macOS 11 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread

[justperry]

Rebuild your OC config and disable SecureBootModel - it is one of the options. You can just install the very same version of Big Sur on top of your current installation to enable SBM, again. Alternatively one can modify the preboot partition, which got a little bit corrupted on your journey to Monterey.

Maybe I just have to try the easy way, install Big Sur in place, as in a new install on top of the old one.

 

[justperry]

Erm...where are my logs, is this because the ssd system is not mounted?

View attachment 1790903

Sorry, System log is located in /Private/var/log
But, nothing there either.

 

[K two]

I ended installing Big Sur 11.4 on the 7,1 whitebook, it runs fast (didn't expect it but it's awesome that it's runing fast in the whitebook), but there's a lot of graphic glitches (as expected) (and they don't bother me, they are just minor details, doesn't affect any major task like using affinity designer), the problem is that a lot of apps doesn't work anymore like tableau public 2019.2.0 (the latest one that i could find that can work with my penryn processor, the newer ones says that my processor isn't compatible for some reason(and i need tableau)) another app that doesn't work anymore is iMovie 10.1.12 (the last version of iMovie that didn't require metal(worked well on catalina 10.15.6)) it's say that i need to update iMovie, but the latest version just crashes when open, and other app that kinda works is Keynote 9.1 (the last version that didn't require metal) works but with a lot of graphical glitches and sometimes crashes, and Pastel, an app that worked great on catalina and that is "fully supported" on Big Sur doesn't open anymore(it tries to but closes immediately)... the question is, do you believe that if i install Bug Sur 11.2.3, maybe they can work again on that macOS version or there's some way of running them on 11.4...what do you recommend me, and thanks again mate!... by the way, Big Sur looks fantastic on my 7,1 Whitebook...

Both Keynote and Numbers v.10.2 run fine on 11.5b2. iMovie inop. Don't use the others you mention. Maps opens ok but crashes when entering a character in Search. There are likely other warts. No issues with what we use here, mostly clerical and research. YMMV Amazing to see these decade plus old Macs bouncing along on Big Sur 😎

 

[dukebound85]

Minimal Google fu ("OpenCore sidecar") and the kind folks at Dortania tell me the current state of play is: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-For-Legacy-Macs/post-install/sidecar.html

That seems conflicting with my expereince

My 2013 MBP that is no longer supported is running Big Sur and has sidecar working pretty well! Thanks to OCLP

My 2015 MBP is officially supported by Big Sur but does not have the side car ability.

It seems like it would work, though was hoping to see if others had luck before I dove in trying.

The above link makes it seem that the side car patch does not work? yet the OCLP has it working on my old machine, hence the question

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Sorry, System log is located in /Private/var/log
But, nothing there either.

Found the OC trouble shooting guide...

 

[Bmju]

That seems conflicting with my expereince

My 2013 MBP that is no longer supported is running Big Sur and has sidecar working pretty well! Thanks to OCLP

My 2015 MBP is officially supported by Big Sur but does not have the side car ability.

It seems like it would work, though was hoping to see if others had luck before I dove in trying.

The above link makes it seem that the side car patch does not work? yet the OCLP has it working on my old machine, hence the question

In that case, I think it would be helpful if you raised an issue in the Dortania bugtracker, basically mentioning exactly the details you've just said above. Apologies for not realising the state of play! It sounds like it's the documentation that needs updating, but they'll know.

Then at the same time you could re-ask your original question there briefly too - is it possible to add sidecar on an otherwise supported Mac? has anybody tried? - sounds like it should be possible - but it depends on any non-obvious hardware requirements for sidecar - as you can tell I haven't tried, so I won't guess again!

 

[K two]

Has anyone tried booting from Firewire in Big Sur w/OCLP v.0.1.7 ? 😁

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Has anyone tried booting from Firewire in Big Sur w/OCLP v.0.1.7 ? 😁

Yes, worked on my iMac 2010.

 

[Dahcrazychicken]

Success! MacBookAir4,2 macOS 11.4, OCLP 0.1.6

 

[rehkram]

Hmm.. iPhone X is plugged in (Lightnin' -> USB), photos app on Mac not showing it as a source for importing new shots. Is it a bug?

 

[whgmkeller]

This is probably a dumb question…

I have BS 11.2.3 installed with OCLP on my 2012 MP5.1.
I plan on doing some updates in the coming days or weeks; new CPU’s, a new Airport Extrene card (and maybe also do the Pixlas mod to my power unit while I’m doing updates).

I suppose afterwards I need to install BS (version 11.2.3) again because of the hardware changes?

Greetz,
Willem

 

[hwojtek]

Unlikely.

 

[rehkram]

Hmm.. iPhone X is plugged in (Lightnin' -> USB), photos app on Mac not showing it as a source for importing new shots. Is it a bug?

Apologies, false alarm. I'd forgotten that the hub I was plugged into was temporarily hooked up to another machine.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

This is probably a dumb question…

I have BS 11.2.3 installed with OCLP on my 2012 MP5.1.
I plan on doing some updates in the coming days or weeks; new CPU’s, a new Airport Extrene card (and maybe also do the Pixlas mod to my power unit while I’m doing updates).

I suppose afterwards I need to install BS (version 11.2.3) again because of the hardware changes?

Greetz,
Willem

You should rebuild the OCLP EFI to match your CPU and new WiFi card. CPUfriend data and the WiFi patches need to be adjusted.

 

[RRmalvado]

Success! MacBookAir4,2 macOS 11.4, OCLP 0.1.6

How’s the performance for you on this? I’m on Catalina (dosdude1’s procedure).

WiFi and everything works?

 

[Dilli]

Has anyone tried booting from Firewire in Big Sur w/OCLP v.0.1.7 ? 😁

I am just looking for the kext files of Firewire that I could replace or add in Bigsur for Firewire to work on my iMac. I had no luck after many trials with OCLP to upgrade BigSur to 11.4.

So used @jackluke's BigSurFix to update and finally I have 11.4 on the iMac.

So I will not touch OCLP.[Sorry no hard feelings to the developers]

 

[justperry]

Found the OC trouble shooting guide...

I fixed it today, the easiest way was to Install macOS Big Sur in place, used the last full beta Installer found on page 425.

This would have never happened before just a few years ago, rolling back with Timemachine or CCC would have done the trick, nowadays it's much trickier.
I'll buy a new mac as soon as the second-generation Apple silicon M arrives, a bit tired of this crap.

Edit: Seems like I wasn't clear, it's crap that I have to go through this every single time, I am very, VERY great full for all the work that has been done, actually, I myself played a part in this, so people, don't misunderstand what "crap" means.

 

[K two]

I fixed it today, the easiest way was to Install macOS Big Sur in place, used the last full beta Installer found on page 425.

This would have never happened before just a few years ago, rolling back with Timemachine or CCC would have done the trick, nowadays it's much trickier.
I'll buy a new mac as soon as the second-generation Apple silicon M arrives, a bit tired of this crap.

Care to re-phrase? A lot of people, worldwide, are dedicated to this "crap." Please get over your entitled self? Thanks.

 

[Dilli]

I fixed it today, the easiest way was to Install macOS Big Sur in place, used the last full beta Installer found on page 425.

This would have never happened before just a few years ago, rolling back with Timemachine or CCC would have done the trick, nowadays it's much trickier.
I'll buy a new mac as soon as the second-generation Apple silicon M arrives, a bit tired of this crap.

If you choose to use the patchers it will always have ups and downs so the vocabulary you used is a bit demoralizing to the hard work put in by the developers.

 

[justperry]

Care to re-phrase? A lot of people, worldwide, are dedicated to this "crap." Please get over your entitled self? Thanks.

There was and is no intention to hurt anybody, with the crap I meant, I am getting tired of going through this each and every time...so...crap for me.
I think the people making these patches and all others providing hints/answers are hero's.
Sorry if that wasn't clear from my post.

 

[justperry]

If you choose to use the patchers it will always have ups and downs so the vocabulary you used is a bit demoralizing to the hard work put in by the developers.

As above.
Next time I should make that part clear.

 

[jowaju]

Just tried to inject the Firewire kernel extension from Mojave into Catalina by means of OpenCore - and it's working! I can boot into Catalina via Firewire again!

I also did a source code compare and the Mojave and Catalina extensions are practically identical, just some compilation issues got fixed. The only real difference is that the Mojave versions are flagged to be loaded at early boot time.
I bet I had already tried injecting those kernel extensions some months ago, but it didn't work then.
The Big Sur versions have received some small DMA handling related updates, but the Mojave versions might still work; so I'll try to boot into Big Sur 11.4 now, using the Mojave kernel extensions. In case they don't work I think I can simply have OpenCore inject the Big Sur versions at early boot stage.

Edit: Mojave Firewire kernel extensions are working for booting to Big Sur 11.4 as well! That means fast external SSD access is available again for non-Thunderbolt Macs!

How would I go about injecting the FireWire extensions from Mojave into Big Sur so I can boot to a FireWire drive?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

How would I go about injecting the FireWire extensions from Mojave into Big Sur so I can boot to a FireWire drive?

It has been already included into OCLP and will be published with the upcoming version 0.1.7 - you may also try the nightly builds of OCLP (preview versions).

 

[jowaju]

It has been already included into OCLP and will be published with the upcoming version 0.1.7 - you may also try the nightly builds of OCLP (preview versions).

Ahhh I downloaded 0.1.7 but it was a while back, the version I had didn't have the option for Firewire Booting. The newest nightly build did, and I can confirm booting via FireWire 400 on a 24" iMac 2008 iMac8,1 model with OCLP 0.1.7 on Big Sur 11.2.3. That being said, it is agonizingly slow, even slower than USB 2.0. Maybe it is the chipset on my firewire board, but the Speed tests were around 8mb/s Write and 14mb/s Read. USB 2.0 (different external drive adapter) was slightly better at 10mb/s and 18mb/s. This was with a 2.5" IDE 100GB 7200rpm drive.

 

[mdgm]

Ahhh I downloaded 0.1.7 but it was a while back, the version I had didn't have the option for Firewire Booting. The newest nightly build did, and I can confirm booting via FireWire 400 on a 24" iMac 2008 iMac8,1 model with OCLP 0.1.7 on Big Sur 11.2.3. That being said, it is agonizingly slow, even slower than USB 2.0. Maybe it is the chipset on my firewire board, but the Speed tests were around 8mb/s Write and 14mb/s Read. USB 2.0 (different external drive adapter) was slightly better at 10mb/s and 18mb/s. This was with a 2.5" IDE 100GB 7200rpm drive.

USB2 has higher theoretical speeds than FW400, but the speeds in practice could be higher for FW400 depending on the use case.

FW800 is faster than both of those. FW800 came in 2009, I think and users of machines from 2009 and 2010 (with FW800 but pre-Thunderbolt) and going to benefit the most from booting from Firewire. Users with 2011 machines whilst they may have FW800 have Thunderbolt which is much faster so should probably use Thunderbolt for booting if booting off an external. 2012 and later adds USB3 as a good cheap alternative to Thunderbolt.

Rather than using an IDE 100GB drive it would be better to use an external SSD. For example there's a version of the OWC Mercury On The Go Pro that can be used with USB3/USB2/FW800/FW400 which takes a 2.5" SATA SSD (note if you get the Mercury on the Go Pro you would need to get a FW800 to FW400 cable separately to test it with FW400). It would be interesting to hear how USB2 performance compares with FW400 using that kind of a setup.

The main reasons to boot off an external is to either (or both):
1. Get some of the speed boost from using a SSD without having to open up the machine and risk breaking it
2. Avoid messing with the internal drive which you may want to leave running a supported version of OS X.