Apple has stopped providing standalone updaters in macOS Big Sur

[pastrychef]

Getting the M1 compatible is a big focus. No eGPU is a big deal since these have been gaining popularity for laptop and mini owners. Of course, they are probably gong to keep things scarce for awhile like AMD and Nvidia to keep the older stock items moving off the shelves.

I really don't think they will waste time writing drivers for Apple Silicon. I think it would make more sense for them to just improve the GPUs on the SoC.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I really don't think they will waste time writing drivers for Apple Silicon. I think it would make more sense for them to just improve the GPUs on the SoC.

That highlights an interesting question ...

With there being effectively two versions of Big Sur - Intel and Apple Silicon - do they both have the same driver bases or are all those legacy NVidia and AMD cards that were native to Intel macOs missing in the AS version? Well I can see AMD7,8,9,10k kexts, Geforce GL and NVDAHal kexts too. So that looks like they are still there. But perhaps they are just inactive ... ?

 

[pastrychef]

That highlights an interesting question ...

With there being effectively two versions of Big Sur - Intel and Apple Silicon - do they both have the same driver bases or are all those legacy NVidia and AMD cards that were native to Intel macOs missing in the AS version? Well I can see AMD7,8,9,10k kexts, Geforce GL and NVDAHal kexts too. So that looks like they are still there. But perhaps they are just inactive ... ?

I don't know why those drivers are in the Apple Silicon version of Big Sur... They obviously do nothing since attempts at using eGPU on M1 Macs have not worked.

 

[Gigamaxx]

That highlights an interesting question ...

With there being effectively two versions of Big Sur - Intel and Apple Silicon - do they both have the same driver bases or are all those legacy NVidia and AMD cards that were native to Intel macOs missing in the AS version? Well I can see AMD7,8,9,10k kexts, Geforce GL and NVDAHal kexts too. So that looks like they are still there. But perhaps they are just inactive ... ?

Go to About this Mac/System Profile/Extensions to see which kexts are loading.

 

[Gigamaxx]

I really don't think they will waste time writing drivers for Apple Silicon. I think it would make more sense for them to just improve the GPUs on the SoC.

The M1 has PCI capabilities how they utilize them will remain to be seen. Thunderbolt, USB4.0 a lot of options.
i don’t think they will have to write drivers for each graphics card just open up the use of the kexts. It already works with eGPUs on prior model macs they just need to open up the Thunderbolt route. Its probably one or two kexts with some bundled kexts adjusted.

 

[pastrychef]

The M1 has PCI capabilities how they utilize them will remain to be seen. Thunderbolt, USB4.0 a lot of options.
i don’t think they will have to write drivers for each graphics card just open up the use of the kexts. It already works with eGPUs on prior model macs they just need to open up the Thunderbolt route. Its probably one or two kexts with some bundled kexts adjusted.

We will just have to wait and see... Personally, I'm not buying any new video cards until there's confirmation it'll work with an Apple Silicon Mac.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Go to About this Mac/System Profile/Extensions to see which kexts are loading.

Good call . They are in the list but Loaded? No. Which I guess you would expect as I don't have an external eGPU connected and am running purely AS.

Thinking about this some more I "Show Package Contents" on some of the kexts but there's only one executable in there and it's not tagged as Intel or Universal etc.

Perhaps certain code in BS is AS, but none of the legacy Intel stuff has been removed?

 

[scottkendall]

Good call . They are in the list but Loaded? No. Which I guess you would expect as I don't have an external eGPU connected and am running purely AS.

Thinking about this some more I "Show Package Contents" on some of the kexts but there's only one executable in there and it's not tagged as Intel or Universal etc.

Perhaps certain code in BS is AS, but none of the legacy Intel stuff has been removed?

They are there and they actually work kind of what I read is that the controller.kext is not compiled for M1 so it can not interface with the drivers even if they are loaded. Very similar to the RX 6000 series cards the drivers and stuff are there but the controller is not.

 

[Gogeta-Blue]

this is my last comment about this topic

for me is a bad move by apple, it shows that big sur has a software limitation unless they did it on purpose and apple is using the sofware “reason” as an excuse to hide the real reason

big sur villiance

this is my opinion
a few will agree and many will disagree, this is a mac forum so i know better

i was a mac lover but i was always realistic

everything in life is just a matter of opinion and interpretation

those who think that everything is fine that there is nothing wrong, i have no objection

is a zebra a black horse with white stripes or a white horse with black stripes?

happy new year

 

[pastrychef]

for me is a bad move by apple, it shows that big sur has a software limitation unless they did it on purpose and apple is using the sofware “reason” as an excuse to hide the real reason

What is this software limitation you speak of?

everything in life is just a matter of opinion and interpretation

No. Many things are binary. Either the match is lit or it's not. Either a person is alive or dead. There's no opinion involved.