New Mac Pro 8 Core and Tiger 10.4??

[alw4416]

Does ANYONE know if the new Mac Pro 8 cores will run Tiger? I have been told many many different things. The deal is I have a recording studio and over half the plugins I use are not Leopard compatible yet and would really love to buy a new Mac but can't if I can't run Tiger. If indeed I can't run Tiger this will SUCK in a bad way seeing as I already sold my Mac Pro 2.66 running Tiger. I am so pissed at Apple for backing people into corners like this. My studio will be down for God knows how long if I can't run Tiger. Can anyone please confirm or deny for sure? Thanks very much in advance!

 

[Eidorian]

You'll only be able to run Leopard on it since Tiger DOES NOT have the drivers for the hardware.

 

[xUKHCx]

Generally apple machines can only run the OS they shipped with or newer. No version of Tiger shipped as Intel installer DVD so you would have to trick another disk to install on the new mac pro which is fraught with problems and chances are it will kernel panic if you can get the installer to run due to lack of tiger drivers for certain components.

If this is a work machine which relies on running Tiger, why did you see it before confirmation.

 

[MacsRgr8]

I tried to put Tiger (10.4.11) on a SR MacBook a few weeks ago, and I got it running.... but....
No grfx drivers, and thus no support for QE, Core Image etc. Also, the MacBook would freeze when it tried to sleep (bit like me really )

So, Maybe.... just maybe.... you can get Tiger to boot on the new Mac Pro, but it will run horribly.

And, as this Mac is a totally new Mac (not like the SR MacBook which has similar components to the SR MacBook Pro which is Tiger-supported..) I bet you'll get kernel panics, or a non-boot-logo during startup.

 

[Neil Parfitt]

The deal is I have a recording studio and over half the plugins I use are not Leopard compatible yet and would really love to buy a new Mac but can't if I can't run Tiger.

If indeed I can't run Tiger this will SUCK in a bad way seeing as I already sold my Mac Pro 2.66 running Tiger. I am so pissed at Apple for backing people into corners like this. My studio will be down for God knows how long if I can't run Tiger. Can anyone please confirm or deny for sure? Thanks very much in advance!

Just curious - did you sell your 2.66 machine as the new one was released?

 

[MRU]

I tried to put Tiger (10.4.11) on a SR MacBook a few weeks ago, and I got it running.... but....
No grfx drivers, and thus no support for QE, Core Image etc. Also, the MacBook would freeze when it tried to sleep (bit like me really )

In order for yours to work you would need the SR MBP Tiger discs (which mine shipped with)

Unfortunately I doubt there is a way to go to Tiger.

I know of people who are stuck on Tiger because of software (ProTools and certain Virtual Instruments), but need new hardware desperately and it's a pain at the moment.

 

[postguru]

OS X 10.4.11 is running on new Mac Pro

I am currently running Tiger 10.4.11 on my new 8 core January Mac Pro. I have not yet loaded all of my software, but all of the Apple apps are running fine (all the iLife apps, etc.).
My OS X Tiger Full Install Disk did not work with the Mac Pro, so I cloned the Hard Drive from my Intel iMac (new Aluminum 24") to the Mac Pro Hard Drive (just put the Mac Pro in Target Disk mode) and it booted the Mac Pro fine.
I have been running it most of the day and have used iPhoto, iTunes (I ripped and burned some CDs), GarageBand (I created a new project with no problems), iDVD, iMovie (made a quick simple project), and so far no problems. So I am now ready to load all of my regular apps which include most of Apple's pro apps, most of Adobe's apps, and a host of others.
I will let you know the results once I fully test all of my software. It is running very snappy and if there are some hardware drivers missing, they don't seem to be noticably affecting things. Apple's highest level tech support told me I COULD do this but that they don't support Tiger on the new Mac Pro and I would be on my own.

Joe

 

[Eidorian]

The Aluminium iMac would include the proper Radeon HD 2600 drivers that other builds would not have.

I'm somewhat wary of the motherboard and other components of it though. It'd help if you posted some System Profiler screen shots like the Hardware Overview and Graphics/Displays.

 

[rsebeck]

Thanks for the free upgrade apple!

My 2 Dual core crapped out - so apple replaced it with a new 8 core. I thought "clol - free upgrade". I too need to run tiger because of FCP and AE plugins. I cloned my start-up disk before I sent the crap machine back, and when the new one showed up, I popped in my clone. I set that as my start-up disc and like all of you, realized the new machines don't like tiger.

The graphics card only displays one monitor, at a fixed resolution.
The SATA card does not seem to have any response.
The blackmagic card seems to work.
All the applications run okay.

It's only been one day - I'll keep you posted on any other annoyances.

 

[kirkbross]

I know of people who are stuck on Tiger because of software (ProTools and certain Virtual Instruments), but need new hardware desperately and it's a pain at the moment.

I'm one of them. It sucks. I'm trudging along on my dual 867 diesel-powered G4 and have been watching and waiting for this MP update... hoping Digidesign would get ProTools Leopard-compatible in time so I could buy one -- but still figuring I'd just put Tiger on another drive if not.

I recently migrated my ProTools rig over to my gaming PC which is an AMD FX-62 / Asus box with 4 GB RAM and it runs surprisingly well.

 

[postguru]

Profiler Screen Shots of my Mac Pro running Tiger 10.4.11

The Aluminium iMac would include the proper Radeon HD 2600 drivers that other builds would not have.

I'm somewhat wary of the motherboard and other components of it though. It'd help if you posted some System Profiler screen shots like the Hardware Overview and Graphics/Displays.

Here is the Profiler info you asked for. They are not screen shots, but it is the same info shown in the System Profiler screen.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Total Number Of Cores: 8
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B02
SMC Version: 1.25f4

Graphics/Displays:

ATI Radeon HD 2600:

Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 2600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9588
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B1480A-236
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.236
Displays:
Cinema:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported
Acer AL2216W:
Resolution: 1680 x 1050 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported

I am successfully running a 20" Apple Cinema Display and a 22" Acer Display, and Quartz Extreme is active.

Joe

 

[Eidorian]

Here is the Profiler info you asked for. They are not screen shots, but it is the same info shown in the System Profiler screen.

""

I am successfully running a 20" Apple Cinema Display and a 22" Acer Display, and Quartz Extreme is active.

Joe

Thank you very much. It looks like Apple's original 5000X drivers work for the 5400 Series a well.

Apple's drivers are looking more like a panacea when it comes to hardware coverage. The Aluminium iMac is needed for the Radeon 2600 drivers and then OS X updates fill in the remaining gaps.

Could you post a screenshot like this if you're able to? Have you run into any application issues yet?

 

[postguru]

I have been running it most of the day and have used iPhoto, iTunes (I ripped and burned some CDs), GarageBand (I created a new project with no problems), iDVD, iMovie (made a quick simple project), and so far no problems. So I am now ready to load all of my regular apps which include most of Apple's pro apps, most of Adobe's apps, and a host of others.
I will let you know the results once I fully test all of my software.

Joe

OK - I have Migrated my User accounts and all of my Apps, and have been testing them all day (I think I may have gotten 5 hours sleep in the past three days getting this all set up). I did have to download a new beta version of AOL (AOL Desktop for Mac) and I had to update my Retrospect software, but after doing that every program I tested worked great. And yes - Adobe told me I COULD NOT load Creative Suite CS3 with Creative Suite CS AND Creative Suite CS2 on the same computer (I did have trouble trying to load CS3 on my G5 that had CS and CS2 already loaded - so I installed CS3 on my new Mac Pro Drive before Migrating the other Programs, and now all three CS versions are running fine). Here is a list of all the applications that I tested:

Adobe Creative Suite CS
Adobe Illustrator CS
Adobe InDesign CS
Adobe ImageReady CS
Adobe Photoshop CS

Adobe Creative Suite CS2
Adobe Illustrator CS2
Adobe InDesign CS2
Adobe ImageReady CS2
Adobe Photoshop CS2

Adobe Creative Suite SC3
Adobe Acrobat Professional 8
Adobe After Effects CS3
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
Adobe Fireworks CS3
Adobe Flash CS3
Adobe Illustrator CS3
Adobe InDesign CS3
Adobe Photoshop CS3
Adobe Premiere Pro CS3
Adobe Soundbooth CS3
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
Macromedia Fireworks 8
Macromedia Flash 8

Final Cut Studio
DVD Studio Pro 4.1.2
Final Cut Pro 5.1.4
LiveType 2.1
Motion 2.1.2
Soundtrack Pro 1.1

iLife '08
iCal 2.0.5
iChat 3.1.9
iDVD 7.0.1
iMovie 7.1.1
iPhoto 7.1.1
iSync 2.4
iTunes 7.6
iWeb 2.0.2

iWork '08
Keynote 4.0.1
Numbers 1.0.1
Pages 3.0.1

Macromedia Studio MX 2004
Dreamweaver MX 2004
Fireworks MX 2004
Flash MX 2004
Freehand MX 11.0.1

Microsoft Office 2004
Entourage 11.1.0
Excel 11.1.0
PowerPoint 11.1.0
Word 11.1.0

Adobe After Effects 6.5
Adobe Premiere 6.5
AOL Desktop v1.0b (beta)
AppleWorks 6
Art Directors Toolkit 3
Art Directors Toolkit 4
Boris FX 8.0
Boris Graffiti 4.0
Bryce5.5
Carrara 5 Pro
DiskWarrior 4
Fetch 5.2
FileMaker Pro 6.0v1
Firefox 2.0.0.11
Font Reserve 3.1.4 and Auto-Activation Plug-Ins for Adobe Apps
Graphite v7 (Ashlar drafting program - GREAT PROGRAM!)
NetBarrier X4 10.4.1
Netscape 7.2
OmniPage Pro X
PCalc 2.2.3A
Personal Backup X4 10.4.8
Picture Controller 300 (for Canopus ADVC-300 DV Converter)
Poser 7.0.0.71
QuarkXPress 6.1 (it crashes on Quit but has always done that)
QuickBooks Pro 6
Quicken 2004
Retrospect 6.1.138
Toast Titanium 5.2.3
Toast Titanium 6
The Logo Creator 3.5
TechTool Pro 4.5.3
Wacom Tablet v6.0.5-3 (for Graphire Graphics Tablet)

Joe

 

[Eidorian]

I've made a guide for this now. I'd be more then happy for any corrections to be made to this document.

[embedguide]Tiger_on_Mac_Pro_%28Early_2008%29[/embedguide]

 

[postguru]

I've found problems with one program.

I've made a guide for this now. I'd be more then happy for any corrections to be made to this document.

Thanks for this nicely organized guide. My wife has been running her applications for more than a day now, and we have found one problem. Adobe Premier 6.5 often hangs up on rendering. This is not a problem if you have Adobe Premier Pro CS3, which we do (my wife tends to stick with the porgrams she is used to and resists using newer versions because she has trouble learning new software, and I usually have to gently 'nudge' her into the newer versions).
She has also been heavily using Final Cut Studio, Motion, and After Effects CS3 with no problems. She is also EXTREMELY pleased AND surprised with the performance, and I haven't received my new memory yet - so we are still running with the stock 2 Gigs.

Joe

 

[mortalvic]

extracting the driver update packages to use w another Tiger install

Has anyone tried extracting the driver update packages to use with another Tiger install yet?

I am very interested in finding out if it is possible and better yet if they would make it available to those of us without a intel Aluminum iMac to experiment with. Would be great if Apple would offer this.

Thanks for all of you who have figured out a way to run tiger on the new Mac Pros

 

[djejrejk]

Does ANYONE know if the new Mac Pro 8 cores will run Tiger? I have been told many many different things. The deal is I have a recording studio and over half the plugins I use are not Leopard compatible yet and would really love to buy a new Mac but can't if I can't run Tiger. If indeed I can't run Tiger this will SUCK in a bad way seeing as I already sold my Mac Pro 2.66 running Tiger. I am so pissed at Apple for backing people into corners like this. My studio will be down for God knows how long if I can't run Tiger. Can anyone please confirm or deny for sure? Thanks very much in advance!

While I do not own a studio, I am experiencing the same problem. Personally, I blame Digidesign for coming so late with updates. Each time Apple updates OSX (more or less) Pro Tools breaks..

I finally gave up and bought a copy of Logic. I guess the main issue for you would be the added cost of purchasing plugins as Logic Studio is relatively inexpensive.

 

[Twoswansmusic]

mac pro...no tiger

Hello,

I just sent back my new Mac Pro...I have a new Pro Tools HD2.....Leopard is not compatible with Pro Tools and the new Mac Pro 4 core--8 core doesn not work. You will have to finbd an older Mac to install Tiger 10.4.9 for everything to function.

Best,

Tony

 

[barijazz]

I bought my mbp about a month ago and it came with tiger installed on it, and my restore disks are for tiger. Although my computer also came with leopard disks. Did apple just recently change that?

 

[Twoswansmusic]

Barijazz,

You're lucky...all new Mac Pros that come with Leopard installed can not be partioned with Tiger as an alternate operating system. Hence...no Pro Tools.

Like I said...I sent mine back..I guess I am waiting for compatibility

 

[Ploki]

what the hell is wrong with those corporations, everybody knows the Mac+ProTools is the industry standard, those wierdos could cooperate on this, apple should give the beta versions to digidesign so they could release the drivers soon enough.
but i guess apple is rather forcing Apogee and Motu

 

[MacRoom]

All New Macs Only Work With The Version Of OS X They Ship With And Forward

I just sent back my new Mac Pro...I have a new Pro Tools HD2.....Leopard is not compatible with Pro Tools and the new Mac Pro 4 core--8 core doesn not work. You will have to finbd an older Mac to install Tiger 10.4.9 for everything to function.

This is normal. All new Macs ship with the current version of OS X and never are allowed to work with older versions than that which they ship with including older incremental versions.

You're lucky...all new Mac Pros that come with Leopard installed can not be partioned with Tiger as an alternate operating system. Hence...no Pro Tools.

Like I said...I sent mine back..I guess I am waiting for compatibility

Digidesign is never ready upon release of new Mac hardware. That's a RULE.

While I do not own a studio, I am experiencing the same problem. Personally, I blame Digidesign for coming so late with updates. Each time Apple updates OSX (more or less) Pro Tools breaks..

I finally gave up and bought a copy of Logic. I guess the main issue for you would be the added cost of purchasing plugins as Logic Studio is relatively inexpensive.

Good alternative. Perhaps money saved on Logic Studio may be put towards those plugins. But it's still an expense that holds back more early adopters of the new Mac Pros each time they arrive which in this case was almost 16 months.

what the hell is wrong with those corporations, everybody knows the Mac+ProTools is the industry standard, those wierdos could cooperate on this, apple should give the beta versions to digidesign so they could release the drivers soon enough.
but i guess apple is rather forcing Apogee and Motu

It's not Apple's fault. Digidesign has access to all the pre-release versions of Leopard just like any other developer. It's Digidesign not doing their work in a timely fashion. They could have been ready in October and finished off any last minute details in November. Everyone knew this new model was coming. Perhaps they needed the new 8-core dual Harpertown in their development labs before they could finish the job. Do they say when they will have it ready?

 

[phjo]

Has anyone tried extracting the driver update packages to use with another Tiger install yet?

I am very interested in finding out if it is possible and better yet if they would make it available to those of us without a intel Aluminum iMac to experiment with. Would be great if Apple would offer this.

Thanks for all of you who have figured out a way to run tiger on the new Mac Pros

I did try... Installing a fresh 10.4.11 to an external hd from my macbook 1rst gen (10.4.6 then combo update to 10.4.11)

Then extracting the driver update to the external hd with a
<< pax -rp e -f pathto/Archive.pax >>
and tried booting the mac pro with the external hd... It almost worked in the sense that with the driver update I could trick the mac pro to load tiger (instead of rebooting immediately as it did without the driver update) but at the end of the loading, the screen was pure garbage, my HP w22 renouncing soon to display anything other than an error message...

phjo

 

[mortalvic]

cheers phjo! thanks for the info

 

[Skiniftz]

You don't need an iMac

I just booted a brand new 2.8GHz 8 core Mac Pro (with a Radeon 2600 in it) into 10.4.11 over firewire from my 2.4GHz Santa Rosa MBP in target disk mode and it seems to work ok (including 30" Apple monitor).

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Total Number Of Cores: 8
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B02
SMC Version: 1.25f4

ATI Radeon HD 2600:

Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 2600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9588
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B1480A-236
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.236
Displays:
Cinema HD:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Software
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Not Supported
Display Connector:
Status: No display connected


...no Quartz Extreme mind... and Expose is sluggish as a result but maybe a small price to pay for compatibility.