Ubuntu 20.04 vm on macOS Catalina

Recently I installed Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on my Mac Pro 5,1 running Catalina 10.15.4 as a host. It’s installed in a vm (VMWare Fusion). I gave it 3 cores of CPU, 20GB mem, and 80GB fixed virtual HD space. This thing is really fast. I had to do some tweaking to the UI settings to make the animations go away, I hated them because the virtual GPU was a little slow with those activated. Once I turned them off, BANG! Much faster.

I finally connected a BR drive to the vm and was presently surprised that I can easily RIP/BURN video quickly and easily in a vm. Who knew?

I must say, Ubuntu 20.04 look much nicer than it’s predecessors. I’m not sure how to install Ubuntu as a Rawdisk VM as I’ve never done that before, but I’m probably going to try that soon. I may do a native install and access it as a VM if possible, but that too is something I’ve never tried, so wish me luck. I suppose I could buy another 1TB nvram SSD just for the task... We’ll see what happens, I’ll post anything interesting.

Future entries...

I’m considering some serious modifications to my Coyote powered Mustang soon. I’m looking at a positive displacement supercharger, forged OPG/CS, custom headers, high-flow cats, much larger piping, and my current GT500 axlebacks. The clutch, MGW shifter, other suspension upgrades with have to wait. 

I’m waiting for the COVID-19 situation to improve before letting go of that much cash, but it’s going to happen soon.

MacOS Catalina 10.15.X

With the release of macOS 10.15 Apple has blocked the install onto the MacPro 5,1. With all the updated hardware on my MP51 (Metal Capable GPU, and newer WiFi/BT card), there is no valid reason for this limitation. Thankfully the members of the Mac Rumors forums (specifically dosdude1) have created a “patcher” tool that allows for installing Catalina on nearly all of the recently “Apple-Blocked” models.

So much for Apple’s unreasonable planned-obsolescence. Here is a link to dosdude1’s Catalina-Patcher.

My MP51 has been happily running Catalina for weeks now. Kudos to dosdude1.

Samsung 970 Pro 1TB NVMe SSD

Today I added another NVMe SSD to my system. This entry is just a quick placeholder to mark the install. I’m cloning my primary macOS drive onto this one right now.

UPDATE:

So after a month of use, there are no surprises. In daily use, it performs the same as the 512GB 970 Pro (as expected). In benchmarking apps, it’s a little faster. I’m satisfied this was a good addition. After my CC bill comes down. I’ll add another Addlink S70 NVMe SSD. Probably a 2TB part this time.

addlink 1TB S70 NVMe SSD / Mac Pro 5,1

Feeling the itch to upgrade something on my Mac Pro 5,1 again, and needing some more storage space for various purposes, I added another 1TB NVMe blade to my High Point SSD7101-A PCIe carrier. I bought the addlink 1TB S70 blade. I have to say, I’m very pleased with the performance considering this blade. It costs about the same as my Samsung 970 Pro 512GB boot drive, but carries the same warranty. I’ll post a couple of speed benchmarks below for reference.

As a rule, I don’t like to benchmark SSD’s that much since it degrades the life expectancy (especially the 4K tests). Write amplification can be horrendous and gives inaccurate results. There are no truly well written bench marking programs that are designed from the ground up for SSD media.

Only time will tell over the long haul regarding the longevity of this blade, but the physical quality and heat generated under heavy use seem to be about the same as the industry leading Samsung SSDs. I did a lot of research and found that some of the other big name drives have serious problems with heat and throttling. This one had no negative issues reported at all that I could find, so I took and chance and I’m very satisfied. 

For the time being, I fully recommend this SSD. 

In fact, I may add another one or two to my High Point card as the storage demands required increase.

Good Serial Number for Future Hackintosh

Microsoft is a Theif and their support staff helps them.

I can’t convey enough, my level of outrage and anger at Microsoft. Let me tell you how this organization rolls and trolls.

Several weeks ago, my Mac Pro 5,1 tower was victimized by a lightning strike to my house. It still booted and partially functioned so I didn’t repair it right away. However, about 2 months ago I purchased a replacement 2012 Apple Logic Board (motherboard to you PC guys), and corrected/flashed updated firmware. The machine performs perfectly as expected. I decided to upgrade the GPU and add an NVMe drive. All worked at great. The system is a joy to use...

Now, the problem with Microsoft...

Windows 10 Pro deactivated itself as it detected the new hardware. Microsoft deactivated itself too... In fact everything from Microsoft stopped working. No big deal I think, I can understand that. I just need to reactivate and call Microsoft to get this worked out.

Four weeks later...

None of my Microsoft products are working. I have several case numbers, and I’ve called several times asking for help. I was elevated to level 2 support, then elevated to level 3 support.

Microsoft called me a thief, and stated they wouldn’t activate any of my products. I have proof of purchase, valid product ID’s (they confirmed this), but in the end, I was told to re-purchase ALL of my products again.

Here’s the icing on the cake... Even my macOS versions of all my MS Office apps are deactivate and they won’t correct that either.

My wife works for a local university and needs MS Windows / Office for her job. I purchased all of my MS software online, directly from Microsoft, and they easily verified this, yet refuse to help me.

I was forced to buy another copy of Windows 10 and reinstall from scratch (windows would not allow even a forced product I’d change using powershell). Only a reinstall would work. So I now have Windows 10 activated (until they decide to screw me again).

Microsoft is unethical, dishonest, and a total ripoff. I can’t express in totality what I want to say and do. If you imagine the most extreme level of anger ever expressed in a modern movie, then you can imagine how angry I am.

Install Win10 BootCamp Drivers on MP51 / macOS Mojave (APFS) Dual Boot

So, as many Mac Pro users have learned, Mojave requires the boot drive file system to be formatted as APFS and the installer converts it to such (want it or not). If you try to force any variation of HFS+ for the Mojave boot drive, no updates will ever be possible on this drive through the Software Update mechanisms.

With the boot drive being APFS, when you boot to WIN10, you lose the ability to switch back to macOS because neither BootCamp (for MP51) nor Windows provides APFS drivers to make this possible.

Yesterday (I Think), Apple updated it’s BootCamp software for the iMac Pro, and now it regained this functionality for iMac Pro, APFS/Win10. It works again. Great!  Too bad Apple didn’t provide this update for MP51 drivers.

Well, let me fix that for you...  ;)

Below is a quick guide I put together that allows you to install BC 6.1 driver’s on an MP51/Win10 System. This should do the trick for you.

After Windows Legacy is installed;

1. Install BC drivers for cMP 5,1
2. Download brigadier-0.2.4.zip and extract the exe file.
3. Open CMD as Administrator & navigate to the folder with brigadier.exe
4. Execute (from command line) brigadier.exe -m iMacPro1,1
5. Wait for download to finish, this will be the BC6.1 drivers
6. Navigate to the BootCamp/Drivers/Apple/
7. Run the command msiexec /i bootcamp.msi
8. Reboot when install is finished

How to make an OS X Sierra DVD Installer

Make sure you have downloaded the Sierra Installer package from the Mac App Store, and placed it in your Applications folder. Then open a command line Terminal. Paste these commands into the terminal. The resulting DVD iso will be on your desktop when completed correctly.

hdiutil attach /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_app

hdiutil create -o /tmp/Sierra.cdr -size 7500m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J

hdiutil attach /tmp/Sierra.cdr.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build

asr restore -source /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/install_build -noprompt -noverify -erase

rm /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation/Packages

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/Packages /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation/

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/BaseSystem.chunklist

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/BaseSystem.dmg

hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_app

hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/

hdiutil convert /tmp/Sierra.cdr.dmg -format UDTO -o /tmp/Sierra.iso

mv /tmp/Sierra.iso.cdr ~/Desktop/Sierra.iso

A bootable iso file called Sierra.iso will then appear on your desktop and you can use this to burn it to a dual layer dvd.

How to make an El Captain DVD Installer Disk

A long while back, I was asked to do a write up on making a DVD Installer Disk for OS X El Capitan.

I’m sorry it took me so long to do this, I just got wrapped up in life, and simply forgot. So, below is a script to automate the process. If you don’t want to run a script, you can copy/paste the individual commands into a terminal session. This will put an installer iso on your desktop. Just burn the resulting iso onto a DL DVD. It’s bootable, installable, and can be used to create a vm if wanted.  Make sure you have downloaded the full El Capitan Installer from the App Store, and placed it into the Applications folder before starting.

#!/bin/bash

# Mount the installer image
hdiutil attach /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_app

# Create the ElCapitan Blank ISO Image of 7316mb with a Single Partition - Apple Partition Map
hdiutil create -o /tmp/ElCapitan.cdr -size 7316m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J

# Mount the ElCapitan Blank ISO Image
hdiutil attach /tmp/ElCapitan.cdr.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build

# Restore the Base System into the ElCapitan Blank ISO Image
asr restore -source /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/install_build -noprompt -noverify -erase

# Remove Package link and replace with actual files
rm /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation/Packages
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/Packages /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation/

# Copy El Capitan installer dependencies
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/BaseSystem.chunklist
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/BaseSystem.dmg

# Unmount the installer image
hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_app

# Unmount the ElCapitan ISO Image
hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/

# Convert the ElCapitan ISO Image to ISO/CD master (Optional)
hdiutil convert /tmp/ElCapitan.cdr.dmg -format UDTO -o /tmp/ElCapitan.iso

# Rename the ElCapitan ISO Image and move it to the desktop
mv /tmp/ElCapitan.iso.cdr ~/Desktop/ElCapitan.iso

HighPoint SSD7101A-1 & Samsung 970 Pro NVMe SSD

It’s been a long time since my last post, but I have to write about my newest upgrade to my Mid-2012 Mac Pro. I’ve been adding 2.5” SSD drives to replace the old HDD’s. It’s been a big performance boost, but nothing like my new upgrade.

I purchased a HighPoint NVMe Raid M.2 SSD carrier (SSD7101A-1) & a 512GB Samsung 970 Pro NVMe m.2 SSD. 

Wow! This thing is beyond fast... 3300 GB/s read speeds / 2800+ GB/s write speeds.

I modified the Mac Pro’s Boot Rom by injecting an NVMe driver so now my Mac is booting from the NVMe 970 Pro, and getting PCIe Gen 3 speeds with an 8 GT/s connection to the 16x Raid carrier. Storage technology on my Mac Pro is now up to the most cutting edge tech. available anyware. 

Thanks HighPoint

SSD7101A

Ubuntu as VMWare/OS X Guest

I’ve had Ubuntu 17.10 running great in VMware for a couple of days now. It’s revitalizing my interest in Linux. I’ve forgotten much of what I knew since switching to macOS. macOS really is, a truly great Unix variant, and I don’t see myself using anything else as my primary OS in the future. That said, I’m enjoying Linux again, and that’s a good thing. At some point I’ll try to dual-boot Ubuntu/macOS natively, but for now I’m content with a vm.

Now my next task is to fix my boot splash/loading/boot screen, I detest the scrolling verbose mode. I had this working just fine in older versions but now I can’t remember how I did that. I seem to recall having to regenerate/recreate a particular file and then it all worked fine. I’ll be reading up & searching the forms for that puzzle piece. When I get it solved, I’ll post it here as a “note to self”.

Installing VMWare tools to a Ubuntu 17.10 vm Guest

So, for anyone struggling with screen resolution for a VMware Fusion 10, Ubuntu 17.10 install, try the following. vmware tools seems to install more effectively when downloaded & applied using the repository.

sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools-desktop

OS X 10.11 - El Capitan & trimforce

Recently I installed the newest version of OS X which is still in BETA, code named El Capitan (Here and after referred to as "Cappy").

Apple has introduced a new security feature called rootless. Rootless prevents unwanted root access and protects criticle system files. In it's protection, it also interferes with using tools such as Trim Enabler for us 3rd party SSD users. All is not lost however, Apple has provided us with the tools needed to easily activate Trim and still comply with Apple's intended security features.

Since I'm posting this information for my own use, I won't go into detail. Here's how it's done.

Credit for finding this goes to mikeboss & Daku93 on MacRumors

Procedure for Cappy - (Yosemite is pending)

1 - Boot into the recovery partition, and use the new Security Configuration menu tool to turn off rootless;

(Utilities > Security Configuration > Enforce System Integrity Protection)

2 - Reboot to desktop and open a terminal session

3 - Enter the command "sudo trimforce enable"

4 - Press the enter key and follow all the prompts, and agree to the terms

5 - Reboot into the recovery partition and turn rootless back on again

6 - Boot to the normal desktop and enjoy trim on all of your SSDs

Reportedly, the final release of Yosemite will also include this ability but to my knowledge it hasn't yet been included in the beta of 10.10.4

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AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB for Mac Pro 5,1

So I decided to upgrade my video card in my Mac Pro that's been rocking an AMD HD 5870 since day one. After reading through many articles, I decided to head on over to macvidcards.com and grab the HD 7970.

The upgrade was uneventful and required no drivers, OS patches or other such non-sense (one of the reasons I selected this card, and this vendor). The cards from this vendor cost a bit more than average but you get what you pay for. The vendor flashes the card with the Mac-EFI so there are boot screens, next the card is modified to allow 5.0 GT/s of memory bandwidth rather than the default 2.5 GT/s. The advert. says the card is modified to work with the Mac's 2 six-pin PCIe power booster cables. I don't know if there was actually any modification done for the boosters but it apparently works fine OOTB. Next, the vendor thoroughly tests the card for problems before shipping.

The card arrived quickly and was very well packaged, it even i ncluded 2 surplus booster cables for older Macs that dont already have them. If you don't know how to install the card, complete instructions and photographs are on the store website.

After testing the card for several days, this feels like a very solid upgrade and a massive speed bump for users of FCPX. If you purchase a new Mac Pro cylinder and opt for the top of the line video cards (D700), you will have the same card (HD 7970) but in a different form factor. Also this card has a higher clock rate than the D700 cards.

I highly recommend this vendor and this card (especially if you use FCPX). It's a great upgrade at a fair price.

 

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How to make an OS X Yosemite DVD installer

Credit goes to tywebb13 at MacRumors.com

After downloading the full Yosemite installer app from the Mac App Store, run these 14 commands in Terminal to create a Yosemite.iso file and then burn it to a dual layer DVD with Disk Utility. You may then boot up from it by holding the option key down and then install Yosemite.

hdiutil attach /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_app

hdiutil convert /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg -format UDSP -o /tmp/Yosemite

hdiutil resize -size 8g /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage

hdiutil attach /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build

rm /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/Packages

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/Packages /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/install_build

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/install_build

hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_app

hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_build

hdiutil resize -size `hdiutil resize -limits /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage | tail -n 1 | awk '{ print $1 }'`b /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage

hdiutil convert /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage -format UDTO -o /tmp/Yosemite

rm /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage

mv /tmp/Yosemite.cdr ~/Desktop/Yosemite.iso

 

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iPad Air 2

I finally replaced my aging iPad 3 with a new iPad Air 2. The iPad 3 64GB is a great device and it has served me well. I was very happy until iOS8 was installed. This caused many slowdowns and erratic Safari performance. The iPad 3 also doesn't have the proper hardware to support the new "Handoff" feature that my Mac Pro does.

I purchased an iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi 64 GB model. Wow, this thing is fast! I'm not impressed with modest performance enhancements but this is way beyond modest. The iPad Air 2 is fast, I mean nothing short of amazing. It runs circles around every computer I own except my Mac Pro, and honestly, it has a better internet browsing experience than the Mac due to the Safari browser in Yosemite. iOS Safari is much quicker on this iPad.

I have outfitted my new toy with a "FINTIE" aka: cheap BT keyboard/case until the new ClamCase Pro is available. I have to say, for a cheap case and BT keyboard, it really works well. I can type really fast with this setup. Thanks to B & H Photo in NYC I saved a bundle since they don't charge taxes on out of state orders and 2 day shipping was free to.

That's about it for this post, I highly recommend the upgrade.

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HighPoint RocketU 1144C USB 3.0 - PCIe 2.0 4x

HighPoint RocketU 1144C

ASMEDIA Chipset

The card preforms well and had no problems recognizing several devices I tried (web cams, keyboard, mice, printers, scanners, Belkin hub, Inateck hubs, Docking Stations, thumb drives, portable USB drives etc…) and the list goes on and on…

This card is easily installed, and works immediately with the OS X 10.9+ built in drivers. It has no conflicts with any of my other hardware (including the installed Inateck KT-4004 USB 3.0 card.

I transferred dozens of TB to and from SSDs & mechanical USB 3.0 drives and it's extremely fast. Plugging in multiple drives does not slow the 1144C at all.
The 1144C easily powers 4x 7200 RPM 1TB laptop drives without any additional power requirements.
(This card does not require any additional power connections, it's fully powered by the PCIe slot). I've tested it pretty extensively and I can't find any negative characteristics to this card so far.

I had no bluetooth interfe rence during large or short transfers. So far I have nothing but great results with this card.

The HighPoint card is a bit more expensive than most ($109), but consider that it’s a 4x card, requires no additional drivers for OS X 10.9+, has 4 controller chips (one for each port) to prevent slowdowns when transferring between multiple devices, and fully supports UASP transfers, and supports all sleep modes.
I can easily recommended this product to anyone who wants USB 3.0 in a cMP.
I tested this card with OS X 10.9.4 & 10.10 PB3

* Supports UASP: 70% Faster than traditional USB 3.0, with UASP Transfer Protocol; The UASP Transfer Protocol only can accelerate read and write speed of SSD hard disk.

The box includes:

1 - PCIe card in an anti-static bag
1 - Instruction Manual
1 - Windows Driver CD, and PDF version of documentation.

Note: Initially I believed this card was having problems with my Seagate Backup+ 4TB drive. It turns out that none of my external drives that are 4TB (Seagate & WD) can be defragged while attached to ANY USB 3.0 card I’ve tried so far. When I get time, I’ll hook them up to a USB 2.0 port and see what happens. Otherwise, all drives and devices performed admirably on the HighPoint RocketU 1144C.

 

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