Skirting the official macOS system requirements to run new versions of the software on old, unsupported Macs has a rich history. Tools like XPostFacto and LeopardAssist could help old PowerPC Macs run newer versions of Mac OS X, a tradition kept alive in the modern era by dosdude1’s patchers for Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, and Catalina.
For Big Sur and Monterey, the OpenCore Legacy Patcher (OCLP for short) is the best way to get new macOS versions running on old Macs. It’s an offshoot of the OpenCore Hackintosh bootloader, and it’s updated fairly frequently with new features and fixes and compatibility for newer macOS versions. The OCLP developers have admitted that macOS Ventura support will be tough, but they’ve made progress in some crucial areas that should keep some older Macs kicking for a little bit longer.
I always love the dedication of these people trying to get macOS to run on hardware it was never intended to run on. It must be a small scene, actively fighting Apple every step along the way, but usually succeeding in the end. These are people giving older Macs a longer lease on life, and that’s only to be applauded.
ok as I’m dealing with a old 2008 mac pro on it’s last legs I’ll chime in on this. I have several options.
1: upgrade the mac with a metal enabled GPU($200min), use some software hacks to allow an updated os to run on it. Which I’ll have to upgrade the OS 3-4 times to make it up to date. as the macpro is currently on 10.11
2 : install windows or linux on the mac to allow it to still work with updated os as both aren’t as hardware dependent as mac is for web standards. ( I have a linux box running for my entertainment so no big learning curve) Ubuntu 22.04
3: *Cough* *Cough* Don’t want my Fruit ID banned
4: Wait for a m2 mac to come out and just switch over, as I’ll have to do that anyway eventually ($800 min). I can use the linux box in mean time, Usually spends time using the internet anyway and the other mac functions arn’t internet dependent..
seems like the effort and time to upgrade the macpro would be a waste as the cpu transition would eventually come, Probably be better to spend the money for a new mac than to keep the old one running. We’ll see in a few months.
Just get a Kepler card for $20 and you can go as high as Catalina, although (High) Sierra is that sweet spot before APFS became mandatory.