[Question] - Acer Swift sf114-34 Hackintosh - Possible?

[Draykanos]

Hi all!

 

I'm new here so if this isn't in the right sub then my bad lol 😄

 

Basically, I've been given this laptop by a friend as they no longer need it. I'm not exactly in need of another laptop... But, this actually a pretty nice machine! With a decent full HD 1080P LG panel, nice keyboard and trackpad. It actually runs as a pretty fast machine for a laptop just bordering on mid-range! Given these few things, I think it could make a pretty decent Hackintosh project. It's rocking:

 

- An Intel Pentium N6000 Silver CPU (Jasperlake).

- 4GB LPDDR4 RAM.

- (Not many people have been able to find this info but w/ some digging) Intel UHD Icelake G1 Graphics or its production name "32EU".

- Realtek Audio (Not sure of the ALC model yet).

- Intel Wifi / BT (Again, haven't checked this in Linux yet).

 

People say the Pentium graphics aren't supported but it has to be, being an Icelake-based platform.

 

I've done a couple of Hackintosh projects before using the OpenCore guide. It was simple and easy to follow. With a couple of articles, I was up in a matter of hours. This being a sort of "unsupported" machine (as it's Pentium based) it is a little more difficult to source the correct info for it. But I think it just may be possible.

 

The specs are actually perfectly fine for MacOS BigSur which is my target OS. It's a little more snappy than a 2013 MacBook Air.

 

Anybody think it's possible?! I'm willing to put the time and energy into it as a weekend job so that's not an issue...

[shl628]

The CPU of the Intel Atom family architecture is not supported in macOS.
So, you might need a Fake CPU ID and some patches.

Also, as you said, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium iGPU is not supported in macOS.

Starting with macOS Sierra 10.12 and later, the AVX Instruction set is required to enable QE/CI graphics acceleration on the Intel iGPU.
In addition, the macOS Ventura 13 version requires AVX2.
However, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium family of CPUs does not support the AVX/AVX2 Instruction set.

The UHD Graphics G1 iGPU on the Intel 10th Gen Ice Lake CPU enables QE/CI graphics acceleration with the ICLLP Framebuffer by simply applying Fake ID (Spoof) because the CPU supports AVX/AVX2.

However, I don't know if the method of emulating the AVX Instruction set using OPEMU (OpcodeEmulator.kext) will work with your Intel Jasper Lake CPU.

Edited April 1, 2023 by shl628

[Draykanos]

1 hour ago, shl628 said:

The CPU of the Intel Atom family architecture is not supported in macOS.
So, you might need a Fake CPU ID and some patches.

Also, as you said, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium iGPU is not supported in macOS.

Starting with macOS Sierra 10.12 and later, the AVX Instruction set is required to enable QE/CI graphics acceleration on the Intel iGPU.
In addition, the macOS Ventura 13 version requires AVX2.
However, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium family of CPUs does not support the AVX/AVX2 Instruction set.

The UHD Graphics G1 iGPU on the Intel 10th Gen Ice Lake CPU enables QE/CI graphics acceleration with the ICLLP Framebuffer by simply applying Fake ID (Spoof) because the CPU supports AVX/AVX2.

However, I don't know if the method of emulating the AVX Instruction set using OPEMU (OpcodeEmulator.kext) will work with your Intel Jasper Lake CPU.

Tysm! The CPU spoofing is a completely fair point at the end of the day. Worth a shot though. Before I googled a couple of things properly, I thought it was completely impossible... But what keeps giving me a little glimmer of hope is the fact that Tremont (The architecture Jasperlake is based on) is literally just a dumbed down 11th gen Icelake type architecture. Wether this actually means it has any hope of compatibility is left to be discovered by me. 

[Slice]

7 hours ago, bezzzles said:

Hi all!

 

I'm new here so if this isn't in the right sub then my bad lol 😄

 

Basically, I've been given this laptop by a friend as they no longer need it. I'm not exactly in need of another laptop... But, this actually a pretty nice machine! With a decent full HD 1080P LG panel, nice keyboard and trackpad. It actually runs as a pretty fast machine for a laptop just bordering on mid-range! Given these few things, I think it could make a pretty decent Hackintosh project. It's rocking:

 

- An Intel Pentium N6000 Silver CPU (Jasperlake).

- 4GB LPDDR4 RAM.

- (Not many people have been able to find this info but w/ some digging) Intel UHD Icelake G1 Graphics or its production name "32EU".

- Realtek Audio (Not sure of the ALC model yet).

- Intel Wifi / BT (Again, haven't checked this in Linux yet).

 

People say the Pentium graphics aren't supported but it has to be, being an Icelake-based platform.

 

I've done a couple of Hackintosh projects before using the OpenCore guide. It was simple and easy to follow. With a couple of articles, I was up in a matter of hours. This being a sort of "unsupported" machine (as it's Pentium based) it is a little more difficult to source the correct info for it. But I think it just may be possible.

 

The specs are actually perfectly fine for MacOS BigSur which is my target OS. It's a little more snappy than a 2013 MacBook Air.

 

Anybody think it's possible?! I'm willing to put the time and energy into it as a weekend job so that's not an issue...

I did macOS Mojave on Pentium CPU without hardware accelerated graphics. Yes, it works without. 

4Gb RAM is a slowing down factor but not stopping. The system works. 

Some restrictions on usage but it is possible. Safari will not work but Chrome is good.

Realtek Audio will work. No problem.

Intel WiFi depends on model. The driver for some models exists.

 

[Draykanos]

4 hours ago, Slice said:

I did macOS Mojave on Pentium CPU without hardware accelerated graphics. Yes, it works without. 

4Gb RAM is a slowing down factor but not stopping. The system works. 

Some restrictions on usage but it is possible. Safari will not work but Chrome is good.

Realtek Audio will work. No problem.

Intel WiFi depends on model. The driver for some models exists.

 

Oh, alright! That's awesome 😎 - Yeah I wasn't exactly expecting Safari or like Photoshop to work lol... MacOS has a really weird way of managing memory compared to Windows. I remember having the same issue on an old i3 machine. Also, in Windows you can allocate HDD space and make it temporary vRAM. No such options have ever existed in MacOS which is a bummer. As long as audio, WiFi and graphics exelleration work I'll be satisfied and call it a finished project.

Edited April 1, 2023 by bezzzles

[Slice]

Virtual memory exists in macOS as well.

[Draykanos]

28 minutes ago, Slice said:

Virtual memory exists in macOS as well.

Oh wow! Is there any way to set it up?

[Draykanos]

13 hours ago, shl628 said:

The CPU of the Intel Atom family architecture is not supported in macOS.
So, you might need a Fake CPU ID and some patches.

Also, as you said, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium iGPU is not supported in macOS.

Starting with macOS Sierra 10.12 and later, the AVX Instruction set is required to enable QE/CI graphics acceleration on the Intel iGPU.
In addition, the macOS Ventura 13 version requires AVX2.
However, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium family of CPUs does not support the AVX/AVX2 Instruction set.

The UHD Graphics G1 iGPU on the Intel 10th Gen Ice Lake CPU enables QE/CI graphics acceleration with the ICLLP Framebuffer by simply applying Fake ID (Spoof) because the CPU supports AVX/AVX2.

However, I don't know if the method of emulating the AVX Instruction set using OPEMU (OpcodeEmulator.kext) will work with your Intel Jasper Lake CPU.

Hiya! I'm following the Icelake tutorial as that seems to be the closest to the Jasperlake architecture. Got nothing on my screen whatsoever... Could you explain the AVX & iGPU process please? I've followed the OpenCore docs PDF tutorial for Emulation and I don't see anything for my CPU https://github.com/acidanthera/OpenCorePkg/blob/master/Docs/Configuration.pdf Any other ideas?

[Draykanos]

16 hours ago, shl628 said:

The CPU of the Intel Atom family architecture is not supported in macOS.
So, you might need a Fake CPU ID and some patches.

Also, as you said, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium iGPU is not supported in macOS.

Starting with macOS Sierra 10.12 and later, the AVX Instruction set is required to enable QE/CI graphics acceleration on the Intel iGPU.
In addition, the macOS Ventura 13 version requires AVX2.
However, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium family of CPUs does not support the AVX/AVX2 Instruction set.

The UHD Graphics G1 iGPU on the Intel 10th Gen Ice Lake CPU enables QE/CI graphics acceleration with the ICLLP Framebuffer by simply applying Fake ID (Spoof) because the CPU supports AVX/AVX2.

However, I don't know if the method of emulating the AVX Instruction set using OPEMU (OpcodeEmulator.kext) will work with your Intel Jasper Lake CPU.

Cuz I get this when I boot MacOS: 00:000 00:000 OCB: LoadImage failed - Unsupported

[Slice]

@bezzzles

Look my solution 

 

[Draykanos]

@SliceThanks dude! Let me try this and i'll get back to you 😁

[Draykanos]

21 hours ago, shl628 said:

The CPU of the Intel Atom family architecture is not supported in macOS.
So, you might need a Fake CPU ID and some patches.

Also, as you said, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium iGPU is not supported in macOS.

Starting with macOS Sierra 10.12 and later, the AVX Instruction set is required to enable QE/CI graphics acceleration on the Intel iGPU.
In addition, the macOS Ventura 13 version requires AVX2.
However, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium family of CPUs does not support the AVX/AVX2 Instruction set.

The UHD Graphics G1 iGPU on the Intel 10th Gen Ice Lake CPU enables QE/CI graphics acceleration with the ICLLP Framebuffer by simply applying Fake ID (Spoof) because the CPU supports AVX/AVX2.

However, I don't know if the method of emulating the AVX Instruction set using OPEMU (OpcodeEmulator.kext) will work with your Intel Jasper Lake CPU.

Doing some research, I understand what you mean about AVX support. Using HWiNFO i found out my CPU (as you mentioned) literally has 0 AVX support. It does support SSE 4.2 however... Could that be used for graphics some how? The only option would again really be more emulation and research. Waiting for your reply. 

[Draykanos]

21 hours ago, shl628 said:

The CPU of the Intel Atom family architecture is not supported in macOS.
So, you might need a Fake CPU ID and some patches.

Also, as you said, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium iGPU is not supported in macOS.

Starting with macOS Sierra 10.12 and later, the AVX Instruction set is required to enable QE/CI graphics acceleration on the Intel iGPU.
In addition, the macOS Ventura 13 version requires AVX2.
However, the Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium family of CPUs does not support the AVX/AVX2 Instruction set.

The UHD Graphics G1 iGPU on the Intel 10th Gen Ice Lake CPU enables QE/CI graphics acceleration with the ICLLP Framebuffer by simply applying Fake ID (Spoof) because the CPU supports AVX/AVX2.

However, I don't know if the method of emulating the AVX Instruction set using OPEMU (OpcodeEmulator.kext) will work with your Intel Jasper Lake CPU.

I have been doing a little more research... Apparently, the M1 and M2 chips don't actually support AVX... How does MacOS run on those processors then? Sorry if its a noobie question lol. If it's just apps and not the entire OS that needs AVX, there's Intel® Software Development Emulator platform for AVX emulation. Would this work? 

[shl628]

4 hours ago, bezzzles said:

I have been doing a little more research... Apparently, the M1 and M2 chips don't actually support AVX... How does MacOS run on those processors then? Sorry if its a noobie question lol. If it's just apps and not the entire OS that needs AVX, there's Intel® Software Development Emulator platform for AVX emulation. Would this work? 

 

CPUs that support up to SSSE3 can only boot up to OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 version.
SSE4.1 is required in macOS Sierra 10.12 and later versions.
SSE4.2 is required in macOS Mojave 10.14 and later versions.
It's used for graphics and I know it's necessary to boot macOS and many other things.

 

However, AVX is required for Intel graphics drivers starting with macOS Sierra 10.12 or later.
I don't know about the Mac computer of the M1/M2 model.
Since Intel and M1/M2 have different structures, I think that's because the graphics driver was also developed according to their specifications.

 

1. Have you finished installing macOS?
2. What version of macOS did you install?
3. Have you entered iGPU properties such as Platform ID in Device Properties?
4. If you happen to have kernel panic or can't boot, please take a picture of the log screen and upload it.
5. Please compress and upload the EFI folder you are using.

Edited April 2, 2023 by shl628

[Draykanos]

1 hour ago, shl628 said:

 

CPUs that support up to SSSE3 can only boot up to OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 version.
SSE4.1 is required in macOS Sierra 10.12 and later versions.
SSE4.2 is required in macOS Mojave 10.14 and later versions.
It's used for graphics and I know it's necessary to boot macOS and many other things.

 

However, AVX is required for Intel graphics drivers starting with macOS Sierra 10.12 or later.
I don't know about the Mac computer of the M1/M2 model.
Since Intel and M1/M2 have different structures, I think that's because the graphics driver was also developed according to their specifications.

 

1. Have you finished installing macOS?
2. What version of macOS did you install?
3. Have you entered iGPU properties such as Platform ID in Device Properties?
4. If you happen to have kernel panic or can't boot, please take a picture of the log screen and upload it.
5. Please compress and upload the EFI folder you are using.

Not yet, literally just been seeing if it's even possible xD. Let me compile together an install later and get back to you. Thanks bro 😁

[Visual Ehrmanntraut]

23 hours ago, bezzzles said:

Oh wow! Is there any way to set it up?

I'm pretty sure all the "swap" settings are system-managed on macOS, meaning no changes can be made, they're automatic. I think it should extend when the system needs it, but I'm not too sure.

[Draykanos]

17 hours ago, shl628 said:

 

CPUs that support up to SSSE3 can only boot up to OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 version.
SSE4.1 is required in macOS Sierra 10.12 and later versions.
SSE4.2 is required in macOS Mojave 10.14 and later versions.
It's used for graphics and I know it's necessary to boot macOS and many other things.

 

However, AVX is required for Intel graphics drivers starting with macOS Sierra 10.12 or later.
I don't know about the Mac computer of the M1/M2 model.
Since Intel and M1/M2 have different structures, I think that's because the graphics driver was also developed according to their specifications.

 

1. Have you finished installing macOS?
2. What version of macOS did you install?
3. Have you entered iGPU properties such as Platform ID in Device Properties?
4. If you happen to have kernel panic or can't boot, please take a picture of the log screen and upload it.
5. Please compress and upload the EFI folder you are using.

@shl628 @Slice Hey! So I made the installer a couple of hours ago and have been doing error debugging since. I'm currently just stuck at "OC: Watchdog status is 0" (I'm not even able to get into the OpenCore boot picker). As the latest Remastered file of Opcode AVX Emulator.kext (https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/329704-opcode-emulator-opemu-plug-in-project/page/2/) only supports 12.1 Montery I'm using OpenCore 0.8.6 - I've followed the Icelake guide as that's the closest arch to my CPU (https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/config-laptop.plist/icelake.html). I've used OC vaildator & https://opencore.slowgeek.com/ to try and find errors within my config file but nothing apparent to me... Also looked on Reddit for solutions and nothing. I'll provide you with Log files and a Zipped EFI below. Thanks, waiting for your reply! - Edit I've removed ALL kexts from the EFI folder expect the 3 required to Actually boot MacOS. Still no luck and still the same error 😕 

 

opencore-2023-04-02-182442(LOGFILE).txt EFI.rar

Edited April 2, 2023 by bezzzles
Picture of Hardware error message displayed.

[shl628]

7 hours ago, bezzzles said:

@shl628 @Slice Hey! So I made the installer a couple of hours ago and have been doing error debugging since. I'm currently just stuck at "OC: Watchdog status is 0" (I'm not even able to get into the OpenCore boot picker). As the latest Remastered file of Opcode AVX Emulator.kext (https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/329704-opcode-emulator-opemu-plug-in-project/page/2/) only supports 12.1 Montery I'm using OpenCore 0.8.6 - I've followed the Icelake guide as that's the closest arch to my CPU (https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/config-laptop.plist/icelake.html). I've used OC vaildator & https://opencore.slowgeek.com/ to try and find errors within my config file but nothing apparent to me... Also looked on Reddit for solutions and nothing. I'll provide you with Log files and a Zipped EFI below. Thanks, waiting for your reply! - Edit I've removed ALL kexts from the EFI folder expect the 3 required to Actually boot MacOS. Still no luck and still the same error 😕 

 

opencore-2023-04-02-182442(LOGFILE).txt 256 kB · 2 downloads EFI.rar 3.62 MB · 1 download

 

Try replacing HfsPlus.efi with HfsPlusLegacy.efi.

[Draykanos]

3 hours ago, shl628 said:

 

Try replacing HfsPlus.efi with HfsPlusLegacy.efi.

Done that, no luck :/

[shl628]

5 hours ago, bezzzles said:

Done that, no luck 😕

 

I created an EFI folder, and the OpenCore version is Release 0.9.0.
Try replacing it with the EFI folder attached below and rebooting it.

EFI.zip

[Draykanos]

2 hours ago, shl628 said:

 

I created an EFI folder, and the OpenCore version is Release 0.9.0.
Try replacing it with the EFI folder attached below and rebooting it.

EFI.zip 5.84 MB · 0 downloads

TYSM! I will try this later! Let you know how it goes. 

2 hours ago, shl628 said:

 

I created an EFI folder, and the OpenCore version is Release 0.9.0.
Try replacing it with the EFI folder attached below and rebooting it.

EFI.zip 5.84 MB · 0 downloads

Damn, now i've just got a black screen...

Edited April 3, 2023 by bezzzles

[shl628]

54 minutes ago, bezzzles said:

TYSM! I will try this later! Let you know how it goes. 

Damn, now i've just got a black screen...

 

Try replacing it with the EFI folder attached below.

EFI.zip

Edited April 3, 2023 by shl628

[Draykanos]

Just now, shl628 said:

 

Try replacing it with the EFI folder attached below.

EFI.zip 5.85 MB · 0 downloads

Oh ty lemme try this. 

[Draykanos]

Just now, shl628 said:

 

Try replacing it with the EFI folder attached below.

EFI.zip 5.85 MB · 1 download

Ok... So we're getting somewhere... But when I click the USB DMG image I get this: 

(image off the error attached below) - According to a few other people i've spoken to, my CPU should at least boot into the installer. The only thing that will not work properly is graphics. I'm guessing that's what this error is about. It just instantly reboots back into windows. Theres no log file for some reason...

[Draykanos]

Just now, bezzzles said:

Oh ty lemme try this. 

I added the intel G graphics -igfxcdc and -igfxdvmt boot args but still gives the same error 😕