What have you done with an early Intel recently?

[MBAir2010]

wholy wHat!

the thermal paste removal and repasting was a breeze on the 2012 (yes 2012) mac mini
THEN
putting everything back took an hour and a half since my brain would not accept the fact that the
IR SENSOR connector HAS TO BE routed if not that will that pop up and effect the computer, idiot!
then having 3 ssd cables was a Russian roulette since the first was defaulted, or was that the second drive since i took bravado in installing 2 drives figuring one can run Mojave if needed
then i just kept that as one Mountain lion and wont go further than that, since that OSX is my focus now.

The reason this was needed was i unplugged a thumb drive this morning and that was hot,
now my mac Mini 2012 (yes2012) is 50F'n degrees cooler!
i only use Celsius when in Montréal.

oh photos or this never happened:

 

[MBAir2010]

Bought a box of stuff: 2 working sets of old Mac Mini 2,1:s (2007 c2d 1.83GHz). The price was right so why not. They come with psu's, adapters, cables and wireless Logitech kbd"s and mice. Did a quick inventory of my ram/cpu/drive and found atleast one pair of 2GB sticks and one 2.33GHz T7600 cpu and plenty of ssd's in various sizes.

When they arrive I plan to upgrade one and try some Linux on it and maybe try to give it a server job of some kind. The purchase was quite spontaneous so what excatly the job will be is still unclear but I'll figure out something. No plans for the second one yet.

I would use the original OSX and have fun, perhaps relive some mac memories
just saying.....

 

[TheShortTimer]

61 Euros including shipping.

That's not really not bad because I've seen them fetch much more than that.

With the caveat of all devices in the chain sharing bandwidth, but my Macs only have one TB bus anyway.

Typical Apple behaviour. I remember similar criticisms regarding the chain sharing with only one FW800 port on the MBPs.

The trash can’s three TB2 buses are appealing.

They are! @hrutkaymods has made a few videos covering his mixed feelings towards the Trash Can model that include an overview of its strengths and potential uses in particular areas.

You can pick them up cheaply in the U.S. or even free but UK prices remain about the same as a 4,1/5,1 MBP.

What is it?

All shall be revealed soon.

Disabling the dGPU doesn’t affect TB so it should be possible if it can still boot into something.

Which means you could set up macOS via TDM, include the Kryptonite or Purgewrangler software and then reboot and let the eGPU take over. The question is whether how many people beyond us determined obsessives would actually want to go that far when as @ToniCH has pointed out, the 2012 model can be easily obtained and has USB 3.0 and a faster CPU etc.

 

[DCBassman]

Just to be sure, have you attempted trying to temporarily bypass the SMC

No, will try that, thank you!

 

[ToniCH]

I think the dGPU should be hardware disabled early when it shows first sign of failing and the machines is still easily bootable. Later on something happens and it becomes harder and harder to boot and then finally you wont succeed at all. Problem with the sw way of disabling it that the mod resets itself if you do a PRAM reset, disconnect the battery or do an os update. Enough of that and one day you no longer successfully boot it to make the sw mod and that is it. And you have wasted days in trying when you could have used that modding the 2012 into really cool machine and actually using it.

Maybe its not egpu that finally breaks the MBP but its is there where it all starts. Maybe some NVRAM like chip gets enough of the dozens of Sip disabled system config edits and gets more and more corrupted until it says enough! and dies/bricks? Like we have with 4.1/5.1 cMP's. Dunno but It feels like it. And in the end no amount of PRAM/SMC zaps clear the problem.

Ps. 2 MBP 15" 2011 veteran here.

 

[DCBassman]

Tried transplanting the early 2011 board into the better late shell. Will only show any sign of life with no battery, and then only two boot cycles. Then sits there, no video, fans spinning. Does beep if I remove RAM. Power button totally ineffective.

 

[Amethyst1]

That's not really not bad because I've seen them fetch much more than that.

But they’re ten years old and obscure so I was kinda hoping I could snag it for 30 or something.

Typical Apple behaviour. I remember similar criticisms regarding the chain sharing with only one FW800 port on the MBPs.

More TB buses (one two-port controller is just one bus) require more TB controllers and more PCIe lanes or a PCIe switch.

They are! @hrutkaymods has made a few videos covering his mixed feelings towards the Trash Can model that include an overview of its strengths and potential uses in particular areas.

For me, the main issue is the possible GPU problems (I tend to avoid Macs with dGPUs for that reason) and lack of more modern/reliable replacements.

I think the dGPU should be hardware disabled early when it shows first sign of failing and the machines is still easily bootable.

Heck, it should be removed from the board and the liberated eight PCIe lanes used for something else!

 

[ToniCH]

Heck, it should be removed from the board and the liberated PCIe lanes used for something else!

Sure but that might be too complicated for most of us. At least dosdude (if I remember it correctly) has a hw solution to disable it properly, which I guess is doable by most enthusiasts with enough motivation and some skills.

 

[Amethyst1]

Sure but that might be too complicated for most of us. At least dosdude (if I remember it correctly) has a hw solution to disable it properly, which I guess is doable by most enthusiasts with enough motivation and some skills.

It's a shame to see half of the CPU's precious 16 lanes wasted. Imagine what a NVMe SSD behind a ×4-to-×8 switch could do with 'em.

 

[ToniCH]

I would use the original OSX and have fun, perhaps relive some mac memories
just saying.....

I have many Macs with original OSXs and many with others already. I rather have fun with more powerfull or more special machines, like Mac laptops, G4, G5 or cMP's or even iMacs etc. Minis are quite perfect for me in server roles.

I have 2x 2012 Mini Servers and a 2009 Mini Server in my network handling various tasks now, all running OSX (Catalina, Monterey, SL). I even still have a 2007 Mini which I bought new but I misplaced it's psu. The 2 I bought now were pretty much the same price a replacement psu would have cost so in that respect a good buy I guess. If I some day locate the missing psu then I should have 3 operational 2007s.

 

[DCBassman]

Have gone full junkyard and gutted the lot. Put the 2nd HiRes (2.2GHz i7) board into the first HiRes shell, and voila, have a fully working Sonoma machine. More trials to come!

 

[Amethyst1]

Put the 2nd HiRes (2.2GHz i7) board into the first HiRes shell, and voila, have a fully working Sonoma machine.

We will see for how long (Just pulling your leg.)

 

[MBAir2010]

the early Intel 2012 macMini crashed today while deleting chromium legacy.
I took everything apart checked the connections and felt for heat
restarted......nothing.

i took out the OWC G6 1TB drive and placed that inot a enclosuer
\then plugged that into the MacBook pro, nothing.

whew and.......huh, SSDs are not suppos_ta' to fail?
the drive is under a year (i think) and they offer 3 year warrante.

hopefully nothing important is on the drive, just 900GBs of data.

 

[B S Magnet]

whew and.......huh, SSDs are not suppos_ta' to fail?

Oh, they very much do. When they do, there can be no forewarning at all.

hopefully nothing important is on the drive, just 900GBs of data.

Oh dear.

I also learnt how a contributing factor of the factory SSD in my 2015 MBP failing may have been because I ran everyday use with well more than 200GB of data already written (between OS and personal data). Frequently, more than 90 per cent of the SSD was in use, and it wasn’t unusual to tip over into 95 per cent or more.

This left what free space available under heavier system write usage, wearing those blocks more quickly. It wasn’t overnight: it was over 90 per cent for a couple of everyday-use years. These days, when running an OS from an SSD (i.e., all but one of my machines), I do what I can to keep total storage below 75 per cent, to give the OS head room it needs without burning out that SSD.

 

[eyoungren]

These days, when running an OS from an SSD (i.e., all but one of my machines), I do what I can to keep total storage below 75 per cent, to give the OS head room it needs without burning out that SSD.

This was one of the reasons I shifted all my download folders (for all browsers on all computers) to the hard drive of my 2006 Mini. It keeps all that organized by specific computer and it doesn't sit on my boot SSD or any other boot drives.

Originally that was one part of a larger effort to pare things down so they'd fit on the first SSD I bought for my Mac Pro, which was only 500GB. That's how a lot of my stuff ended up on my NAS/RAID enclosures. It's also why I shifted Dropbox to a different drive. The current boot SSD is 1TB, but has around 820GB free.

 

[eyoungren]

This morning I come down to the Mac Pro to find out that Vivaldi is not working properly. Neither a log out/log in or a restart works, so ultimately I trashed it and the profile folder and then dropped both of those back in from my 2011 MBA. This version is the last that runs on High Sierra. That fixed it, but I am now on an outdated version of Vivaldi.

I suspect an extension might have updated overnight and that caused the problem. The particular one I suspect never synced to all my installs, so is no longer present. However, I am loathe to test that by updating the app. While it irritates me that it's not updated, the potential that there is a conflict with Vivaldi and the OS due to using OCLP is there. I have a related but different problem with updated versions of Vivaldi on my '09 Mini which is patched to Mojave. So, until I encounter any more problems the browser will remain outdated. I can still fully access everything without issues now, I don't want to upset that.

Another thing I looked up was accent color in the OS. There is an app out there called Accents which will give you access to the M1 iMac accent colors, which seem to be a bit darker than what is offered in stock MacOS. I believe this is Monterey and up.

You have to run the app, make your choice and then quit. I believe it survives restarts but I haven't checked that yet. You do have to restart any open apps and that also includes Finder before your choice gets applied.

Right now I'm cool with the color offerings, but if I can ultimately choose my own accent color like with the highlight color then I'm going to do that eventually.

Mahdi Bchatnia - Accents

Mahdi Bchatnia, Software Developer in Tokyo.

mahdi.jp

 

[Amethyst1]

There is an app out there called Accents which will give you access to the M1 iMac accent colors, which seem to be a bit darker than what is offered in stock MacOS.

Just what the world needed (Sorry, just had to. Anyone is free to use any accent colour they like.)

 

[DCBassman]

Have gone full junkyard and gutted the lot. Put the 2nd HiRes (2.2GHz i7) board into the first HiRes shell, and voila, have a fully working Sonoma machine. More trials to come!

And here it is:

 

[B S Magnet]

And here it is:
View attachment 2408962

Even though Sonoma isn’t my jam, to see this running just fine on your 2011 15in antiglare is a joy in of itself!

 

[B S Magnet]

Just what the world needed (Sorry, just had to. Anyone is free to use any accent colour they like.)

Hey now, it’s nice to have more choices beyond the bog standards. It hearkens to the configurable fruit colours of IE5’s navigation bar.

On any Mac?

/me tries…

Womp womp wooooooommp…

Dear Madhi Bchatnia: “on any Mac” is B-roll-level general! Please be more specific!

This also belongs in Mac Spotting…

Mac OS X Leopard’s Desktop displayed on a flat screen monitor, as found on the background of a generic work desk, in the presence of generic-generic men? We got that B-roll!

 

[Amethyst1]

Hey now, it’s nice to have more choices beyond the bog standards.

Why can’t we specify raw RGB values — for any accent colour?

 

[B S Magnet]

Why can’t we specify raw RGB values — for any accent colour?

As I’ve no experience with Big Sur and later, would this give you that possibility?

 

[Amethyst1]

As I’ve no experience with Big Sur and later, would this give you that possibility?

I had to look it up myself. Nope.

 

[MBAir2010]

SADSssss....."What have you done with an early Intel recently?"
burry the Mac mini 2021 i5 after gutting the reliable computer :~{
the mini won't send a signal to the 2K monitor and i'm exhausted after this week or repasting.

I will rest that for a while then investigate the situation.
the mini destroyed a great ssd drive 1TB that is under warrantee.
I think over 900GB of data is on that as my unpublished novels 7 and many comics.

if I return that to the company, can they see my files?
while im dreaming..... will a November event be fair?
there ei now way the KC Chief will use that month!

oh well....Monterey is boring, my MI mini did not like my BT non  items and this sucks!

 

[B S Magnet]

I had to look it up myself. Nope.

No, Apple, no!

Bad Apple. Have a time-out:

In short, using “Multicolor” and “Accent Colors” as your settings, Big Sur’s UI comes to life in a new way, with developers being able to set their own accent colors.

That’s not user-friendly or user-oriented at all, Apple. That’s the antithesis of what made MacOS, Mac OS X, and even OS X inviting to work with.*

* idc if this is four years too late to make the complaint. But seeing “multicolour” as accessible only for developers’ applications is just… boooooooooooooourns.