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Guitarmas

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2022
135
60
Hey guys,

This was donated today. We don't refurbish Macs, only PC's. It was given to me. I'm just curious as to what I could do with it. I'm still getting used to Mac's. Should I put Linux on it? Should I use OCLP and put a later OS on it?

All suggestions are welcome!

Thanks!
 

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ojfd

macrumors 6502
Oct 20, 2020
350
227
That's 2011 Mac Mini Server. If it still has original, as it came from Apple, Lion Server software on it, please backup it to some external drive first. The early version is very rare, I've been searching for it for ages.

Otherwise, install OS of your choice on it and use it. It's a very good machine. With SSDs it will fly.
 

Guitarmas

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2022
135
60
Thanks for the replies so far.
A mini server? Hmm. That sounds interesting.
It's hard to find? Wow, I guess I'm lucky to find it.
 

ojfd

macrumors 6502
Oct 20, 2020
350
227
Thanks for the replies so far.
A mini server? Hmm. That sounds interesting.
It's hard to find? Wow, I guess I'm lucky to find it.

Only if you have 11A2061 build. The very first Lion 10.7. The whole OS, not just server components.


Anything later is nothing special.
 
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Guitarmas

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2022
135
60
Hey guys,

I just reinstalled High Sierra on one Mac Mini.
Is it common to show the original gray loading screen then the black loading screen briefly when starting up?

Here are some pics I took. I'm not sure what build I have. Please let me know if the Mac OSX lion is the one you guys are talking about.

Thanks!
 

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mateo14

macrumors member
Oct 19, 2019
71
42
Hey guys,

I just reinstalled High Sierra on one Mac Mini.
Is it common to show the original gray loading screen then the black loading screen briefly when starting up?

Here are some pics I took. I'm not sure what build I have. Please let me know if the Mac OSX lion is the one you guys are talking about.

Thanks!

I didn't try it.
You can also install Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard with some tricks:


That gives you access to Rosetta, which helps you to run PowerPC games and applications released between 2001-2005. In this case, you have a computer with Mac OS X 10.6 and macOS 10.13 that allow you to run the majority of games and applications released between 2001 and 2020.
 
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Guitarmas

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2022
135
60
11G63
It's in the second picture.



Yes, I ment Lion, but only the very first version of Lion Server is of interest. Yours is the final build.
Okay. Thanks for letting me know.
I guess I can just put High Sierra on it.
 

bobesch

macrumors 68020
Oct 21, 2015
2,134
2,212
Kiel, Germany
Hey guys,

This was donated today. We don't refurbish Macs, only PC's. It was given to me. I'm just curious as to what I could do with it. I'm still getting used to Mac's. Should I put Linux on it? Should I use OCLP and put a later OS on it?
All suggestions are welcome!
Thanks!
I'd swap at least one HHD for an SSD - better both.
Add 16GB RAM as an option, like mentioned here #7

Install Dosdude1 MojavePatch (for 32bit-support) and/or OCLP/Ventura on different Volumes or even separate drives.

There's also the option to install Win10 onto on of the two drives (that drive better is in MBR-partition-scheme to avoid problems with the BootCamp-Drivers). You won't need the BootCamp-Assistent, but you'll need the BootCampDrivers, that can either be extracted onto an USB-Stick through the BootCamp-Assisten or can be downloaded from Apple)

Or You can go for a DualBoot/MultiBoot with Linux - but Linux would also run decent in a Virtual Machine.

I'm running all these option on different mid2012 pre-retina 15" MBP9,1 and I'm quite happy with it.
 
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