MacOS Big Sur

[Ready]

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro Retina that is still on the approved list of hardware for Catalina upgrades but I have not run the upgrade yet. I’m really intrigued by the claimed performance of the new MacBook Air which sells for around $900 and beats the performance of every other MacBook Pro currently available. So I might wait until those start shipping and the first round of reviews come out, and then just go with one of those and start fresh with a clean Catalina installation.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

No way. Gonna wait for a maintenance update or three.

It had occurred to me that the servers might be quite busy, although that’s not a factor in deciding to be patient.

 

[steelyman]

I tried again this morning and it installed successfully on my late 2015 27” iMac.

It definitely has a different “look”. Now to see about what’s changed and how to use it!

I’d previously upgraded Parallels (VM) to version 16. They were pretty adamant in advance that it wouldn’t work with Big Sur. That also went well.

 

[sengsational]

My old iMac refused to install even the last OS, and that was a requirement for the newer version of the app development environment (xcode) that was a requirement to update the app I have on the app store. So Apple had engineered it so I had to throw away my machine and get a new one if I wanted to keep my app on the app store. But I found a guy on YouTube that had a wonky USB stick process to get the newer OS on my machine. It works to run Xcode and deploy to the app store...my single use for the machine. But when this one quits working due to Apple's relentless push to sell hardware, I'll probably abandon iPhone development.

 

[Chuckanut]

Here is Ars Technica's review of Big Sur:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/macos-11-0-big-sur-the-ars-technica-review/

Table of Contents

• System requirements and compatibility
• What should I do with my unsupported Mac?
• Other system requirements
• Branding, installation, and free space
• Big Sur needs bigger disk space
• A funeral for Mac OS X
• Only mostly dead: macOS 10.16 lives on
• What numbers are next?
• A new look
• The basics: App windows
• Buttons and controls
• Dialog boxes and alerts
• New icons (or: it’s hip to be square)
• Control Center and Menu Bar
• Notification Center and widgets
• That new sound you’re looking for
• System Preferences iconography
• New wallpapers, plus wallpaper and screen saver UI changes
• New login window
• A new look for Recovery mode
• Other odds and ends
• Apps: Safari 14
• New tabs, new Start page
• Safari Web Extensions: Porting extensions from other browsers
• The Privacy Report and Intelligent Tracking Prevention
• Password monitoring
• No more Flash
• Translating pages
• WebP image support
• VP9 video codec and HDR support
• Other apps: Messages
• Photos
• Maps
• Mail
• Calendars
• Reminders
• Notes
• Time Machine switches to APFS
• About networked backups
• Speed testing Time Machine
• macOS on Apple Silicon Macs
• Booting and recovery
• Goodbye Target Disk Mode, hello “Mac Sharing Mode”
• The return of universal binaries
• Rosetta 2
• How long will Intel Macs stick around?
• Security: Big Sur’s signed system volume
• SHA-256 and cryptographic hashing, explained
• How Big Sur installs system updates
• Catalyst changes
• Grab bag
• Battery preference pane
• General preference pane and the “font smoothing” toggle
• The startup chime is back
• Progress bar for managing iDevices
• No more AFP file sharing
• No Network Utility
• OpenGL and OpenCL are still here, even on Apple Silicon Macs
• Build numbers in Disk Utility
• DriverKit support for PCI Express and SCSI
• Encrypted DNS support
• Self-reported app privacy practices
• Upgrade now, or wait?
• Conclusions
• The Good
• The Bad
• The Ugly

 

[cbo111]

So I downloaded Big Sur to my iMac (over 13gb). It went smoothly, but took about an hour. The only problem I have found is my Skype no longer seems to want to connect. I've tried calling others and having them call me, no joy. Maybe I need to delete the Skype program and download it again?

 

[Dash man]

I haven't been able to get it downloaded successfully on my MacBook Pro. Once it looks like it's completed the download I get a failure message. I just received this new MacBook Pro three weeks ago.

 

[cbo111]

So, I see a new feature with Big Sur regarding security. When I logged into a website for my doctor's office, a screen pop-up displays to warn me of a possible issue. Here is a screen shot of that message. Might be useful, not sure. But I changed my password anyway.

 

[Midpack]

So, I see a new feature with Big Sur regarding security. When I logged into a website for my doctor's office, a screen pop-up displays to warn me of a possible issue. Here is a screen shot of that message. Might be useful, not sure. But I changed my password anyway.

I think that’s a new feature across all Apple OS, we’re getting similar password warnings on our iPads and iPhones with 14.x updates. Apple really “wants” you to have very strong passwords. If you change from one weak password to another weak password, you’ll still get the message IME.

 

[KB]

I've gotten the password warning twice, I use the same password on both sites. So, I'm following their suggestions and changing them.

 

[mpeirce]

Works well for me. No problems.

 

[pacergal]

So far, so good for me also.

 

[gamboolman]

Yes, installed and works fine.

 

[homestead]

Installed Big Sur on my unsupported Early 2013 Macbook Pro I7 15" Retina. Had to do a few unix command line patches but someone else did all the work creating the patches.
So far it works great, even fixed a couple problems with Catalina.

 

[harllee]

Does Big Sur for with all the software that Catalina works with? If I have a printer that works with Catalina will it work with Big Sur? (I had to buy a new printer because my old printer would not work with Catalina and I don't want to buy another printer). Thanks

 

[homestead]

All my software worked ok except for LibreOffice but I just needed to download the latest version that was online. My Brother color laser works with Big Sur.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

My understanding is that most but maybe not all 64-bit apps should work with Big Sur, but not necessarily all hardware drivers. You should check with your printer manufacturer.

This is the source of my "understanding":

https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/how-to-prepare-your-mac-to-upgrade-to-macos-big-sur/

 

[mpeirce]

I had to buy a new printer because my old printer would not work with Catalina and I don't want to buy another printer

Catalina contained a major architectural change (no more 32-bit software suppport if you know what that means). Developer's had years of warning, but some put off making the changes needed and others never did the work to support older hardware (mostly old printers and scanners).

Big Sur's biggest change is ADDING support for Apple Silicon Macs, but doesn't take away anything (significant).

The next big discontinuity for Macs will be when Apple drops support for Intel based machines, but that's years and years away.

 

[braumeister]

I'm in no hurry, but I looked yesterday and while my B&W laser printer is supported by Big Sur, my color laser printer is not. It's nine years old, but still works beautifully so I'll be waiting until they have an updated driver for it.

 

[Chuckanut]

I updated to Big Sur. The only problem I had was that Libre Office would not start up. An update to the most current version solved that problem.

 

[KenTN]

I've had issues using an external display with my MacBook Pro. When waking up from sleep mode, open windows sometimes disappear and it is very difficult at times to get them back on the display.

 

[Dash man]

Well, I finally was able to get past the download with my 2019 MacBook Pro. Big Sur is installing now.

 

[camfused]

I switched a couple of days ago, on two of our 3 macs. No problems. I read somewhere that TimeMachine backups now will use the APFS file system, if you redo them from scratch, and are now significantly faster. So, after a couple of days, I nuked my backups and re-did them.

 

[Chuckanut]

I switched a couple of days ago, on two of our 3 macs. No problems. I read somewhere that TimeMachine backups now will use the APFS file system, if you redo them from scratch, and are now significantly faster. So, after a couple of days, I nuked my backups and re-did them.

Are they faster?

I assume you lost your backup history. Right?

 

[camfused]

Yes, I did lose the history, but my history only went back a couple weeks, so I was ok with that.

See the ArsTechnica review of Big Sur here: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/macos-11-0-big-sur-the-ars-technica-review/9/

Scroll down to the chart. It can be up to 4 times faster.