The Mavericks Thread (OS X 10.9)

[retta283]

OS X 10.9 Mavericks

Supported Hardware

• iMac (Mid 2007 to Mid 2014)
• Mac mini (Early 2009 to Late 2012)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 to Late 2013)
• Xserve (2009)
• MacBook Pro (Mid 2007 to Mid 2012)
• MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Mid 2012 to Mid 2014)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 to Early 2014)
• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum Unibody, Early 2009 to Mid 2010)

Compatible Hardware Not Officially Supported

• iMac (Late 2006, only 17" and 20" models with ATI GPUs have GPU acceleration. Early 2006 models with CPU upgraded to Core 2 Duo work as well.)
• Mac mini (Mid 2007, no GPU acceleration)
• Mac Pro (2006, with supported GPU or without GPU acceleration)
• MacBook Pro (Late 2006)
• MacBook Air (Early 2008, no GPU acceleration)
• MacBook (Late 2006 to Late 2008 Polycarbonate, no GPU acceleration)

Minimum RAM

• 2GB

Minimum Hard Drive Space / Partition Size

• 8GB

Release Date

• October 22, 2013

Apple Software Updates

• 10.9.5 Update (Combo)
• Security Update 2016-004 for 10.9.5
• iTunes 12.6.2

Web Browsers

• Firefox 78 ESR (Latest as of January 2021)
• Chromium Legacy (Linked version contains additional patches for Mavericks support.)
• SeaMonkey 2.53.10.2 release date 2021 Dec 28.

FTP & Networking

• Fetch 5.7.7
• Viscosity 1.7.11
• Transmission 2.94

Dashboard Widgets

• Sol
• Delivery Status
• Fixed Weather & Currency Widgets

Web Design & Development

• CodeRunner 2.2.2 (last to work without major glitches)
• Base 2.4.12
• Cocoa Rest Client 1.3.9
• Kaleidoscope 2.1.1

Audio & Video

• Fission 2.3.1
• Meta 1.8.3

Games

• Gris (ignore GOG's erroneous system requirements)
• Celeste
• Pico-8 (Runs fine, connecting to BBS seems finicky though)

Graphics & Design

• Affinity Suite (latest versions!)
• Sketch 3.4.4
• Aperture 3.4.5 (link is to software update; try eBay for retail discs.)
• Seashore https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/seashore/id1448648921?mt=12

Writing & Note Taking

• Scrivener 2.9 (free for Mavericks users!)
• Pear Note

Office & Productivity

• iWork '09 9.3 (link is to software update; try eBay for retail discs.)
• Soulver 2.5.6
• OmniGraphSketcher
• AquaPrompt
• LibreOffice 6.2.8.2
• Kindle 1.23.1

Tools & Utilities

• NexPostFacto (ATI GPUs Only)
• Enjoyable
• OpenZFS On OS X 1.9.2
• Gutenprint
• Side Button Enabler

Notes

This is a WikiPost. Feel free to add any softwares or additional OS info that you find. Add new categories if you feel your software does not fit under any current category. Some of these lists may not be populated currently, so please add a bullet list (Unordered List.) Unbold the links if they are bolded.

Getting Mavericks: Mavericks is no longer officially available for download from the Mac App Store, and there is no way to get it from Apple if you do not have it on your account. It is available in .app format at the Web Archive: OS X Mavericks

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Some info I posted a few months ago on how to add all the newer Emojis to the emoji picker: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/updating-maverickss-emoji-picker.2260530/

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Went through and filled out the list somewhat. There are so many more excellent apps for Mavericks, but for now I really tried to focus on the ones that I personally use very frequently, and which I knew were still available for download and (where applicable) purchase.

 

[retta283]

These look good, thanks for adding them. Feel free to add more, Mavericks has a lot of excellent apps. I'll add anything I come across too.

 

[bykim5]

Thank you for this! I'm currently in the process of updating a 2006 iMac4,1 Tiger. Already upgraded to SL and flashed to iMac5,1. Just waiting for the CPU upgrade to come in. I will install Mavericks first and see how it is before considering ML.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Here is how to make games built with Unity 2018 and Unity 2019 work in Mavericks: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/414689/150839

I'm amused that it worked with an Apple Arcade game. I'll need to try some others...

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Releases · Wowfunhappy/Pages-Mavericks-Workaround

Once you see it, it can't be unseen. Contribute to Wowfunhappy/Pages-Mavericks-Workaround development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Wowfunhappy]

CodeRunner 2.2.2 (last to work without major glitches)

I figured out what was causing the glitches and made them go away. https://github.com/Wowfunhappy/CodeRunner-Mavericks-Workarounds/releases/

With this patch in place, you can use CodeRunner 3.1 on Mavericks.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Picking up from the Tiger thread:

When I built my Mavericks Hackintosh a year ago,

Specs?

My Mavericks Hackintosh uses an Intel i7 4790K (4C/8T @ 4Ghz) with 32 GB of of 2400 MHz DDR3 memory, and an nVidia GTX 780 6GB GPU.

To my knowledge, this is the most powerful hardware that can run Mavericks natively—with some caveats. A Xeon would provide more cores and memory slots, but at the cost of single core performance. A GTX 780 Ti or an original Titan would provide a bit more GPU power, but would require nVidia's third party graphics drivers.

I'd always like to have more power, but in real-world use, this machine is extremely fast.

---

Some day, I'd really like to get Bronya's custom Ryzen kernel working. In the fall of 2019, I tried to use it to run Mavericks on a 16 core (!) AMD Ryzen 5950X. In a sense, it did run, and for a few days, I likely had the most powerful Mavericks computer to ever have existed. But for some reason, I couldn't enable graphics acceleration for my GTX 780 without the entire machine becoming unusably slow and glitchy.

I didn't have time to try a different GPU before MicoCenter's return window was set to expire, potentially stranding me with a $750 CPU that couldn't run the OS I wanted. But I think there's a good chance an AMD GPU would have worked, if only I'd had the time to try it.

 

[Amethyst1]

My Mavericks Hackintosh uses an Intel i7 4790K (4C/8T @ 4Ghz)

Stock or OCed? Which mainboard?

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Stock or OCed? Which mainboard?

I ended up leaving it at stock. I have no intentions of leaving Mavericks, so I want this CPU to last a very long time. On the plus side, my temperatures are really good, topping out at around 75℃ when I'm encoding video. When I bought the CPU last year (new from Intel!), I actually sent it to Silicon Lottery to get delidded... but then I read afterwards delidding can decrease longevity if you keep a CPU for many years, so it may have been a screwup.

Motherboard is a Gigabyte Z97M D3H, which is a mini-ITX board. See, the original idea was to put this in a modded Quicksilver case that I convinced a friend to make for me, because the Quicksilver is gorgeous. But then the pandemic hit and made things complicated, and I'm also not particularly eager to rebuild the whole machine (because I actually really hate building computers), so not sure if it will actually happen.

 

[Amethyst1]

I ended up leaving it at stock.

Motherboard is a Gigabyte Z97M D3H

Thanks for the reply. I've not yet made up my mind whether I'll go down the route of building a "final" Hackintosh for Mavericks but if I do, I'll want it to have some good hardware.

 

[mortlocli]

Completed my install of mavericks on unsupported 17 inch iMac 5,1
Currently running Firefox 78.9.0esr (64-bit).
Feels like a new computer being so up to date..and all good so far.

Been looking at software still current for mavericks - been finding FileHorse quite good as it actually states OSX versions that work.. unlike some software providers who allow you to download then find it needs a later OSX version GRRRR!!

FileHorse.com / Free Software Download for Mac

Fast and simple way to download free software for Mac OS X. Latest versions of hand-picked programs sorted into categories.

mac.filehorse.com

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Anyone care for some Dolphin?

[Unofficial] Dolphin built for an older version of macOS / OS X (10.9 Mavericks)

Hello! Over the past year-and-a-half or so, I've become a little obsessed with a specific version of Apple's Mac operating system, known as "Mavericks". It's the last version before Apple made everyth

forums.dolphin-emu.org

 

[davigarma]

I have been doing tests in browser audit to see what is the security level of Mavericks browsers and the result is surprising

1) Chrome 65: the latest official Chrome build : 25 warning 1 critical event

2) Chromium 92 . Chromium output is very similar to Chrome 65. 17 warning, 3 critical events

3) Firefox 74 ESR: 6 warning 0 critical events

4) Safari 9 : 3 warning 0 critical, the winner

Despite the fact that Safari 9 does not have updates and that many websites "disconnect" it, it is still more secure than the other 3 and it is still extremely fast. Also, Safari is still accepted on Netflix and Prime Video, for example. This is not the case with Chrome. I have put a capture of Mr. Will Smith bad shaven about to shoot on Netflix HD and Mr. Santiago Segura on Prime Video. How is it possible that agile browsers are replaced by the slow and heavy monsters of today?

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I have been doing tests in browser audit to see what is the security level of Mavericks browsers and the result is surprising

1) Chrome 65: the latest official Chrome build : 25 warning 1 critical event

2) Chromium 92 . Chromium output is very similar to Chrome 65. 17 warning, 3 critical events

3) Firefox 74 ESR: 6 warning 0 critical events

4) Safari 9 : 3 warning 0 critical, the winner

Despite the fact that Safari 9 does not have updates and that many websites "disconnect" it, it is still more secure than the other 3 and it is still extremely fast. Also, Safari is still accepted on Netflix and Prime Video, for example. This is not the case with Chrome. I have put a capture of Mr. Will Smith bad shaven about to shoot on Netflix HD and Mr. Santiago Segura on Prime Video. How is it possible that agile browsers are replaced by the slow and heavy monsters of today?

I wouldn't put too much stock in these automated tests, they aren't particularly comprehensive to begin with and they aren't designed for really old browsers. The things this one is complaining about are pretty minor, e.g. "Cookie set by Javascript should not be sent over http." (Note: I am not in alignment with the web dev community's obsession with https for everything.)

Meanwhile, Apple patched an actively-exploited RCE vulnerability in Safari just this month! Those are the types of security holes you need to be scared of, the ones which allow an attacker to take over your computer. BrowserAudit can't find it because it's a memory corruption bug.

BTW, Chromium Legacy will work with Netflix now (on Mavericks only), if it's installed via an updated version of my Preference Pane.

 

[davigarma]

I wouldn't put too much stock in these automated tests, they aren't particularly comprehensive to begin with and they aren't designed for really old browsers. The things this one is complaining about are pretty minor, e.g. "Cookie set by Javascript should not be sent over http." (Note: I am not in alignment with the web dev community's obsession with https for everything.)

Meanwhile, Apple patched an actively-exploited RCE vulnerability in Safari just this month! Those are the types of security holes you need to be scared of, the ones which allow an attacker to take over your computer. BrowserAudit can't find it because it's a memory corruption bug.

BTW, Chromium Legacy will work with Netflix now (on Mavericks only), if it's installed via an updated version of my Preference Pane.

"This browser does not support HD playback due to content restrictions." Update your browser. It's Chromium 92. It has always given me problems.
But it is fantastic that you keep it to continue browsing, otherwise we will be in the dark. We will always be grateful
My criticism is actually for Apple, which is abandoning very good products too soon

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Yeah, Amazon Prime doesn't allow HD playback. And HBO won't work at all. Basically, we're in the same situation as all Linux users. DRM is dumb, news at 11. 🤷‍♂️

Edit: For DRM your ire should be with Google. They got Encrypted Media Extensions built into web standards, which open source browsers can't ever really support properly, by definition. Alternately, you could be annoyed at Amazon for being overly restrictive, but really it's pure luck that Widevine works at all.

 

[davigarma]

Yes, Amazon has become too "restrictive" almost like my cable operator who has banned all old browsers from their streaming content. Another content provider that the Chromium 92 drm works very well with is Disney +. And finally I would like to add, that for those who think that Mavericks is not safe, they can incorporate an antivirus that I have always thought was the official Apple antivirus. I got it from Mountain Lion years ago on Apple Store and never had a problem installing it on all versions of OSX. Free of charges. Bitdefender has been updated every day in Mavericks for years, which shows that a good product can be sustained if there is the will to do so. That is my criticism of the current Apple. They like money too much

 

[Wowfunhappy]

My security strategy is as follows:

• I trust the apps I install. I research software extensively before installing it, and run tests inside of virtual machines.
• Because web browsers execute untrusted Javascript, I only ever run up-to-date web browsers, namely Chromium Legacy nowadays. I completely deleted Safari to avoid opening it accidentally.
• I keep offline "cold" backups of my data, where they cannot be touched in the event of a ransomware attack.
• My computer is connected to the internet via an up-to-date router. All incoming connections are blocked, except for a single port for SSH. I've looked through OpenSSH's (very short) CVE list and there's nothing concerning.

To hack me, you'd need to exploit a bug in some local software I have installed. A malicious PDF or Word Document might do it, since I'm running old versions of Preview and Pages—but then, those types of attacks usually target Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Office respectively, which I don't have installed. And of course, I'd have to actually open the malicious file.

Apple Mail is another place I'm vulnerable, which is why CVE-2020–9922 freaked me out. But then I fixed it.

The only way I could see someone realistically getting into my computer is if they created a targeted attack designed specifically for me. Since I'm really not that important, I don't know why anyone would go through so much effort to hack me. (By contrast, politicians, CEOs, and other similarly-privileged individuals should not use Mavericks.)

 

[mortlocli]

Yes, Amazon has become too "restrictive" almost like my cable operator who has banned all old browsers from their streaming content. Another content provider that the Chromium 92 drm works very well with is Disney +. And finally I would like to add, that for those who think that Mavericks is not safe, they can incorporate an antivirus that I have always thought was the official Apple antivirus. I got it from Mountain Lion years ago on Apple Store and never had a problem installing it on all versions of OSX. Free of charges. Bitdefender has been updated every day in Mavericks for years, which shows that a good product can be sustained if there is the will to do so. That is my criticism of the current Apple. They like money too much

Ta.. just installed it...so thanks for the heads up.

 

[YanniDepp]

Pleased to see a thread full of other Mavericks fans.

If you're getting pop-ups every time you open Pages, Numbers or Keynote telling you to upgrade to a newer OS X, there's a way to disable them.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

ThinPleased to see a thread full of other Mavericks fans.

If you're getting pop-ups every time you open Pages, Numbers or Keynote telling you to upgrade to a newer OS X, there's a way to disable them.

Can’t you just right click and choose “hide update” in the App Store’s updates tab?

Somehow or other, I’ve never gotten this message more than once. I probably did something, but it didn’t involve messing with defaults or plist files... 🤔

 

[YanniDepp]

Can’t you just right click and choose “hide update” in the App Store’s updates tab?

No, it's actually inside the iWork apps. It pops up when you open them. Not every time, but once a week or so.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

No, it's actually inside the iWork apps. It pops up when you open them. Not every time, but once a week or so.

I know but I was wondering if hiding it in the App Store removed the message from iWork as well.

I did something non-hacky to get rid of them (I have a literal list of all the hacky things I’ve done lest I loose track of them, and this isn’t on there) and I’m trying to figure out what it was...