WiFi card then the patches give you WiFi. I also believe dosdude1 has removed the need to have the "no compat check" but I have not tried this way with my cMP5.1.
The other route that leaves SIP enabled is to install with no patches at all. Dosdude1's patcher has the option to do this which is great if you want a system with as little change as possible. However, you will have to have the NVRAM "no compat check" applied. My cMP5.1 is running like this at the moment. I do have an upgraded WiFi/BT card so it is running Catalina "OOB" if you like. To take this route set up the patcher options from the menu before you install - set APFS not to use the software patch and the automatic patching off. After install the cMP5.1 will boot up into Catalina with no further actions needed. SIP remains enabled throughout this procedure. So the choice of poison is yours! At present it seems the cMP5.1 runs Catalina very well.
Last point - make sure your ROM is the latest - 144.0.0.0.0.

Thank you for the assist, I appreciate it a lot.

I have the ROM all set.

So the patcher has the option to apply no patches.... what service is it providing in that scenario? I am thinking the main thing it does in that scenario is provide access to catalina download from Apple.

I pretty much have Catalina setup now with what I use it for, such as VMWare Fusion running a four VMs of Debian Linux. They are used for web development, doing the coding on them and pushing the code to live Debian servers owned by my clients.

Plus a few other softwares...

So, to get to the SIP-enabled setup, do I have to start with a new installation of Cataline, either wiping the volume I am running now or maknig a new one?

Last queston, I don't know what it means or how to do the NVRAM "no compat check", needed for Wifi and BLuetooth? I am running original equipment for wifi and bluetooth. I can live ok without wifi, because I run ethernet into the heavy box. I do not move it from place to place, buttttttttttttt... I can imagine that could get ugly too. I'd say it is lame that I am runnng old wifi/bluetooth and should upgrade them, but i am going to need to get a better handle on how that fits into the patch/no-patch and NVRAM no compat check.

In the grand scheme, small small issues compared to what some have had to deal with.

Regarding night shift, well, not night shift but dynamic wall paper in mojave (still in Catalina if you pick the mojave wallpaper, vs.the "automatic" light to dark in Catalina, this is such a small issue, but Apple kicked the pooch on this as far as i am concerned. I love the dynamic changes in the wall paper but i want a dark theme 24 hours a day not just at night. Catalina does not support that with the catalina wallpaper. To get Catalina wallpaper to do the light shifting the way Mojave does, you have to have light theme during the day. I hate that.

Now the other last question... looking for an inkling of what this is about, the icons associated with usernames.

 

[dosdude1]

Thank you for the assist, I appreciate it a lot.

I have the ROM all set.

So the patcher has the option to apply no patches.... what service is it providing in that scenario? I am thinking the main thing it does in that scenario is provide access to catalina download from Apple.

I pretty much have Catalina setup now with what I use it for, such as VMWare Fusion running a four VMs of Debian Linux. They are used for web development, doing the coding on them and pushing the code to live Debian servers owned by my clients.

Plus a few other softwares...

So, to get to the SIP-enabled setup, do I have to start with a new installation of Cataline, either wiping the volume I am running now or maknig a new one?

Last queston, I don't know what it means or how to do the NVRAM "no compat check", needed for Wifi and BLuetooth? I am running original equipment for wifi and bluetooth. I can live ok without wifi, because I run ethernet into the heavy box. I do not move it from place to place, buttttttttttttt... I can imagine that could get ugly too. I'd say it is lame that I am runnng old wifi/bluetooth and should upgrade them, but i am going to need to get a better handle on how that fits into the patch/no-patch and NVRAM no compat check.

In the grand scheme, small small issues compared to what some have had to deal with.

Regarding night shift, well, not night shift but dynamic wall paper in mojave (still in Catalina if you pick the mojave wallpaper, vs.the "automatic" light to dark in Catalina, this is such a small issue, but Apple kicked the pooch on this as far as i am concerned. I love the dynamic changes in the wall paper but i want a dark theme 24 hours a day not just at night. Catalina does not support that with the catalina wallpaper. To get Catalina wallpaper to do the light shifting the way Mojave does, you have to have light theme during the day. I hate that.

Now the other last question... looking for an inkling of what this is about, the icons associated with usernames.

View attachment 858650

First off, there is NEVER a need for SIP, as it is practically useless in most cases. It didn't even exist in OS X 10.10 and earlier. It's easier to just have it permanently disabled and not have to worry about it getting in the way (about all SIP is good for) when you want to change something in the system.

no_compat_check is just a kernel flag that bypasses the compatible board-ID check of the bootloader, allowing it to boot on machines that aren't officially supported. This value is also set by the patcher in the Catalina Install's com.apple.Boot.plist file, so it doesn't necessarily need to be in NVRAM. I just have the Patcher put it there as a precaution in case it ignores boot.plist, which I have seen happen in some cases.

Lastly, the weird user picture issue you're seeing is a glitch with the Catalina Beta itself, and not an issue with the tool or patches.