I tried downloading Mountain Lion on my MacBook but got a message saying "Mountain Lion is not compatible with your computer". Why not? I currently have OS X 10.7.4 successfully installed and running.

You can still get Lion directly from Apple.

Will iCloud run on my laptop/iPhone with just Lion? I thought I had to wait until Mountain Lion!

williamrstephens wrote:

Will iCloud run on my laptop/iPhone with just Lion? I thought I had to wait until Mountain Lion!

Yes

Next problem! Apple are no longer selling Lion on UK site! ***? I can't run Mountain Lion becuase, at 4 years old, my Mac is "too old" and I can't upgrade to Lion becuade it's no longer available. This is highly restrictive. Does anyone know where I can buy the Lion download please? Perhaps I'm missing something. Thanks.

Hi,

maybe next post I read can be helpful to you? http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/18/install-os-x-mountain-lion-developer-preview-on-o ld-unsupported-macs/

The original poster claims he installed OSX Mountain Lion on several older MacBooks.

I didn't try it because my 2009 MacBook is still young enough ;-)

Next problem! Apple are no longer selling Lion on UK site! ***?

You have to contact the Mac App Store telesales. I'm not sure what the number is (even where I am), but they will sell Lion to you over the phone and give you a redemption code.

Thank you.

Alley_Cat wrote:

KiltedTim wrote:

This isn't Apple trying to force you to buy or do anything. ML requires a fully 64bit system. Every piece, every driver. That's the way it is. Windows... not so much.

Yes, agree there, but do we know if there are impediments to say EFI upgrades on some of the older machines if Apple wanted to invest the time to support those machines.

AC

I read the Mac Pro 1,1 3.0 GHz Core Duo Dual Processor was capable of 64 bit but the firmware didn't allow it. Would it be too much for Apple to make an update for the firmware. I realize the graphics (stock) isn't compatible but I've got the latest (ATI Radeon HD 5770 Graphics) which I know is ML compatible. I hate to resort to "hacking" in the ML update, one never knows the stability of the OS. And since my Mac Pro is my network hub/server I can't have it going down. And I just purchased it (used) because my PPC G5 DP 1.8 GHz was being dropped from Apple future security updates. Now I find I got a too old Intel Mac. Oh well...

Tom

The EFI in the Macs are not upgradeable, they cannot be flashed. The only way to do so is to physically update the chipset.

deggie wrote:

The EFI in the Macs are not upgradeable, they cannot be flashed. The only way to do so is to physically update the chipset.

Any comment on the "hackers" that have modified the OS files to allow ML installation? I was going to try it, but need my old Mac Pro up and running not crashing. Bought the newer graphics card, but I think it was needed anyway because there was a Photoshop warning dialog about the old card capabilities.

Tom

Yes, what they have essentially done is a false transfer to 64 bit mode and holding it in that state to fool ML into installing. And as long as you never have to restart your MacPro ML will run, although not well and it won't run all apps, on the original MacPro. But if you have to reboot (say when updates come along) then you will have to go through this again. You would be far better off using a version of Linux that can boot into 32 bit then shift to 64 or other software designed to do this...say like Lion.

deggie wrote:

Yes, what they have essentially done is a false transfer to 64 bit mode and holding it in that state to fool ML into installing. And as long as you never have to restart your MacPro ML will run, although not well and it won't run all apps, on the original MacPro. But if you have to reboot (say when updates come along) then you will have to go through this again. You would be far better off using a version of Linux that can boot into 32 bit then shift to 64 or other software designed to do this...say like Lion.

An interesting note about the 64/32 bit mode thing, I read that the older Mac Pros can run 64 bit but the system firmware is stuck in 32. Probably why some could circumvent the EFI, by changing that file in the install. But if my old Mac Pro would become unreliuable it's not worth it. Heck I could have left the old G5 there, well not really. The software developers have been going all intel and applications were stuck back a couple of versions. I guess Lion is due to go the way of not having security updates soon too as the PPC did. Had I known I would have purchased a used Mac Pro that was able to run the new OS. Oh well...

Tom

Thanks for this.

Not very Mac like to be sure. Especially since there was no major processor change in that time frame. One does wonder what the problem is?

I must say that it installed on my 2008 vintage Mac pro, but it's unstable compared to snow leopard.

Consider it a blessing in disguise for you.

Good luck,

Marty

PS Here is a link to installing it on unsupported Macs:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4136409?start=0&tstart=0

PPS Looks like you might need a video card upgrade and then you could use the above method.