MP 6,1 Official macOS Support for the 6,1 ends with Monterey

[SpotOnT]

Still, why would I go from 1 machine that can do it all to 2 separate machines?...

Because Apple is no longer supporting x86 arch?

I mean, just realistically speaking, your options in the future will be either to use two machines or just use a PC. Although now that Windows is talking about custom ARM chips as well, who knows if x86 will even be vey common 10 years from now.

 

[MisterAndrew]

That's a good point. Windows seems to be headed towards ARM. So that one machine might run AS macOS and ARM Windows, if Microsoft fixes their licensing terms.

 

[mikas]

Mac Pro 2013 (6,1) Sold from October 22, 2013 to December 9th, 2019. Axed from OS support, June 7th, 2022.

That could be only two and a half years of use for some buyers (not many I suppose). Between that 2,5 yo time the broken bootROM made work and life a hell with it. Not a really graceful end was it.

Even Monterey doesn't work well with a lot of my software, and now there is another buggy candidate out of the door. I really hate these Apples yearly updates.

There really needs to be some great announcements for Mac Pro and more and better software compatibilities with Monterey/Ventura for me. They've got a year or two max for me. 6,1 seems usable now after the bootROM fix. Big Sur at least works with all of my software. Feels like they really want to push me to my other desk just behind me (HP Z).

But I get it. Intel is gone to Apple, and it's been on the axe list from the very first ASi Mac. I think most of us knew that at the M1 release. So not a big surprise by no means.

 

[SpotOnT]

What is interesting is if you look at the retail market, there are a bunch of 2013 Mac Pros listed for sale with an early 2020 manufacturing date. I always wondered if these were just refurbished devices, or if Apple was still kicking out brand new 2013 Mac Pros in 2020!

But ya, if production actually ended in 2020 and Apple ends macOS upgrades in 2022, that is not a lot of support....although I guess Apple will probably still support Monterey with security updates until 2024, and 2019-2024 would technically be 5 years of software support.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I wondered that too. If they made them for warranty claims only then you'd think they wouldn't have retail packaging. Mine was made in 2017. AppleCare+ into June 2023. It works good for me still. I guess I'll just keep it until it doesn't work for my needs anymore.

 

[huge_apple_fangirl]

It's been obvious that Apple wants to ditch Intel ASAP. Expect the next few macOS releases to be massacres as well until it's Apple Silicon only.

 

[loby]

Or you could ask, why would I keep one old obsolete system that is not supported when I could have 2 new machines with better hardware that are supported?

Both arguments are valid...situations are always on the personal (or needed level or $) preferences now-a-days.

There is always those who will agree and those who will disagree with Apple's decisions (I like Apple's projected direction). What I see happening is the trend back to having both (Microsoft & Apple) users and they will be generally separated again (the War begins again), and that creates movement for the industry (which is good and needed).

Microsoft has (I can say) "finally" a decent (stressing the word unfortunately) OS that generally works now (and looks ok too). It took 30 years... but it is now decent enough (not preference) but is fact. Because of this, it creates opportunity for developers to create great(er) apps that make the user (and now maybe businesses) to decide which platform they want (or just have both). It also makes Apple and developers "step up their game" as far as Apple apps too. "Gaming" with virtual reality "stuff" might make the shift from a dominate Microsoft industry toward Apple hardware..but we will see. Apple has started looking seriously at gaming now..so only time will tell.

Regarding Mac Pro users...in fields like video production, it is great to have both platforms on you Mac Pro due to industry standards, so understandable the current (and future complaints) about intel being removed is valid completely. A "Hybrid" type of Mac Pro would be ideal for such a case (but doubt that will come). Mac Pro 6,1 and (2019) filled the gap for awhile, but remember...it was Microsoft that said, "No support" in so many words and actions..not Apple.

But...the future is opened again and not set (at least for awhile). so it will be interesting to see "what plays out" going forward.

 

[loby]

That's a good point. Windows seems to be headed towards ARM. So that one machine might run AS macOS and ARM Windows, if Microsoft fixes their licensing terms.

They will probably "not". No need to do it. Not a great market for it. On this forum.."yes", but in the world no...

 

[loby]

That could be only two and a half years of use for some buyers (not many I suppose). Between that 2,5 yo time the broken bootROM made work and life a hell with it. Not a really graceful end was it.

Soo...true. I hope Apple takes note. Give Mac Pro 6,1 "one" more OS...

 

[loby]

What is interesting is if you look at the retail market, there are a bunch of 2013 Mac Pros listed for sale with an early 2020 manufacturing date. I always wondered if these were just refurbished devices, or if Apple was still kicking out brand new 2013 Mac Pros in 2020!

But ya, if production actually ended in 2020 and Apple ends macOS upgrades in 2022, that is not a lot of support....although I guess Apple will probably still support Monterey with security updates until 2024, and 2019-2024 would technically be 5 years of software support.

Makes sense from a production stand-point. They have to "get-rid" of parts and surplus, so piecing together machines to sell is not surprising from Tim "supply chain" CEO Master. "New" machines or manufacturing dates do not tell all... You can throw in a newer part into an older shelf unit and "release" it as "New"...just "technically" it has not been "used" or released prior for sale...legally (I stress the word "legally"...Tim's got all of those bases covered. "New" is no longer "just' made...so no surprised with a 2020 release tag.

 

[Kaida]

It's been obvious that Apple wants to ditch Intel ASAP. Expect the next few macOS releases to be massacres as well until it's Apple Silicon only.

The sooner Apple move out of Intel, they faster they get rid of hackintosh.

 

[penguinlust]

I'd expect all Intel machines with no T2 chip to be gone next OS -- that's not that many machines that would die, however. The only machine from before 2018 that would survive that is the iMac Pro.

 

[Freeangel1]

The sooner Apple move out of Intel, they faster they get rid of hackintosh.

why you so happy about that?

They are having a hard time producing the next Apple silicon chip. The M3 3nm.

only 35 percent of the chips are currently usable.

YEAH. the Apple silicon roadmap looks bright.

Nothing after 3nm chips. they don't have the technology in place.

I'm all the way back on Mojave on my 2019 i9 iMac.

It runs now so much better than the bloated buggy crap called Monterey and even Big Sur or big surprise

 

[Bustycat]

The sooner Apple move out of Intel, they faster they get rid of hackintosh.

Apple does not worry about non-commercial Hackintosh. In contrast, many Hackintosh users are potentially or already Mac customers who are willing to pay the premium price for good Mac models.

 

[SpotOnT]

Makes sense from a production stand-point. They have to "get-rid" of parts and surplus, so piecing together machines to sell is not surprising from Tim "supply chain" CEO Master. "New" machines or manufacturing dates do not tell all... You can throw in a newer part into an older shelf unit and "release" it as "New"...just "technically" it has not been "used" or released prior for sale...legally (I stress the word "legally"...Tim's got all of those bases covered. "New" is no longer "just' made...so no surprised with a 2020 release tag.

What is a shelf unit?
Are you thinking Apple "refurbished" in-store display models to sell again as new?

 

[loby]

What is a shelf unit?
Are you thinking Apple "refurbished" in-store display models to sell again as new?

let our imaginations run with it...gullibility is Apple's skilled marketing team...

 

[SpotOnT]

let our imaginations run with it...gullibility is Apple's skilled marketing team...

I always assumed that Apple had some large order that they were still fulfilling (As far as I could tell, the only people still buying these things in 2019 etc were places like MacStadium), but I really have no idea. It could very well be last batch production runs of cobbled together pieces, or refurbished devices marked as "new".

I am still not even sure where they were being sold in 2020. They were pulled from Apple directly and no authorized dealer was carrying them. They just seem to keep popping up in gray market channels though, even today.

 

[th0masp]

A 2014-era machine being cut off from support wouldn't be much of an issue if only the OS wasn't on this cycle of yearly releases resulting in a rat race to stay compatible. For those who still care, anyway. 😑

 

[Dayo]

It shows the Apple logo and progress bar, but it doesn't do anything.

If you are up for it, or anyone else is, I have added initial/experimental OpenCore Configuration support (Use the "OC_VEN" OpenCore instance) for Trashcan/Ventura to MyBootMgr (See link in my signature).

As said, it is initial/experimental so you will need to be set up to recover from a failure. I presume you are anyway from the previous and in any case, MyBootMgr setup uses a "soft bless" mode during config and a simple reboot is all is needed to recover.

Whatever the outcome, please share logs from the boot attempt from the following:
ConfigFactory: Stored in /Users/Shared/MyBootMgr/DebugLog_ConfigFactory.log
RefindPlus: Stored on ESP
OpenCore: Stored on ESP

All three utilities are set to debug mode by default.
Perhaps best share such on the MyBootMgr Thread for the time being as it may be a dead end.

 

[Zorn]

Is there currently an easy way to install Ventura on a 6.1? Does removing SIP and setting that one compatibility flag just allow it?

 

[grouch]

RIP. I love my 6,1.

I'm actually still using Big Sur because TotalSpaces isn't compatible with Monterey.

 

[MisterAndrew]

According to the Ventura on Unsupported Macs thread it requires AVX2. I just checked my CPU. AVX1 only. Looks like end of the road for our old Macs unless there's a workaround.

 

[grouch]

😭

Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1680 v2 @ 3.00GHz

machdep.cpu.features: FPU VME DE PSE TSC MSR PAE MCE CX8 APIC SEP MTRR PGE MCA CMOV PAT PSE36 CLFSH DS ACPI MMX FXSR SSE SSE2 SS HTT TM PBE SSE3 PCLMULQDQ DTES64 MON DSCPL VMX SMX EST TM2 SSSE3 CX16 TPR PDCM SSE4.1 SSE4.2 x2APIC POPCNT AES PCID XSAVE OSXSAVE TSCTMR AVX1.0 RDRAND F16C

 

[tsialex]

The correct way to check for AVX2 is the command below:

sysctl -a | grep machdep.cpu.leaf7_features

When you have AVX2 (Haswell and newer) you will have something like below:

~ % sysctl -a | grep machdep.cpu.leaf7_features
machdep.cpu.leaf7_features: RDWRFSGS TSC_THREAD_OFFSET BMI1 AVX2 SMEP BMI2 ERMS INVPCID FPU_CSDS MDCLEAR IBRS STIP LIDF SSBD

When you don't have AVX2, (the example below is from an IvyBridge i5):

~ % sysctl -a | grep machdep.cpu.leaf7_features
machdep.cpu.leaf7_features: RDWRFSGS SMEP ERMS MDCLEAR IBRS STIBP L1DF SSBD

 

[TECK]

Looks like

According to the Ventura on Unsupported Macs thread it requires AVX2. I just checked my CPU. AVX1 only. Looks like end of the road for our old Macs unless there's a workaround.

I'm confused, there are claims Ventura boots fine on a cMP 5,1 while the world fails on [EB|#LOG:EXITBS:START].

[macOS Ventura 13.0] Booting issues · Issue #2038 · acidanthera/bugtracker

Hi there, I'm opening this issue to keep track of the bugs and future development of OpenCore as well as the kexts, in terms of macOS Ventura 13.0 support. I'm not there to hurry the devs up keep t...

github.com

Edit: link to discussion thread