OSX Sierra 10.12.3 on T61 (X3100) working
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 1:36 pm
Hi,
Just wanted to share my "trials and tribulations" around getting OSX Sierra working on this old (but yet great) machine. I own three Thinkpads (well, four if i include an Y50-70 machine as well, but that one is not a classic really): Lenovo T61 (T9300/8gb ram), Lenovo X61 (T7500/8gb ram) and a T410 (pimped with Intel I7-640m, Atheros wifi and 8gb ram). I have spent some unhealthy amounts of time getting the T61 (and X61) to run OSX. X61 and T61 are basically the same machine, but the difference is that (in my case) the X61 cpu does not support SSE 4.1 (which disqualifies it for OSX Sierra. OSX El Capitan works fine).
Anyway, i have now an perfectly working, with some caveats, OSX Sierra 10.12.3 installation on my T61. Its not perfect due to the following:
- X3100 graphics uses the 10.6.2 64-bit drivers that does not fully support full acceleration. Youtube videos plays nicely, screen-saver works perfectly, but its not 100% (just saying).
- One USB port (the left one) does not fully work. It handles an optical mouse without issues, but it doesn't allow things like usb-wifi adapters etc to function.
What does work:
Graphics - most of it (see above)
biometric device
USB wifi (RT8188 cu)
touchpad
touchpad buttons
usb mouse
ethernet
etc
If anyone is interested in knowing more about this, then please let me know and i'll write up a guide (there are some DSDT patching involved and some kexts that needs to be put in place).
Just wanted to share my "trials and tribulations" around getting OSX Sierra working on this old (but yet great) machine. I own three Thinkpads (well, four if i include an Y50-70 machine as well, but that one is not a classic really): Lenovo T61 (T9300/8gb ram), Lenovo X61 (T7500/8gb ram) and a T410 (pimped with Intel I7-640m, Atheros wifi and 8gb ram). I have spent some unhealthy amounts of time getting the T61 (and X61) to run OSX. X61 and T61 are basically the same machine, but the difference is that (in my case) the X61 cpu does not support SSE 4.1 (which disqualifies it for OSX Sierra. OSX El Capitan works fine).
Anyway, i have now an perfectly working, with some caveats, OSX Sierra 10.12.3 installation on my T61. Its not perfect due to the following:
- X3100 graphics uses the 10.6.2 64-bit drivers that does not fully support full acceleration. Youtube videos plays nicely, screen-saver works perfectly, but its not 100% (just saying).
- One USB port (the left one) does not fully work. It handles an optical mouse without issues, but it doesn't allow things like usb-wifi adapters etc to function.
What does work:
Graphics - most of it (see above)
biometric device
USB wifi (RT8188 cu)
touchpad
touchpad buttons
usb mouse
ethernet
etc
If anyone is interested in knowing more about this, then please let me know and i'll write up a guide (there are some DSDT patching involved and some kexts that needs to be put in place).
