MP 1,1-5,1 Off to Pasture

[haralds]

It was with a heavy heart today that I cleaned off my Mac Pro 5,1 and simplified it for use by my son. He is planning on mainly running Windows 10. He already has a game machine and laptops, but I guess more is better.
I have shifted everything to my MacBook Pro M1 16TB/2TB. I also have an i9 Intel with 32GB/4TB mainly for dev work and when I need Intel VMs. That one is mainly sleeping.
I switched a few weeks ago and found my main use for the Mac Pro was updating it! Glad to save some power and space.

But it's been more than 10 years. It was a good machine for me.

 

[MisterAndrew]

If he installs Windows on it make sure it's in Legacy boot mode only, or a virtual machine, so it doesn't kill the Mac Pro with firmware corruption. Terrible choice for a Windows PC IMO. Tell him to use Linux if he doesn't like macOS.

 

[haralds]

I have stayed with BIOS emulation mode. It's an install going back to Windows 7 years ago.
No fancy stuff. This is why my base mode is Mojave.
I have a flashed RX 580 and updated BlueTooth/WiFI card. With minor patches it boots Catalina with SIP enabled.
I left OpenCore installed, but it is not used.

 

[OS6-OSX]

Since your son has yours this must have belonged to someone else. I was driving down this country road and ...

 

[MacNB2]

If he installs Windows on it make sure it's in Legacy boot mode only, or a virtual machine, so it doesn't kill the Mac Pro with firmware corruption. Terrible choice for a Windows PC IMO. Tell him to use Linux if he doesn't like macOS.

Using OpenCore as the boot manager can protect Windows installed in UEFI mode from NVRAM corruption.
The setting to use in the OpenCore configuration file config.plist is ProtectSecureBoot.

1. ProtectSecureBoot
   Type: plist boolean
   Failsafe: false
   Description: Protect UEFI Secure Boot variables from being written.
   Reports security violation during attempts to write to db, dbx, PK, and KEK variables from the operating system.
   
   Note: This quirk attempts to avoid issues with NVRAM implementations with fragmentation issues, such as on the MacPro5,1 as well as on certain Insyde firmware without garbage collection or with defective garbage collection.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I didn't know about the OpenCore NVRAM protection feature. Do you think OpenCore works on the 6,1? I don't see it listed on the GitHub page.

 

[mikas]

An eGPU solution to TB2 Macs, Kryptonite (formerly PurgeWrangler), says it uses OpenCore now to make it all safe too, there's no need for disabling SIP or FileVault anymore when using Kryptonite. So I would say it is working on 6,1 the same like it is in other systems too. Don't know anything about NVRAM protection though.

 

[MacNB2]

I didn't know about the OpenCore NVRAM protection feature. Do you think OpenCore works on the 6,1? I don't see it listed on the GitHub page.

Sure OpenCore can work on MacPro6,1. One can make a minimalist OpenCore config similar to the ones @cdf and @h9826790 have created.

Not sure you need to as MacPro6,1 is not ready for the pastures...is it ? 😀

 

[MisterAndrew]

I didn’t know about Kryptonite. That’s cool!

The 6,1 isn’t ready for the pasture yet. Still has AppleCare+ and looks like it can be renewed when that expires.