Discussing older Mac OS X Design Language

[trs96]

Are we seeing a return to 'Glass'?

What are these ? Wide skinny colored folders on your desktop ?

 

[craighazan]

The Stickies app!, often forgotten amongst the Mac community I feel but useful!. Stickies don't have fat round corners either.

 

[trs96]

Stickies don't have fat round corners either.

Your method lets you fit a lot more of them in that corner of the desktop.

 

[trs96]

often forgotten amongst the Mac community I feel but useful

I use them, but I limit myself to just one.

 

[craighazan]

It's simpler to update my notes and observations for my builds using Stickies than the 'Notes' App. Example of me trying to find the right BIOS settings for the A320I-K.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Try using this: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/
You should be able to install at least Big Sur. You'd have to try it and see how it works.

I believe some AMD graphics cards in iMacs don't work well with Big Sur and may also fail at a higher rate.

Make a full Time Machine backup of your system drive before attempting this if you like upgrading old hardware.

This video shows how to upgrade to a better supported Nvidia Kepler card in the 2011 iMac.

Too many "not workings" with this project for me - no boot screen, no brightness controls.

He demonstrates using Arctic Silver thermal paste, which in this video appears white. I've used it for years and it's always a metallic silver colour. Bit curious that ... May be there's another version I haven't seen.

Gives the impression of being an expert modder so I have to bow to his knowledge.

 

[trs96]

no boot screen, no brightness controls.

That's because he switched from an AMD MXM card to an Nvidia 765M when Apple never used Nvidia cards in those models. They did use them though the next few years after 2011. It may also be that Apple never used that specific Nvidia card (765M). I know they used a 750M and a 775M. Maybe they never supported the 765M and those other two would give a boot screen and brightness controls. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[UtterDisbelief]

That's because he switched from an AMD MXM card to an Nvidia 765M when Apple never used Nvidia in those models. They did use them though the next few years after 2011. It may also be that Apple never used that specific Nvidia card. I know they used a 750M and a 775M. Maybe they never supported the 765M and those other two would give a boot screen and brightness controls. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yes, it seemed "quirky" because I assumed he'd got hold of a genuine Apple part and brightness is software controlled, at least by the keyboard. So maybe something missing in the drivers for a 765?

Oh well, interesting all the same. Thanks.

 

[trs96]

I assumed he'd got hold of a genuine Apple part and brightness is software controlled, at least by the keyboard.

He could have bought a 770M for about the same cost and it should work fine. The 765Ms were used mainly in Dell Alienware PCs.

The AMD MXM cards in 2011 iMacs had a frequent failure rate because they would overheat and cause artifacts on the screen, vertical bars, or a full on white screen. That's the main reason Apple switched back to Nvidia in 2012 iMacs and MBPs. The old AMD MXM cards on Ebay are a dime a dozen.

This quote is from a Mac Rumors post from 2019:

I bought my Mid-2011 iMac 27" from Apple in 2012. Everything was great until 2015 when it started having the infamous graphics issue (symptoms included artifacts on screen, vertical bars, or full on white screen).

Apple did recognize this as a "known issue" in my Mac and replaced the graphics card (AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1GB) free of charge even though the machine was out of warranty. Great!

Now, 4 years later the same issue is back. However at this point, Apple says the machine is "vintage" (5+ years by definition from Apple) and they no longer stock parts for it, so even if I wanted to pay for a repair I'm out of luck.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

He could have bought a 770M for about the same cost and it should work fine. The 765Ms were used mainly in Dell Alienware PCs.

View attachment 554343
The AMD MXM cards in 2011 iMacs had a frequent failure rate because they would overheat and cause artifacts on the screen, vertical bars, or a full on white screen. That's the main reason Apple switched back to Nvidia in 2012 iMacs and MBPs. The old AMD MXM cards on Ebay are a dime a dozen.

View attachment 554341

This quote is from a Mac Rumors post from 2019:

Ah, now you mention it, those failing GPU cards do ring a bell from way back. Hadn't realised the form-factor Apple used was a common one. How unusual for them!