Unraid and Mac Mini 2009


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White this may be somewhat advanced topic - I have heard from time to time that linux on Mac's can run into an issue or two.  I guess what I'm saying is don't assume it will work like a PC does.  It's possible it needs some kind of boot wrapper or a kernel boot option that you can enter at the beginning.

 

I'd suggest you first google how to install generic linux on your Mac - if there's nothing special then it's probably OK.  Then I'd suggest googling if there are any kernel issues with your version of Mac.  The Kernel version can be retrieved via the command uname -r (as root).  So for the latest Unraid it's Kernel 4.19.41-Unraid.  Unraid probably has some customisations - but generally speaking there may be some info this way.

 

Hope that helps.

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I'm glad I did a little bit of hunting. I have a Mac Pro from that same era. Officially a Mac Pro 2009, 4,1 flashed to work as a 2010/5,1. I have an identical kernel panic. By the looks of it, it has something to do with how the EFI passes off XHCI, which, mind, isn't something we can control. I'm going to try some tricks with Plop Boot Manager later, though.

 

The only thread I can find, mind you, talks about changing usb drives, and that fixed it for him. Sucks for us.

 

image.thumb.png.b856cfdaf7348d0d32769f0031357a73.png

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Update: I tried using rEFInd to boot in legacy mode, and it didn't help much. I even tried specifying things like root=sda1 or 0B01 based on the following and previous screenshots

 

I'm getting a device listed now, but I'm concerned I might just be seeing the macOS disk installed already, although it should have 3 partitions, not one.

 

I've tried multiple drives and multiple ports.

IMG_20190521_182538.jpg

Edited by PixelPerfect
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Did these models have USB3?  If so, you could try booting off an external USB controller I suppose.  Though a kernel argument would be nicer.  Or try the UEFI version of the usb stick - which I think is more relevant when using EFI.  EFI is the original intel standard I think, with UEFI being an implementation of it, or the other way around.  I can't remember.

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23 minutes ago, Marshalleq said:

Did these models have USB3?  If so, you could try booting off an external USB controller I suppose.  Though a kernel argument would be nicer.  Or try the UEFI version of the usb stick - which I think is more relevant when using EFI.  EFI is the original intel standard I think, with UEFI being an implementation of it, or the other way around.  I can't remember.

The first shot I posted was the EFI based panic. Same issue. These models are all 2.0, but I have a 3.0 controller that should work with my system. Once this system update is done I can try it out.

 

Wouldn't help OP, as he doesn't have PCIe slots, and yeah, a kernel parameter would be nicer.

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1 hour ago, Marshalleq said:

Did these models have USB3?  If so, you could try booting off an external USB controller I suppose.  Though a kernel argument would be nicer.  Or try the UEFI version of the usb stick - which I think is more relevant when using EFI.  EFI is the original intel standard I think, with UEFI being an implementation of it, or the other way around.  I can't remember.

My only USB3 card works under macOS, but doesn't show at all in the EFI. There's a chance I could upgrade my CPU to be able to flash a slightly newer firmware that enables NVME booting, which might also enable me to boot from pci-usb but I don't actually know.

 

It could also be the card doesn't have a compatible EFI level driver. 

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4 hours ago, PixelPerfect said:

Quick update: While I'm mostly giving up for now, I do want to note that Pop!_OS 19.04 booted fine off the same flash drive. Similar kernel version, etc. This is definitely an unRAID USB driver issue, it seems.

At that point Unraid itself has not got involved.   I suspect this is a problem with the generic Linux drivers that are handling the boot process at that point.  As such it is something that would need to be fixed at the core Linux level - not in the Unraid specific code.

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On 5/25/2019 at 5:40 AM, itimpi said:

At that point Unraid itself has not got involved.   I suspect this is a problem with the generic Linux drivers that are handling the boot process at that point.  As such it is something that would need to be fixed at the core Linux level - not in the Unraid specific code.

Yeah, so it's looking like I'd have to rebuild or replace the kernel entirely similar to how there's a custom HP build of unRAID, I'd bet, but honestly worse. I'll have to look a little deeper into what hardware drivers are present and go from there if I ever get time. Would definitely be neat to get unRAID booting on this hardware, and even the Mac Mini Dual (rip your chance for parity, though, unless you just want one drive)

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  • 7 months later...
On 5/27/2019 at 5:41 PM, PixelPerfect said:

Yeah, so it's looking like I'd have to rebuild or replace the kernel entirely similar to how there's a custom HP build of unRAID, I'd bet, but honestly worse. I'll have to look a little deeper into what hardware drivers are present and go from there if I ever get time. Would definitely be neat to get unRAID booting on this hardware, and even the Mac Mini Dual (rip your chance for parity, though, unless you just want one drive)

Did you have any progress on this?

 

I went through the same like you did with my Mac Pro 4.1. It is now flashed with the latest firmware 144, but it still shows the same error.

 

I've tried to boot Fedora Live CD and another Linux distro, they all worked without issue. I do think this is unraid specific. I'm stuck and thinking of converting the Mac Pro into a PC.

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33 minutes ago, madwyn said:

Did you have any progress on this?

 

I went through the same like you did with my Mac Pro 4.1. It is now flashed with the latest firmware 144, but it still shows the same error.

 

I've tried to boot Fedora Live CD and another Linux distro, they all worked without issue. I do think this is unraid specific. I'm stuck and thinking of converting the Mac Pro into a PC.

Not at all. I’m now running Docker on Mojave with the costs and benefits that entails. It works. It does what I needed it to. (time machine, iCloud cache, docked services) and it’s just a little sad my shares are now explicitly on drives. I don’t use parity anyway. (I know)

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7 minutes ago, PixelPerfect said:

Not at all. I’m now running Docker on Mojave with the costs and benefits that entails. It works. It does what I needed it to. (time machine, iCloud cache, docked services) and it’s just a little sad my shares are now explicitly on drives. I don’t use parity anyway. (I know)

My goal is to get the Mac Pro a 10GbE SFP+ card, an NVMe PCIE card + NVMe SSD (or U.2 SSD) to build a 10GbE capable unraid server for the "cheap". I like the Mac Pro because it uses ECC RAM and has server grade components which made it very durable.

 

I'm glad that you found a workaround for the moment. Unfortunately, I can't bear the mind that Mojave introduces extra overheads for performance, stability and energy consumption.

 

As Mac Pro 5.1 and older models lost OS support since Catalina, I assume more and more of these machines will end up on eBay and people will want to convert them into servers or PCs. I hope unraid an provide official support for this machine.

Edited by madwyn
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11 minutes ago, madwyn said:

My goal is to get the Mac Pro a 10GbE SFP+ card, an NVMe PCIE card + NVMe SSD (or U.2 SSD) to build a 10GbE capable unraid server for the "cheap". I like the Mac Pro because it uses ECC RAM and has server grade components which made it very durable.

 

I'm glad that you found a workaround for the moment. Unfortunately, I can't bear the mind that Mojave introduces extra overheads for performance, stability and energy consumption.

 

As Mac Pro 5.1 and older models lost OS support since Catalina, I assume more and more of these machines will end up on eBay and people will want to convert them into servers or PCs. I hope unraid an provide official support for this machine.

I was going to be running Mojave anyway in a VM so it made sense. iCloud Cache and another app I use only run under macOS. 
 

Using a Mac Pro because it uses ECC isn’t worth it. Either forget ECC because it really doesn’t matter, or get a PC platform that’s a quarter the price for the same setup. 

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22 hours ago, PixelPerfect said:

I was going to be running Mojave anyway in a VM so it made sense. iCloud Cache and another app I use only run under macOS. 
 

Using a Mac Pro because it uses ECC isn’t worth it. Either forget ECC because it really doesn’t matter, or get a PC platform that’s a quarter the price for the same setup. 

I'm glad that the setup works for your needs.

 

I will wait for the 6.9 RC for another try before I convert the Mac Pro to a PC.

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