User:Nathanlkoch/Tutorials/MacPro

Apple Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 - Gentoo amd64
The following tutorial is for a Mac Pro 1,1.

Mine has been modified to use 2,1 firmware and also has an updated SMC.

EFI mod
https://github.com/joelgraff/macproupgrade

Shop
Ebay Listing 1, Ebay Listing 2

The Mac Pro 1,1 CPU Compatibility list can be found here. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-cpu-compatibility-list.1954766/

I paid around 50 dollars for mine at the time of the upgrade.

Btrfs Install
User:Nathanlkoch/Tutorials/BTRFS Encryped Root On UEFI

Follow this tutorial but keep in mind. We will need to change a few variables with grub and video in our portage/make.conf

Make a relatively large /boot part. A few gigs.

Install
The nouveau setup is iffy. You will need to specify a GLX variable.

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1074672-start-0.html

Set your video flags and grub platform in make.conf.

I would provide my COMMON_FLAGS and CPU_FLAGS_X86 but your results may vary as I upgraded my CPU. As a good rule of thumb Install resolve-march-native and cpuid2cpuflags before building world as it will allow you to set all of this before your initial compile. I have an Nvidia 7300 that came with these original Mac Pros. The nvidia legacy drivers can be a cumbersome and I was having issues with rebuilds and kernel hacking. The nouveau drivers should have you covered for awhile. Graphics are relatively snappy. You may also want to add vaapi and vdpau use flags to your make.conf which are enabled via the nvidia-firmware bundle.Continue on with building world and follow my tutorial and handbook until you get to genkernel.LZ4 loads faster but takes up more space. I like to use it.

Download the following pre-configured kernel config for genkernel.

Kernel 5.15.89 LTS EFI
https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.15.89.tar.xz Load 5kernel into genkernel menuconf. Save as .config. Exit out of menuconf. The kernel will build and install.

Kernel 6.2.X EFI
https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/t/linux-6.2-rc4.tar.gz Full PathLoad 6kernel into genkernel menuconf. Save as .config. Exit out of menuconf. The kernel will build and install.

https://github.com/anathonous/Apple/tree/main/MacPro1_1

nvidia-drivers
Follow the NVIDIA/nvidia-drivers page

Install
Set your video flags and grub platform in make.conf.

I would provide my COMMON_FLAGS and CPU_FLAGS_X86 but your results may vary as I upgraded my CPU. As a good rule of thumb Install resolve-march-native and cpuid2cpuflags before building world as it will allow you to set all of this before your initial compile. I have an Nvidia 7300 that came with these original Mac Pros. The nvidia legacy drivers can be a cumbersome and I was having issues with rebuilds and kernel hacking. The nouveau drivers should have you covered for awhile. Graphics are relatively snappy.

You may also want to add vaapi and vdpau use flags to your make.conf which are enabled via the nvidia-firmware bundle.

Continue on with building world and follow my tutorial and handbook until you get to genkernel.

Genkernel
LZ4 loads faster but takes up more space. I like to use it. Download the following pre-configured kernel config for genkernel.

Kernel 5.15.89 LTS EFI
https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.15.89.tar.xz Load 5kernel into genkernel menuconf. Save as .config. Exit out of menuconf. The kernel will build and install.

I am finding I am getting better performance out of the 5.15 Kernel.

Kernel 6.1 Kernel
Load 6kernel into genkernel menuconf. Save as .config. Exit out of menuconf. The kernel will build and install.

Other configs available below.

https://github.com/anathonous/Apple/tree/main/MacPro1_1

Kernel
Most importantly you will need to set your kernel flags for nouveau or nvidia which is what I struggled with the most. This tutorial will also work for you on any other linux distro but you will need to set your kernel flags accordingly. The configs I provided already have them set.

https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/compiling-linux-kernel-26.html

NVIDIA Driver
TODO:

Nvidia Driver: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/156163/en-us/

Kernel Source:

Grub bootloader
Install grub efi-32(i386-efi) with --removable flag.

We'll use to generate the

Reboot. The system can take a bit to boot.Finished.

Try FreeBSD
For the longest time I was using FreeBSD on it. I also wrote a Tutorial.

https://wiki.freebsd.org/MacPro1%2C1