I was looking forward to ML until I read the supported hardware and found that my 2006 Mac Pro won't be supported. This has happened in the past with other Macs, but this is the first time it has bit me.
My Pro is perfect for me, I have it maxed at 32 GB of memory, dual optical drives, and 4TB of local disk. Quad 2.66GHz cores is more than enough for me.
I understand that things like display Airplay mirroring depend on newer CPUs/GPUs, but ML should still be supported, just with fewer features.
And yes, I know this is a 6 year old system. But it's still a good solid system with a long life ahead of it. I'll keep running Lion on it until something dies (system board?) that's irreplaceable.
When 10.5 came out, a lot of unsupported systems only required a minor hack to make 10.5 install (copy the DVD to HD, edit a file, burn back to DVD).
With luck, there will be an easy hack this time as well. I believe the factor that decides which machines got cut off is the lack of 64bit EFI, which Apple requires for booting a 64bit kernel. Some people have already worked out how to use hackintosh tools to boot from Legacy Mode into a 64bit EFI and then into a 64bit kernel on the 2006/2007 Mac Pros, which apparently increases expansion card compatiblity (particularly making it possible to put unflashed PC video cards in the machine). Also, after doing this, some of the older MacPro video cards will be unsupported (such as the 7300GT). A suitable Radeon replacement is probably cheap though.
It is too early to tell, but with luck the same thing can be done by dedicated MacPro owners to get 10.8.
Personally, I'm very disappointed that my wife's MacBook is also on the unsupported list. I will probably end up just replacing her laptop rather than trying to hack it.
Check your hardware. xnu is incredibly stable. It may also be a 1.0 driver, considering what you're running it on. You _are_ on the absolute cutting edge of the universe right now, GPU-wise, after all.
Do you have any third-party drivers installed? I've been using Lion on a MacBook Pro since release and I've never had a kernel panic.
You might also look into hardware diagnostics — not sure if Apple Hardware Test is still available, but the Genius Bars certainly have something — as intermittent kernel panics from flaky hardware aren't unusual.
Can anyone comment if airplay is disabled on pre 2011 macs? I'm going to be royally pissed if airplay is disabled because I'm missing some BS drm chip. Hopefully the era of "Jailbreaking" macs has not started.
If anything it may be a CPU/GPU restriction that holds you back.
Modern Intel CPU's have a quicksync feature which is H.264 encode assist in the HD 3000 and 4000 GPU. These features may be required to make airplay mirroring work.
Similar hardware is in the A5 chip in the iPad 2 and up, and iPhone 4S and up.
Check out AirParrot, it's $10. Fullscreen AirPlay audio and video.
It works fine on my 2008 Macbook but it gets a little hot and noisy. The lag is noticeable but tolerable, fine for browsing the web but not gaming. Audio/video sync is fine too for watching flash videos or whatever.
Apple .0 software always has at least one showstopper.
My favorite was the way the initial release of SL hosed fonts that it decided conflicted with the system ones. Like non-Apple versions of Helvetica. Thanks Apple! ;-)
Something very odd is happening at Apple. Either there is a massive shortage of developers (unlikely) or developers have been moved to a new project (AppleTV ?).
Because Mountain Lion and iOS6 are by far the most underwhelming updates yet in terms of features.
After Snow Leopard, they changed to a development cycle consistent of two week sprints followed by a one week convergence period. Stuff that can't get in by the specified milestone gets pushed back, moved, or cancelled.
It actually makes for a nicer development model than the 'everything doesn't work for a year and then miraculously comes together 4 months before release' development model. For example, with Snow Leopard, XCode became garbage collected and was unusable for like 50 releases in a row.
Ultimately, while you get a slightly less buggy release that comes out on time more or less, the features seem less ambitious.
Over 200 new features and plenty of behind-the-scenes refinements, all for $20 and 12 months after Lion. Sounds like they're firing on all cylinders in Cupertino.
Small features like VIP whitelists for Mail.app, the Finder "share" button, and bigger features like Power Nap are significant improvements for many users.
I'm all about the future made into reality, but what kind of features do you see in other recent OS updates that are a) successful and not buggy as hell and b) ambitious enough to be not considered "underwhelming"?
The refined App sandbox and new system services (through XPC) are a major under-the-hood change. I don't have time to go through it, but they seem to have changed erything in OS X for XPC (watch WWDC sessions if you're interested).
But I completely agree with your first point. iWork hasn't been updated since 2009... I just can't believe it. It's still not on iCloud so if you want to share files between iOS and iWork on Mac, you have to manually copy and upload them. It's disgusting.
Does the amount of stuff added matter? If the quality is good I honestly don’t care.
Lion was a bit of a dud. Mountain Lion doesn’t add much but it improves massively on Lion. It corrects its mistakes. I’m very much ok with that, I don’t need flashy new features. I really don’t want Apple to start pulling features out of there ass (especially now that they switched to a yearly update cycle), mere refinements every year for something mature like OS X would be awesome.
[+] [-] greedo|13 years ago|reply
My Pro is perfect for me, I have it maxed at 32 GB of memory, dual optical drives, and 4TB of local disk. Quad 2.66GHz cores is more than enough for me.
I understand that things like display Airplay mirroring depend on newer CPUs/GPUs, but ML should still be supported, just with fewer features.
And yes, I know this is a 6 year old system. But it's still a good solid system with a long life ahead of it. I'll keep running Lion on it until something dies (system board?) that's irreplaceable.
[+] [-] jdboyd|13 years ago|reply
With luck, there will be an easy hack this time as well. I believe the factor that decides which machines got cut off is the lack of 64bit EFI, which Apple requires for booting a 64bit kernel. Some people have already worked out how to use hackintosh tools to boot from Legacy Mode into a 64bit EFI and then into a 64bit kernel on the 2006/2007 Mac Pros, which apparently increases expansion card compatiblity (particularly making it possible to put unflashed PC video cards in the machine). Also, after doing this, some of the older MacPro video cards will be unsupported (such as the 7300GT). A suitable Radeon replacement is probably cheap though.
It is too early to tell, but with luck the same thing can be done by dedicated MacPro owners to get 10.8.
Personally, I'm very disappointed that my wife's MacBook is also on the unsupported list. I will probably end up just replacing her laptop rather than trying to hack it.
[+] [-] sneak|13 years ago|reply
Apple shouldn't penalize anyone in software for paying a small price premium for their ultra-reliable hardware.
[+] [-] smashing|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bugmenot|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] cdrxndr|13 years ago|reply
Hoping for a stability boost on this one. No way my entire overpowered system should crash from running a browser, text edit, and Skype.
[+] [-] sneak|13 years ago|reply
Lion itself is rock solid.
[+] [-] jasomill|13 years ago|reply
You might also look into hardware diagnostics — not sure if Apple Hardware Test is still available, but the Genius Bars certainly have something — as intermittent kernel panics from flaky hardware aren't unusual.
[+] [-] Raticide|13 years ago|reply
Get that sucker replaced.
[+] [-] hollerith|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Zev|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bstar77|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zdw|13 years ago|reply
Modern Intel CPU's have a quicksync feature which is H.264 encode assist in the HD 3000 and 4000 GPU. These features may be required to make airplay mirroring work.
Similar hardware is in the A5 chip in the iPad 2 and up, and iPhone 4S and up.
[+] [-] dylanvee|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gte910h|13 years ago|reply
AirServer functions as a destination already: http://www.airserverapp.com/
For a source, Airfoil works for audio: http://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/
It looks like a hardware limitation if you don't have the ISQV, you're SOL.
[+] [-] st3fan|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dave84|13 years ago|reply
It works fine on my 2008 Macbook but it gets a little hot and noisy. The lag is noticeable but tolerable, fine for browsing the web but not gaming. Audio/video sync is fine too for watching flash videos or whatever.
[+] [-] mkaltenecker|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrismealy|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sneak|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DeepDuh|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rangibaby|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] akulbe|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ethank|13 years ago|reply
If this follows the typical pattern there will be some sys update right after public release.
[+] [-] rangibaby|13 years ago|reply
My favorite was the way the initial release of SL hosed fonts that it decided conflicted with the system ones. Like non-Apple versions of Helvetica. Thanks Apple! ;-)
[+] [-] taligent|13 years ago|reply
Because Mountain Lion and iOS6 are by far the most underwhelming updates yet in terms of features.
[+] [-] CoolGuySteve|13 years ago|reply
It actually makes for a nicer development model than the 'everything doesn't work for a year and then miraculously comes together 4 months before release' development model. For example, with Snow Leopard, XCode became garbage collected and was unusable for like 50 releases in a row.
Ultimately, while you get a slightly less buggy release that comes out on time more or less, the features seem less ambitious.
[+] [-] chrisdroukas|13 years ago|reply
Also, it's twenty bucks.
[+] [-] elithrar|13 years ago|reply
[1]: http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/143731/mac-os-x-mountain-li...
[+] [-] bluthru|13 years ago|reply
http://www.apple.com/osx/whats-new/features.html
[+] [-] r00fus|13 years ago|reply
Small features like VIP whitelists for Mail.app, the Finder "share" button, and bigger features like Power Nap are significant improvements for many users.
I'm all about the future made into reality, but what kind of features do you see in other recent OS updates that are a) successful and not buggy as hell and b) ambitious enough to be not considered "underwhelming"?
[+] [-] pooriaazimi|13 years ago|reply
But I completely agree with your first point. iWork hasn't been updated since 2009... I just can't believe it. It's still not on iCloud so if you want to share files between iOS and iWork on Mac, you have to manually copy and upload them. It's disgusting.
[+] [-] ary|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mkaltenecker|13 years ago|reply
Lion was a bit of a dud. Mountain Lion doesn’t add much but it improves massively on Lion. It corrects its mistakes. I’m very much ok with that, I don’t need flashy new features. I really don’t want Apple to start pulling features out of there ass (especially now that they switched to a yearly update cycle), mere refinements every year for something mature like OS X would be awesome.
[+] [-] masto|13 years ago|reply
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