Mac: OLCP Update, Sticky Trackpad and Bartender vs Dozer

OK, two quick things, I have a long post coming up on getting your Apple Home devices to work (tl;dr this is way, way, way too hard).

OpenCore Legacy Patcher Long-Term Use

But some quick hits for today, I have an old MacBook Pro 2014 (so just nine years old), and using OpenCore Legacy Patcher, I have it running Ventura. I’m not brave enough to get it to Sonoma yet. But I have a Mac Mini 2011, MacBook Air 2012, and a MacBook Pro 2014 all running with it. The main problem seems to be GPU driver issues with the 2014 so it will definitely crash. I have a MacBook Pro 2010 where I tried the Ventura update, big mistake there, it doesn’t stay up at all so will have to rebuild it to Sonoma.

Sticky Trackpad and using making an Apple Mouse discoverable

One hardware problem I do have is the trackpad on the 2014 is sticky. That is it will not respond properly. The buttons will also get sticky. There is no easy fix for this that I can find. I don’t want to take the thing apart to clean it.

The simple solution is just to pair it with an Apple Magic Mouse, but then the question is how to make it discoverable. With the newer rechargeable mouse, you just plug it into the MacBook and it will pair, but this is the older mouse with AA batteries. The trick is to hold down the mouse button while turning it on. The LED will begin to blink and all is good! So my MacBook Pro 2014 gets to live another few years (hopefully) as a machine that I’m using for backups and things with an old DroboPro.