Need help installing Maverick on macmini 2,1 with no other macs available

[clearer]

I've been gifted a macmini 1,1, which I've upgrade to "2,1" (i.e. slapped a C2D T7400 in it + 4 GiB of RAM and an SSD), which has made it somewhat reasonable speed wise.

I want to use the machine for some toy software projects which require access to frameworks that aren't available in SL, which is what it's running now, so I'm looking for ways to upgrade to later version of macOS and believe I've seen that people have been able to get a macmini 2,1 (real one, I suspect) to boot mavericks.

All of the guides I've been able to find require that I already have a machine available that runs mavericks so that's not going to help a whole lot, since this is the only mac I have (except an old G5 iMac, with a broken installation of Debian).

Are there any way to get my macmini updated?

 

[CoastalOR]

The official Apple max OS for a macmini 2,1 is Lion 10.7.5 not Mavericks 10.9.5.

There is a thread on hacking Mavericks to older macs that might help you:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-mavericks-on-older-macs-hackerwayne.1593194/

 

[clearer]

The official Apple max OS for a macmini 2,1 is Lion 10.7.5 not Mavericks 10.9.5.

There is a thread on hacking Mavericks to older minis that might help you:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-mavericks-on-older-macs-hackerwayne.1593194/

I've tried running the Lion installer but it keeps telling me that my machine isn't supported. Do you have any idea what might be the cause? Bad EFI version maybe?

 

[CoastalOR]

I've tried running the Lion installer but it keeps telling me that my machine isn't supported. Do you have any idea what might be the cause? Bad EFI version maybe?

I'm not sure since I have not upgraded a Mac mini 1,1 to 2,1. I would guess that the Lion installer thinks you have a Mac mini 1,1 which supports a max OS of Snow Leopard.

Did you find any hacking help in the thread link I posted?

 

[DeltaMac]

I think the GMA950 (the integrated graphics on your mini) will be the main obstacle to upgrading past Lion. You MIGHT get to Mountain Lion, but that's probably it.

 

[clearer]

I think the GMA950 (the integrated graphics on your mini) will be the main obstacle to upgrading past Lion. You MIGHT get to Mountain Lion, but that's probably it.

Getting to ML may be enough for my needs, but I suspect that you're right about the GMA950 being a possible hinderance. I'm sure I've seen people talking about geting Mavericks working even with a GMA950 though.

I'm not sure since I have not upgraded a Mac mini 1,1 to 2,1. I would guess that the Lion installer thinks you have a Mac mini 1,1 which supports a max OS of Snow Leopard.

Did you find any hacking help in the thread link I posted?

Afraid not. The thread contains very little information about what to acutally do. The guide I found (having looked at only the first 3 pages of replies) was a link to a 404'ed page.

 

[CoastalOR]

Afraid not. The thread contains very little information about what to acutally do. The guide I found (having looked at only the first 3 pages of replies) was a link to a 404'ed page.

Here are some of what I found with a Google search for "MLPostFactor":
http://osxhackers.net/macpostfactor.html
http://osxhackers.net/guides.html
http://osxdaily.com/2013/04/20/mlpostfactor-installs-os-x-mountain-lion-old-unsupported-macs/
https://lifehacker.com/5994204/mlpostfactor-installs-mountain-lion-on-older-macs

You could also post your request for help in MacRumors threads dedicated to installing (hacking) a newer OS in older Macs:
the link in my post #2
or if interested in Mountain Lion:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-success-install-10-8-on-old-unsupported-mac.1325709/

I think hacking to get around manufacturers limitations will require you to do some research effort.