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JeffPerrin

macrumors 6502a
Jul 21, 2014
672
696
Does Anyone tried this "Vanilla" method on the new Big Sur?

I was hoping so, but have not heard of this (yet.) My 5,1 is my main production machine, so no way am I going to "Hackintosh" my rig just for Big Sur.
 

mko-io

macrumors newbie
Jun 18, 2014
19
9
I was hoping so, but have not heard of this (yet.) My 5,1 is my main production machine, so no way am I going to "Hackintosh" my rig just for Big Sur.

Same thing for me, I'm this cMP 5.1 is my main setup. But I could by a new NVME drive to try a flash install using @tsialex 's "vanilla" method, so I don't need to mess up with my existing Catalina.

But I think there will be a big chance to fail because from OpenCore's website, it says SMBios of Mac Pro 5.1 has been removed
 

trifero

macrumors 68030
May 21, 2009
2,958
2,801
I have been usi
Same thing for me, I'm this cMP 5.1 is my main setup. But I could by a new NVME drive to try a flash install using @tsialex 's "vanilla" method, so I don't need to mess up with my existing Catalina.

But I think there will be a big chance to fail because from OpenCore's website, it says SMBios of Mac Pro 5.1 has been removed
I have been using Mojave in my Mac Pro this last years. Just trying Catalina for two weeks, using “hack” tools. Till now, no problems. But I reserve the Mojave boot drive in the very moment a found a singlen “but”.
 

Dayo

macrumors 68020
Dec 21, 2018
2,257
1,279
I got hold of Sapphire PULSE RX 580 8G G5 OC Lite card
Can I upgrade to Catalina on this card?
How is it working for you? Seen quite a few posts here saying the RX580 Lite is generally to be avoided.
OTOH, my XFX RX580 is also not recommended on this forum but it has been great so far. Maybe a fluke.

Maybe do an upgrade on a test drive first and see how it goes.
 

JeffPerrin

macrumors 6502a
Jul 21, 2014
672
696
I have been usi

I have been using Mojave in my Mac Pro this last years. Just trying Catalina for two weeks, using “hack” tools. Till now, no problems. But I reserve the Mojave boot drive in the very moment a found a singlen “but”.

I have Catalina on my 2018 MacBook Pro. I don't feel there are really any features in there I need for my 5,1 production machine. It'd be nice to know I "could" upgrade my 5,1 to Big Sur, but in reality, it would probably cause more problems than solve...
 

TomMuc

macrumors member
Oct 22, 2019
43
27
Munich, Bavaria
sudo nvram boot-args="-no_compat_check"

hi tsialex,

your simple solution works great but our problem is that as soon as this is written to nvram we cannot set windows10 (legacy mode on an dedicated ssd in slot3) anymore in preferences as startvolume (error bless tool couldn’t ...). if i do a nvram reset it instantly works again but we then loose the ability to boot to catalina.

mac pro 4.1/5.1 12core fw144

cheers
tom

edit: seems to work now. we'll see ...
 
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varunkrish

macrumors member
Jun 7, 2009
40
1
How is it working for you? Seen quite a few posts here saying the RX580 Lite is generally to be avoided.
OTOH, my XFX RX580 is also not recommended on this forum but it has been great so far. Maybe a fluke.

Maybe do an upgrade on a test drive first and see how it goes.

Right! I ordered the non-Lite card but it was out of stock so the retailer shipped this to me. Was going to try once before i return it. Works wonderfully other than the missing boot screen. Also added a Samsung/Crucial SSD on PCIe as the boot drive. Will try on the spare SSD and report.
 

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trifero

macrumors 68030
May 21, 2009
2,958
2,801
I have Catalina on my 2018 MacBook Pro. I don't feel there are really any features in there I need for my 5,1 production machine. It'd be nice to know I "could" upgrade my 5,1 to Big Sur, but in reality, it would probably cause more problems than solve...
The reason was the new Safari TechnologyPreview, among all. Not available in Mojave.
 

DFP1989

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2020
462
361
Melbourne, Australia
Hi all,

My new-to-me 5,1 arrived this morning. I've updated the BootROM to 144.0.0.0.0 and got Catalina up and running (installed to a fresh SATA SSD using my MBP 16-inch) with -no_compat_check in the boot flags.

All seems to be working ok apart from App Store. No matter what I do, I can't sign in to the App Store. iCloud is working, but no matter how many times I sign in to the App Store nothing happens.

I've dragged and dropped my FCP X 10.4.8 over from my 7,1 and it's working, though other apps that I purchased through the App Store ask for me to sign in, then fail to open.
 

TomMuc

macrumors member
Oct 22, 2019
43
27
Munich, Bavaria
exact same here with exact same install method.

moreover i'm not sure whether mojave isn't anyways the better and more stable os. so we are using mojave on our mp4.1/5.1. we'll see if in the future big sur is worth having some glitches/downsides like the missing app store etc.
 

DFP1989

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2020
462
361
Melbourne, Australia
Glad it's not just me!

In pursuit of an answer, I did a dosdude1 install, and the App Store works normally. Having another issue with FCPX though (issues with Canon Cinema RAW Light footage, C200 stuff works, 1DXIII and R5 doesn't), so I've swapped my Mojave SSD back in to see if it works there.

Thank goodness for cheap SSDs!
image.jpg
 
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TomMuc

macrumors member
Oct 22, 2019
43
27
Munich, Bavaria
Glad it's not just me!
was my thought too

we use the old mac pro still as production machines so we cannot have those kind of glitches. did not try out fcpx with catalina. in late spring we changed our mbp14.3 to mbp16.1 and updated them to catalina. i'm quite annoyed with catalina - feels slow and diskmanager now is the worst iteration ever and does not really work with the two drives that catalina uses.

maybe tsialex has a solution for the mac store problem. i didn't found one and do not know what other problems will be there with catalina on mp5.1 ...
 

DFP1989

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2020
462
361
Melbourne, Australia
Honestly Catalina is a disaster. Never had so many issues with macOS as I’ve had with it.

The issue I’m having with Canon cinema raw light footage persists in Mojave, No idea why. I don’t think I need Catalina on this machine so I will probably stick with it anyway.
 
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TomMuc

macrumors member
Oct 22, 2019
43
27
Munich, Bavaria
yep. i think the thing tim cook should be most ashamed of is how fast and easy the latest windows 10 (we use windows for solidworks) runs on the mp5.1. and apple makes it so unnecessarily difficult for their longtime customers on the mp5.1 with catalina and big sur.
 

TomMuc

macrumors member
Oct 22, 2019
43
27
Munich, Bavaria
All seems to be working ok apart from App Store. No matter what I do, I can't sign in to the App Store. iCloud is working, but no matter how many times I sign in to the App Store nothing happens.
btw. did you try to login to the app store on mbp16 before cloning to mp5.1? that was one thing i wanted to try but was too lazy up to now. but i guess the app store wants a new login after cloning and fails again ...
 
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panjandrum

macrumors 6502a
Sep 22, 2009
732
919
United States
I've had very good luck using dosdude's patches on other models (no problems at all, really, other than occasionally needing to reinstall the patches after a major security update - I've taken to making a patched installer on a small internal partition just so I don't have to find the patched USB installer when needed). I may eventually have to move to Catalina for compatibility purposes on a small fleet of MacPro 4,1s all flashed to 5,1s and also all with CPU upgrades (to avoid the audio issues) and of course with Metal capable GPUs.

Basically I'm just curious if other people are having pretty good luck with the 4,1s/5,1s on Catalina with the dosdude patches? I realize Catalina itself is not highly regarded, but unfortunately there is likely to come a time in the near future where I don't really have a choice (much of the state-mandated testing software, for example, only supports the last two iterations of MacOS; that type of unnecessary-but-necessary forced upgrade crap). What have your experiences been?
 

trifero

macrumors 68030
May 21, 2009
2,958
2,801
I've had very good luck using dosdude's patches on other models (no problems at all, really, other than occasionally needing to reinstall the patches after a major security update - I've taken to making a patched installer on a small internal partition just so I don't have to find the patched USB installer when needed). I may eventually have to move to Catalina for compatibility purposes on a small fleet of MacPro 4,1s all flashed to 5,1s and also all with CPU upgrades (to avoid the audio issues) and of course with Metal capable GPUs.

Basically I'm just curious if other people are having pretty good luck with the 4,1s/5,1s on Catalina with the dosdude patches? I realize Catalina itself is not highly regarded, but unfortunately there is likely to come a time in the near future where I don't really have a choice (much of the state-mandated testing software, for example, only supports the last two iterations of MacOS; that type of unnecessary-but-necessary forced upgrade crap). What have your experiences been?
Been using Mojave in Mac Pro 5,1 till some weeks ago. Till now, Catalina works like a charm. No problems at all with upgraded GPU ans Wifi/Bluetooth midule.
 

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,455
13,602
was my thought too

we use the old mac pro still as production machines so we cannot have those kind of glitches. did not try out fcpx with catalina. in late spring we changed our mbp14.3 to mbp16.1 and updated them to catalina. i'm quite annoyed with catalina - feels slow and diskmanager now is the worst iteration ever and does not really work with the two drives that catalina uses.

maybe tsialex has a solution for the mac store problem. i didn't found one and do not know what other problems will be there with catalina on mp5.1 ...
Do a clean install with OpenCore. Since OpenCore become compatible with real Macs and later started to provide pre-boot configuration support (boot screens et al) with modern AMD GPUs, all other install methods are now supplanted.

With OpenCore, if you have a compatible MP5,1, you have Catalina native installs and native upgrades - zero patches and no need to use compatible Macs/VMs. Read the first post:

 

panjandrum

macrumors 6502a
Sep 22, 2009
732
919
United States
Do a clean install with OpenCore. Since OpenCore become compatible with real Macs and later started to provide pre-boot configuration support (boot screens et al) with modern AMD GPUs, all other install methods are now supplanted.

With OpenCore, if you have a compatible MP5,1, you have Catalina native installs and native upgrades - zero patches and no need to use compatible Macs/VMs. Read the first post:


Well, that certainly looks interesting, but that install process is very, very long and complicated (I'm looking at 25 machines here). Getting the boot screen back would be huge though, so I'll probably give it a whirl on a single system when I get the time. I guess my question would be; Other than the boot-screen are there any real-world advantages to using this over simply using the extremely-easy dosdude method?
 

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,455
13,602
Well, that certainly looks interesting, but that install process is very, very long and complicated (I'm looking at 25 machines here). Getting the boot screen back would be huge though, so I'll probably give it a whirl on a single system when I get the time. I guess my question would be; Other than the boot-screen are there any real-world advantages to using this over simply using the extremely-easy dosdude method?
Completely unpatched/native installs, native updates, no security changes.

You can clone a successful install to all other Mac Pros with identical configuration.
 
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TomMuc

macrumors member
Oct 22, 2019
43
27
Munich, Bavaria
Do a clean install with OpenCore. Since OpenCore become compatible with real Macs and later started to provide pre-boot configuration support (boot screens et al) with modern AMD GPUs, all other install methods are now supplanted.

With OpenCore, if you have a compatible MP5,1, you have Catalina native installs and native upgrades - zero patches and no need to use compatible Macs/VMs. Read the first post:


hello tsialex,

thanx for your reply - i'll dive into this tread. and moreover thank you very much for all your work/posts here that made our upgrade from 4.1 to 5.1 and mojave possible in the first place.

kind regards from munich/bavaria/germany
tom
 

panjandrum

macrumors 6502a
Sep 22, 2009
732
919
United States
Completely unpatched/native installs, native updates, no security changes.

You can clone a successful install to all other Mac Pros with identical configuration.

Well, good point. In previous years that would not have been possible because Apple's MDM (Profile Manager) didn't identify machines by serial number, but rather by some esoteric something or other that got installed along with the OS. Not only could you not image a system, but you couldn't even use Migration Assistant post binding to Profile Manager or the Profile Manager would eventually flip-out. But we've migrated to Mosyle and it doesn't have any of those (let, me add, completely idiotic) issues, so I can clone and image systems to my heart's content, as long as I do so before binding to Mosyle. So all I would have to do is remove a system from Mosyle, clone the pre-configured drive, name the system once, and then bind it to Mosyle again. Probably 10-minutes hands-on work per system once the first one is complete. I'll keep it in mind. I'm still kind of waiting to see what shakes out with Big Sur, and my upgrade cycle isn't super-urgent (I'm hoping to make it to next summer on Mojave). If it's possible to get Big Sur working properly on these beasts I'll try to skip Catalina altogether.
 
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tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,455
13,602
Well, good point. In previous years that would not have been possible because Apple's MDM (Profile Manager) didn't identify machines by serial number, but rather by some esoteric something or other that got installed along with the OS. Not only could you not image a system, but you couldn't even use Migration Assistant post binding to Profile Manager or the Profile Manager would eventually flip-out. But we've migrated to Mosyle and it doesn't have any of those (let, me add, completely idiotic) issues, so I can clone and image systems to my heart's content, as long as I do so before binding to Mosyle. So all I would have to do is remove a system from Mosyle, clone the pre-configured drive, name the system once, and then bind it to Mosyle again. Probably 10-minutes hands-on work per system once the first one is complete. I'll keep it in mind. I'm still kind of waiting to see what shakes out with Big Sur, and my upgrade cycle isn't super-urgent (I'm hoping to make it to next summer on Mojave). If it's possible to get Big Sur working properly on these beasts I'll try to skip Catalina altogether.
Moving 25 MP5,1 to Big Sur is not what I call a sane choice.

You will need to track any changes Apple will made at each point release, after seeing what Apple did with Catalina, I'm sure that the changes with Big Sur development will be a lot worse. A sane choice at this moment is to move all your managed Mac Pros to 10.15.6 and stick to it at least until WWDC'21, then you move to macOS 10.16 - Intel Macs still stick with 10.xx release numbers - not 10.17.

I don't have much time to spend on administrative issues, my production Macs and the Macs that I manage are always 1 year behind Apple. This way I don't have to battle point releases changes/problems and all users that I support only have to install security updates and run mature but still supported software. I'll move from Mojave to Catalina as soon as Apple release the new 10.15.6 Security Update, a month or two down the road.

One thing is to run the bleeding edge with one Mac, it's completely different when you have to support other users.
 
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TomMuc

macrumors member
Oct 22, 2019
43
27
Munich, Bavaria
I don't have much time to spend on administrative issues, my production Macs and the Macs that I manage are always 1 year behind Apple.
that's my way too.

but then wouldn't be your simple and elegant solution with 'no_compat_check' not the much better solution than opencore - also for big sur?

if the only downside in catalina/big sur is to loose parts of the apps of the mac-app-store i could live with that ...
 
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