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StarPlayrX / bigmac

Big Mac, macOS 11 Big Sur and macOS Monterey disk installer and back up tool for Intel based Macs
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BigMac 3 #173

Closed Rob4n closed 1 year ago

Rob4n commented 1 year ago

Hi todd / StarPlayrX, I was wondering, are there any updates on the progress of the development of the next version of BigMac or any other updates on the future of bigmac? Or is bigmac now officially dead?

StarPlayrX commented 1 year ago

Hi Rob4n,

I have not ruled out BigMac 3 just yet. Of course my priorities keep changing and there are a few things that I'll need to adopt.

The race conditions basically killed my development on BigMac. Later issues with Metal also arose. Anyd I got to a point where I have 2 M1's and I used them all there time. It's not great changing your tail when it comes to Apple.

I should also mention that I work in Security and Identity on macOS and I already get to chase m.y tail many times during the day.

Apple wants all their systems sealed etc. Apple even broke Apple Software Restore countless times and I don't even think Apple cares about ASR CLI anymore which is a shame. I can't rely on it as a backup or restore solution when the disc is sealed and its over 250 MBs. Size of a backup should never be an issue when the destination is 2x - 4x the size.

Today, Open Core Legacy Patcher seems to be the only solution out there to install macOS on unsupported machines. And it tries to keep AMFI on if possible.

If I do decide to return, what I might do is fork OCLP and start porting its Python code over to Swift. I would also write a better UI for it. I would probably priorities and get it working out the box , then start making tweaks, then rewrite the UI and later start rewriting the Python code and move it all over to Swift.

I despise Python and Apple intends on removing it completely one day from the OS. And I may start using Swift sh script instead.

I also want to learn more about OCLP to see if any of it can be applied to an M1 Virtual Machine in hopes to iCloud work 100% on a M1 VM. So there is some extra motivation there to learn there inner-workings of OCLP.

I did get approval from OCLP to use their software. The main hold back other than not working on it is time. I have my hands in many projects both professionally and personally and there isn't much time left for family which I am really trying to reset my priorities.

To be continued...

StarPlayrX commented 1 year ago

One issue that I just ran into with OCLP is they no longer auto bless the EFI partition and for Mac Pro's without a flashed GPU they ask you to go into recovery mode which is not needed. You can run all the required commands using sudo.

https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/BOOT.html#booting-opencore-and-macos

I will start by writing up a script that fixes this. It may be my first swift script even though it will take longer to do, but would be a good test to try swift sh out.

OCLP's installer creation is pretty darn slow too. Will be investigating performance issues and decide the best plan of action for BM3 or OCLP-Forked

StarPlayrX commented 1 year ago

I still own 3 Mac Pro's. I have taken my X-Serves offline mainly because of noise and I tried to use special software to control the noise and I even got a server case and insulated it with sound proofing foam. I ended up getting a Mac Pro 2009 upgraded to 2012 firmware. But it is still using the 2009 RAM and GPUs. I may eventually upgrade that, but the cost is kind of prohibited. I do a lot of programming and M1s just run circles around these nostalgia boxes. My two best boxes are in the rack, a 2008 Mac Pro 64GB RAM and a 2009/2012fw with 128GB RAM.

Rob4n commented 1 year ago

I still own 3 Mac Pro's. I have taken my X-Serves offline mainly because of noise and I tried to use special software to control the noise and I even got a server case and insulated it with sound proofing foam. I ended up getting a Mac Pro 2009 upgraded to 2012 firmware. But it is still using the 2009 RAM and GPUs. I may eventually upgrade that, but the cost is kind of prohibited. I do a lot of programming and M1s just run circles around these nostalgia boxes. My two best boxes are in the rack, a 2008 Mac Pro 64GB RAM and a 2009/2012fw with 128GB RAM.

I also own a MacBook Air M1 now, and as you said it really blows my 2008 32gb Mac Pro out of the water. Apple silicon is really amazing. I also own an iMac 27 inch 2013 now and that thing is also great. I put 32 gb of ram in there and it does everything it needs to do even though it is the base model. I still do use my Mac Pro for some things but way less than I did before.

Everything you said above sounds great, I will be following along if you do decide to come back and post new updates! I would also completely understand if you do decide to give up on bigmac 3 because of time constraints, and also OCLP already does an ok job for patching older Mac Pros.

Good luck with everything you got going on in life and if you ever need help with testing or anything just let me know!