What have you done with an early Intel recently?

[TheShortTimer]

Thanks for suggestions, lets see....

- Streaming and recording - no use now but who knows if at some time this could be a possibility? Wonder if there is any demand for middle aged gray hair, slight belly -performances in OF? 😆

I wonder how many others got that joke.

Oh my…

 

[Amethyst1]

Streaming and recording devices - here's one that I bought to capture the HDMI output from my games consoles and other scenarios that shall not be discussed here.

Does it require some special software? And can its input be displayed without being recorded? I’m basically wondering if it can be used as poor man‘s Thunderbolt Target Display Mode (I see it doesn’t handle 1080p60 though.)

- LG Ultrafines - hmmm...maybe...4K's are affordable up to 27 or 32" sizes but above that ...no.

I meant this one: 220 ppi or bust

- TB display - wife has one connected to her Mini, this might be possibility. 2 of those would be nice.

They’re still quite expensive over here (around 200 euros or more, with substantially cheaper ones having issues) despite their age showing.

 

[B S Magnet]

- Streaming and recording - no use now but who knows if at some time this could be a possibility? Wonder if there is any demand for middle aged gray hair, slight belly -performances in OF? 😆

Rule 34.

And also: there is always a non-zero chance!

But also: the economics of the profession underpinning OF dictating demand, versus supply.

(Sorry to be the bearer of laying out the cold baseline there.)

 

[ToniCH]

They’re still quite expensive over here (around 200 euros or more, with substantially cheaper ones having issues) despite their age showing.

I've been scanning them for couple of years now. Quite often I can see them around 150 euros but most have cable problems (rubber shielding is deteriorating), this is a problem with all of them sooner or later I hear. I see no difference to those which have asking price of 200-250 euros.

I am now installing the software needed for flashing the Alpine Ridge to my MBP 2012 13", takes ages I see.

Rule 34.

And also: there is always a non-zero chance!

But also: the economics of the profession underpinning OF dictating demand, versus supply.

(Sorry to be the bearer of laying out the cold baseline there.)

Oh no, I already ordered Speedos in 5 colors and couple of Luchador masks for my semi naked home vacuuming -performance!

 

[B S Magnet]

Oh no, I already ordered Speedos in 5 colors and couple of Luchador masks for my semi naked home vacuuming -performance!

Please… not the Borat mankini. 😬

 

[Amethyst1]

Quite often I can see them around 150 euros but most have cable problems (rubber shielding is deteriorating), this is a problem with all of them sooner or later I hear. I see no difference to those which have asking price of 200-250 euros.

IMHO they should be around 100 euros max given their age and slow USB 2.0 ports. (That’s still more than a contemporary matte/CCFL Dell U2711 fetches FWIW.)

 

[TheShortTimer]

Does it require some special software?

Yes, this is the latest version. The download includes a manual containing further information on the software/driver if you're curious.

And can its input be displayed without being recorded?

Once the software is installed you can use the SDI/HDMI input with QuickTime, Zoom etc.

I’m basically wondering if it can be used as poor man‘s Thunderbolt Target Display Mode

What do you have in mind? I could try and see what happens.

(I see it doesn’t handle 1080p60 though.)

The TB3 successor does.

Please… not the Borat mankini. 😬

One afternoon, during a shopping trip to Oxford Street (roughly our equivalent to Broadway), I saw someone wearing a variation of that garment defending their fashion choices from criticism by a random member of the public and gently pushing back that the unsolicited critic should concern themselves with their own attire.

 

[Amethyst1]

What do you have in mind? I could try and see what happens.

I’d be interested to hear what the performance/latency is like when displaying another system via the unit? Basically using it as an external monitor for another box.

 

[ToniCH]

Please… not the Borat mankini. 😬

Yeah, hell no! There would be no end for hysterical laughter and ridicule from my wife if I would appear in any such *kini. And I am not sure if anybody else would want to enlist my performance arts services in such attire either! Well there is always the few pervs who go for such things but... 😵‍💫 😵



And meanwhile, I got something useful done:

First pic: stripped the card to access the flash rom chip. Second pic: Terminal reports a successful flash! 👍 We shall see, I still need to rig some kind of extra jumper wire to connect couple of power pins to make TB on this card work in a Mac.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I’d be interested to hear what the performance/latency is like when displaying another system via the unit? Basically using it as an external monitor for another box.

Okay.

I'm currently trying to get the driver to install and work with Ventura. When I succeed, I'll post an update.

 

[DCBassman]

iMac has left the building. Two live ones and three deaders to go...

 

[TheShortTimer]

Okay.

I'm currently trying to get the driver to install and work with Ventura. When I succeed, I'll post an update.

After browsing through the Blackmagic forum, I tried an earlier version of the software - which then updated the Mini Recorder's firmware and from there, it then sprang into life after a hot unplug and re-plug on my 13" 2012 MBP.

I switched from SDI to HDMI input so that the Mini Recorder to could capture the Trash Can's HDMI signal and opened QuickTime where I selected New Movie Recording.

With the driver installed, the Mini Recorder became available as an A/V device within macOS, which allowed me to select it in QT.

Voila! Behold the HDMI signal being captured from the Mac Pro.

Well, the video signal anyway. The audio side didn't work, despite everything being correctly set up on both sides. In the past, I was able to capture the audio and video from my Xbox 360's HDMI so I don't understand what's going on. With a bit of fiddling, I'm sure I'll figure out what's wrong.

I’d be interested to hear what the performance/latency is like when displaying another system via the unit? Basically using it as an external monitor for another box.

The results vary from what I saw during short-term tests. At points it seemed 1:1 and at other times there was a noticeable delay that was significant enough to sap my reaction times whilst gaming. It might be worth trying again using the bundled software and/or QuickTime in full-screen instead of windowed and to reverse the machines by capturing on the Mac Pro instead and seeing if the higher specced computer delivers better results.

 

[Dave1423]

pulled out the mid 2006 mini and watched the first episode of Pokemon from 1998

 

[Amethyst1]

The results vary from what I saw during short-term tests. […]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to give it a try.

 

[headlessmike]

IMHO they should be around 100 euros max given their age and slow USB 2.0 ports. (That’s still more than a contemporary matte/CCFL Dell U2711 fetches FWIW.)

They're still good monitors though, and one in good shape isn't really a bad deal for (say) €200 when comparing to new monitors. For €300 or less I can barely find any 27" monitors with anything else than 1920x1080 resolution and cheap housings. The Thunderbolt Display has a nice 1440p panel, a built in camera, decent speakers, and gigabit ethernet built it (besides the USB ports).

A couple years ago I picked up its older sibling, a 27" LED Cinema display, in mint condition which works great with my M1 mini at home. At work I have a Thunderbolt Display and a 23" HD Cinema Display running off of my 14" MacBook Pro. Despite their age they're still running strong.

 

[Amethyst1]

For €300 or less I can barely find any 27" monitors with anything else than 1920x1080 resolution and cheap housings.

The cheapest new 27in 2560×1440 IPS monitor I can find is around 150 euros, but it has a cheap housing and no extras worth mentioning. Point taken.

They're still good monitors though, and one in good shape isn't really a bad deal for (say) €200 when comparing to new monitors.

Checking eBay.de, they regularly sell for more than 200 euros. And if you’re picking up a, say, ten-year-old one with no warranty there’s always the risk of something going wrong.

The Thunderbolt Display has a nice 1440p panel, a built in camera, decent speakers, and gigabit ethernet built it (besides the USB ports).

There’s the highly subjective issue of how recent versions of macOS render text on low-PPI monitors — to me, at 27in, there’s no alternative to a 5120×2880 monitor running pixel-perfect HiDPI. (Yes, I‘ve seen both monitors side-by-side.)

 

[headlessmike]

Checking eBay.de, they regularly sell for more than 200 euros. And if you’re picking up a, say, ten-year-old one with no warranty there’s always the risk of something going wrong.

Definitely. I wouldn't recommend that to most buyers, and being comfortable with doing repairs certainly helps. I found my 23" ACD in the recycling at work with a dead power supply. A replacement supply was too expensive so I took it apart and fixed it myself. That was ten years ago and it still serves me well.

There’s the highly subjective issue of how recent versions of macOS render text on low-PPI monitors — to me, at 27in, there’s no alternative to a 5120×2880 monitor running pixel-perfect HiDPI. (Yes, I‘ve seen both monitors side-by-side.)

That's true. It's hard going back to non-retina displays once you've taken the leap, and on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone I would never go back. I'm less affected by desktop displays though. Perhaps it's because I sit more about one meter away from the screen (I cannot reach it unless I lean forward) whereas smaller devices are usually much closer. 109 ppi at 80 cm is equivalent to 330 ppi at 25 cm, but I know that Apple has been messing with the sharpening on newer versions of macOS.

 

[ToniCH]

We shall see, I still need to rig some kind of extra jumper wire to connect couple of power pins to make TB on this card work in a Mac.

And done. There was a cable with 3 connectors in the Alpine Ridge box. I cut out one of the connectors leaving 2 wires (pins 3 and 5) in place and soldered them together. Perfect fit obviously. Now this card should work in Mac Pro...

 

[ToniCH]

Well, I installed the GC-Alpine Ridge -card and got mixed results:
- TB bus is visible 👍
- elgato TB3-dock: nothing happens when connected 👎
- elgato TB2-dock + Apple TB-adapter: nothing 👎👎
- Belkin TB Express -dock + Apple TB-adapter: nothing 👎👎👎
- USB 3.1 -bus is visible and works 👍👍

So, 6 vs 3 score at this time

I don't have anything else to connect but it seems like the card does not detect TB stuff. I need to investigate if there is something I missed. Maybe the card needs to be in some particular PCIe -slot or something?

 

[Amethyst1]

Maybe the card needs to be in some particular PCIe -slot or something?

This guide puts the Titan Ridge in Slot 4 FWIW. And it also uses OpenCore, so do you have everything set up?

I don't have anything else to connect but it seems like the card does not detect anything.

Are devices detected if they're connected before macOS boots or after a reboot?

 

[ToniCH]

This guide puts the Titan Ridge in Slot 4 FWIW. And it also uses OpenCore, so do you have everything set up?

Are devices detected if they're connected before macOS boots or after a reboot?

I don't have OpenCore on this machine yet. I did with the 2009 but as I don't have enableGop set up for this 2010 yet I am not eager to install OC at this time (I need the boot picker if I do). Is OC a must for this to work? I ran the OCLP and selected cMP 5.1 - didn't see anything other about TB than disable it. Well, maybe it installs some driver that is not mentioned in the settings?

I could try to install OCLP with enableGop injected by it in it but haven't tried this approach yet.

Anyways, I'll try the slot 4.

I did see in the hackingtosh-forums that Alpine Ridge does not work properly in every slot in their machines. In some slot you get USB only which matches my situation.

No, devices are not detected at all even though the bus is there.

 

[ToniCH]

Ok, slot 4 didn't do the job. Still same situation.

And even though I have installed OCLP dozens of times I have never installed it to a machine with no display until OS loads. Enabling Gop from OCLP settings didn't show anything while I was booting from the USB stick. So, I cannot figure out how to do it. I cannot remember the sequence to press arrows and enter to install OS so it's virtually impossible without seeing what is happening.

 

[ToniCH]

And even though I have installed OCLP dozens of times I have never installed it to a machine with no display until OS loads. Enabling Gop from OCLP settings didn't show anything while I was booting from the USB stick. So, I cannot figure out how to do it. I cannot remember the sequence to press arrows and enter to install OS so it's virtually impossible without seeing what is happening.

Answer came to me while I was sleeping. The OCLP works with non Metal GPUs too (DUH...I've been using it for ages in my iMac 2011 with non Metal GPU). With Mac Pros you earlier had to have the enableGOP injected to your flashrom to enable boot picker. And you could not install newer OS's like Mojave that require Metal until you had it done and installed a Metal capable GPU (and upgraded the bootrom to newest). But, maybe nowadays you can install OCLP to Mac Pro too with old GPU?! In any case I do have the newest Bootrom-version installed so I'll give it a try.

So, I dug through my Mac Pro parts and found couple of old GPU's: Radeon HD 4870 and 5770. I took all the PCIe-cards and drives out, left only one empty SDD, installed the 5770 and booted from OCLP Monterey -installer - boot picker! 👍 Was thinking about Big Sur as it would probably work better but anyways, I had a Monterey stick already at hand so I'll give it a try.

My plan is to install the OCLP + Monterey with AMD GOP injection enabled and then swap the GPUs, cross my fingers and hope that I get a boot screen.

Lets see if it works... 🧐

 

[chaosbunny]

I have the same machine and my experience matches yours. In some areas, like when using Safari, I think Sonoma even performs better than older versions even on this ancient hardware. I’m tempted to try Sequoia on it to see how it performs.

About 2 weeks after the update I have to report that some minor issues occured. After sleep the MacBook sometimes wakes to a black screen with just the cursor on it - I have to hard reset it then. Starting Firefox also takes a little longer than it used to. Generally the response lags a little bit more. All in all still not a deal breaker for the tasks I use this machine for.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Finally got Lubuntu wifi working. This is running on a 2008 aluminum macbook a1047. Vanilla install despite downloading the appropriate B43 driver and firmware update yielded no wifi. Had to purge that and reinstall it and is working correctly now. Now I need to wrangle in the fan speed, figure out sleep and I should be good to go. There is still that persistent 2+ minute long boot but Lubuntu folks are aware of it and hopefully a solution will be found eventually but not too much of an issue as I typically leave my DD machines idling, so researching sleep function is the next goal. As of right now, if I close the lid the machine does not go to sleep.

Anyhow, very snappy gui on such old hardware. Of all the Ubuntu derivatives Ive tried, this is my favorite so far - very nice once up and running.