[pre-release] macOS Golden Gate

[fantomas]

[fantomas]

[Austere.J]

27.0 Beta 1 (26A5353q)
https://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/57/01/140-17224-A_P1A9GDNMB4/u67ywguno7fkwggtvtzizznb1eimpgqy5k/InstallAssistant.pkg

Edited 16 hours ago by Austere.J

[spakk]

Has anyone tried installing it?

[fantomas]

Guys, maybe you didn't notice but I opened this topic in the "Apple world" forum. 

 

But if one of you manages to install it on your hackint0sh, then I will transfer it to the "OSx86" forum. 

[fantomas]

This is a milestone release: macOS 27 marks the end of Apple's Intel-to-Apple-Silicon transition. During the WWDC 2025 Platforms State of the Union, Apple confirmed that macOS 26 Tahoe would be the final macOS version compatible with Intel-based Macs. Every Mac with an Apple Silicon chip is expected to be supported:

• MacBook Air: M1 (2020) and later
• MacBook Pro: 13" M1 (2020), 14" / 16" M1 Pro/Max (2021) and later
• iMac: M1 (2021) and later
• Mac mini: M1 (2020) and later
• Mac Studio: M1 Max (2022) and later
• Mac Pro: M2 Ultra (2023) and later
• MacBook Neo: A18 Pro chip (new entry-level model)

The 4 Intel Macs dropped from macOS 27

 

These Intel Macs run macOS 26 Tahoe but are not compatible with macOS 27:

• 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019)
• 13-inch MacBook Pro (2020, four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• 27-inch iMac (2020)
• Mac Pro (2019)

Apple will continue providing security updates for these Intel Macs for about 3 years. Note that macOS 27 is also the final release to include Rosetta 2 — Apple's Intel-app translation layer ends after this version.

[fantomas]

50 minutes ago, spakk said:

Has anyone tried installing it?

 

It depends on whether all support has been abandoned or if, with a bit of tinkering on the developers' side and a good smbios + fake cpuid, it might be possible to install and boot from it.

[spakk]

19 minutes ago, fantomas said:

 

It depends on whether all support has been abandoned or if, with a bit of tinkering on the developers' side and a good smbios + fake cpuid, it might be possible to install and boot from it.

This will probably be a tricky one. I've downloaded it for now and plan to create an ISO file from it tomorrow using my tool, if that's possible. After that, I'll try it out in VMware. It looks like an interesting project and I'm really curious to see who will manage to make it work, at least in a virtual environment, to some extent.🤪

[Austere.J]

A quick analysis showed that the kernel for x86-64 is still there, all Intel and AMD graphics drivers are gone, the ACPI platform driver is gone, and some x86 platform-specific drivers (e.g., HPET) are also gone.

[kgp]

Well, my M1 MacBook Pro 13-inch finally made the cut for macOS 27. 😜

 

Looks like my Tahoe Drive Icons Pack and "About This Hack" made the cut, too! 😎

 

 

 

 

So far, all my installed apps are working under macOS 27 Developer Beta 1 — except Little Snitch." 😄

 

Cheers, KGP 👍

 

Edited 14 hours ago by kgp

[deeveedee]

30 minutes ago, Austere.J said:

A quick analysis showed that the kernel for x86-64 is still there, all Intel and AMD graphics drivers are gone, the ACPI platform driver is gone, and some x86 platform-specific drivers (e.g., HPET) are also gone.

Apple removed AppleHDA after Tahoe Beta 1, so Apple will probably be removing more traces of Intel in Golden Gate.  Macs (and my Hacks) haven't been using HPET starting with Skylake.  Would be funny if we could install Golden Gate Beta 1 on Intel 🤣

 

Spakk - your VM experiment should be interesting.

Edited 14 hours ago by deeveedee

[ITzTravelInTime]

TBH I am pretty sure there is an x86-64 user-land available in this OS release, but the x86-64 kernel space might very well be nowhere to be found, although apple internally might be very well keeping working builds of the whole OS at least up to some extent, it would be stupid to get rid of it in the source code for the os at least entirely, perhaps we might compile our own kernel space from the publicly available sources at apple's open source website + components stolen from tahoe (like it was done with snow leopard running on ppc using a modded early beta) or jerry rig the new user-land on top of the tahoe kernel space entirely.

 

I am waiting for some of you apple silicon owners to do some data mining.

But to be honest besides technical experiments this is likely the death as the hackintosh as we know it, the future although might be apple M-series emulation with some hw acceleration on arm processors with some partial emulation of the proprietary apple ARM ISA extensions and related devices present in the SOC.

For the time being I am not willing to leave custom built PCs and thinker with OS software, so I have been switching everything to Linux for the past few years which TBH for me has been for the better since it has been giving me more control over my computing.

[Ludox]

21 minutes ago, deeveedee said:

Apple removed AppleHDA after Tahoe Beta 1, so Apple will probably be removing more traces of Intel in Golden Gate.  Macs (and my Hacks) haven't been using HPET starting with Skylake.  Would be funny if we could install Golden Gate Beta 1 on Intel 🤣

 

Spakk - your VM experiment should be interesting.

Apple has just launched the challenge to all of us in the hacking world with this macOS Golden Gate, we just have to demonstrate that we are capable of not giving up and showing that we are able to install macOS 27 on our Intel and AMD PCs, we know it will not be an easy thing and above all immediate, we must be patient and not rush those who start working on this.

 

[fantomas]

macOS Golden Gate 27 Beta Release Notes

[deeveedee]

47 minutes ago, fantomas said:

macOS Golden Gate 27 Beta Release Notes

An interesting known issue:

 

Known Issues

When a Mac is running macOS 11.0, you might not be able to select the boot volume of macOS 27.0 or later as the startup disk in System Settings. (166640903)

Workaround: Shut down your Mac, press and hold the power button until “Loading startup options” appears, then select the boot volume of macOS 27.0 or later.

[Shaneee]

Well I guess that's that then lol 

[ITzTravelInTime]

2 minutes ago, Shaneee said:

Well I guess that's that then lol 

interesting, so you can make macOS installer usb drives for apple silicon macs

[Shaneee]

6 minutes ago, ITzTravelInTime said:

interesting, so you can make macOS installer usb drives for apple silicon macs

 

Can't run the tool to make a USB,

 

sudo: unable to execute /Applications/Install macOS 27 Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia: Bad CPU type in executable

 

[deeveedee]

8 minutes ago, Shaneee said:

 

Can't run the tool to make a USB,

 

sudo: unable to execute /Applications/Install macOS 27 Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia: Bad CPU type in executable

 

Not on Intel, but that wouldn't be expected - would it?  I imagine it runs fine on Apple Silicon - no?

Edited 12 hours ago by deeveedee

[hiphopboy]

So we're stuck at v26? :(((

[MaLd0n]

[XanthraX]

It is a tiny hope, just a tiny. The RTX Spark CPU from Nvidia. It is ARM family. If someone can code it to can support macOS. 

 

[Ludox]

1 hour ago, XanthraX said:

It is a tiny hope, just a tiny. The RTX Spark CPU from Nvidia. It is ARM family. If someone can code it to can support macOS. 

 

As I wrote before, it is still too early, let's give time to those who are starting to study it well, it is not only the M CPU that is the problem, but all the protections of the system that need to be overcome, in order to be able to hope to have it on our Hacks.

[ITzTravelInTime]

7 minutes ago, Ludox said:

As I wrote before, it is still too early, let's give time to those who are starting to study it well, it is not only the M CPU that is the problem, but all the protections of the system that need to be overcome, in order to be able to hope to have it on our Hacks.

As I said the best hope here is emulation with hw acceleration, sadly the OS is too restricted and proprietary nowadays, especially on ARM

[etorix]

RTX Spark… Just one question: WHY???

 

There's already the GB10 (DGX Spark), which seems to be the same chip. But what's the point of taking a $5k box to make a Hackintosh when you can get a real Mac for less?

Then it's not just a question of ARM architecture, there's the "little issue" of graphic drivers (and just about every other peripheral) while remapping Apple custom accelerator (Neural Engine, media encoder) to what's available. (Remember: x86 Hackintosh is possible because Intel Macs use regular Intel CPUs, but Apple Silicon is a custom ARM chip.)