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The MacBook Air mentioned (2014) will install Mavericks when booted into recovery mode anyway (unless you use Option-Command-R which will give you the newest co

The MacBook Air mentioned (2014) will install Mavericks when booted into recovery mode anyway (unless you use Option-Command-R which will give you the newest compatible version which is Big Sur). I did that a few days ago and I agree, it’s quite snappy! Missing certificates can also be installed manually (e.g. from the curl CA bundle), but even then TLS 1.3 support is lacking in most apps which breaks a lot of stuff without the suggested proxy. A lot of MacPorts ports also do not build sadly. The look is so much better than current macOS.

Wowfunhappy 1y ago
> The MacBook Air mentioned (2014) will install Mavericks when booted into recovery mode anyway (unless you use Option-Command-R which will give you the newest compatible version which is Big Sur). Certain 2014 Macbook Airs, including my own, will install Yosemite instead in recovery mode for some reason, even though obviously I'm using Mavericks and it runs fine.
- brewmarche 1y ago
  I think it depends on what was the current version when your model came out. Should have said mid-2014 like OP, sorry
  - Wowfunhappy 1y ago
    > Should have said mid-2014 like OP, sorry I don't want to belabor the point, but just to be clear—I am referring to a mid-2014 MBA, anything newer and Mavericks wouldn't work! (There is no "late 2014" MBA as far as I'm aware.) Mine offers to install Yosemite in recovery mode. It may indeed be based on when that specific computer came off of the assembly line or something, I have no idea, but for that exact model of computer you can get different results in recovery mode!
    - brewmarche 1y ago
      Good to know. Mine is from June 2014 (assembly, since it’s a custom configuration). Sorry for missing your point.
    - aspenmayer 1y ago
      There are multiple boot-time recovery options, but you might not have a required firmware update to use them. Per everymac, all 2014 MBA’s should be able to run up to Big Sur? What is offered to install when you do this? https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-macos-recovery-on-an-intel-based-mac-mchl338cf9a8/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-macos-recovery-... > Option-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall macOS and upgrade to the latest version of macOS that’s compatible with your Mac. https://everymac.com/systems/by_capability/maximum-macos-supported.html https://everymac.com/systems/by_capability/maximum-macos-sup... > MacBook Air "Core i5" 1.4 11" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur) > MacBook Air "Core i7" 1.7 11" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur) > MacBook Air "Core i5" 1.4 13" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur) > MacBook Air "Core i7" 1.7 13" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur) When updating to the new macOS, firmware updates that govern the pre-boot and recovery environment are changed/updated, and you can downgrade macOS again afterwards. You can usually install the firmware updates without updating macOS, but finding them is usually the harder part. You could probably swap hard drives to a scratch SSD if you wanted to update your firmware via updating macOS entirely without affecting your live install, or install macOS on a USB drive, which should not affect your internal SSD install, but like all upgrades, have a backup or pull the internal SSD.
      - brewmarche 1y ago
        I don’t know, I’ve performed numerous updates from the pre-installed Mavericks (Yosemite, El Capitan, High Sierra, Big Sur are the ones I remember, might be more), but the default recovery still goes into Mavericks for me
        aspenmayer 1y ago
        You might need to update the firmware for your Mac in order for the Internet Recovery to support updating to Big Sur. The firmware updates are installed at upgrade time usually, but you may be able to install them separately. > About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers https://support.apple.com/en-us/101198 https://support.apple.com/en-us/101198 I would see if you can access this: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132 Download it, then you can make a bootable flash drive if you want, or just install it from under macOS. > How to download and install macOS https://support.apple.com/en-us/102662 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102662 > Create a bootable installer for macOS https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578 https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578
    - brewmarche 1y ago
      I guess I was also confused about the different recovery modes as pointed out by aspenmayer below. I used Shift+Option+Command+R (or hold Option and choose WiFi instead of disk) which is internet recovery using the macOS version that came pre-installed (or closest) Whereas Command+R is local recovery which might be any macOS version that last changed the local recovery environment.
h4ck_th3_pl4n3t 1y ago
Regarding SSL: just make sure you are using macOS 10.9.3, earlier versions (all of them, and I mean, all since the 80s) never had a working SSL implementation. For more, read about the GOTO FAIL bug: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2014-1266 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2014-1266
- Wowfunhappy 1y ago
  It's pretty hard to install anything below 10.9.5, Apple updated all the installers to go straight to that version. But if you're using Aqua Proxy, you're not really using the system's SSL implementation anyway, you're using Go 1.19's SSL.
- brewmarche 1y ago
  I often bring this one up when I see missing braces in PRs.

Wowfunhappy 1y ago

> The MacBook Air mentioned (2014) will install Mavericks when booted into recovery mode anyway (unless you use Option-Command-R which will give you the newest compatible version which is Big Sur). Certain 2014 Macbook Airs, including my own, will install Yosemite instead in recovery mode for some reason, even though obviously I'm using Mavericks and it runs fine.

brewmarche 1y ago
I think it depends on what was the current version when your model came out. Should have said mid-2014 like OP, sorry
- Wowfunhappy 1y ago
  > Should have said mid-2014 like OP, sorry I don't want to belabor the point, but just to be clear—I am referring to a mid-2014 MBA, anything newer and Mavericks wouldn't work! (There is no "late 2014" MBA as far as I'm aware.) Mine offers to install Yosemite in recovery mode. It may indeed be based on when that specific computer came off of the assembly line or something, I have no idea, but for that exact model of computer you can get different results in recovery mode!
  - brewmarche 1y ago
    Good to know. Mine is from June 2014 (assembly, since it’s a custom configuration). Sorry for missing your point.
  - aspenmayer 1y ago
    There are multiple boot-time recovery options, but you might not have a required firmware update to use them. Per everymac, all 2014 MBA’s should be able to run up to Big Sur? What is offered to install when you do this? https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-macos-recovery-on-an-intel-based-mac-mchl338cf9a8/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-macos-recovery-... > Option-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall macOS and upgrade to the latest version of macOS that’s compatible with your Mac. https://everymac.com/systems/by_capability/maximum-macos-supported.html https://everymac.com/systems/by_capability/maximum-macos-sup... > MacBook Air "Core i5" 1.4 11" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur) > MacBook Air "Core i7" 1.7 11" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur) > MacBook Air "Core i5" 1.4 13" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur) > MacBook Air "Core i7" 1.7 13" (Early 2014)11 (Big Sur) When updating to the new macOS, firmware updates that govern the pre-boot and recovery environment are changed/updated, and you can downgrade macOS again afterwards. You can usually install the firmware updates without updating macOS, but finding them is usually the harder part. You could probably swap hard drives to a scratch SSD if you wanted to update your firmware via updating macOS entirely without affecting your live install, or install macOS on a USB drive, which should not affect your internal SSD install, but like all upgrades, have a backup or pull the internal SSD.
    - brewmarche 1y ago
      I don’t know, I’ve performed numerous updates from the pre-installed Mavericks (Yosemite, El Capitan, High Sierra, Big Sur are the ones I remember, might be more), but the default recovery still goes into Mavericks for me
      - aspenmayer 1y ago
        You might need to update the firmware for your Mac in order for the Internet Recovery to support updating to Big Sur. The firmware updates are installed at upgrade time usually, but you may be able to install them separately. > About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers https://support.apple.com/en-us/101198 https://support.apple.com/en-us/101198 I would see if you can access this: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132 Download it, then you can make a bootable flash drive if you want, or just install it from under macOS. > How to download and install macOS https://support.apple.com/en-us/102662 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102662 > Create a bootable installer for macOS https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578 https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578
  - brewmarche 1y ago
    I guess I was also confused about the different recovery modes as pointed out by aspenmayer below. I used Shift+Option+Command+R (or hold Option and choose WiFi instead of disk) which is internet recovery using the macOS version that came pre-installed (or closest) Whereas Command+R is local recovery which might be any macOS version that last changed the local recovery environment.

h4ck_th3_pl4n3t 1y ago

Regarding SSL: just make sure you are using macOS 10.9.3, earlier versions (all of them, and I mean, all since the 80s) never had a working SSL implementation. For more, read about the GOTO FAIL bug: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2014-1266 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2014-1266

Wowfunhappy 1y ago
It's pretty hard to install anything below 10.9.5, Apple updated all the installers to go straight to that version. But if you're using Aqua Proxy, you're not really using the system's SSL implementation anyway, you're using Go 1.19's SSL.
brewmarche 1y ago
I often bring this one up when I see missing braces in PRs.