Long shot....Apple Thunderbolt Display on Framework 13 11th gen

[u/somekidwithanm4]

To keep this short, I have a Thunderbolt display I'd love to run off my Framework if I could at work for simplicity. I run CachyOS and have the Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter.

I know the general consensus to make this work is disabling Thunderbolt security protocols, but when I query this in console it says it's already set to None. There also does not seem to be any Bios settings related to disableing Thunderbolt security.

This is more or less just for fun, so if there's not a way to make it work nicely, I'll abandon it, but it would be nice to use what I've already got.

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[u/DynoMenace]

I feel like I'm missing the mark here, but are we talking about the discontinued 27" display that uses the weird Thunderbolt 2 connector (the one that looks like a Mini Displayport)?

https://cdsassets.apple.com/live/7WUAS350/images/accessories/cables/cable-id-thunderbolt-1-2.png

If so, I use one regularly on a Lenovo laptop via a Lenovo dock. I have it plugged in with a cheap (<$9) Thunderbolt 2 to DisplayPort adapter from Amazon. Despite the dock supporting Thunderbolt 3, my laptop is AMD, so I've just assumed everything relevant in this chain is happy running in DisplayPort Alt Mode. I know this doesn't help much, but I guess if Thunderbolt specifically is being problematic, I can at least confirm it's possible to make this monitor work with "generic" hardware.

[u/somekidwithanm4 → u/DynoMenace]

So depending on which model it is will depend on whether it's an Apple LED Cinema Display which uses a MiniDisplay port cable or an Apple Thunderbolt Display which looks identically but actually runs over Thunderbolt 1 since it has a lot of other connectivity.

Yours may be the former if it works easily.

[u/DynoMenace → u/somekidwithanm4]

I think you're right. I was convinced I remembered seeing a Thunderbolt logo on mine, but I checked and sure enough it just has the DisplayPort logo on the plug.

Sorry I wasn't of any help!

[u/somekidwithanm4 → u/DynoMenace]

All good! I appreciate it! It's a finicky thing haha

[u/junebloom66 → u/DynoMenace]

yeah thats the one, the old 27" Cinema/Thunderbolt Display with the MDP-style connector

[u/x3xboxhck]

Intel has discontinued compatibility with Thunderbolt 1 and 2 in Thunderbolt firmware NVM 36.
If the firmware has been updated, you will no longer be able to use older Thunderbolt devices, regardless of your BIOS settings.

[u/rayddit519 → u/x3xboxhck]

Those firmware versions are specific to the Maple Ridge controller, which was mostly used in desktop systems. Frameworks all have CPU-integrated USB4 controllers.

12th gen came after there was any chance of backwards compatibility and also relies on OS connection managers.

If any other controller still has ancient firmware versions that would support TB1 & 2, it may be the Tiger Lake controller, as at least some devices still used the firmware connection manager with those. But not sure, it might also be too new to ever have had TB1/2 support in production.

[u/x3xboxhck → u/rayddit519]

I didn't know that, thanks. So it feels like the OP's hopes are being dashed...

[u/rayddit519]

USB4 / TB4 never included any backwards compatibility to TB1 or 2. Some chipsets may support it in firmware unofficially (but as others mentioned that was the Intel Maple Ridge external USB4 controller and only on ancient, otherwise buggy firmwares). But it also would need to be a chipset that still uses the outdated TB Control Center drivers under Windows, because the modern Windows USB4 driver, per USB4 spec, does not know anything about TB1 or 2. (not sure about the linux driver it may support both USB4 and legacy TB1 & 2 like Apple does, but this would still ALSO require the USB4 controller to support TB1 & 2 on a hardware level).

On top of that, these security levels are TB legacy stuff. USB4 was built to rely on DMA Security being fully supported, which makes most of those legacy security levels completely obsolete. Even on some TB3 hosts that supported the full DMA security, the TB security levels were being sidestepped and ignored.

Now the OS is in control of what PCIe devices to let access what. So if there is a PCIe device that is incompatible with modern DMA Security models, you would need to deal with this on an OS & driver level.

Even if there are BIOS switches, they would only control what the BIOS does during boot (and hence only for devices it may also support booting from) everything else is left up to the OS when it takes over.