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Cactusface

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 24, 2015
74
12
Leicester. UK
Hi All,
I'm newish to Mac and have a Mac Pro 3.1 dual 2.8GHz, etc. The machine came with a PCIe USB-3 card that uses the FL1100 chip and OS Lion which I upgraded to Mountain Lion, from a FREE download site.

The Mountain Lion I downloaded is just the plant basic OSX 10.8 and from what I read, I need about version 10.8.5 in order to get the drivers, build into that version! But every time I check for updates, it just says no updates available.

I could go the the Apple store and pay to download Mountain Lion , but will it be the latest version and solve my problem, or do you know a better way, can I just find and download the drivers, and how??

Any ideas and help most welcome.

Regards

Mel.
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
OS X 10.8 is free. Yet you downloaded a "version" of it from a software piracy site? Wow!

There is no need to build your own version of OS X. There is most certainly no reason to install OS X from any source other than Apple.

According to Mactracker, your Mac Pro can run the latest version of OS X. This is OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite. According to the OS X Mavericks support section, it appears as though you must have OS X Mountain Lion before you can upgrade to Mavericks [or Yosemite]. So the bottom line is: "Yes, you should purchase and install Mountain Lion."

After that, you may upgrade your OS as high as you want.
 

Cactusface

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 24, 2015
74
12
Leicester. UK
Hi MisterMe,
But the point is I don't want to go to Mavericks,Yosemite too slow on this machine even using an SSD! I didn't download OSX 10.8 from a pirate site!! not that that is the point!! I NEED OSX 10.8.5 or more to get the USB-3 driver/support. Is this what I will get from the apple store for my £14.95 the latest version of Mountain Lion.

Why when I check for update do I get told, none are available!! if I am truly running OSX 10.8 and OSX 10.8.x is available??

Thanks for answering, any other ideas, chaps!!

Regards

Mel.
 

TheRainKing

macrumors 6502a
Jun 11, 2012
999
535
OS X 10.8 is free. Yet you downloaded a "version" of it from a software piracy site? Wow!

There is no need to build your own version of OS X. There is most certainly no reason to install OS X from any source other than Apple.

According to Mactracker, your Mac Pro can run the latest version of OS X. This is OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite. According to the OS X Mavericks support section, it appears as though you must have OS X Mountain Lion before you can upgrade to Mavericks [or Yosemite]. So the bottom line is: "Yes, you should purchase and install Mountain Lion."

After that, you may upgrade your OS as high as you want.

Mavericks and Yosemite were free, Mountain Lion still costs $19.99
 

Cactusface

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 24, 2015
74
12
Leicester. UK
Hi Chown33,
Thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction! I downloaded the upgrade and it worked like a charm, now my USB-3 card works, just tried it with 2 different Arduino cards and different programming methods, all OK. Thanks again.

@TheRainKing, I know that Mavericks and Yosh.. are free, but I don't like them, getting a bit like Windows, bloated with stuff you don't need, this is a computer not an Ipod/iPad or iPhone why would you want it to behave like one!!

My smart phones not that smart either?

Thanks all, the problem is solved. ;)

Regards

Mel.
 
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