Reviving Mac Pro 1.1 XUbuntu 18.04

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wander2039

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Family friend gave us this machine back in September and finally got around to messing with it. Of course Apple stops supporting anything over 10 years old so the only option was linux. The 32bit EFI is the problem on the these machines that could technically run a 64bit OS. Found a website that has ISO's that's setup to handle this "issue". Now I know why Apple stops supporting after 10.. no one buy a new one! This thing rocks.. dual Xeon 5150 2.66 (shows as 5355 though), has 8Gb (has more but a stick must be bad - red light - not sure on specs of RAM yet)... fairly hefty machine.

Runs a Windows 10 virtual box with no problems. Pretty sure I'm going to rebuild with a SSD. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with this yet. The 2012 Mac Mini is starting to feel it's age but makes a nice iTunes server so I might swap roles. Finishing my bachelors in the spring and going on to a MBA but don't really need a powerhouse. At idle this thing consumes 170 watts the Mini is under 10 watts, but boots pretty quick. Decisions decisions..

IMG_2783.JPG


IMG_2782.JPG
 
I love how the look never changed. I'm typing this on a Mac Pro (Mid 2010) that looks identical. Running Mojave (10.14.2) with a 3.2Ghz hex-core Xeon, 16GB of RAM (but will take way more), with a GTX 680 I flashed so I could install Mojave and a Kingston 480GB SSD as the primary drive. The thing works beautifully.
 
This one is a still a powerful machine:
Best upgrades:
1. SSD by far.
2. E5345 or better 4 core CPUs
3. Max out memory it is rather cheap on eBay.
 
Looks like 32Gb is the MAX. I'll look this week and see what memory is in there and bump it up to at least 16b. Reading more into it the 5355 quad core is a direct upgrade to the dual core 5150 so not sure if I'd gain much there, shows as 8 processors in sysinfo. Two SSD's are on my shopping list this weekend, better hide that list from the boss! Going to upgrade this one and the Mini.

Still debating on just letting it run or turning it on/off each time. It doesn't heat up as much as thought I would.. with Handbrake running, two 10Gb transfers and few other tasks the fans didn't even kick up.
 
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
If you haven't seen this CPU compatibility list, it's worth looking through:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-cpu-compatibility-list.1954766/



Interesting.. The only reason I said the 5650 is because I seen it on a list but that doesn't show it. Not going to pull the trigger on that seems to do ok on a quad. Also don't need the memory. Got to looking at it has 16Gb but the red light was on one of the boards so pulled all the chips and put them back in.. no red light and shows 16Gb.
 
i would spend some time enabling KVM which is a virtualization module built into linux; There is a GUI for loading guest OSs just like Virtualbox, but the virtualization is more "native" than contrived. (read faster)

No need for Virtualbox; We have hundreds of VMs running linux @ work under KVM hosts; the hosts have about 1.5Tb RAM.
 
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All of the CPU options discussed so far WILL NOT work in the MP 1,1-it's a different generation of CPUs with a different socket.

I use a 1,1 still daily at work. I flashed it to 2,1 firmware and run dual X5365s. These are quad core 3.0ghz CPUs, and are the fastest/best you can put in this architecture(at least unless someone figures out how to hack something a bit newer into it, which might have advantages in terms of OS support).

I have a firmware-compatible Geforce 8800GT, which allows the computer to run up to OS X 10.11. If some of the guys work out a CPU hack for a generation newer processors, 10.13 MIGHT be doable, but that's up in the air at this point. Of course, the installer for anything newer than 10.7 needs to be modified to allow it to run on the 32 bit EFI.

I have 16gb of "Mac Pro" RAM(distinguished by huge heatsinks) in 8x2gb modules. The RAM runs unusually hot in this generation Mac Pro, which is why you really SHOULD have the proper heatsinks on it, although I know plenty of people running "standard" DDR-2 registered FB-DIMMs with a more normal sized heatsink and they're fine.

With an SSD, mine is plenty peppy.

BTW, if you need to replace the ODD, there are two SATA headers on the logic board just forward of the front most HDD bay. You can run a standard SATA cable down there and fit a SATA ODD, which puts you at an advantage over dealing with aging ATAPI ODDs. Of course, those two SATA headers can also be used to run additional drives(stashed in the optical bay) if you're so inclined.
 
Originally Posted by bunnspecial
All of the CPU options discussed so far WILL NOT work in the MP 1,1-it's a different generation of CPUs with a different socket.

I use a 1,1 still daily at work. I flashed it to 2,1 firmware and run dual X5365s. These are quad core 3.0ghz CPUs, and are the fastest/best you can put in this architecture(at least unless someone figures out how to hack something a bit newer into it, which might have advantages in terms of OS support).


Yup, that's why I linked to the CPU compatibility list earlier in the thread. The CPU he was considering would work in my 5.1 but not his 1.1.
 
Originally Posted by simple_gifts
i would spend some time enabling KVM which is a virtualization module built into linux; There is a GUI for loading guest OSs just like Virtualbox, but the virtualization is more "native" than contrived. (read faster)

No need for Virtualbox; We have hundreds of VMs running linux @ work under KVM hosts; the hosts have about 1.5Tb RAM.


Interesting! I'll look at it. Fairly new at it but I've been using Virtual box for over 5 years.. first XP, 7 and now 10. I only used it for my programming classes and it worked great. Almost done so not sure if I'll ever use it again.
 
Originally Posted by bunnspecial
All of the CPU options discussed so far WILL NOT work in the MP 1,1-it's a different generation of CPUs with a different socket.

I use a 1,1 still daily at work. I flashed it to 2,1 firmware and run dual X5365s. These are quad core 3.0ghz CPUs, and are the fastest/best you can put in this architecture(at least unless someone figures out how to hack something a bit newer into it, which might have advantages in terms of OS support).

I have a firmware-compatible Geforce 8800GT, which allows the computer to run up to OS X 10.11. If some of the guys work out a CPU hack for a generation newer processors, 10.13 MIGHT be doable, but that's up in the air at this point. Of course, the installer for anything newer than 10.7 needs to be modified to allow it to run on the 32 bit EFI.

I have 16gb of "Mac Pro" RAM(distinguished by huge heatsinks) in 8x2gb modules. The RAM runs unusually hot in this generation Mac Pro, which is why you really SHOULD have the proper heatsinks on it, although I know plenty of people running "standard" DDR-2 registered FB-DIMMs with a more normal sized heatsink and they're fine.

With an SSD, mine is plenty peppy.

BTW, if you need to replace the ODD, there are two SATA headers on the logic board just forward of the front most HDD bay. You can run a standard SATA cable down there and fit a SATA ODD, which puts you at an advantage over dealing with aging ATAPI ODDs. Of course, those two SATA headers can also be used to run additional drives(stashed in the optical bay) if you're so inclined.


Yes on the processor.. I think what I was reading the person didn't know what they had. 4 of the chips does have the huge heat sink the other 4 doesn't but are high quality chips. The ODD is already SATA so I'm guessing it was upgraded with the CPUs. Only going to install a SSD upgrade wise.. works great for everything. I need. The MacMini is always on stand by.
 
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