iOS 26 Developer Beta 2 has been out for about a week since June 23rd 2025, introducing some changes to the graphical elements and some tweaks. There was a part of me which felt I could trust running this first beta on my daily driver iPhone 14 Pro, and it worked out great. It was […]
Author Archives: Mark Sokolovsky
This is an Apple-IBM DCTA-24090, a 4 GB internal hard drive that shipped with the PowerBook G3 WallStreet. I pulled it out of the ‘Book last week to test it with the 64 GB KingSpec SSD – the HDD was noisy and slow. See: SSD in a PowerBook: KingSpec PATA PA25-64 SSD.. yay or nay […]
We’ve hit another milestone with our Facebook group, reaching 13,000 members as of June 25th, 2025. There was a point in time where we previously were at 13K members, however, many fake/bot accounts were purged. Low End Mac has had a presence on Facebook since December 2008 – growing over time with an organic community […]
The HDMI forum just announced a brand new update to the HDMI specification. This includes major upgrades in available bandwidth, screen resolutions, as well as a new HDMI cable feature name called Ultra96. HDMI is now up to version 2.2, up from the previous 2.1b specification from August 2023. Download: HDMI-2-2-Specification-Overview-20250625.pdf.zip (1.8MB) . (Above: Illustration […]
Many readers of this website are familiar with OCLP, and the art of installing an unsupported version of macOS on an old Mac. Why not have the icons to match, and more? Let’s imagine what some different PowerPC and early-Intel era Macs would look like, with macOS Tahoe on the desktop. . Download: Unsupported Macs […]
The first Developer Beta of macOS Tahoe dropped on the first day of WWDC, after much internal testing for macOS 26. As with any developer beta before the GM (Golden Master) build, things are subject to change.. including the Finder icon (again). . . macOS Tahoe development timeline Up until June 9th WWDC: Internal Testing […]
Yesterday on X, Mykola Grymalyuk announced his departure from the Open Core Legacy Patcher team, saying he will be joining Apple’s Bug Bounty team over in Seattle this coming week. “Unfortunately I will have to step down from my role with OpenCore Legacy Patcher, but super excited for what’s to come. Thank you everyone who’ve […]
If you tried to plug in a FireWire device like a first-gen iPod to any Mac running the macOS 26 developer beta, you may be surprised to find nothing happens. That’s because there’s no more FireWire support. Apple could do a 180 and not do this, but that’s unlikely. Take a fine comb and look […]
The PowerBook G3 WallStreet is a notebook I never owned in my entire lifetime, and now I finally have one! I’ve come across nearly every model PowerPC Mac since I started tinkering with Macs, but the PowerBook G3 series remains elusive – except for the time I helped an acquaintance work on a stack of […]
While the week of WWDC is over, there are other tidbits worth mentioning but may not necessarily receive an entire article all on their own. . . App Store promo codes for in-app purchases Later this year, Apple is going to open the door for developers to create and distribute promo codes for any sort […]
This is the first iteration on macOS and iOS post-WWDC, after a recent May 14th update spent roughly a month and a half in a development state. Individuals can opt-in via the Software Update section of the System Settings app, as long as your Apple ID is associated with an Apple Developer account. Key […]
With the announcement of macOS Tahoe at WWDC25 this year on June 9th, we finally know what should or shouldn’t officially support the new update coming this year. Some of us including myself are running on a 2018 Mac mini, so we must now start dealing with what to do. Recently Greg Hrutkay of Hrutkay […]
As the week of WWDC ends, Low End Mac has restored its usual banner theme with a liquid glass twist. Clear your browser cache to see the new site banner! . . The new banner The latest site banner takes inspiration from this year’s WWDC and Liquid Glass themes, while staying true to the Low […]
Back from the Low End Mac Mailbag is an interesting hardware experiment from a rising contributor in our FaceBook group, Architecture. Enjoy this interesting One Stop Systems P7R4 7 Slot PCI Expansion Unit – and how it works with a Beige Power Macintosh G3! Introduction “Testing an 13 slot PCI Expansion Chassis on a G3 […]
At-a-glance, you’ll notice your desktop is mostly the same after updating (although some settings are reset such as internal drives in Finder). It’s familiar if you’ve used macOS Sequoia – but feels totally different for sure. Different in the sort-of way Yosemite was to Mavericks, or Aqua was to Platinum. . Is this Frutiger Aero? […]
Without a doubt, the latest crop of devices from Apple are set to perform the best on the latest OS update even if it’s no longer the original OS the Mac shipped with. While it can be challenging to imagine or quantify precisely how fast macOS Tahoe will be upon it’s debut to the public, […]
For those who want to add a little flare to their desktop and wanted the new wallpapers in particular – here they are! Due to the compression which happens on WordPress, a larger wallpaper is provided in the link below. You may also click on the images, which will enlarge to 2560 x 1657.The images […]
The tagline on Apple’s website reads “New Look. Even more magic.”, with an OS release date set to arrive this fall. Although you can download the developer beta right now, it is still far from being a completed consumer OS update. . . The last major iOS redesign was with version 7 – Apple says […]
Does the new style look familiar to you? Even though they talk about a “Glass UI”, there are many Aqua-themed visual cues in WWDC this year, especially to the intro for the new macOS. This year the transition in the presentation started as a Sequoia wallpaper, with a water droplet morphing the visuals before ultimately […]
Low End Mac is gearing up for WWDC25 – get ready for some new articles! Clear your browser cache to see the new site banner for this week. Low End Mac WWDC25-Inspired Icons (Free Download)
. Bill Atkinson was instrumental in the development of the Xerox GUI, Apple LISA, and Macintosh, being brought onboard by Jef Raskin though the University of Washington on April 27th, 1978. Bill was studying Neurobiology and rendering 3D images by writing programs. “Dear Friends and Family, We regret to write that our beloved husband, father, […]
Does anyone else remember those chunky polycarbonate white iMacs from the mid-2000s? For a short while in Late 2006, Apple also made a 24-Inch model as well. Imagine what it would look like if we took an M4 chip and one of those and just… fused them together? . Click on the images when scrolling […]
Not everyone is a fan of the original Apple Magic Mouse or the Magic Mouse 2, some even give it about as much flack as the original Round USB mouse. Not to borrow an old slogan.. I “think different.” Ergonomics are the chief complaint about the device itself, the sharp edge of the multitouch surface […]
First covered yesterday by Marko Zivkovic of AppleInsider.com, it appears as though some Intel Macs will be dropped from the list of supported models while the absolute latest generation of intel Macs will continue onto this new update. The report cites “anonymous people familiar with the matter.” This topic was also covered on 9to5Mac just […]
The latest and greatest device to bear the same name as the revolutionary “1000 songs in your pocket” was a spec-bumped version of the 6th Generation iPod touch. Featuring double the ram, and base storage of its predecessor as well as other iterations. This device can officially run all the way up to iOS 15.8.4, […]
Quietly made available on May 27th 2009, the 13″ Mid-2009 MacBook was a silent upgrade to the lineup of portables, released without much fanfare or any press release, for that matter. This was the second “older-style” A1181 MacBook model sold after the debut of the Aluminum Unibody MacBook, and the final “older-style” MacBook before Apple […]
With the annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) ’25 less than a month away, we anticipate the release of multiple new versions of existing Apple OSes including the successor to Sequoia, macOS 16. While much is still under wraps, there are some known additions coming to this new macOS which are noteworthy in and of […]
Official documentation says this controller requires at least macOS Ventura 13.2 or above, and that USB wired connection is only available for macOS or iPadOS with USB-C ports. Even if you can adapt a USB port to a Type-C on a PowerPC Mac and get a peripheral connected, a newer device is overwhelmingly likely not […]
More than an interesting thought experiment or project, the idea suddenly returned when I saw two USB-A to USB-C style adapters at a convenience store of all places and thought: “Why not”..? For a while I’ve thought about adding USB-C ports to my Power Mac G5, although I never thought to pick up or lookup […]
A little while back I covered an up-close comparison between the Sky Blue tone of the new M4 MacBook Air and Silver, as some early adopters are saying it is challenging to distinguish at times from Silver. It was noted that Sky Blue can give the impression of Silver but when you put it right […]
We’re halfway through may and this year’s World Wide Developer Conference at Apple is set to kick off in roughly a month, and the latest update dropped for the Apple Developer app contains new WWDC ’25 stickers. As rumors circulate online about what’s potentially on the horizon between devices and operating systems, one thing has […]
Timothy de Denaro is a longtime tinkerer of Macs from our LEM FaceBook and put together one of the most decked-out and modified Macintosh SE 30s ever! Housed wholly in a clear case, wielding two monitors (an external one of course), and.. it even has a USB port..?! . . The USB port is adapted […]
After spending roughly a month and a half in beta, iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 is now available for everyone to download who is currently already on iOS 18, or those who are eligible on a supported device. Looking at the OS update patterns over the last few years, we can anticipate a few more […]
Time and time again, the ports on our devices change – prompting many of us to consider at one point or another whether or not to start buying USB-C accessories. Back when the TouchBar MacBook Pro came out, I held out for a while as accessories in general felt overpriced.. not that I was looking […]
After spending roughly a month and a half in beta, macOS 15.5 Sequoia is now available for everyone to download who is currently already on macOS 15 as well as anyone wishing up upgrade with a supported or OCLP capable Mac. Keep in mind if you’re running an unsupported Mac with Sequoia on OCLP, the […]