Live data from Hacker News

OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

dortania.github.io

81–86 of 86 posts

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#81
post #12

The fact that simply patching the O.S. can be enough to make it work on older hardware is a testament on how Apple could make it work on it too, if they wanted, and without much effort. Which in my book reads as an artificial way to cut support for otherwise perfectly working machines. Forcing people to upgrade, buy more hardware, and discard the older one, even when they wouldn't otherwise have needed to do it (like…

They've been doing this for a while. MacOS Tiger included "Built-in FireWire ports" as a system requirement which led to some weird things like the 2000 366MHz iBook and the 1999 B&W 300MHz PowerMac G3 being supported but not the 2000 350MHz iMac G3.

The frustrating part was that the requirement was only checked by the installer, so you could put the drive in a supported machine[0] to install, then swap it back and it would run fine. I think there was a similar thing with a processor speed check on Leopard[1]. There were also third-party workarounds if you didn't have access to a supported Mac. I had a friend who always had the latest and greatest, so I borrowed his machines to upgrade my last-year's-models.

0: https://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=200512110741388...

1: https://lowendmac.com/2007/unsupported-os-x-10-5-leopard-ins...

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#82
post #79

I'm typing this from a 2011 iMac (3.4ghz, 4-core i7, 8GB RAM, AMD 6700 series GPU) on which I've just installed Mac OS Ventura using OpenCore. It's working great. Performance is not distinguishable from the performance of the same system on High Sierra, so far. The process was also pretty easy, it walked me through every step. Just highlights how absurd it is that these systems aren't still supported.

Does your iMac have an SSD? Mine doesn't, and I'm wondering if that would cause more issues.

It has one, which I installed aftermarket, but I think you'd be fine with an HDD once things got going.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#84
post #12

The fact that simply patching the O.S. can be enough to make it work on older hardware is a testament on how Apple could make it work on it too, if they wanted, and without much effort. Which in my book reads as an artificial way to cut support for otherwise perfectly working machines. Forcing people to upgrade, buy more hardware, and discard the older one, even when they wouldn't otherwise have needed to do it (like…

In other unrelated, surprising news, the hurr durr Apple bad crowd suddenly stopped complaining about how the new OS is slowing down their computer and draining the battery.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Supporting old hardware costs money because you need to write more tests. Not supporting old hardware has major costs too: ewaste pollution. But of course those costs are 'externalized' and not borne by Apple, but by everyone else.

For what it's worth, Apple supports old hardware for extremely long times. Even after Treble or whatever it was called, Android smartphones have way less support. macOS Ventura is supported on machines that are six years old . macOS Big Sur, which is the oldest supported macOS, runs on machines that are ten years old. And OCLP pushes that even further. In contrast, just look at how ridiculously short many component d…

Please don't act like six years is a long time to offer support. I have a 17-year-old Mac that runs the Windows 10 latest patch set just fine, and makes for a fine space heater at the same time.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, Apple supports old hardware for extremely long times. Even after Treble or whatever it was called, Android smartphones have way less support. macOS Ventura is supported on machines that are six years old . macOS Big Sur, which is the oldest supported macOS, runs on machines that are ten years old. And OCLP pushes that even further. In contrast, just look at how ridiculously short many component d…

Please don't act like six years is a long time to offer support. I have a 17-year-old Mac that runs the Windows 10 latest patch set just fine, and makes for a fine space heater at the same time.

The difference is, once again, Apple by supporting the drivers and fixing bugs. Good luck getting patches should, say, the no-name Bluetooth chipset in your Windows laptop have some sort of security issue.
Post reply on HN