Please help! Mojave upgrade got stuck at Catalina

Oh no! I checked, you're right, thank you.

Any ideas what I can do to extend the use of this machine without risking my security? Ya know, the planet and all that. Maybe linux will be the way. SSD, 32GB Ram, perfect 27" screen, superb performance, can't use it. What a sorry state of affairs!

thanks again for replying, that explains why no "update to Big Sur" shows in prefs!

PS, I forgot to ask.. I assume it's not secure to run an outdated OS (Catalina), but if you have any idea how risky it is (real world), I'd appreciate your thoughts. No chance of me replacing it, so I either continue on Catalina (and await the demise which will probably come soon with app updates) or trying making Linux run on it. thanks

Well firstly I am surprised by your answer, and secondly I am very impressed with it!

THANK YOU for saying something most won't. Brave is actually my default browser on every system I use. The privacy protections alone make it a great choice.

Only one problem, Brave won't update on older systems now. It won't on Mojave, I think it will on Catalina but very soon it will be outdated there too.

I have since learned about OCLP (OpenCore Legacy Patcher) - WOW! Maybe my iMac can get many more years of use despite Apple not wishing it so! I am blown away, and I'm pulling all my old Macs out of the closet!!

Thanks

Ah yes, I know what you mean, like the 'hackintosh' folks? (I THINK they use adjusted OS installers, not sure though).

AFAIK - OCLP only uses an official release. A guy I know who suggested it to me explained it along these lines:

'Take any of your official OS installers, but instead of using the createinstallmedia command (or others I've used) to create the bootable USB, use OCLP's tool to do that creation. It will patch the installer and allow it to be installed'

I could be wrong, in which case your point is a serious and valid one, but the way I understood it, OCLP 'patches' the installer/medium, rather than the actual OS itself. For all I know Apple just has a bit of code which checks the machine spec and refuses to install on certain dates/specs, OCLP just patches that out allowing the install to proceed.

IF that's the case, it only adds to my growing detest of Apple. One minute preaching from a high horse about 'environment', the next contributing to landfall in gargantuan fashion. Don't want to start a debate, nobody wins that one anyway, you either like Apple or you don't. When they took billions from Google to code their apps (YT etc) into iphones, KNOWING the size of the Google data harvesting program, and AFTER spending millions on billboards in Time Square, Trafalgar Square etc with a huge black poster with an Apple in middle, and one word "PRIVACY" below, I am kinda past debating the issue with people any more! From where I'm sitting, they make great gear, and always have, but they charge great money now for it so it's not such a bargain as it once was, and they are just another silicon valley monolith as far as I am concerned. (And I am past the age of making a computer purchase a political statement too! (never mind a fashion one!))

I'll see what I can find, but the OCLP devs are apparently very approachable so an email may be all that's needed for an explanation on what it actually does, I'm sure they want to clear up any doubts quickly re malware/security etc. And if they don't, well I guess we have our answer :)

Thanks but not sure I follow. What might be riddled with malware, the OS I have on file already, downloaded from Apple?