What have you done with an early Intel recently?

[sbumgarner]

Running Linux Mint 22.1 on a mid-2010 27-inch iMac, works great!

 

[DCBassman]

Running Linux Mint 22.1 on a mid-2010 27-inch iMac, works great!

Aha, Mint 22.1, must check that out! 27" iMacs are great, wish I had space!

 

[DCBassman]

Am away for a day or two just chillin'. My older son, who lives nearby, dropped in for afternoon cream tea and gave me my birthday present, delayed due to heavy snow at the time.

Now I just have to fix the Mac Pro in order to use it!
Just as we were preparing to leave for this trip, a parcel arrived from @Amethyst1 containing two 17" Macs, an A1229 MBP and an A1107 G4 Powerbook, my first PPC machine. Itching to get back, sort of...

 

[MBAir2010]

since the weather is overcast, rainy, chilly (48ºF) in the most southern city place in E'mirka,
why not use EARLY INTEL now, as the macbook air 2010 running Snow Leopard is attached to a banq monitor.
only SnowLion depicts this website normally without enlarged graphics
using the cursor is a chore but doable
i guess using other programs from over 2 decades ago will be in order today since the workstation is set up.
im happy everything works still today, except sending a BT signal to t Klipsch speaker.
Editi just connected the MBA itunes 10.? to the BT speaker!-yippie!)

 

[rampancy]

It all started with a 2010 A1342 with the mighty GeForce 320m (sans battery) that I snagged off FB Marketplace for a mere $15. As it turns out, Amazon is apparently all out of A1342 batteries (seemingly stocking batteries for every other model of MacBook except this one), and I couldn't temporarily borrow the battery from one of the other A1342s in my collection because I don't have a triwing screwdriver on hand (why, why Apple did you use triwing screws, of all things?!).

Luckily I was able to find a semi-local source for A1342 batteries, and they also happened to have a black A1181 battery on hand too. It fits really well in my 'new' Oreo BlackBook, which got a white topcase to replace its original cursed black topcase with half-dead keyboard, and I'm now putting the battery through calibration (along with the A1342 battery).

I also decided to finally try harvesting the precious case screws from the truly cursed A1181 I fished out of my building's recycling bin. I actually didn't get that far as so much was covered by corrosion that I could barely see any of the screw heads. That and the optical drive was absolutely stuck to the case. Thankfully I was able to get at least some screws out.

Amidst all of this, I remembered that the other A1342 that was going to be my temporary battery donor had been struck with the infamous peeling rubber bottom issue. Anyone know if superglue or Gorilla Glue has worked in fixing this?

 

[eyoungren]

@Amethyst1

So, card arrived yesterday. I just got around to installing it today. Took a while because I can't just move the Mac or lie it down. But finally got it in the slot.

It appears that the fan for the second GT 640 is blocking slot 3. So, the NVS 510 went into slot 4. To make it easier on myself that meant pulling the bay 4 drive sled (I put it back when done).

Booted up with no issue. Only, because now there are three cards in there I had to reset all my monitor rotations and turn off mirroring for each display. I suppose this tells me that the card has been recognized. Which, indeed it has…



Just to cover my bases, I reinstalled OCLP root patches.

Now, I just need to hook up a display and see if a monitor is recognized. I'll probably do that tomorrow. Then I'll need to test two of the 30" Cinemas on it to see if I get the correct output. I won't be moving stuff around on the desk though until this weekend and only if this card is going to drive the two Cinema Displays.

So, those two tests are next, the final one will be to see if the new Club adapter I got functions off one of the GT 640's with the other two Cinema Displays. If all three are being driven correctly, then I will go ahead and rearrange things on Saturday. I expect to make that final test on Friday.

So far so good though. Card is recognized!

 

[eyoungren]

Decided this morning to do an impromptu upgrade. The new MacPro 5,1 I received has the 2.93Ghz processor and is an upgraded 4,1. So, I took a breath and swapped processor trays.

Now that 2.93Ghz is in my case and the old 2.66Ghz is in the new (bent) case.

Since both MPs are upgraded 4,1s, it was just a matter of swapping trays. OCLP didn't have any issues.

 

[MBAir2010]

Decided this morning to do an impromptu upgrade. The new MacPro 5,1 I received has the 2.93Ghz processor and is an upgraded 4,1. So, I took a breath and swapped processor trays.

Now that 2.93Ghz is in my case and the old 2.66Ghz is in the new (bent) case.

Since both MPs are upgraded 4,1s, it was just a matter of swapping trays. OCLP didn't have any issues.

View attachment 2475072

Hello

eyoungren​

how are we?

that seems like a solution i am pondering for the "person-cave downstairs"
what kind of processor, does that have to be intel or ppc?
i saw a you tube video of someone placing one of those
fangled "red illuminated shiny fast" graphics card in one of those MacPros running snow leopard,
i'm looking for a high powered computer to play videos and music only and can accept a RCA jack out sound card,
are these macPros buildable like a pc?
(The m1 mini just aint producing my video and music that well while the asus zenbook rocks but....)
thanks in advance!

 

[eyoungren]

Hello

eyoungren​

how are we?

that seems like a solution i am pondering for the "person-cave downstairs"
what kind of processor, does that have to be intel or ppc?
i saw a you tube video of someone placing one of those
fangled "red illuminated shiny fast" graphics card in one of those MacPros running snow leopard,
i'm looking for a high powered computer to play videos and music only and can accept a RCA jack out sound card,
are these macPros buildable like a pc?
(The m1 mini just aint producing my video and music that well while the asus zenbook rocks but....)
thanks in advance!

Well, with the introduction of the 2009 MacPro's (MacPro 4,1), Apple put the processor on a removable tray. Just undo the levers and slide the tray out. MacPro, so that means Intel and as this is the Early Intel Forum I am not speaking of a PowerPC Mac. I was done with those as daily use Macs in May 2020.

Since both of these MPs I have are 4,1's (with upgraded firmware to be a 5,1), I simply swapped processor trays. But you can't do that between a 4,1 and a real 5,1. I don't know anything about early MacPros because I jumped directly from a PowerMac G5 Quad to this MacPro.

My video cards are 2x NVIDIA GT640 and one NVIDIA NVS 510. At each step of my process I attempted to make sure they were Metal compatible and could support OCLP. I don't need anything flashy, but I do want cards that can support 30" Cinema Displays. I have that. So, not sure what '"red illuminated shiny fast" graphics card' you may be referring to, although it could be a AMD Radeon.

I've not had any issues playing music or video, but I don't have any experience with an RCA jack out sound card.

There is some limited upgradability you can do as far as processors. But unless you really know what you're doing, it's best to stick with the stock Apple stuff for the model you have.

 

[MBAir2010]

Well, with the introduction of the 2009 MacPro's (MacPro 4,1), Apple put the processor on a removable tray. Just undo the levers and slide the tray out. MacPro, so that means Intel and as this is the Early Intel Forum I am not speaking of a PowerPC Mac. I was done with those as daily use Macs in May 2020.

Since both of these MPs I have are 4,1's (with upgraded firmware to be a 5,1), I simply swapped processor trays. But you can't do that between a 4,1 and a real 5,1. I don't know anything about early MacPros because I jumped directly from a PowerMac G5 Quad to this MacPro.

My video cards are 2x NVIDIA GT640 and one NVIDIA NVS 510. At each step of my process I attempted to make sure they were Metal compatible and could support OCLP. I don't need anything flash, but I do want cards that can support 30" Cinema Displays. I have that. So, not sure what '"red illuminated shiny fast" graphics card' you may be referring to, although it could be a AMD Radeon.

I've not had any issues playing music or video, but I don't have any experience with an RCA jack out sound card.

There is some limited upgradability you can do as far as processors. But unless you really know what you're doing, it's best to stick with the stock Apple stuff for the model you have.

Thanks for the reply, thoughtful and in-depth as always!

If only that video explained the graphics card.....which could have been a AMD Radeon.... who knows?
anyways,
i did a quick check to see if they are available on some websites i trust, nope, just the newer versions of MacPros
which are too much for that i need, but will keep my eyes open for one.

take care!

 

[eyoungren]

@Amethyst1

Proof…

NVS 510 works. Driving two 30" Cinemas with A1306 adapters.



Proof that Club adapter (DisplayPort to DVI, Dual link) works…Two GT640s driving three 30" Cinema Displays and three other displays, NVS 510 driving two 30" Cinemas.



In total, five 30" Cinema Displays being driven, plus three other displays for a total of eight from 3 NVIDIA cards.



I did have to adjust the resolution for the 30" Cinema on the Club adapter to 2560x1600. I forgot that this adapter allows you to adjust that.

Now, I am not going to have eight displays, just the six. So, the vertical TV and the other two Cinemas (20 and 23 inch) will be coming out.

But this is proof that it all works and that I can drive eight displays (including 5x 30" Cinemas) off the three cards.

That left me with two empty MiniDisplay ports though, so I have to assume I could drive 10 displays if I wanted. Now my limitation is desk space, SMH. At this point, even for me, it's getting to be too much.

Looks like I will be rearranging things on my desk now that I know it all works.

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

What is the reason for such displays quantity?

 

[rampancy]

Them: "Why would you want to run eight Cinema Displays?"

Me: "Why wouldn't I want to run eight Cinema Displays?"

 

[eyoungren]

What is the reason for such displays quantity?

Roughly around the year 1995 I discovered that computers could handle more than one display. That was my instructor's Mac II at school. The concept fascinated me, but I was PC at the time (1990-2003) and during that time period displays were very expensive.

Circa 2000, at work, I was able to attach more than one display to a work Mac. These were still CRTs, so it took up a lot of space. But eventually prices on LCDs started to come down.

From 2003 onwards I was solely using laptops. I didn't get a desktop Mac until around 2014, and that was a G4 Quicksilver. By this point, I had a MacPro at work that could drive three displays on one video card. I managed to cobble together three displays (from the two I was using previously) for that Mac at work.

But for me, I wasn't about to allow my Mac at work to have more displays than my own Mac at home. I doubled the amount and using three video cards got six displays attached to that Quicksilver. Since then, it's been a Quad G5 and now my own Mac Pro.

Originally, with the QS I wanted just the larger Acrylic Cinema displays. But once I got a Quad, that meant the Aluminum Cinema Displays. And for me, the largest is always the best. So, in my head, it's always been six displays, five being 30" Cinemas and then my TV. Because the TV can be a display.

But 30" Cinema Displays are hard to find and expensive when you find them. It's been a journey getting here.

I eventually added two more through a DisplayLink adapter, but it was wonky so I attached that to my work issue MBP instead.

Yeseterday's largesse, was simply to see/prove that the new NVIDIA card I got at the suggestion of @Amethyst1 works with multiple 30" Cinema Displays. I am not going to run eight displays on my Mac Pro, although I have proven I can. I do not have the desk space. And most importantly, I do NOT have enough power cord plug sockets in my powerstrips.

And as your question asks, what's the point here?

The point is, that now I have gotten what I sought. A MacPro driving 5x 30" Cinema Displays and an HDTV. I just have to get all five on to the desk - which I will do this weekend.

But why?

1. I am a graphic designer, I like multiple displays. Multiple displays mean I can put one browser on one display and another on a different display. Ex. Have you ever watched a YT video and then switched out of the browser? The audio stops right? With multiple displays I can run that YT video in Edge, while continuing to do what I'm doing in Vivaldi. And the audio does not drop out. I do this regularly.

App pallets can go on different monitors, leaving a primary monitor with the main document as large as possible without being cluttered by palettes.

2. Finder windows and other items (such as widgets) left open on different displays. Convenient.

3. Because I want to.

4. I don't need a reason. See #3.

Oh. And 5. People around here (MacRumors in general, not this specific subforum) and in other places are often new Mac snobs, telling others that you can't do 'X' with any Mac older than a year or more. Update, upgrade, blah, blah, blah. So, here's my honesty in this. I slap down a picture of a 2009 MacPro running six to eight displays (many of them 30" Cinemas), 29TB of drive space and 56GB ram with Sonoma on it. There isn't much response back to that. This is a 16 year old Mac doing things they said you couldn't.

Same reason I did a lot of things when I was PowerPC. If anyone should know anything about me, it's that I don't handle being told 'no' or 'you can't' very well.

 

[DCBassman]

What have I done today? Saved the day. My wife was set up for a Teams meeting with Hearing Dogs UK as part of the preliminaries to getting an assistance dog, and everything was peachy until...no sound from our end. Couldn't find anything obviously wrong, but time was a-pressin', so whipped out the late-2011 MBP15 and quickly set it up, and it worked flawlessly, and looked great too.
It did turn out to be the basic sound settings in Mint Linux, but there wasn't time to dig into that right then.
All fixed now, so shouldn't need the MBP next time. But it's now set and ready if need be. Win!

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

If anyone should know anything about me, it's that I don't handle being told 'no' or 'you can't' very well.

Got it . Thanks for explanation .

 

[rampancy]

Oh. And 5. People around here (MacRumors in general, not this specific subforum) and in other places are often new Mac snobs, telling others that you can't do 'X' with any Mac older than a year or more. Update, upgrade, blah, blah, blah. So, here's my honesty in this. I slap down a picture of a 2009 MacPro running six to eight displays (many of them 30" Cinemas), 29TB of drive space and 56GB ram with Sonoma on it. There isn't much response back to that. This is a 16 year old Mac doing things they said you couldn't.

Same reason I did a lot of things when I was PowerPC. If anyone should know anything about me, it's that I don't handle being told 'no' or 'you can't' very well.

And I think this encapsulates the spirit of the Early Intel Mac and PowerPC Mac forums so well. Everyone else would tell us, "No, you simply can't use or even just simply enjoy old Mac hardware and software." We refuse to listen, because our experience tells us otherwise.

 

[eyoungren]

And I think this encapsulates the spirit of the Early Intel Mac and PowerPC Mac forums so well. Everyone else would tell us, "No, you simply can't use or even just simply enjoy old Mac hardware and software." We refuse to listen, because our experience tells us otherwise.

Exactly. Because you know why? For me at least, it's always been because the 'no' or 'you can't' is arbitrary. In some cases, it's punitive. Other times, it's because the person saying those words is just repeating a mantra and hasn't actually tried.

But then it turns out it is possible. Sometimes it isn't. But most times it is. And then you discover just what a house of cards or arbitrary decision 'no' or 'you can't' is based on. The reason then becomes, "just because".

And that is infuriating!

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

hasn't actually tried

"The judge of any theory is experiment".

 

[headlessmike]

"The judge of any theory is experiment".

I can tell you that as a researcher in physics there’s a clear and roughly equal divide between those who put more faith in experiment or theory. Both sides are quick to point out the potential pitfalls of the other. 😂

 

[headlessmike]

And I think this encapsulates the spirit of the Early Intel Mac and PowerPC Mac forums so well. Everyone else would tell us, "No, you simply can't use or even just simply enjoy old Mac hardware and software." We refuse to listen, because our experience tells us otherwise.

These sub-forums are my favorite part of Macrumors. I firmly believe that the ARM-based SOCs are the best thing to happen to the Mac since 1984, but at the same time I absolutely love using my older Intel and PPC Macs (no 68k unfortunately) and wish I had more reasons and opportunities to do so. They are still great at what they do and some of the designs are timeless. I’m personally a sucker for the white polycarbonate designs of the 2000s and my 5th gen iPod and 2010 MacBook represent the latest and greatest iterations of that era. I sometimes wish Apple would reintroduce premium plastics to their product lineup again. I never had one but the iPhone 5c was a real looker in my eyes.

 

[Aoligei]

These sub-forums are my favorite part of Macrumors. I firmly believe that the ARM-based SOCs are the best thing to happen to the Mac since 1984, but at the same time I absolutely love using my older Intel and PPC Macs (no 68k unfortunately) and wish I had more reasons and opportunities to do so. They are still great at what they do and some of the designs are timeless. I’m personally a sucker for the white polycarbonate designs of the 2000s and my 5th gen iPod and 2010 MacBook represent the latest and greatest iterations of that era. I sometimes wish Apple would reintroduce premium plastics to their product lineup again. I never had one but the iPhone 5c was a real looker in my eyes.

I am going to use this opportunity to express some of my rant on modern computers.

I don't really care about old computers nor I am so passionate about old computers. I don't find massing old DOS system is any fun nor I found retro computer worth tinkering. Good for people who spend tons of money and energy on these old things.

I don't find hacking into old machine to make them usable in 2025 are fun nor worth the effort. I rather use new machine for whatever the thing I wanted to do.

The only reasons that I like older MacBooks Pros are they are cheap and easy to upgrade. Old unibody MacBook Pros were build like tank with replaceable components. Replacement components can be easily found and fixing them are generally easy. Most modern computers have soldered everything and parts are paired, which makes repair almost impossible.

 

[Aoligei]

Exactly. Because you know why? For me at least, it's always been because the 'no' or 'you can't' is arbitrary. In some cases, it's punitive. Other times, it's because the person saying those words is just repeating a mantra and hasn't actually tried.

But then it turns out it is possible. Sometimes it isn't. But most times it is. And then you discover just what a house of cards or arbitrary decision 'no' or 'you can't' is based on. The reason then becomes, "just because".

And that is infuriating!

But why?

I mean if things you do can be done by newer machine and possibly offers better experiences, then why using older computers? What is so great about using these old Macs?

I can understand buying an old MacBook Pros if you are in low budgets or upgrading old computers so you don't have to buy a new one.

But I fail to understand purposely buying old computers, not because you can't afford new one, spending tons of money and energy to use for modern tasks.

 

[eyoungren]

But why?

I mean if things you do can be done by newer machine and possibly offers better experiences, then why using older computers? What is so great about using these old Macs?

I can understand buying an old MacBook Pros if you are in low budgets or upgrading old computers so you don't have to buy a new one.

But I fail to understand purposely buying old computers, not because you can't afford new one, spending tons of money and energy to use for modern tasks.

I can't afford new stuff. Which is why I am purposely about 15 years behind the curve. Because I can buy the old stuff that was really expensive for cheap and make it work.

I'm not a video editor, or someone who needs serious CPU/GPU power. My MacPro is primarily used for web browsing, graphic design and word processing. I'm sure though, that if I got a second job where I had to use my own equipment, it could keep up. I mean, I'm running InDesign CC24, Photoshop CC23 and Illustrator CC25. And the latest version of Microsoft Office. That's pretty dang current.

Next, I don't use all of Apple's ecosystem features. But what I do use, my MP on Sonoma (via OCLP) can handle it. For other things, there are third party options that work fine.

I do have a 2023 M2 MacBook Pro in the house. But that's work issued and used specifically for job-related tasks.

What I object to is just being told that I can't do 'X' with what I have, just because I have an old Mac. Could I do it better, faster or easier on a new Mac? Probably. But that doesn't mean I can't do it on my old Mac.

 

[eyoungren]

@Amethyst1

In preparation for 5x 30" Cinema Displays and my HDTV - wallpaper updated. 2009 MacPro, Photoshop CC22. This is the initial attempt. Invariably I always nitpick certain things so I don't expect it to be the last attempt. However, this is coming from when I finalized the last panoramic wallpaper so it was mainly just shifting groups around rather than trying to place and edit individual objects.

First image has a mask applied between the panoramic wallpaper. Each rectangle will be what each Cinema Display shows and the HDTV (large rectangle). The two on the ends will be vertical.



Without the mask…



And yes, once again I realize the image for the HDTV will be off center. Again, because I cannot physically center the desks underneath the HDTV.

PS. I built in the monitor bezels this time, which is why the gaps. I'm hoping this lines everything up well.