UEFI option ROM extractor and decompressor V1.0
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Andy Vandijck, in UEFI
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By fusion71au
Clover r4799 ISO compiled with GCC and minimal config.plist compatible for use in VMWare Workstation.
Tested with unlocked Workstation 15 running OSX 10.9 -->10.14 guest in Windows X64 host.
Installation
1. Download and unzip "EFI_Clover_r4799 for VMware.zip". Mount Clover-v2.4k-4799-X64 by double clicking on it.
2. Mount your VM's EFI System Partition eg in terminal
sudo diskutil mount disk0s1 3. Copy EFI folder from step 1 into the EFI partition
4. Shutdown the VM, add bios.bootDelay = "3000" to your VM's vmx file
5. Reboot your VM, press <F2> to access the VMware Boot Manager and add CLOVERX64.efi to the boot menu.
Substitute your own unique and valid MLB and ROM variables in the /EFI/CLOVER/config.plist (Rt Variables section) to activate iMessage/Facetime on your VM.
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By Entropi
PREFACE
I’ve used a 2015 15” MBP as my main system since it was released. I do photo and video editing in the Adobe suite regularly and have been eyeballing the performance of the latest MBP models. I’m on the road all the time, so a laptop is basically my only option.
After the whole mess with the CPU VRM hardware flaws being made apparent by the poor power management profile shipped at release with the 2018 i9 MBP I’ve been more weary of the hardware design of MacBooks. That’s before I account for losing all USB-A ports, losing the SD card slot (‽), losing reliability and tactility of the keyboard, and losing the ESC key to the touchbar; if I compare the 2018 MBP to my current 2015.
Given these flaws, I have been researching the performance situation comparing the 2018 MBP to the X1 Extreme, XPS 15 9570, and the Razer Blade 15 2018. These are essentially the only options for a road warrior that needs a high quality panel and the best CPU and GPU that can be crammed into around 4lbs (1.8kg).
I used to use a ThinkPad T42p and loved it when it was new. So fast forward to now and the release of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme. It’s a truly tempting machine for an artist, given that the 4K UHD version offers just about the best color gamut available on any laptop panel. I get back the USB-A ports, get one of the fastest SD slots on any laptop, and get one of the best laptop keyboards on the market. That’s before even considering power management and modularity. I’ve been dabbling in learning Machine Learning, so a system with an nVidia GPU (CUDA) is a bonus on that front as well.
For me the best color reproduction on a high resolution display panel was most important. The X1 Extreme has that, so I’ve ordered one. I got it with the fastest i7, base SSD and memory, and have separately purchased two 1TB Samsung 970 Pro M.2 SSDs and 2x16GB DDR4-3200MHz memory (just in case it’s possible to overclock the memory on the X1 Extreme). I got the system for $2,100 from Lenovo USA, and the SSDs ($390 x 2) and memory ($330) from Amazon US for a total of ~$3200. These are easy to install on the X1 Extreme as the bottom cover is easily removed to reveal the M.2 and SODIMM slots. To compare, the 2018 MBP with the fastest i7, 32GB memory, and 2TB SSD is $4400. So I can save $1200 and get a faster system (on all counts) with a better panel and better connectivity by going with the X1 Extreme.
The only thing I’m compromising is losing the big beautiful haptic touchpad and a bit more refined hardware aesthetic. Though, to be honest, I’ve kept a big thick dual-layer Tech21 case on my 2015 MBP. So I’ll actually be going down in volume and weight by moving to the more rugged ThinkPad. I think I can live without the touchpad.
Oh, by the way, the 4K UHD panel of the X1 Extreme has touch and decent pen support! Another bonus vs. the MacBook. Though I keep a 12.9” iPad Pro around for my pen work and can’t imagine using a laptop similarly. It’s still nice to have a laptop screen actually respond when I go poke at it accidentally after switching back and forth between laptop and iPad.
TOPIC
So I want macOS with proper discrete GPU support on a 2018 MacBook class laptop. That’s not possible on a pure Hackintosh as things stand, but via a macOS virtual machine it looks like it could work with what looks like some relatively bleeding edge support of PCIe UEFI passthrough.
People have been doing this on Linux hosts to Windows VMs with some great success recently: https://gist.github.com/Misairu-G/616f7b2756c488148b7309addc940b28
And it looks like that’s coming for macOS VMs as well: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM/blob/a4fb2fd5aae871bdbc371b0cd31d4d8129d0f9ac/UEFI/README.md
The X1 Extreme, XPS 15 9570, and Razer Blade 15 (2018) are essentially direct competition to the 2018 15” MBP. I would really like to see these three systems get some nicely fleshed out guides for getting maxed out compatibility and performance in macOS running in a VM for these systems. When I get my X1 Extreme I’ll start working on it for that one. I will post updates here. I hope to inspire others with the other two systems (or looking to get them) to do similarly.
15” MACBOOK CLASS LAPTOP COMPARISON
I chose the X1 Extreme largely because of the excellent 4K UHD HDR panel (100% of 2D AdobeRGB and 85.5% of 3D AdobeRGB, basically unparalleled), good mix of thermal performance and noise management, and overall ruggedness and connectivity. If I were a gamer I would go with the Razer 15, but the fast low-gamut 1080p panel just doesn’t work for my purposes. If I were most concerned with aesthetics or battery life (97Wh battery for it vs 80Wh for X1E) I would go with the XPS 15.
I am aware that the second 2018 refresh of the MBP is coming ~Nov 14, with the new AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 and Vega 20 GPUs, and it looks like the latter might offer up to a 60% performance boost over the Radeon 560X. Maybe it has even given Apple enough time to update the CPU VRM along the way. This could make the performance picture more comparable for the 1050 Ti based X1E and XPS 15. I believe the 1070 Ti based Razer 15 will still win out though.
Still, if you compare the fan and heat pipe solution put into the X1E vs the MBP the MBP just looks wimpy in comparison. MBP has smaller fans, less venting, and only one (smaller, thinner) heatpipe. It’s also more difficult to access if you want to put a better thermal paste or liquid metal on it. Put simply, the thermal hardware on the MBP is basically the same design for the last 3 years and it can’t keep up with the hex-core processors. So even with the Volta 20 GPU making the MBP competitive again on the graphics end, the MBP will still be falling short on the CPU performance plane. This is before we even look at tuning options.
Getting into tuning, it’s possible to improve thermal performance of all the laptops in this class by around 15-20% by using either a best in class thermal paste like Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut or (if you’re willing to deal with all the caveats that come with using a conductive fluid that permeates other metals) a liquid metal interface like Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut. The liquid metal gives you the best possible conducting interface, and the paste is more forgiving and easier to apply. Further, it is often possible to stably undervolt the Coffee Lake i7/i9 available in this class of systems to further improve performance, thermals, and power consumption (generally another 10+%).
Apple has deliberately made it impossible to undervolt the CPU on the MBP! This has been true since the first Skylake CPUs a few years ago. You used to be able to use a program called Volta to undervolt your CPU on macOS. This is a huge peeve for me and, combined with the general power and thermal underdevelopment, is one of the main reasons I want to get a competitor’s hardware. As a primer, the default voltage of modern CPUs is typically set conservatively high for the sake of production efficiency. With the current generation Coffee Lake CPUs it is commonly possible to set the CPU voltage about 100 to 150mv lower safely. This allows the CPU to run cooler and consume less power. For laptops which are thermally limited (basically everything in this new 6-core 14nm era), this also translates into better performance. It’s a tweak that actually improves reliability of your CPU. So it’s just stupid that Apple has deliberately made this impossible. Shame on them, someone else take my money.
Wrapping up, my biggest quibbles with the X1E (before actually getting it) are that the 4K panel’s responsiveness is about the slowest I’ve seen on a modern panel, and it’s just really not suitable for gaming. There’s also what I consider an annoyingly high level of backlight corner bleed that I’m sure will be distracting during blackboxed video viewing. Hopefully these two issues will be fixed in next year’s iteration.
FOOTNOTES
MacBook i9 Thermal / VRM (below-baseline throttling/thrashing) Issue:
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/24/throttling-i9-macbook-pro-power-delivery-chip/
https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/macbook-pro-2018-throttling-fix/
This was mitigated with software that works around the poor hardware design, but the system would still ultimately perform better if the CPU VRM were redesigned. Non Mac systems with the similar CPUs don’t have this issue and get better sustained performance.
MacBook Nov 2018 Refresh with Radeon Vega 16 and Vega 20:
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/11/05/apples-macbook-pro-gets-the-amd-vega-treatment.aspx
MacBook Class Laptop Reviews:
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme, 4K: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Extreme-i7-4K-HDR-GTX-1050-Ti-Max-Q-Laptop-Review.335608.0.html
https://www.ultrabookreview.com/23223-lenovo-x1-extreme-review/
https://youtu.be/vOPeXe1ZE74
https://youtu.be/JgWyGKf_WlM
Dell XPS 15 9570, 4K: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-15-9570-i7-UHD-GTX-1050-Ti-Max-Q-Laptop-Review.332758.0.html
Razer Blade 15 2018, 1070 Ti FHD 144Hz: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Razer-Blade-15-i7-8750H-GTX-1070-Max-Q-FHD-Laptop-Review.305426.0.html
Best Undervolting Guide (keywords: ThrottleStop, Intel XTU):
https://www.ultrabookreview.com/10167-laptop-undervolting-overcloking/
Undervolting Coffee Lake i7/i9 (2018 MacBook class CPU):
https://youtu.be/nobnPDtMs-E
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/923876-any-information-about-how-coffee-lake-h-series-undervolts/
Replacing Thermal Paste with Liquid Metal on 2018 MBP:
https://youtu.be/iw4gqfrBN4c ... and follow up: https://youtu.be/JNoZNzOQpVw
Replacing Thermal Paste with Kryonaut on X1E:
https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/9fyww7/x1_extreme_repaste_undervolt_tdp_limiter_removed/
Replacing Thermal Paste and Undervolting X1 Carbon:
https://youtu.be/FXR5-HwIre8
Replacing Thermal Paste and Undervolting XPS 15 9570:
https://youtu.be/ZnFdNGUETSI
Possibly over-conservative BIOS update for thermal throttling on X1E:
https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/9oqax2/xtu_results_with_x1_extreme_with_liquid_metal/
High Sierra (10.13) drivers only for now:
https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/324195-nvidia-web-driver-updates-for-macos-high-sierra-update-11032018/
nVidia “waiting for Apple’s approval” for Mojave (10.14) macOS driver web release:
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/11/01/nvidia-comment-on-macos-mojave-drivers/
Breadcrumb Links (other things I found researching this):
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/esxi-6-5-osx-with-gpu-passthrough.12680/
https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1432071
https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Best-Notebook-Displays-As-Reviewed-By-Notebookcheck.120541.0.html
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By Slice
Now I want to add vector graphics support in Clover. See rev 4560 and later.
It is not working yet but designers may begin to create Vector Themes.
It supposed to consist of SVG elements and has design size. It will be rendered to any screen size scaled from design size.
What application in macOS can create SVG graphics?
Inkscape is not working in macOS 10.11+. Pity.
LibreOffice Draw works with SVG but buggy.
Boxy SVG cost 10$ but looks good enough. It creates the best in simplicity files and have more then enough features.
Illustrator is good but expensive.
How to improve SVG file?
Clover has restricted support for SVG. It is your job to make compatible file and as small as possible to speedup rendering.
Some helps:
Help:Inkscape – From invalid to valid SVG Inkscape files
From invalid to valid SVG Adobe Illustrator files
From invalid to valid SVG files of other editors: BKchem, ChemDraw and CorelDRAW
Help:Illustrator – Assistance with creating and saving SVG images in Adobe Illustrator that will pass W3C validation
User:Quibik/Cleaning up SVG files manually
Later I will write own instructions specific to Clover abilities.
How to create SVG fonts?
You can google to find ready-to-use SVG fonts. I found some problems with too beaty fonts: slow rendering and overflow crash. Be careful.
You can get ttf or otf fonts and convert them into svg by using online WEB services. Not a problem to google.
But then I want to find a way to simplify the font to reduce a size and speedup rendering.
You can create own font by FontForge It is opensource and available for Windows, Mac and GNU+Linux. It creates otf font which you can convert to svg font.
Pictures from Badruzeus
https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=301597
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By nysander
I start this topic to make my Lenovo Thinkpad W540 usable with High Sierra
I followed many guides but this one started by @tluck made me most progress:
My setup as in signature
I will update first post with statuses of working features:
Graphics:
Nvidia Quadro - disabled
Intel HD 4600 - working @ 1920x1080 and 1,5GB RAM (had to set ig-plaform-id as Haswell desktop, mobile do not work)
using intelGraphicsFixUp.kext
Sound:
internal speakers and mic works with AppleACL.kext and profile 28
USB:
i boot MacOS from USB drive and it works, mouse and pendrive also works
USB power not work yet, so USB WiFi dongle and iPhone connection not work (no power @ USB)
IOReq finds only USB 3.0 controller not USB 2.0 even though I have 2 ports USB 3.0 and 2 ports USB 2.0
Integrated Camera:
recognised in IOReq but not working now (probably due to USB)
Bluetooth:
as USB but works without problem
Ethernet:
works with intelMausiEthernet.kext
Keyboard:
internal is PS2 so VoodooPS2Controller.kext is needed - some mappings I would like to have different but works
Touchpad:
works with VoodooPS2Controller.kext from @tluck topic
Trackpoint:
One time works mostly not - debugging in progress
Batery Status:
not working
Integrated WiFi:
intel - not working
Sleep / Hibernate:
not working
Backlight:
not working
Other found issues:
besides that graphics works @ 1920x1080 and have a lots of ram window shadows (especially dock shadow) looks bad
External VGA:
not tested yet
External Mini Display Port / Thunderbolt:
not tested yet
I will post my clover / debug config later
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