macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[torabayu]

If you happen to have a lot of partitions/drives it is important to select the correct one and of course you should install Catalina on APFS formatted SSD as your Mac has full native APFS support.

Thanks.
I tried to upgrade it from snow leopard to catalina directly, which might be a problem.
I think I had to do snow leopard to El capitan first, El capitan to high sierra second, then I would make it, hopefully.

 

[Macbookprodude]

OK, let's try making a new USB boot drive, thought I to myself, thought I.
Patcher downloaded again, Catatonia installer downloaded again, USB drive built successfully. Reboot from USB drive, Recovery OS peers at drive and OKs it to boot from, Recovery OS menu appears. 'Re-install macOS' option chosen, then this:

View attachment 880716

At a bit of a loss now. Anyone with a MacBook gets to run Catatonia, and I'm not...

try a 32GB flash drive - this works, as I had a 16gb and Catalina didn’t like it - also make sure the patcher is downloading the installer.

 

[kral84]

try a 32GB flash drive - this works, as I had a 16gb and Catalina didn’t like it - also make sure the patcher is downloading the installer.

Same problen on 32gb sticks ... What make it wrong?usb is to guid and mac os extendes (jour...)

 

[halflunatik]

OK, let's try making a new USB boot drive, thought I to myself, thought I.
Patcher downloaded again, Catatonia installer downloaded again, USB drive built successfully. Reboot from USB drive, Recovery OS peers at drive and OKs it to boot from, Recovery OS menu appears. 'Re-install macOS' option chosen, then this:

View attachment 880716

At a bit of a loss now. Anyone with a MacBook gets to run Catatonia, and I'm not...

Had the same issue when i used Mojave and it seems to be due to the time on the system. I set the date back in time a few months using the command date -u which did the trick as it was due to the signed bits.
hope this helps.

 

[kral84]

@halflunatik
Which command you use?

Change date, and then create an usb stick.or dou you mean after create an usb...change time via terminal and then click install on recovery..

 

[Macbookprodude]

Same problen on 32gb sticks ... What make it wrong?usb is to guid and mac os extendes (jour...)

I could be the type of USB stick also. It’s weird and shouldn’t be happening.

 

[chrisrm9208]

Same problen on 32gb sticks ... What make it wrong?usb is to guid and mac os extendes (jour...)

Actually, it's a USB casing for a NVME SSD I had kicking around; those 240Gb ought to be useful *somewhere*...
After all, the thing just booted successfully, showing that the OS is handled correctly by the USB circuitry both on the casing and the MP. The date comment is interesting; is that the system date used when building the USB drive, or the system date when booting from the USB drive?

 

[chrisrm9208]

Actually, it's a USB casing for a NVME SSD I had kicking around; those 240Gb ought to be useful *somewhere*...
After all, the thing just booted successfully, showing that the OS is handled correctly by the USB circuitry both on the casing and the MP. The date comment is interesting; is that the system date used when building the USB drive, or the system date when booting from the USB drive?

OK, left system date as today to download Catalina installer (else browser sulks), then changed date to 2018 before using the Patcher to remake the USB installer drive. That completed, used the USB drive to boot from, checked the system date on Recovery Tools/Terminal session (still 2018), then ran the 'Reinstall MacOS' option. It failed again with the 'damaged' message. So date is probably not the answer.

 

[alphascorp]

@jackluke
@ASentientBot
Thank you

I followed all steps. Now I have aidrop detected by my macbook7,1 but doesn't work between my mac and my iPhone 7.

View attachment 880403

View attachment 880404

Handoff doesn't work neither.
I use this BT 4 dongle. Mpow Bluetooth

Do I need to deactivate the other 2.1 BT or maybe the dongle is defective ?

Please how can I know that the dongle is correctly connected and installed under macOS ?
Thank you
[automerge]1575299300[/automerge]

Just like all others humains being ;-)

French Version:

Salut @Loyd-01a
j'ai eu le même souci avec cMP5,1 après avoir branché un dongle Bluetooth 4.0 USB (Belkin), il n'était pas pris en compte.
Un outil Apple, "Bluetooth Explorer.app", permet de permuter les cartes Bluetooth. Il se trouve chez Apple dans la section des outils de développement (Additional Tools for Xcode).


Pour le trouver il faut utiliser la recherche et écrire: "Hardware IO Tool for Xcode"
Il y a plusieurs version disponible, j'ai donc choisi la dernière en date, qui se trouve être la version 7.3
J'ai donc téléchargé "Hardware_IO_Tools_for_Xcode_7.3.dmg" (Cette version à fonctionné sous Mojave et sous Catalina)
A l'intérieur du .dmg on trouve "Bluetooth Explorer.app" que j'ai enregistré dans Applications/Utilitaires (mais on peu aussi le mettre dans le dossier Applications).


Afin de forcer la commutation il suffit de lancer "Bluetooth Explorer.app" puis Tool --> HCI Controller Selector



Dans l'image ci-dessous on peux voir que c'est la carte Bluetooth interne du mac qui est active et non le Dongle BT4.0 USB.



Pour permuter sur le Dongle BT4.0 USB, il suffit de le sélectionner puis de cliquer sur "Activate" cela prend entre 20 secondes et 1 minute (parfois cela ne fonctionne pas du premier coup il faut donc fermer "Bluetooth Explorer.app" et recommencer).


Par contre si l'on à plusieurs OS sur différents disques/partitions lors de la permutation d'un OS à l'autre il se peut que l'on doivent réexecuter la sélection du Dongle BT4.0.
IMPORTANT: si c'est le Dongle BT4.0 qui est activé, les claviers/souris Bluetooth ne fonctionneront pas lors du BootScreen pour la sélection d'un disque sur lequel démarrer ou mêm lors de l'installation d'un OS... Avant de redémarrer il faudra donc impérativement permuter sur la carte Bluetooth interne du mac.

Maintenant, je n'ai plus besoin du Dongle 4.0 et de "Bluetooth Explorer.app" car depuis peu j'ai remplacé mes vielles cartes internes Wifi et Bluetooth par une BCM94360CD (Wifi 802.11 ac et BT4.0) (#1,316)

English Version:

Hi @Loyd-01a
I had the same problem with cMP5.1 after connecting a USB Bluetooth BT4.0 dongle (Belkin), it was not taken into account.
An Apple tool, "Bluetooth Explorer.app", allows you to switch Bluetooth cards. It can be found at Apple's Development Tools section (Additional Tools for Xcode).


To find it, use the search and write: "Hardware IO Tool for Xcode"
There are several versions available, so I chose the latest one, which happens to be version 7.3
So I downloaded "Hardware_IO_Tools_for_Xcode_7.3.dmg" (This version worked for me on Mojave and Catalina)
Inside the .dmg we find "Bluetooth Explorer.app" that I saved in Applications/Utilities (but we can also put it in the folder Applications).


In order to force switching: launch "Bluetooth Explorer.app" then Tool -> HCI Controller Selector



In the image below we can see that it is the internal Bluetooth card of the mac that is active and not the USB Dongle BT4.0.


To switch to the USB Dongle BT4.0 just select it then click "Activate" it takes between 20 seconds and 1 minute (sometimes it does not work the first time so close "Bluetooth Explorer.app" and start again).


On the other hand if one has several OS on different disks/partitions during the changeover from one OS to an other one it is possible that we must re-execute the permutation from the USB Dongle BT4.0 to internal Bluetooth card.
IMPORTANT: if the USB Dongle BT4.0 is activated, the Bluetooth keyboard/mouse will not work during BootScreen for selecting a disk to boot or even when installing an OS... Before restart it will therefore imperative to switch on the internal Bluetooth card mac.

Today I do not need the USB Dongle BT4.0 and "Bluetooth Explorer.app" because recently I replaced my old internal Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards with a BCM94360CD (Wifi 802.11 ac and BT4.0) (#1,316)

 

[Dilli]

@dosdude1 I need some help. I installed Mojave in a new partition and I have lost sound . After I installed new graphics card 765M all went smooth. So I have High Sierra working in 1st Partition and no sound issues but with Mojave I have lost sound. When I used Mojave patch on my unsupported 27 inch iMac 2011 I unticked legacy graphics since now the card is metal. So wonder what may be the issue.

Any kext replacement or sh command would be welcome. Sorry I posted here in the Catalina thread.


EDITED:
Issue is resolved by re applying patches.

 

[LuisN]

@dosdude1 I need some help. I installed Mojave in a new partition and I have lost sound . After I installed new graphics card 765M all went smooth. So I have High Sierra working in 1st Partition and no sound issues but with Mojave I have lost sound. When I used Mojave patch on my unsupported 27 inch iMac 2011 I unticked legacy graphics since now the card is metal. So wonder what may be the issue.

Any kext replacement or sh command would be welcome. Sorry I posted here in the Catalina thread.View attachment 880918

Did you try to reinstall all patches except video?

 

[Dilli]

Tks. I re installed all Patches except video and have got the output sound device back.

 

[macman718]

CoreBrightness is not related to continuity (the answers are merged automatically), Broadcom usb ac won't work, it's required an internal AirPort 802.11ac for that, maybe you need a patched IOBluetoothFamily.kext to whitelist the external BT 4.0 dongle for continuity features, something as this (credit to dokterdok):

hex to find : 4885ff74 47488b07
hex to replace : 41be0f00 0000eb44


I attach a pre-patched Catalina 19B88 IOBluetoothFamily that I manually binary-patched, if you want to test this should whitelist the USB Bluetooth 4.0 dongle to use the continuity features with a third party BT 4.0 dongle

replace the attached inside from Terminal (copy/paste one line at once):

sudo mount -uw / ; killall Finder
cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext/Contents/MacOS/
sudo cp IOBluetoothFamily IOBluetoothFamily.backup

open /System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext/Contents/MacOS/

(replace the attached file from Finder, then return to Terminal window)

sudo chown -R 0:0 /S*/L*/E*/
sudo chmod -R 755 /S*/L*/E*/
sudo kextcache -i /

(this will take a while, during this process check that IOBluetoothFamily with invalid signature is allowed by kextcache)

sudo reboot

As you can notice I already tested on my machine this attached, moreover I used a CambrigeSiliconRadio not Broadcom (apple favourite vendor) usb BT 4.0 dongle that is not advisable to use for compatibility but instead it worked without issues.

How do I whitelist my USB Bluetooth 4.0 dongle to use the continuity features with a third party BT 4.0 dongle?

 

[El_Cid]

In the first place I would like to thank all the people who worked so hard to make our old Macs have the opportunity to keep alive serving us well, specially dosdude1, 0403979, ASentientBot and others that I can't remember right now.

Everything is running like a charm with my old Mac on Catalina but I have a doubt...

Is it possible to make apps like Pixelmator Pro run? Or at least disable GPU check on the apps wich requires metal?

I know about hardware limitations... But wtf the whole OS is running so well, why not the apps?

Thanks in advance.

 

[avz]

In the first place I would like to thank all the people who worked so hard to make our old Macs have the opportunity to keep alive serving us well, specially dosdude1, 0403979, ASentientBot and others that I can't remember right now.

Everything is running like a charm with my old Mac on Catalina but I have a doubt...

Is it possible to make apps like Pixelmator Pro run? Or at least disable GPU check on the apps wich requires metal?

I know about hardware limitations... But wtf the whole OS is running so well, why not the apps?

Thanks in advance.

OS is running so well because it was PATCHED. If you want the apps to run so well, you must PATCH THE APPS so they would strictly rely only on Open GL and not on Metal.

 

[El_Cid]

I know it. What I want to know is if someone can give me a hint on how to do that. I don't expect the apps to run like they do on supported machines, I just want to know how to bypass GPU compatibility check.

Thanks.

 

[avz]

I know it. What I want to know is if someone can give me a hint on how to do that. I don't expect the apps to run like they do on supported machines, I just want to know how to bypass GPU compatibility check.

Thanks.

It still sounds like you don't know. If you just bypass GPU compatibility check, you might be able to open the app but you still will not be able to use it as it's frameworks would rely on Metal. Please explain what is the purpose of just being able to open the app and not use it?

 

[Henk Poley]

This might be an interesting project for developers wanting to get incompatible (AMD) drivers compiled only for newer CPUs working: https://github.com/nemequ/simde

It's a compile time compatibility/translation layer from SSE4.1/AVX/etc. to older SIMD instruction sets. Not entirely what you need, but at least somewhere halfway there.

 

[Pachnes]

Hi Dosdude, at Mac Mini 2009 you inject the apfs driver with a shell script into the boot routine. You could change this shell script and could redirect the screen output of every single command to /dev/NULL. Than nobody would see it

Or change the background colour of the shell and the letters to Apple grey.

 

[El_Cid]

Well... I want to make the apps run first and decide if they are usable or not. Some apps may have just one or two things unusable but prevent you from execute them.
The whole OS is usable and it has originally a message saying that you can't install it or use it. You can run newer apps on old OS just modifying a plist file. First thing is not stop on a pop-up saying that I can't do something.

Now... Backing to my question...

Can anyone help me to bypass GPU compatibility check to make apps to run anyway despite being compatible or not?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ASentientBot]

Well... I want to make the apps run first and decide if they are usable or not. Some apps may have just one or two things unusable but prevent you from execute them.
The whole OS is usable and it has originally a message saying that you can't install it or use it. You can run newer apps on old OS just modifying a plist file. First thing is not stop on a pop-up saying that I can't do something.

Now... Backing to my question...

Can anyone help me to bypass GPU compatibility check to make apps to run anyway despite being compatible or not?

Thanks in advance.

Emulating Metal support is not a simple task. If it were, we wouldn't still be relying on my wrappers and the OpenGL UI renderer from Mojave.

All you can really do is NOP out the parts that use it, but most likely there will be missing UI elements and functionality. It's generally easier to just use older versions of the app (as we do with FCPX and iMovie).

That said, if you specify which apps you're referring to, we could be a lot more helpful. But plist edits are not going to cut it.

 

[Pachnes]

Two questions:

Can I use the DosDude Bootstick to install Catalina to a machine that natively does support Catalina (example Mac Mini 2012) and will that installation stay Vanilla?

 

[dosdude1]

Two questions:

Can I use the DosDude Bootstick to install Catalina on a machine that natively does support Catalina (example Mac Mini 2012) and will that installation stay Vanilla?

Yes, I designed it that way. No post-install patches will be installed on a natively supported machine, which will result in a completely stock, unmodified Catalina install.

 

[chrisrm9208]

OK, left system date as today to download Catalina installer (else browser sulks), then changed date to 2018 before using the Patcher to remake the USB installer drive. That completed, used the USB drive to boot from, checked the system date on Recovery Tools/Terminal session (still 2018), then ran the 'Reinstall MacOS' option. It failed again with the 'damaged' message. So date is probably not the answer.

And the answer is : SIP. Execute Dosdude1's patcher to create a clean USB installer, invoke Recovery OS, Terminal 'csrutil disable', restart with USB installer in place as startup drive, and after a while one has Catalina.

 

[TimothyR734]

Successfully installed macOS Catalina 10.15.2 Dev Beta 4 duding the pinarek method