Thunderbolt Bus Activation:
Thunderbolt with hot-plug functionality works properly just by following the build guide. However, because Apple and Intel jointly developed Thunderbolt, Apple has created a more thorough implementation compared to Windows and Linux. We can think of Thunderbolt as operating in two modes:
- Standard Mode, also known as ICM or Internal Connection Manager mode.
- Extended Mode, in which macOS implements a number of extended capabilities.
Switching from Standard Mode to Extended Mode is purely optional, but it brings the system closer to a real Mac. Extended Mode provides these additional capabilities:
- Thunderbolt Bus and Local Node
- Thunderbolt Ethernet bridge to connect two Macs over Thunderbolt cable
- Target Disk Mode in which a Hackintosh can connect to a real Mac's hard drives when the real Mac is placed into Target Disk Mode
- eGPU support. This allows eGPUs to connect and disconnect. Additionally, a menu bar icon allows the eGPU to be disconnected safely.
- QNAP, OWC, and possibly other Thunderbolt NAS support.
- Support for some Thunderbolt 1 legacy devices such as Apple Thunderbolt Display.