First time I tested Mac mini late 2014 (MGEN2AE/A) on NetBSD 7 which didn’t have a proper USB3 support. Since USB and thunderbolt are the only external ports, the system was literally useless at that time (my boot device was USB based flash drive, no input could be used as well). Later I bought thunderbolt hard drive which was booting on NetBSD 8 but I was still facing problems with non working USB devices. After some investigation I found out that all BSDs freeze on BIOS boot but FreeBSD/OpenBSD were successfully booting on UEFI boot. I tried to do the same on NetBSD 8 but ended up with completely black screen stating “sync out of range” error. And finally on NetBSD 9 BETA it boots successfully! All USB devices work and screen is working properly too. There are few caveats though:
- You must use UEFI image to boot: NetBSD-9.0_BETA-amd64-uefi-install.img.gz
- Broadcom BCM4360 wireless network adapter doesn’t work (no drivers are present and probably it won’t be supported anytime soon).
- I failed to find working SD card, though SD adapter is recognized. Attaching SD card just throws an error.
- Thunderbolt is likely not (fully) supported (though I didn’t test it, and previously I was successfully booting from it at least).
On the bright side graphics card has DRM support and Broadcom BCM57766 Gigabit Ethernet adapter works well. Proper USB 3 support and fixed display issue makes the system finally usable on this Apple computer. Described issues with wireless and SD cards can be solved with external USB devices if required. Please see dmesg log below:
NetBSD 9 BETA on Mac mini late 2014Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017,
2018, 2019 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
NetBSD 9.0_BETA (GENERIC) #0: Sat Sep 7 18:06:30 UTC 2019
mkrepro@mkrepro.NetBSD.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC
total memory = 8068 MB
avail memory = 7798 MB
cpu_rng: RDRAND
timecounter: Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
Kernelized RAIDframe activated
running cgd selftest aes-xts-256 aes-xts-512 done
RTC BIOS diagnostic error 0xff<clock_battery,ROM_cksum,config_unit,memory_size,fixed_disk,invalid_time>
timecounter: Timecounter “i8254” frequency 1193182 Hz quality 100
efi: systbl at pa 88e8ee10
Apple Inc. Macmini7,1 (1.0)
mainbus0 (root)
ACPI: RSDP 0x0000000088D8E014 000024 (v02 APPLE )
ACPI: XSDT 0x0000000088D8E1C0 00009C (v01 APPLE Apple00 00000000 01000013)
ACPI: FACP 0x0000000088D8C000 0000F4 (v05 APPLE Apple00 00000000 Loki 0000005F)
ACPI: DSDT 0x0000000088D7F000 007CDE (v03 APPLE Macmini 00070001 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: FACS 0x0000000088D18000 000040
ACPI: HPET 0x0000000088D8B000 000038 (v01 APPLE Apple00 00000001 Loki 0000005F)
ACPI: APIC 0x0000000088D8A000 0000BC (v02 APPLE Apple00 00000001 Loki 0000005F)
ACPI: SBST 0x0000000088D88000 000030 (v01 APPLE Apple00 00000001 Loki 0000005F)
ACPI: ECDT 0x0000000088D87000 000053 (v01 APPLE Apple00 00000001 Loki 0000005F)
ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000088D7E000 000222 (v01 APPLE SataAhci 00001000 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000088D7D000 000024 (v01 APPLE SmcDppt 00001000 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000088D75000 0010FC (v01 APPLE UsbLpt 00001000 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000088D74000 000032 (v01 APPLE SsdtS3 00001000 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000088D70000 0034F5 (v01 APPLE PcieTbt 00001000 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000088D61000 0000B8 (v01 APPLE Sdxc 00001000 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000088D5F000 000594 (v01 PmRef Cpu0Ist 00003000 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000088D5E000 000B83 (v01 PmRef CpuPm 00003000 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: DMAR 0x0000000088D5D000 000088 (v01 APPLE HSW 00000001 AAPL 00000001)
ACPI: MCFG 0x0000000088D89000 00003C (v01 APPLE Apple00 00000001 Loki 0000005F)
ACPI: 9 ACPI AML tables successfully acquired and loaded
ioapic0 at mainbus0 apid 2: pa 0xfec00000, version 0x20, 40 pins
cpu0 at mainbus0 apid 0
cpu0: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4278U CPU @ 2.60GHz, id 0x40651
cpu0: package 0, core 0, smt 0
cpu1 at mainbus0 apid 2
cpu1: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4278U CPU @ 2.60GHz, id 0x40651
cpu1: package 0, core 1, smt 0
cpu2 at mainbus0 apid 1
cpu2: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4278U CPU @ 2.60GHz, id 0x40651
cpu2: package 0, core 0, smt 1
cpu3 at mainbus0 apid 3
cpu3: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4278U CPU @ 2.60GHz, id 0x40651
cpu3: package 0, core 1, smt 1
acpi0 at mainbus0: Intel ACPICA 20190405
acpi0: X/RSDT: OemId <APPLE , Apple00,00000000>, AslId < ,01000013>
acpiecdt0 at acpi0: ACPI Embedded Controller via ECDT
ACPI Error: No handler for Region CMS0 SystemCMOS
ACPI Error: Region SystemCMOS (ID=5) has no handler (20190405/exfldio-323)
ACPI Error: Aborting method _SB.PCI0._INI due to previous error (AE_NOT_EXIST) (20190405/psparse-581)
acpi0: MCFG: segment 0, bus 0-154, address 0x00000000e0000000
ACPI Error: Needed type [Reference], found [Integer] 0xffff94f0eb2c2648 (20190405/exresop-114)
ACPI Error: AE_AML_OPERAND_TYPE, While resolving operands for OpcodeName unavailable
ACPI Error: Aborting method _PR.CPU0._PDC due to previous error (AE_AML_OPERAND_TYPE) (20190405/psparse-581)
ACPI: Dynamic OEM Table Load:
ACPI: SSDT 0xFFFF94F2497A0010 00067C (v01 PmRef ApIst 00003000 INTL 20100915)
ACPI: Dynamic OEM Table Load:
ACPI: SSDT 0xFFFF94F0EB24CC10 000119 (v01 PmRef ApCst 00003000 INTL 20100915)
acpi0: SCI interrupting at int 9
acpi0: fixed power button present
timecounter: Timecounter “ACPI-Safe” frequency 3579545 Hz quality 900
hpet0 at acpi0: high precision event timer (mem 0xfed00000-0xfed00400)
timecounter: Timecounter “hpet0” frequency 14318180 Hz quality 2000
acpiec0 at acpi0 (EC, PNP0C09-0): using acpiecdt0
acpivga0 at acpi0 (IGPU): ACPI Display Adapter
acpiout0 at acpivga0 (DD01, 0x0100): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout1 at acpivga0 (DD02, 0x0400): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout2 at acpivga0 (DD03, 0x0200): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout3 at acpivga0 (DD04, 0x0004): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout4 at acpivga0 (DD05, 0x0005): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout5 at acpivga0 (DD06, 0x0006): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout6 at acpivga0 (DD07, 0x0007): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout7 at acpivga0 (DD08, 0x0008): ACPI Display Output Device
acpiout8 at acpivga0 (DD1F, 0x001f): ACPI Display Output Device
acpivga0: autoconfiguration error: unknown output device acpiout0
acpivga0: autoconfiguration error: unknown output device acpiout2
acpivga0: autoconfiguration error: unknown output device acpiout3
acpivga0: autoconfiguration error: unknown output device acpiout4
acpivga0: autoconfiguration error: unknown output device acpiout5
acpivga0: autoconfiguration error: unknown output device acpiout6
acpivga0: autoconfiguration error: unknown output device acpiout7
acpivga0: autoconfiguration error: unknown output device acpiout8
acpivga0: connected output devices:
acpivga0: 0x0400 (acpiout1): Unknown Output Device, head 0
FWHD (INT0800) at acpi0 not configured
LDRC (PNP0C02) at acpi0 not configured
attimer1 at acpi0 (TIMR, PNP0100): io 0x40-0x43,0x50-0x53
SMC (APP0001) at acpi0 not configured
PDRC (PNP0C02) at acpi0 not configured
MEM2 (PNP0C01) at acpi0 not configured
acpibut0 at acpi0 (PWRB, PNP0C0C): ACPI Power Button
acpibut1 at acpi0 (SLPB, PNP0C0E): ACPI Sleep Button
ACPI: Enabled 4 GPEs in block 00 to 7F
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1
pci0: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, rd/mult, wr/inv ok
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0: vendor 8086 product 0a04 (rev. 0x09)
i915drmkms0 at pci0 dev 2 function 0: vendor 8086 product 0a2e (rev. 0x09)
hdaudio0 at pci0 dev 3 function 0: HD Audio Controller
hdaudio0: interrupting at msi0 vec 0
hdaudio0: autoconfiguration error: RIRB timeout
hdaudio0: autoconfiguration error: RIRB timeout
xhci0 at pci0 dev 20 function 0: vendor 8086 product 9c31 (rev. 0x04)
xhci0: interrupting at msi1 vec 0
xhci0: xHCI version 1.0
usb0 at xhci0: USB revision 3.0
usb1 at xhci0: USB revision 2.0
vendor 8086 product 9c3a (miscellaneous communications, revision 0x04) at pci0 dev 22 function 0 not configured
hdaudio1 at pci0 dev 27 function 0: HD Audio Controller
hdaudio1: interrupting at msi2 vec 0
hdafg0 at hdaudio1: vendor 1013 product 4208
hdafg0: DAC00 2ch: Speaker [Built-In]
hdafg0: DAC01 2ch: HP Out [Jack]
hdafg0: DIG02 2ch: SPDIF Out [Jack]
hdafg0: ADC03 2ch: Mic In [Jack]
hdafg0: 2ch/2ch 48000Hz PCM16*
audio0 at hdafg0: playback, capture, full duplex, independent
audio0: slinear_le:16 2ch 48000Hz, blk 40ms for playback
audio0: slinear_le:16 2ch 48000Hz, blk 40ms for recording
spkr0 at audio0: PC Speaker (synthesized)
wsbell at spkr0 not configured
ppb0 at pci0 dev 28 function 0: vendor 8086 product 9c10 (rev. 0xe4)
ppb0: PCI Express capability version 2 <Root Port of PCI-E Root Complex> x1 @ 5.0GT/s
pci1 at ppb0 bus 1
pci1: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
ppb1 at pci0 dev 28 function 2: vendor 8086 product 9c14 (rev. 0xe4)
ppb1: PCI Express capability version 2 <Root Port of PCI-E Root Complex> x1 @ 5.0GT/s
ppb1: link is x1 @ 2.5GT/s
pci2 at ppb1 bus 2
pci2: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
vendor 14e4 product 43a0 (miscellaneous network, revision 0x03) at pci2 dev 0 function 0 not configured
ppb2 at pci0 dev 28 function 3: vendor 8086 product 9c16 (rev. 0xe4)
ppb2: PCI Express capability version 2 <Root Port of PCI-E Root Complex> x1 @ 5.0GT/s
ppb2: link is x1 @ 2.5GT/s
pci3 at ppb2 bus 3
pci3: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
bge0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0: Broadcom BCM57766 Gigabit Ethernet
bge0: interrupting at msix3 vec 0
bge0: HW config 00081154, 00006014, 00002838, 00000000 00000000
bge0: ASIC unknown BCM57766 (0x57766001), Ethernet address xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
bge0: setting short Tx thresholds
brgphy0 at bge0 phy 1: BCM57765 1000BASE-T media interface, rev. 1
brgphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseT, 1000baseT-FDX, auto
sdhc0 at pci3 dev 0 function 1: vendor 14e4 product 16bc (rev. 0x01)
sdhc0: interrupting at ioapic0 pin 16
sdhc0: SDHC 3.0, rev 21, SDMA, 200000 kHz, HS SDR50 DDR50 SDR104 HS200 1.8V 3.0V 3.3V, re-tuning mode 1 (1s timer), 2048 byte blocks
sdmmc0 at sdhc0 slot 0
ppb3 at pci0 dev 28 function 4: vendor 8086 product 9c18 (rev. 0xe4)
ppb3: PCI Express capability version 2 <Root Port of PCI-E Root Complex> x4 @ 5.0GT/s
pci4 at ppb3 bus 4
pci4: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
ppb4 at pci4 dev 0 function 0: vendor 8086 product 156d (rev. 0x00)
ppb4: PCI Express capability version 2 <Upstream Port of PCI-E Switch>
pci5 at ppb4 bus 5
pci5: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
ppb5 at pci5 dev 0 function 0: vendor 8086 product 156d (rev. 0x00)
ppb5: PCI Express capability version 2 <Downstream Port of PCI-E Switch> x4 @ 2.5GT/s
pci6 at ppb5 bus 6
pci6: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
vendor 8086 product 156c (miscellaneous system) at pci6 dev 0 function 0 not configured
ppb6 at pci5 dev 3 function 0: vendor 8086 product 156d (rev. 0x00)
ppb6: PCI Express capability version 2 <Downstream Port of PCI-E Switch> x4 @ 2.5GT/s
pci7 at ppb6 bus 7
pci7: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
ppb7 at pci5 dev 4 function 0: vendor 8086 product 156d (rev. 0x00)
ppb7: PCI Express capability version 2 <Downstream Port of PCI-E Switch> x4 @ 2.5GT/s
pci8 at ppb7 bus 56
pci8: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
ppb8 at pci5 dev 5 function 0: vendor 8086 product 156d (rev. 0x00)
ppb8: PCI Express capability version 2 <Downstream Port of PCI-E Switch> x4 @ 2.5GT/s
pci9 at ppb8 bus 57
pci9: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
ppb9 at pci5 dev 6 function 0: vendor 8086 product 156d (rev. 0x00)
ppb9: PCI Express capability version 2 <Downstream Port of PCI-E Switch> x4 @ 2.5GT/s
pci10 at ppb9 bus 106
pci10: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
pcib0 at pci0 dev 31 function 0: vendor 8086 product 9c43 (rev. 0x04)
ahcisata0 at pci0 dev 31 function 2: vendor 8086 product 9c03 (rev. 0x04)
ahcisata0: 64-bit DMA
ahcisata0: AHCI revision 1.30, 1 port, 32 slots, CAP 0xc734ff00<PSC,SSC,PMD,SAM,ISS=0x3=Gen3,SCLO,SAL,SALP,SNCQ,S64A>
ahcisata0: interrupting at msi4 vec 0
atabus0 at ahcisata0 channel 0
ichsmb0 at pci0 dev 31 function 3: vendor 8086 product 9c22 (rev. 0x04)
ichsmb0: interrupting at ioapic0 pin 18
iic0 at ichsmb0: I2C bus
isa0 at pcib0
pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
spkr1 at pcppi0: PC Speaker
wsbell at spkr1 not configured
midi0 at pcppi0: PC speaker
sysbeep0 at pcppi0
attimer1: attached to pcppi0
acpicpu0 at cpu0: ACPI CPU
ACPI: Dynamic OEM Table Load:
ACPI: SSDT 0xFFFF94F0EB86D010 0004F0 (v01 PmRef Cpu0Cst 00003001 INTL 20100915)
acpicpu0: C1: FFH, lat 1 us, pow 1000 mW
acpicpu0: C2: FFH, lat 148 us, pow 200 mW
acpicpu0: C3: FFH, lat 506 us, pow 200 mW
acpicpu0: P0: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 28000 mW, 2601 MHz, turbo boost
acpicpu0: P1: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 28000 mW, 2600 MHz
acpicpu0: P2: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 26574 mW, 2500 MHz
acpicpu0: P3: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 22459 mW, 2200 MHz
acpicpu0: P4: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 19853 mW, 2000 MHz
acpicpu0: P5: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 17601 mW, 1800 MHz
acpicpu0: P6: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 14027 mW, 1500 MHz
acpicpu0: P7: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 12007 mW, 1300 MHz
acpicpu0: P8: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 9839 mW, 1100 MHz
acpicpu0: P9: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 7769 mW, 900 MHz
acpicpu0: P10: FFH, lat 10 us, pow 5792 mW, 754 MHz
acpicpu0: T0: I/O, lat 1 us, pow 0 mW, 100 %
acpicpu0: T1: I/O, lat 1 us, pow 0 mW, 88 %
acpicpu0: T2: I/O, lat 1 us, pow 0 mW, 76 %
acpicpu0: T3: I/O, lat 1 us, pow 0 mW, 64 %
acpicpu0: T4: I/O, lat 1 us, pow 0 mW, 52 %
acpicpu0: T5: I/O, lat 1 us, pow 0 mW, 40 %
acpicpu0: T6: I/O, lat 1 us, pow 0 mW, 28 %
acpicpu0: T7: I/O, lat 1 us, pow 0 mW, 16 %
coretemp0 at cpu0: thermal sensor, 1 C resolution, Tjmax=100
acpicpu1 at cpu1: ACPI CPU
coretemp1 at cpu1: thermal sensor, 1 C resolution, Tjmax=100
acpicpu2 at cpu2: ACPI CPU
acpicpu3 at cpu3: ACPI CPU
timecounter: Timecounter “clockinterrupt” frequency 100 Hz quality 0
timecounter: Timecounter “TSC” frequency 2600177840 Hz quality 3000
uhub0 at usb0: NetBSD (0000) xHCI root hub (0000), class 9/0, rev 3.00/1.00, addr 0
uhub0: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
uhub1 at usb1: NetBSD (0000) xHCI root hub (0000), class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 0
uhub1: 9 ports with 9 removable, self powered
IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
ahcisata0 port 0: device present, speed: 3.0Gb/s
wd0 at atabus0 drive 0
wd0: <APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662>
wd0: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA48 addressing
wd0: 931 GB, 1938021 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 1953525168 sectors
uhidev0 at uhub1 port 2 configuration 1 interface 0
uhidev0: CASUE (0x2a7a) CASUE USB Keyboard (0x9a18), rev 1.10/0.01, addr 1, iclass 3/1
ukbd0 at uhidev0: 8 Variable keys, 6 Array codes
wd0: GPT GUID: 6ff6bde0-2008-46e7-9c6f-171bdb49d5cf
dk0 at wd0: “EFI System Partition”, 409600 blocks at 40, type: msdos
dk1 at wd0: “Customer”, 1953115488 blocks at 409640, type: <unknown>
wd0: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 6 (Ultra/133), NCQ (32 tags) w/PRIO
wd0(ahcisata0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 6 (Ultra/133) (using DMA), NCQ (31 tags) w/PRIO
wskbd0 at ukbd0: console keyboard
uhidev1 at uhub1 port 2 configuration 1 interface 1
uhidev1: CASUE (0x2a7a) CASUE USB Keyboard (0x9a18), rev 1.10/0.01, addr 1, iclass 3/0
uhidev1: 2 report ids
uhid0 at uhidev1 reportid 1: input=1, output=0, feature=0
uhid1 at uhidev1 reportid 2: input=3, output=0, feature=0
uhub2 at uhub1 port 3: Apple Inc. (0xa5c) BRCM20702 Hub (0x4500), class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 2
uhub2: 3 ports with 0 removable, self powered
uhidev2 at uhub2 port 1 configuration 1 interface 0
uhidev2: vendor 05ac (0x5ac) product 820a (0x820a), rev 2.00/1.00, addr 3, iclass 3/1
uhidev2: 1 report ids
ukbd1 at uhidev2 reportid 1: 8 Variable keys, 6 Array codes
wskbd1 at ukbd1 mux 1
uhidev3 at uhub2 port 2 configuration 1 interface 0
uhidev3: vendor 05ac (0x5ac) product 820b (0x820b), rev 2.00/1.00, addr 4, iclass 3/1
uhidev3: 2 report ids
ums0 at uhidev3 reportid 2: 3 buttons
wsmouse0 at ums0 mux 0
ugen0 at uhub2 port 3
ugen0: Apple Inc. (0x5ac) Bluetooth USB Host Controller (0x8289), rev 2.00/1.50, addr 5
uhidev4 at uhub1 port 4 configuration 1 interface 0
uhidev4: Apple, Inc. (0x5ac) IR Receiver (0x8242), rev 2.00/1.00, addr 6, iclass 3/0
uhidev4: 38 report ids
uhid2 at uhidev4 reportid 36: input=4, output=0, feature=0
uhid3 at uhidev4 reportid 37: input=4, output=0, feature=0
uhid4 at uhidev4 reportid 38: input=4, output=0, feature=0
umass0 at uhub1 port 7 configuration 1 interface 0
umass0: vendor 13fe (0x13fe) silicon-power (0x3223), rev 2.00/1.10, addr 7
umass0: using SCSI over Bulk-Only
scsibus0 at umass0: 2 targets, 1 lun per target
sd0 at scsibus0 target 0 lun 0: <, silicon-power, PMAP> disk removable
sd0: 3822 MB, 7644 cyl, 32 head, 32 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 7827456 sectors
sd0: GPT GUID: 980625ee-83b7-4b23-a832-a652067547e8
dk2 at sd0: “EFI system”, 262144 blocks at 2048, type: msdos
dk3 at sd0: “f2808115-eb40-41e8-b590-d3fdf0aca33b”, 2908160 blocks at 264192, type: ffs
WARNING: 10 errors while detecting hardware; check system log.
boot device: sd0
root on dk3
root file system type: ffs
kern.module.path=/stand/amd64/9.0/modules
kern info: [drm] Memory usable by graphics device = 2048M
kern info: [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 2 (21.10.2013).
clock: unknown CMOS layout
kern info: [drm] Driver supports precise vblank timestamp query.
kern info: [drm] failed to find VBIOS tables
i915drmkms0: interrupting at ioapic0 pin 16 (i915drmkms0)
intelfb0 at i915drmkms0
intelfb0: framebuffer at 0xffffa380ae7db000, size 1920×1080, depth 32, stride 7680
wsdisplay0 at intelfb0 kbdmux 1: console (default, vt100 emulation), using wskbd0
wsmux1: connecting to wsdisplay0
wskbd1: connecting to wsdisplay0