Technical Reason Mac Pro 1,1 will not run Mountain Lion?

many threads on this. simply put, Apple chose not to provide support for a 32bit based computer. They may not have had enough money to hire the engineers....who knows...for whatever reason, they made a decision not to support ancient computers...like those a few years old.

While the Mac Pro 1,1 is supposed to be 64bit the graphics card/drivers are not. EFI32 vs EFI64 There are work arounds but they would require you to have a mac that can download the newest release on a compatable mac and basically make your Mac into a hackentosh. http://www.jabbawok.net/?p=47 There is a lot more information out there regarding this but that is the basics.

WHY APPLE WHY??? Now update it to support at least all us who purchased your "top of the line machine" only to find out we won't be able to develope on them for lack of support despite their very capable stats despite the fact they are more than two years old. Definitly considering moving away from apple since they are doing this and changing the dock connector on the next iphone. Seems like a way to feed the beast by forcing hardware updates to people that shouldn't need them.

Thomas,

Simply put apple has decided to drop support for the macpro 1,1 and 2,1 for mountain lion.

check here for supported models. http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/

@digibudl it would be nice to refrain from using biased statements. ("ancient" my macpro runs still like one of the bests systems and isnt ancient at all i find your comment deragatory).

Officially no, our Mac Pros isn't supported. But Apple CAN do it IF want it. Only enable 64-bit kernel booting in mach kernel and activate in EFIRuntime it. But Apple won't this, because they want to you pay another $3000+ for the new Mac Pro. It's not technical issue - it is a marketing issue.

But we can still load ML on EFI32 macs using Chameleon bootloader in Legacy Boot Mode.

Bang on the money Viktor... Although using Chameleon bootloader does go against the the reason I switched to Mac in the first place.

It's sad because as a PC user my only upgrade issue was hardware specs. My MacPro could easily run ML but because Apple want to force me to upgrade I can't do a thing about it.

I'm now just waiting to see if the new Aperture releases on ML only. If it does I'll be an Apple user no more and I'll guess i won't be the only one.

the true issue here is what apps are going to be mountain lion only, i run all the pro apps here, aperture mainly

the most used app here is pages and numbers..

both have had very significant upgrades that are ML only, which means the rot has started

no icloud saving features unless you spend £3000 for a new machine...hmpf

im not sure of the numbers but at a WILD guess

macs (desktops/imac/laptops) sold in 2007 just over 7 million, a conservative estimate for the % of these that are mac pros ? probably at least 7 % so (correct my dodgy guess) thats at least half a million mac pros per year over the 1,1 2,1 32bit era.. even if my guess is very wrong its a big number of users effected

History.

Apple routinely drops OS support for a machine after 4-5 years.

Has done so "forever".

Nothing new.

No surprise.

Just because Apple have done it historically it doesn't make it right though. But because a lot of users just roll over they carry on.

My machine works fine and would run ML with ease yet I can't upgrade. I'd understand more if my machine specs couldn't handle it or similar but with a small tweak it could.

Apple have done this on purpose for no other reason but to get people running perfectly good machines to upgrade and give them money. Pure marketing which leaves me with a bad taste.

i agree

to call an 8-core 3ghz mac pro obsolete as far as OS is concerned is astounding

the switch from ppc to intel was quite different, a completely different architecture and in most cases the performance difference between ppc and intel machines is significant. this simply isn't the case this time

there is no hardware reason... the reasons given by apple are a means of rationalizing a cold blooded commercial decision , the sort of decision that customers find difficult to swallow, hence all us whingers :-)

But because a lot of users just roll over they carry on.

Two choices, roll over or quit.

I'm simply saying that this is nothing new and the Mac Pro is nothing special in this regard.

Each machine was still extremely capable when the OS support was dropped.

Each machine had attached and jilted owners associated.

Each of those owners payed $2500-$4000 (or more) for their beloved machine.

I'll tell you, $3000 in 1990 was far dearer than $3000 today......

Most people just kept using their machines in the last OS that was offered. (Actually, that's the 3rd choice).

As long as it does the job, then what is the problem?

What is so special about ML?

Apple have done it historically it doesn't make it right though.

They have become the largest tech company in history.

We have tech that is only due to this continual development and movement forward.

Right or whatever doesn't matter.

Never really has in business.

Profit. That's what matters.

It is the business model.

It is the way it is done.

Don't like it, build a Hackintosh.

Or run Windows 7......

Hmmmm, choices 4 and 5.

So they pulled Lion?

When a graphic card required PCIe 2.0 they focused on "requires 800MHz RAM" instead.

And even though there was and can be a legacy bootloader - nothing new, as old as computers.

32-bit drivers? really?

Lack of compelling graphics and lack of tested support or inability to offer anything new and compelling in say GTX 560 and up?

So yes for 6 yrs I've run 64-bit Windows 64-bit drivers (enforced), GTX 460 and others, and even UEFI on X58.

But I do not like the iOSification or launchpad and all the rest. I think better security is a must. Scared when I read just what Safari 6 cross-site bugs were fixed.

2007 was the last firmware update for 1,1 even though I am sure they could/should/would if it was anyone else.

Or senseless idea that you have to have EFI to have basic video and boot screen, or that you can't have a graphic card and drivers w/o having X.Y.Z. like 10.6.4 is for ATI 5x70s. And 10.7.4 doesn't have drivers for GTX 6xx so it isn't supportinig current hardware.

Seems like shoving Mac Pro buyers - lack of processor parity with what Intel has - to HP and Dell Business units.

Lack of compelling graphics and lack of tested support or inability to offer anything new and compelling in say GTX 560 and up?

There are definitely more issues than a mere OS, and an iOS at that.

I TOTALLY agree with the security concerns.....

The quote from a recently "edited" contribution:

The Proffesional market has been forgotten,

No doubt, no argument.

Of course, those "professional" bloggers, tweeters, FBer's and such will revel in ML.

Go mobile, young man. That's what ML is about.

iClouds, mobile this, sync that.

When the great server in the sky crashes, I'll be happy with my hard drive backups and my home server.

Japan banking experienced a big shock last year after the tsunami.

Central data servers and connected "clouds" were not accessible due to failure.

People couldn't get their own money out.

So much for that idea.

If peoples money isn't safe, how safe are photos, documents and other data?

How long until the uploaded data becomes public domain?

Or becomes targets and weapons of cyber terror?

Use technology, but as the old addage goes, DON'T put all your eggs in one basket.

And keep your own backups......

I bought my SE/30 read where it was suppose to actually support up to 128MB RAM, had socketed ROM too and socket Motorolla 68030 - but those were because it was first sold but last prototype? and not soldered parts. Nor did it say that I had "dirty 24-bit ROM" and that they were not going to offer a fix.

Reminded of that now.

We had a storm roll through last night. A storm with less than 1/16th inch of rain but took out cable and internet for hours... and all the cloud based with it! At least UPS were there if needed - filters every line coming in to modem and TV and computers. But the internet was dark.