My wife has an old Macbook laptop, old being the keyword here. It powers ON, and almost everything works fine, except the battery, which is completely dead thus it works directly on mains power. To see if it can have any practical usage in the current time, I tried accessing Internet through the Safari and tried updating it but neither happened. Posting below the phone pics clicked of the system's config and error messages. Please let me know if it can be brought up to the code of some degree of usability and if so then how. Attaching the pics below.
Mac OS Upgrading an old Mac
- Thread starter LaatSahab
- Start date
badwhitevision
Level E
What do you plan on using this for?
It is a core 2 duo and only has 1 GB RAM.
Those are very low specs.
There is always the option of running linux, but again, the question here is, what is your usecase?
It is a core 2 duo and only has 1 GB RAM.
Those are very low specs.
There is always the option of running linux, but again, the question here is, what is your usecase?
1 GB RAM is way too low for Win 7. Add the ever expanding list of unsupported software and end of security patches to the equation. It's going to be a painful experience.
I highly recommend that OP install one of the following 32 bit Linux OSes.
1. MX Linux 32 bit - https://mxlinux.org/download-links/ (Highly recommended since this comes loaded with basically everything.)
2. Peppermint OS - https://peppermintos.com/guide/downloading/ (Get the Debian 32 bit build.)
3. Plain Debian with XFCE - https://www.debian.org/distrib/
4. Or if you want sth like KDE, get Q4OS - https://www.q4os.org/downloads1.html
desiibond
Level J
You can upgrade memory in Intel Macs.
Okay what's the max amount of RAM that this particular Macbook supports?
Also, is that Core 2 Duo 64 bit capable? The Mac OS installed atm is 32 bit if I am not wrong.
In any case, I still recommend Linux since his use case is simple web browsing, PDF viewing and doc editing. With Windows they might need an antivirus.
desiibond
Level J
I thin it’s 4GB. Bootcamp does not support Linux. And memory would be DDR2. Ok second thought, don’t know if SSD will work on core 2 duo.
Damn that's really old.
Correct. But I think it's possible to dual boot Mac with Linux on Macbooks.
1. https://www.howtogeek.com/187410/how-to-install-and-dual-boot-linux-on-a-mac/
2. https://www.hellotech.com/guide/for/how-to-install-linux-on-mac
I think it does.
It is indeed.
3GB should be addressable put of the 4 installed
If it works on a G5 , no reason it won't work on a C2D.
SATA is SATA.
TRIM support is questionable on an older OS though.
@LaatSahab
If you've got an old SATA SSD lying around , it'll make a big difference to the responsiveness even on such an old machine compared to running it off an HDD.
enthusiast29
Level I
C2D with an SSD would be more than "acceptable" experience. Only problem will be youtube.
Lack of hardware decoding support will load the CPU too much and videos will stutter badly.
It's not worth it. Test it by trying youtube videos first if you can. A chrome extension called enhanced-x264ify might help in disabling some non-supported codecs and restoring x264 playback.
Lack of hardware decoding support will load the CPU too much and videos will stutter badly.
It's not worth it. Test it by trying youtube videos first if you can. A chrome extension called enhanced-x264ify might help in disabling some non-supported codecs and restoring x264 playback.
You know what? There is no need to touch your Macbook internals.
Just flash MX Linux as Persistent to a pendrive. 64 GB would be great but 32 GB also works fine if I am not wrong. Hell, I have tried it on my 8GB pendrive even.
A persistent USB install means the Live USB can act as a full blown OS installed to your system. All your sessions are saved on every shut down so you can always boot straight to your USB and work on your Mac. No need to go through all aforementioned hassles.
Here is how you do it:
nullpc
Level E
TIL. Is the major pro for this over Xubuntu its support for x86?You know what? There is no need to touch your Macbook internals.
Just flash MX Linux as Persistent to a pendrive. 64 GB would be great but 32 GB also works fine if I am not wrong. Hell, I have tried it on my 8GB pendrive even.
A persistent USB install means the Live USB can act as a full blown OS installed to your system. All your sessions are saved on every shut down so you can always boot straight to your USB and work on your Mac. No need to go through all aforementioned hassles.
Here is how you do it:
Well, 32 bit support is one of the major pros but not the only.
1. MX Linux comes with a lot of handy tools out of the box. You'd understand once you try it. There us GUI for everything and you barely ever need to use the terminal. Can feel great for newbies.
2. MX Linux is built on top of Debian stable base unlike XUbuntu which is based on Ubuntu Stable. This means there is no Snap trouble to deal with. Snap is the last thing you want on a persistent install. I personally avoid Snap at all costs.
3. MX Linux software manager is a joy to use.
OP does not really wish to go through the hassle of upgrading his internals. As for 64 bit support, yes, it does support 64 but not without issues, if I am not wrong.
Relevant reading:
1. https://www.techsupportforum.com/th...-7-64-bit-on-2006-macbook-core-2-duo.1232294/
2. https://www.linuxquestions.org/ques...k-intel-core-duo-2-1-64bit-distro-4175584658/
ze_cook
Level F
That's not due to the lack of x64 support by the CPU, but rather apple using 32bit efi bootloader. C2D is very much a 64bit capable cpu, I ran one for years on windows/linux flavors.
The apple 32bit limitation can be circumvented by using a 3rd party bootloader, like rEFInd with EFI stub boot of newer linux kernels.
Whether it should be done is a question left to the OP, but it probably can be done.
nullpc
Level E
Me too. Burn it with fire.
desiibond
Level J
Just turn it into NAS
Use Your Old Mac as a Server or NAS Drive: Here's How
If you haven't yet sorted out some network-attached storage, you might want to think about using your old Mac as a jumped-up fileserver.
www.makeuseof.com
Will look into it but I'm currently using RPi 4B+ (4GB version) as my PiHole, NAS and Seedbox.Just turn it into NAS
Use Your Old Mac as a Server or NAS Drive: Here's How
If you haven't yet sorted out some network-attached storage, you might want to think about using your old Mac as a jumped-up fileserver.